Bottled Stories

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Everybody needs a hobby and this is mine. I'll write a short-short story, print it out, and place it in a bottle. This particular bottle once contained Knappogue Castle Irish whiskey, one of the great tipples of the world. It may even (I forget) be the bottle that I brought back from my first trip overseas in 1982, back when each bottle was individually numbered by hand.

After the story is placed in the bottle, I sign and date the glass with a diamond-tipped pen. Then I cork the bottle and Marianne covers the top with sealing wax. After writing a letter of provenance, I destroy every copy, physical or electronic, other than the one inside the bottle. It is now, in the original, unspoiled sense of the word, unique.

Finally, I give it away. Usually to a charity auction or such, but sometimes to a friend. The owner of the bottle, whoever he or she is, can either read the story or else possess the object -- but cannot do both.

Copyright is withheld.

The above bottle was given to my good friend Henry Wessells on the occasion of the publication of What Can Saved From the Wreckage? mostly because I knew he would appreciate it, but also in some small part because I wanted to have something of mine in the shop of James Cummins, Bookseller (where the launch party was held), which was as rare as anything else there.

How much is such a thing worth? I have no idea. Selling one for profit would destroy the purity of the thing.

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