50th Anniversary mugs are now available at [Mugs]

You asked, here it is: [Help Save Uncle Hugo's]

Thanks for your contributions and your enthusiasm!

The Uncles Stories Project A history of the Uncles, including stories by the owner, authors, and customers, photos of Ecko the store dog, plus vintage Ken Fletcher artwork for the Uncles.

The website is at: [The Uncles Stories Project].

As many of you are already aware, Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore and Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore were burnt to the ground by rioters in the early hours of Saturday, May 30. I'm going to give you a GoFundMe update, an update on what items I am currently selling, a long-winded explanation of possibilities for the future of Uncle Hugo's / Uncle Edgar's, and then the story of how we reached this point.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY ON OUR EMAIL LIST (previously used mainly for newsletter notices), sign up: Mailing List. That way I will be able to send news of major developments directly to you, instead of hoping you happen to notice news posted on Facebook and the website.

GOFUNDME: If you will feel ripped off if I decide not to open a new brick-and-mortar store, or to reopen a science fiction store but not a mystery store, please do not contribute to the GoFundMe at this time. Details here: Our Crowdfunding Page

ACCEPTING ORDERS FOR (order via the website; all orders will be shipped):

Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's T-shirts and Sweatshirts: Our standard T-shirt and sweatshirt sizes can be ordered via the store website: [T-shirts and Sweatshirts]

If you are interested in special ordering larger size shirts (T-shirts 3XL-6XL or sweatshirts 2XL-4XL), please email unclehugo@aol.com no later than Tuesday, June 23, 2020 with your special order request. I will get back to you with pricing and availability information before placing the final order. The shirt shipment I received a week ago is selling fast, and I plan to order more shirts in late June.

Signed Lois McMaster Bujold Books can be ordered via the store website: [Bujold books]

NOT ACCEPTING ORDERS FOR: Anything else. The website will be updated as other items become available. Some additional signed books will be available by the end of June. (Newsletter 130 is available for reading purposes only, orders from it are not currently being accepted.)

CURRENT EVENTS AND FUTURE SCENARIOS: The current state of business and possibilities for the future: [details here]

THE EVENTS SURROUNDING THE ARSON: A recap of the events leading up to the destruction of the Uncles: [details here]

Best,
Don

**********

I just talked with Don, he is doing well and things are proceeding apace. He has a new computer system on order from the inventory software company. Once that is up and running, he will have store T-shirts for sale via the website, and will be adding a limited selection of signed books as they become available.

He met with his lawyer and the insurance adjuster last Friday. He will be receiving a check for a sizable percentage of the inventory value within 30 days. This is good, because the store owes money to a variety of publishers, and he will then be able to pay off those invoices.

There are a couple of options for the payout on the building, and he is still gathering more information before making a decision regarding that.

He is looking into options for relaunching his book business in various shapes and sizes. That process is also in the data-gathering stage, and it will be a while before he reaches a decision.

Your support and friendly messages are greatly appreciated!

Best,
Elizabeth

**********

I got ahold of my attorney and explained things to him. He says that the "civil insurrection" clause is in almost all insurance policies, but the courts almost never allow the insurance companies to get away with using it, and my insurance company is one of the easier ones to work with.

I went over to the store twice yesterday. At 7 am I talked a National Guard trooper into escorting me back to the building so I could talk to the fire captain who was supervising turning the basement into a swimming pool. I knew that the front of the store, with a wooden floor and wooden roof, was hopeless. I thought that the back, with concrete slab floors and a steel roof, might be salvagable. The captain showed me where the high pressure from the heated air had bowed out the concrete block walls and formed cracks in the walls, and the steel roofs had collapsed.

I went back around 3:30 to see if anything in the back room was worth recovering. The aluminum folding ladder that was about 6 foot tall when folded in half was stored a couple of inches from the back door -- it is now about 2.5 foot tall, and everything else was in worse shape. On that trip I noticed that the roof of the US Bank seemed to have collapsed into the building although there were no exterior signs of fire.

Best,
Don

(Note from Elizabeth: the bank was torched early Sunday morning.)

For folks interested in reading Newsletter 130, here it is. Please do not send orders from it at this time.

Best,
Elizabeth

Hello loyal Uncles fans,

The photo above was taken this morning. 2864 Chicago Ave as viewed from the sidewalk across the street.

Elizabeth here to give you a quick update. The Twin Cities are facing arson, rioting, and vandalism. Per the local authorities, as of this morning, virtually all of the people arrested for these crimes are from out of state. Eyewitness accounts and livestreams report fires being set by young white men.

I spoke with Don this afternoon. He appreciates the outpouring of support he has received from around the globe. He is currently considering various options, but will need some time to process this tragedy and loss before he is ready to make decisions. Please respect that. Watch the store Facebook page for news.

Below is the text of the message Don sent to employees earlier today.

Hi Folks,

There was a call from the security company around 3:30 this morning that the motion detector was showing somebody in the building. I threw on clothes and headed over there. When I was 2 blocks away I received a call that the smoke detectors were showing smoke in the store. Every single building on both sides of Chicago was blazing and dozens of people dancing around.

As I pulled into the dentist's lot I could see that flames were leaping out the front windows of the Uncles. It looked to me like they had broken every window on the front of the Uncles and then squirted accelerant through each broken window. It looked hopeless to me, but I went around to the back door to see if I could get to a fire extinguisher. As soon as I opened the back door a wave of very thick black smoke poured out, so I quickly closed the door again.

The dentist's building was not showing any flames and the garage door was open, so I went in to see if I could save it. There is a door from the garage into a break room, and there was almost no smoke in the break room. There is a second door from the break room into the main clinic. When I opened that door I couldn't see a fire, but the smoke came pouring into the break room, so I quickly closed that door and headed back to the car.

Some of the rioters were busy breaking every pane of glass in the transit hub. The former Sheraton did not seem to be on fire yet, and there were guests who were staying there. It looked like somebody may have broken a window on the first floor along Chicago and started a fire, but it could have just been a reflection of the flames from the Uncles.

I didn't notice anything going on yet at the Global Marketplace, but the rioters were headed in that direction. There is no way a mere fire could bring that building down, but it could wipe out all of those businesses, and there are hundreds of people who live above the Global Marketplace who could be trapped by the smoke.

Since Chicago Ave. was full of dancing rioters, broken glass, and flaming debris, I went down the alley and took Lake St. home. There were blocks of Lake St. where every building was blazing. No sign of any cops, national guard troops, or any help.

I'm pretty sure the insurance policy excludes damage from a civil insurrection, so I suspect I won't get a cent for either the building or the contents.

Best,
Don Blyly