Singularity & Co.: A Brooklyn Club House for Sci-Fi Superfans
In a time not too long ago and in a place that’s not very far away at all—in fact, the place is Brooklyn and the time is now—Ash Kalb, Cici James, and Jamil Moen decided to start Singularity & Co., Brooklyn’s new home to all things sci-fi and pulp. Kalb tells us that “after a little research, we discovered that while New York has a mystery bookshop, and a few comic shops, there is no dedicated sci-fi bookshop. A real tragedy. We wanted to rectify that, and quickly started amassing books, including boxes and boxes of my dad’s old sci-fi books from my and his childhood.” What they, as well as their newest group member Kaila Hale-Stern, have created is more than just a genre bookstore.
With the help of a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, they’ve created a brick-and-mortar shop that, Kalb tells us, “is the only place in New York that we know of that you can come and browse shelf after shelf of vintage sci-fi, fantasy, Western, romance, spy, etc. Plus lots of other cool stuff that should be of interest to genre fans. Three words: Klingon greeting cards.” But they’ve gone beyond that by also deciding to select out-of-print titles and give them a new digital life by securing the rights, re-publishing these forgotten books, and “focusing not on the profitability of any particular title we put out, but on building a community and preserving books that might otherwise be forgotten.” It’s a particularly awesome blend of classic and modern book-selling, and it’s one that the people at Singularity are sure will appeal to the “countless science fiction and fantasy fans that live in and around NYC, or visit it every day. We’re hoping to give that community a clubhouse, a place to hang out.” How could sci-fi fans not flock to Singluarity? Don’t forget those three words: Klingon. Greeting. Cards.