Authors Max Booth III and Lori Michelle, who run the small press Ghoulish Books, will be opening a bookshop under the same name next month at 9330 Corporate Drive #702 in Selma, Tex. The San Antonio Current reported that the storefront will house both the publishing operation and a retail space primarily stocking indie horror titles along with a few gifts and used books. It also will provide a venue for events such as author readings and signings.

"It was something myself and my partner have discussed at great length and fantasized about for years," said horror author Booth. "But we never really had the opportunity or thought that it would be a realistic thing to do."

They had been looking to rent a space for their publishing office, and during the hunt, Booth visited a used bookstore in Selma that he and Michelle frequented. When they discovered the shop would soon be closing, they took advantage of the opportunity. "Since the storefront was already configured as a retail space, they decided to continue operating it as a bookshop under the name of their publishing brand," the Current noted. 

Ghoulish Books is the recently renamed horror imprint of Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, an indie press founded by Booth and Michelle in 2012. "We changed [the name] up because we discovered that we seem to be successful when leaning into this niche of spooky stuff," said Booth. "Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, nobody knows what that means. But if you say, 'Ghoulish Books,' they go, 'Oh, OK, I got that.' So, we began publishing mostly with that name, with PMMP being the umbrella company of everything."

Although Ghoulish Books hasn't yet set an opening date for the retail store, the publishing company will hold its second annual Ghoulish Book Festival April 14-16 in San Antonio.

Booth said the foray into retail is a continuation of a successful business model: "If we were only relying on it as a retail space, I would probably be more afraid-sounding right now. But because we also just publish books, and those books can be bought by anyone on the planet, I'm real confident that it's not gonna be a disaster."

People's Book, an all-ages, general-interest bookstore, will open this summer in Takoma Park, Md., the Source of the Spring reported.

Owner Megan Bormet, a former elementary school educator, has found a space at 7014-A Westmoreland Ave. and is eyeing an early summer opening. The bookstore will have a particularly strong emphasis on children's books, along with local titles and new releases.

Bormet's event plans include things like storytime sessions and author readings, and she's launched a membership program called Republic of Readers, which will offer members early access to events and $10 back for every $200 spent.

In addition to books, Bormet's store will carry a selection of book-related gifts along with snacks and beverages like coffee and kombucha.

"Takoma Park is our family's forever home, and we're excited about providing readers of all ages with opportunities to explore, learn and connect with their neighbors," Bormet told Source of the Spring. "Helping kids and adults find books they love is what I like to do best, and I'm thrilled that we can do this at People's Book."

Nebraska Book Co. in Lincoln, Neb., which grew from a college bookstore founded in 1915 to a company that at one time operated more than 200 college stores and had a wholesale textbook division, has gone out of business, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

As of Wednesday, the majority of Nebraska Book's 114 full-time employees have been laid off, with about 30 employees staying on for another 4-6 weeks "to help liquidate the company." In an e-mail to staff, Nebraska Book Co. v-p Jennifer Goetsch attributed the closure to the pandemic, noting that when it "forced students off campus and into using digital content, we sold through much of our inventory and have not had sufficient funds to replenish it. Lack of inventory is the cause of the shortfall in sales we required to maintain the business."

The e-mail continued: "Please know that if there was a viable option to keep this great company going, we would have seized it, but we simply ran out of capital and time."

Nebraska Book declared bankruptcy in 2011 and closed its flagship store in 2015, but had expanded with the launch of a technology services company in 2018. Since 2020 it was majority owned by financial firm Concise Capital Management.

Small Press Distribution, which distributes nearly 400 publishers, is reorganizing its operations and created a GoFundMe campaign to help fund the transition.

Among the changes: SPD is expanding services to its clients by partnering with Ingram Content Group and Publishers Storage & Shipping to handle storage and shipping. As a result, SPD will be able to offer publishers print on demand, e-book and audiobook distribution services. Ingram will provide pick, pack and ship functions. SPD will continue to take orders, bill, collect and provide customer service on order fulfillment but will close its Berkeley, Calif., warehouse.

"Publishers will see a wider offering of their titles to Bookshop.org, libraries and independent bookstores that are such an important channel for independent presses," SPD said. "Global POD sites will offer affordable international distribution to global markets such as Europe and Australia that have been historically cost-prohibitive with U.S.-based printing and shipping. And Midwest U.S. ship points will decrease freight cost and speed delivery time domestically."

Called SPD Next, the GoFundMe campaign has raised $13,000 toward its goal of $100,000. SPD executive director Kent Watson said, "SPD needs your help to bring our nearly 400 presses with us into the future. Our new model will significantly help underrepresented voices reach the marketplace with increased efficiencies. With this funding, SPD will now be able to offer more options to speed publishers' books to each and every reader around the globe while also offering access to POD, e-books, and audiobooks. Please help us build a brighter future for small press literature with a donation to our SPD Next GoFundMe campaign."

Kwame Spearman, who has taken a leave of absence from his position as CEO of the Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, Colo., to focus on a run for Mayor, has opened his campaign headquarters at the former location of Nicole Sullivan's BookBar, which recently closed. 

In an e-mail newsletter, Sullivan, who also owns and operates the Bookies Bookstore, BookBar Press and BookGive, wrote: "I know you all remain curious about what's coming for the BookBar space. We're still working out details for our next grand idea coming Fall 2023.... In the meantime, we've invited my friend and fellow bookstore owner, Kwame Spearman, into the space formerly known as BookBar to headquarter his campaign to become Denver's next mayor! 

"As you know, one of the reasons I decided to close BookBar last month is because business models, like BookBar, that strive to offer third spaces for community gathering are finding it increasingly difficult to keep pace with the rising costs and red tape of doing business in Denver. As a business owner, Kwame gets it. We both know that small businesses are the backbone of communities and that local politicians can and must do more to ensure the vitality of our local economies."

Addressing "BookBar Enthusiasts" in a letter, Spearman observed: "When we purchased Tattered Cover, I looked to BookBar and Nicole for guidance. I loved the concept Nicole had built and respected that BookBar was an active member in its community. Nicole quickly became a mentor and a friend. When I learned late last year that BookBar would close at the start of 2023, I battled through a lot of emotions. I grieved for BookBar's customers, neighborhood residents, and staff. Equally important--BookBar's closing made me openly question two things:

• How many local businesses will soon be able to call Denver home?
• And how many employees for those local businesses will soon be able to call Denver home?

"These central questions led me to the Mayor's race. As a Denver native and a Denver Public Schools graduate, I believe that our local economy is the lifeblood of our city's culture and authenticity. And if elected Mayor of Denver, I hope to preserve it. And what better place to have a campaign headquarters than at BookBar? Yes--we're opening our campaign office at BookBar. We'll be replacing books with policy papers and campaign fliers. And we'll need you to help make the space spatial."

A recent visitor to Capital Books, Sacramento, Calif., left a 2-star review complaining about "woke, leftist, ideologue literature" in the children's area, while also commenting positively on the "small chair and bean bags" available for patrons. "After some in-office laughter and ridicule, the decision was made to promote that review with a T-shirt and tote," the bookstore noted.

On Facebook, Capital Books posted: "We did it. We finally got a review we can put on a T-shirt. We couldn't have done it without our amazing staff and customers who help us shape our wonderful, diverse, and INCLUSIVE children's section."

Ami Greko

Ami Greko has joined Greenlight Bookstores, Brooklyn, N.Y., as events & marketing manager. She is a 20-year publishing veteran who has worked at Macmillan, Goodreads and Apple Books and joins the existing team of events coordinator K. Kerimian and marketing coordinator Claire Fallon.

"March into a New Book" was the seasonally appropriate message delivered by the sidewalk chalkboard at Beausoleil Books, Lafayette, La., which noted on Facebook: "We have been remiss. Yesterday was the release day for ALL THREE of these beautiful book babies! 

So start the month off right.... March into a new book with one of these most excellent choices!"

A Delicious Story by Barney Saltzberg (Hippo Park/Astra Books for Young Readers) as well as a song video by Saltzberg.

Today:
Fresh Air: Will Sommer, author of Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America (Harper, $29.99, 9780063114487).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Lysa TerKeurst, author of Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are (Thomas Nelson, $28.99, 9781400211760).

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this weekend from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, March 4
2 p.m. David Thomson, author of Bonds of War: How Civil War Financial Agents Sold the World on the Union (University of North Carolina Press, $29.95, 9781469666617). (Re-airs Sunday at 2 a.m.)

Sunday, March 5
8 a.m. Michelle Anderson, author of The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded America (Avid Reader Press, $30, 9781501195983). (Re-airs Sunday at 8 p.m.)

9 a.m. Mike Pompeo, author of Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love (Broadside Books, $32.99, 9780063247444). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m.)

10 a.m. Nick Tabor, author of Africatown: America's Last Slave Ship and the Community It Created (St. Martin's Press, $29.99, 9781250766540). (Re-airs Sunday at 10 p.m.)

11 a.m. Brad Meltzer, co-author of The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill (Flatiron, $29.99, 9781250777263). (Re-airs Sunday at 11 p.m.)

12 p.m. Live In-Depth q&a with Jeff Guinn, author of Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage (Simon & Schuster, $29.99, 9781982186104). (Re-airs Monday at 12 a.m.)

4 p.m. Malcolm Nance, author of They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency (St. Martin's Press, $29.99, 9781250279002), at the Tucson Festival of Books.

5:30 p.m. Chris Whipple, author of The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House (‎Scribner, $30, 9781982106430), at the Tucson Festival of Books.

7:30 p.m. Book TV interviews former Congressman Steve Israel about running an independent bookstore, Theodore's Books, Oyster Bay, N.Y., for the past year.

Cindy Juyoung Ok won the 2023 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition for her manuscript, Ward Toward, which will be published by Yale University Press in April 2024. Winners of the series also receive one of the five writing fellowships offered at the James Merrill House in Stonington, Conn.

Series judge Rae Armantrout said Ok "is a wonderfully inventive poet with a command of her craft. She writes in many forms, some invented, but her constant impulse is to break the frame, to escape oppressive containments. She pushes constantly against the social norms that have sometimes trapped her, writing with startling frankness about mental wards, domestic abuse, and racial stereotyping.... Her impulse is to shake things up."

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, March 7:

Old Babes in the Wood: Stories by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday, $30, 9780385549073) contains 15 stories and is her first collection since 2014.

Confidence: A Novel by Rafael Frumkin (Simon & Schuster, $27.99, 9781982189730) follows a pair of tech company scam artists.

The Golden Spoon: A Novel by Jessa Maxwell (Atria, $27, 9781668008003) combines locked-room murder mystery and TV baking contest.

The Sister Effect: A Novel by Susan Mallery (HQN, $28.99, 9781335448644) follows two sisters contending with childhood trauma in different ways.

What Have We Done: A Novel by Alex Finlay (Minotaur, $27.99, 9781250863720) is a thriller about grown orphans reunited for a deadly reason.

Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult by Michelle Dowd (Algonquin, $28, 9781643751856) is a memoir about being raised and escaping from an apocalyptic cult.

The Book of Animal Secrets: Nature's Lessons for a Long and Happy Life by David B. Agus (Simon & Schuster, $28.99, 9781982103026) finds clues for longevity and happiness in the animal world.

The Wonder Paradox: Embracing the Weirdness of Existence and the Poetry of Our Lives by Jennifer Michael Hecht (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $30, 9780374292744) explores ways to find meaning and connection through poetry.

The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilizes Our Governments, and Warps Our Economies by Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington (Penguin Press, $30, 9780593492673) reveals how consulting companies like McKinsey can make everything worse.

The Jump by Brittney Morris (Simon & Schuster, $19.99, 9781665903981) features four teens determined to win a scavenger hunt and save their city.

Iceberg by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Scholastic Press, $17.99, 9781338795028) is a middle-grade historical novel about a stowaway on the Titanic.

Paperbacks:
That Night: A Novel by Alice McDermott (Picador, $17, 9781250881373).

Sundial by Catriona Ward (Tor Nightfire, $19.99, 9781250812704).

The Little Book of Zen: A Beginner's Guide to the Art of Zen by Astrid Carvel (Summersdale, $10.99, 9781800071971).

A Death at the Party: A Novel by Amy Stuart (Simon & Schuster, $17.99, 9781668009109).

Dead Country by Max Gladstone (Tordotcom, $17.99, 9780765395917).

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover
Looking for Jane: A Novel by Heather Marshall (Atria, $27.99, 9781668013687). "The life-changing choices faced by the women in Looking for Jane could not be more relevant. Stretching across five decades and three generations, this powerful novel is for anyone who cares about a woman's right to decide her future." --Beth Stroh, Viewpoint Books, Columbus, Ind.

Maame: A Novel by Jessica George (St. Martin's Press, $27.99, 9781250282521). "Maame is a deeply moving story about growing up, moving on, grief, and tradition. Jessica George has created a deeply funny and tragic protagonist, and perfectly conveys the challenges of a twenty-five-year-old navigating modern life." --Kyle Churman, Werner Books, Erie, Pa.

Paperback
Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal, trans. by Jessica Moore (Archipelago, $18, 9781953861504). "An emotional thriller in miniature, this slim, brisk book had me on the edge of my seat and emotionally invested in these characters until the very end. The poetic language is the work of a singular and transfixing talent." --David Vogel, Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor, Mich.

For Ages 4 to 8
Nell Plants a Tree by Anne Wynter, illus. by Daniel Miyares (Balzer + Bray, $17.99, 9780062865779). "When a picture book gives you chills, you know it's special. This gorgeously illustrated book captures a connection to family and the meaning of roots in a very special way." --Kirsten Hess, Let's Play Books!, Emmaus, Pa.

For Ages 8 to 12
The Ever Storms (Wilderlore #3) by Amanda Foody (Margaret K. McElderry, $17.99, 9781665910750). "My favorite ongoing middle grade series keeps getting better and better! I loved this continuation of Barclay's adventure in the Wildlands. The school setting was a blast and the prank war Tourney added a fun twist! I can't wait for more." --Mary Louise Callaghan, Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, N.C.

For Teen Readers
Wildblood by Lauren Blackwood (Wednesday, $18.99, 9781250787132). "Absolutely devastating in the best possible way. Wildblood will pull you through the jungle, breathless at Blackwood's turns of phrase and twists of plot." --Leah Grover, Scrawl Books, Reston, Va.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

A visceral and startling debut novel by Jade Song, Chlorine is a portrait of ambition, defiance and longing set in the world of competitive swimming. Ren Yu has always been drawn to the water. Her focus becomes single-minded when she gets sucked into the churning orbit of an intense and abusive swim coach. The book opens as teenage Ren organizes her life around swim practices, grueling workouts, punishing diets and the routine of shaving her body free of hair to slip through the water seamlessly. As her body transforms, her best friend and fellow swimmer Cathy is inescapably drawn to Ren, although she cannot predict the lengths Ren will go to in order to re-create herself as the water-bound creature she knows herself to be.

Chlorine is situated fully in Ren's mind and she addresses readers directly, catapulting them into her spiral of obsession, aesthetic discipline and burning desire from page one. This world is consistently wince-worthy, one built more of pain than pleasure. From the searing scent of chlorine to the raw scrape of blades against skin, the sensory details of Ren's world are meant to lodge themselves in the reader's consciousness. Song's depictions of a body in pain can be unrelenting, dragging readers "down, down, down, with no air in my lungs and no lifeguard on duty," like Ren during one of her first encounters in the pool. Yet, in the same way that Cathy finds herself captivated by Ren's intensity, readers become immersed in her undeniable voice.

While the explosive conclusion of Ren's story may at first seem particularly cringeworthy, it's ultimately an unexpectedly peaceful finale, one that seeks finally to find pleasure in the water, instead of pain. After all, it is not the pursuit of water that contorts Ren's mind and body, but the question of whether "womanhood [was] always so violent, raw," marked by "gut-wrenching, gross violence." Mounting rejections from family members, the alienation of being a Chinese girl in an aggressively white American high school, and the uncontrollable messiness of the body and its desires are what inspire Ren's love of the hard-won "canyons of muscle indents eroding through my skin" and her fantasies of "grabbing a knife, and pressing it against myself to carve out each muscle for greater prominence." Song invites readers to enter into Ren's obsessions not with judgment or disgust, but with an understanding that is surprisingly tender in the face of the novel's abrasion. --Alice Martin, freelance writer and editor

Shelf Talker: A coming-of-age story with an immersive first-person voice and a heavy dose of body horror, Chlorine is a raw and powerful literary debut.