Cory Doctorow 41 min read

At a Toronto flea market, a human dealer and his alien rival compete over cast-off Americana, and the odd, aching nostalgia hidden in junk.

Cory Doctorow's acclaimed 1998 story (his breakout) holds a mirror to human nature through an alien collector's fascination with our discarded stuff, running a Bradburian vein of nostalgia through a tale of thrift-store rivalry. Smart, warm, expertly written. Read it for a modern first-contact gem about culture, memory, and the things we throw away.

In its time

Published in 1998, during the 1990s, the web age dawns.

Reading it

41 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).