The Ghoulish Times | 01/27/23

We're opening a spooky bookstore!!!

Hello and welcome to the latest issue of The Ghoulish Times. My name is Max Booth III and this is my spooky newsletter. Thank you for tuning in to our ghoulish frequencies. I have a lot to share this week, including an author q&a, a new anthology announcement, a freakin’ bookstore announcement, and much more, so let’s just jump right into it. You’re busy, I’m busy, we’re all busy. The planet’s dying. Everything’s rotting. Time is finite. I get it. We all get it. But first, of course, I must mention our Kickstarter campaign that’s still active for another five days (expiring February 2nd at 8am CST). Have you backed? You should consider backing. For the good of all things ghoulish, you should back it.

Why? Well, because…

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WE’RE OPENING A GOSH DANG BOOKSTORE

In the last newsletter, I teased a new stretch goal we would soon be announcing for our current Kickstarter. Well, ghouls, here it is:

$30,000 - BRICK & MORTAR BOOKSTORE

We will open a spooky horror bookstore in the Greater San Antonio area.

Actually, if we're being honest, this is happening regardless of us reaching $30,000, but it sure would help provide a bit of a safety net.

Earlier this week, on Monday morning, we actually signed the lease and paid the deposit for a building, and we officially move into the location in March.

A little background on how this happened:

For the last couple months, we have been searching for a small office to rent for a Ghoulish Books headquarters. We have operated solely out of our kitchen, essentially, since first establishing ourselves as publishers back in 2012, and the company has simply grown too large to continue surviving this way.

At some point in 2022, we rented a storage unit to store some of our extra stock (since we do a lot of business via our webstore), but it did not take long for the storage unit to start overflowing and feeling even more claustrophobic than our house. So it made sense to pay the extra $$$ and upgrade to an office where we could store our merchandise and also operate business in.

We were shown around a few spots, some that could have worked for an office, some that made more sense for a publisher and some that made more sense for a sleazy attorney. We were not quick to make a decision, and waited it out to see if we could find something that felt more...right.

Fast forward to last week, when I'm picking up my latest pre-order (Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt) from a local indie bookstore. We have gotten close to one of the women who co-owns the store since they opened last summer. While retrieving my pre-order, she informs me of some bad news, that they've decided to shut down the brick & mortar store. This, of course, sucks. It's never a good thing when a bookstore has to close.

But remember: we have been searching for a spot, and the rent on this building is almost the same $$$ as another spot we were considering, but this place is 5 minutes from our house compared to the other location's 30-minute drive. Plus...there's room here for retail, and it's already been established as a bookstore. So why not take this spot over? And why not continue it as a bookstore?

Of course, it won't be the same store as its previous life—in fact, it will be very different, considering we are going to be focusing mainly on the horror genre. Yes, we will be opening a horror-themed bookstore in the Greater San Antonio area (Selma, to be exact). Like the publishing company, it will also be called Ghoulish Books.

Fun fact about myself and my partner Lori: we have fantasized about running a bookstore together for years now. We actually mapped out a giant Google doc back at the end of 2019 about how we'd potentially run a store, along with plans for crowdfunding one in early 2020—which we fully intended on launching, until COVID hit and we decided opening a bookstore was a terrible idea right then.

But now we have this opportunity in front of us to do it, so we're doing it. As I already said, we signed the lease earlier this week. Our move-in date is in early March. It's happening regardless of the stretch goal on our Kickstarter, but uhhhh don't let that dissuade you from backing. Backing the KS very much helps! Every little bit helps.

I have several photos to share, to give you an idea of the space and set-up, but keep in mind the store still currently exists as a different bookstore, and we will be redecorating after officially taking over in March.

Here is a photo of the store's exterior (courtesy of Google Maps):

Here is the front lobby, from opposite POVs:

Here is the main sales floor, from opposite POVs:

Here is the hallway, which starts in the front lobby and branches out into the sales floor, the bathroom, and a back office:

Here is the little kitchen area, located within the hallway:

And here is the bathroom, where we will definitely be hanging a poster from We Need to Do Something in:

Plus, as I mentioned, there is also a decent back office area (not posting those photos here due to privacy reasons).

I am incredibly excited about this. So excited I’ve been staying up most nights with my mind racing about the possibilities of things to come. This was a very risky decision and obviously there’s no way to tell whether or not it’s a mistake…but I kind of reject the idea of avoiding something just because I might regret it in the future.

All my life I have been embracing risky decisions, usually while others tried talking me down. Someone doubting you, it turns out, is great fuel for taking leaps into the unknown. At 18, I bought a bus ticket and left everybody I knew to try making it on my own. At 19, I launched a small press that has somehow survived while nearly every other publishing company that started around the same time has folded. I have quit my customer service job in the middle of a pandemic. I have driven across the country to make a movie, which later premiered at the Tribeca Film Fest. I have created my own book festival where people from not just around the country but around the fucking world have traveled to attend

¹

. I have launched a Kickstarter that not only funded within 9 hours but, with 5 days to go, is currently over 300% funded.

If I listened every time someone advised me against recklessly giving something a shot, I would have never left the shithole that is Indiana. I would have never gotten published. I would have never done anything.

We are just skeletons stumbling around wearing rotting skin suits. Sooner or later, they will expire, and we will only be bones cooking under the sun. And, eventually, we won’t even be that.

So why not do a bookstore? Why the fuck not?

Anyway, back us on Kickstarter HERE and tell your ghoulish friends about the campaign.

I will, of course, keep everybody updated about the store’s progress via the newsletter in the weeks and months to come.

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BUTCHER CABIN BOOKS

Speaking of bookstores, this week’s episode of the GHOULISH podcast features Jenny Kiefer of Butcher Cabin Books in Louisville, Kentucky. We talked at great length about what it takes to operate a spooky bookstore. It’s a fun discussion!

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BURY YOUR GAYS

Ghoulish Books is now accepting submissions for a new anthology edited by Sofia Ajram entitled Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror.

Cover collage by Gianfranco Briceño

What we want

We’re looking for tales that explore queer tragic horror, and any other interpretation of the title theme. Show us what tragic queer love means to you. Horror is a genre with serrated edges—so make your characters bleed.

We love queer stories of love but intermingle them with tragedy and horror. Give us characters who are angsty and complex, depraved and lecherous, and take us through their ecstasy of heartbreak and suffering. We want hauntings! Possessions! Lovers doomed to be separated for eternity! Mad scientists reviving their beloved wrong! Gays in hell! Sad Bly Manor gays! Don’t like the bury your gays trope? Curse ‘em with immortality and the indefinite madness that comes with it instead!

Most of all, we are looking for compelling characters in stories that stick the landing. Their fates should ideally resonate with their emotional arc. We want feverish intensity, dread, and heartache. When asked, “yo, u good?” after reading your story, the answer should be “no”.

This anthology is only open to queer writers. Those questioning whether or not they identify as queer are also encouraged to submit. We are particularly interested in work from underrepresented voices.

Payment is $0.07 per word and the deadline is May 31, 2023. Check out our submissions page for more guidelines and details about how to submit.

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THE GHOULISH SHOW - JANUARY 2023

Just a quick reminder about next Tuesday, if you happen to live near Austin, TX - on January 31st, The Ghoulish Show returns at Radio Coffee & Beer. We will host a lil’ spooky book market beginning at 6pm, and the main show beings at 8. This month’s performers include: Marty Shambles, Robert Dean, Andrew Hilbert, John Baltisberger, Michael Louis Dixon, and Ryan C. Bradley. I will, of course, host the event and make a fool out of everybody—especially myself. Facebook event page can be found HERE.

Please note: the forecast for this weekend and early next week does not look great. If it’s raining on Tuesday, it’s possible Radio may cancel the show, since it takes place outside. Consider double-checking the Facebook event page before driving down, just in case!

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JESSICA MCHUGH INTERVIEW TIME!!!

To end this newsletter, I would like to give you not one but two Jessica McHugh interviews. First, here is a very fun video interview she recorded with Mar Garcia:

And now, here is a Q&A consisting of questions sent in from newsletter subscribers, patrons, and Discord members. Enjoy!

If you could choose any story or novel you've written for a movie/series adaptation, which would you choose and who do you want to direct?

Though I’d love to see adaptations for most of my novels, I would be deliriously ecstatic to see Lars Von Trier’s version of The Train Derails in Boston. I’m pretty sure it would be illegal though.

How did you get started with blackout poetry?

It started with panic. My husband and I were facing some rough financial difficulties in the beginning of 2019, and when people started donating money to help us out, I knew I had to find a way to repay that kindness. Inspired by a blackout poem by John Edward Lawson I’ve had hanging on my wall for years, I decided to make my own blackout poetry for the people who donated. At the Dollar Tree, I found a book of Shirley Jackson essays and short stories, grabbed a bunch of markers and crayons, and dove in. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I instantly fell in love. I made dozens in that first week and basically never stopped. Since then, my art and technique has evolved significantly, and with my 3^rd collection coming in 2023, along with an educational and interactive blackout poetry work playbook from Apokrupha, I assume I'll be making blackout poetry for a long time to come.

For Jessica, from a repressed writer: You've posted images of you writing in a bar. Have you ever felt self-conscious about writing in public? Did you overcome it, or have you always felt comfortable writing wherever and whenever?

I did feel a little awkward at first, but I think a lot of that had to do with 1) finding the right bar(s) and 2) sticking it out long enough for people to get used to me doing my thing. For me, it was valuable to train myself to write in as many environments as possible, when it’s dead silent and when people are screaming in your ear. And except for the occasional smart-ass who says, “wHaT aRe YoU wRiTiNg, A nOvEl?!” I absolutely love the bar scene during happy hour. I find the chaotic energy inspiring, and I get a lot of character traits and story ideas from listening to the people around me. Though I still get interrupted quite a bit by strangers interested in what I’m doing, I frequently end up selling books to those people, so it’s worth it.

Do you remember the first story you ever wrote? What was it about?

I wrote little stories here and there from the time I was very young, but the first memorable one was called “James.” It was about a serial killer named James returning to stalk a former victim on the anniversary of his first attack. I also wrote a completely non-derivative sequel called “James Takes Manhattan,” which was marked down by the teacher for being too gory.

What childhood books did you love?

Any Roald Dahl, The BFG & Matilda especially, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. I also read quite a lot of Stephen King starting in late elementary school, then I gave Goosebumps a complete miss and went straight into RL Stine’s Fear Street Saga. Halloween Party and Sunburn are my favorites to this day.

You seem endlessly creative, do you ever get creative burn out? How do you stave it off or help it when/if it occurs?

I don’t know if I’d call it creative burn-out, exactly, but in 2018, I was so exhausted by the business of writing, releasing stories that seemed to disappear as soon as they were published, being too poor to attend conventions and network with my peers, all while suffering from grief, depression, and anxiety, I seriously considered leaving the business. I actually started training to be a ballroom dance instructor to take the place of my writing career. That didn’t work out so well, though, and as it happens, discovering my love of blackout poetry was right around the corner. It saved me and my love of this business in so many ways.

However, there are definitely times when I feel like my brain just won’t...brain. That’s usually when I lose myself in new fun tv series or movie and/or color some unfinished blackout poetry—something creative and restorative that doesn’t require a lot of thought. Yoga and dancing are also helpful for clearing my head and recentering myself during times of extreme stress and exhaustion.

What was the inspiration for the band you created in your upcoming novel?

Sophie Francis dreams of being a famous singer/musician in Hares in the Hedgerow & after everything that goes down in that novel, I wanted to give her the chance to see that dream come true. Of course, as we all know, dreams can easily turn into nightmares, & there are a lot of unexpected prices to achieving fame. In the 3rd book it'll be clear pretty quickly that Sophie's band, Natalie + the Blackouts, are far from normal... far from harmless too. As I'm planning their stage shows & writing their songs, I've been heavily influenced by Girlschool, Fuzzbox, Siouxsie Sioux & the Banshees, Vixen, Blondie, & Shonen Knife. It's been a blast.

Writing a trilogy cannot be an easy project. Can you talk about the process and work and challenges that go into writing and planning three novels of a series?

The Gardening Guidebooks Trilogy is actually the 3^rd series I’ve written, though we can probably all block my sword & sorcery series, The Tales of Dominhydor, from our collective memories. I also have a 5-book young adult series called The Darla Decker Diaries available that helped prepare me for writing this trilogy.

...Sort of.

While the Darla Decker books cover her life from the beginning of 6^th grade to the summer before 9^th grade, the Gardening Guidebooks spans decades. It did teach me to keep a lot of character developments notes, though, especially physical changes and important character likes/dislikes. Since Rabbits in the Garden was originally written as a standalone released by a disreputable publisher in 2011, I didn’t track a lot of that stuff and had to reread it several times before writing Hares in the Hedgerow. Likewise, with Hares, I didn’t know if anyone was going to pick it up as a standalone or paired with Rabbits once the old publisher crumbled, so I had no idea if I’d have the opportunity to write a third book. It was always in the back of my mind, though, so I kept track of details just in case in a notebook and on a white board in my writing hut. Thank goodness for Ghoulish, because I’ve desperately been wanting to write the 3^rd book and bring this twisted story to a satisfying conclusion.

Those physical characteristics get me the most though! I have to keep a list of tattoos, scars, and eye/hair color, and missing or injured digits/appendages. After I realized I accidentally wrote a character who’d lost a hand in the previous book using both his hands in the subsequent installment, I vowed to never make that mistake again.

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Okay, that’s it for this week. You can support us on Patreon, browse the books in our webstore, and follow us on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter (PMMP | Ghoulish Tales | Ghoulish podcast | Ghoulish Books | personal).

Or just click on our LINKTREE for all relevant links.

Reserve your ticket for Ghoulish Book Fest 2023.

You can also join us on the Ghoulish Discord.

See you next time, ghouls.

1. It should be noted that many of these accomplishments were collaborations with my partner, Lori Michelle, of course!