Stephanie Pius assumed ownership last month of the Bookshelf, which sells new and used titles in downtown Kalispell, Mont. The Daily Inter Lake reported that Pius, who purchased the business from Kyle Fort and Mary Wolf, said it had never occurred to her that the store could ever be anything other than a bookshop. Though she will maintain the foundation that the previous owners laid for the store, she looks forward to "putting her own stamp" on it.

"It's interesting how many people come in here and say, 'Oh, I'm so glad you're keeping this a bookstore!' Kyle and Mary had a good business and a lot of regulars, so I don't have plans to make any major changes," Pius noted. 

Having homeschooled her seven children for two decades, with the youngest graduating recently from high school, Pius decided it was time to pursue her next adventure. A background in teaching and tutoring reading led to the decision that owning the Bookshelf would be an excellent opportunity.

"For the last year and a half I was looking for what I was going to do next," she said. "I have children with special needs so I need to have a job that I can leave to take care of them if I need to. This fell into my lap and the timing was ideal....  I'm excited because I love books and helping people find things to read. I love meeting and chatting with new people." 

Pius wants the Bookshelf to remain an active part of the community by supporting organizations such as the National Audubon Society and Authors of the Flathead, as well as continuing to host author signings, book launches, and other events.

"I want this bookstore to be a place where people feel comfortable and can find what they want to read. I'd love for people to find the information they're looking for here," she said, adding: "This is a well-organized store. We have science fiction, fantasy, western, romance, spirituality, non-fiction, children and young adult books. But I'm still learning what to suggest because not every book is everyone's cup of tea."

She also encouraged people who may not consider themselves readers to come in and check out the Bookshelf's offerings: "If you think you don't like reading, it could be that you just haven't found the subject you're interested in. There's so many books on so many subjects and you don't have to read a thick book. Don't be scared of books."

A Novel Idea bookstore, Philadelphia, Pa., has more than doubled its $10,000 goal for a GoFundMe campaign that launched last week. The Inquirer reported that co-owners Christina Rosso-Schneider and Alex Schneider, who opened the bookshop in 2018, had been struggling for months to keep their business afloat "as the enthusiasm for small businesses that buoyed their shop through the pandemic had dried up, and by this summer, they were in debt to publishers. They laid off staff and cut hours. They had no money to purchase more books." 

As a last option, they turned to their community for help through the crowdfunder, which exceeded its goal in three hours and has since raised more than $25,000.

"We've been crying for days," Rosso-Schneider said. "Our shelves are pretty empty at the moment, because all weekend the shop was full.... We've had people calling, e-mailing, messaging, from all over the country. People have really shown up, whether they're here in this neighborhood or they just care about bookstores."

The donations will be used to sign a year-to-year lease with their landlord, who offered not to raise the rent. They are also placing new orders and "now have breathing room to invest in independent books and smaller presses," the Inquirer noted.

"The hope is that we'll still be here in August 2024," said Rosso-Schneider.

On Facebook, the co-owners posted last weekend: "We are absolutely blown away by the support we've received over the past 48 hours. We've doubled our donation goal, had the shop packed with regulars and new customers, and have received more online and special orders than ever before. We cannot thank you all enough. We always say we wouldn't be here without you, and we mean that quite literally. You showed up and we are so grateful! We're updating both the store and online shop everyday and are responding to emails as quickly as possible! We are weepy and stunned by this outpouring of support. This is what community means. Thank you thank you thank you."

Kelsey Black

Following a surge of community support that helped the store sell nearly 1,800 books in less than two weeks, the Book Burrow in Pflugerville, Tex., is looking for a new location.

According to KXAN, store owner Kelsey Black put out a call for help on social media toward the end of June, asking customers to stop by and support the bookstore. The Book Burrow, located inside of a wine bar called the Three Legged Goat, Black explained, was facing uncertainty with the bar set to close soon for renovations.

Thanks to the surge in sales, Black is now looking for a new home for the store. She couldn't yet give any specifics, but she's looking at everything from a bricks-and-mortar space to a refurbished school bus. The store has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help.

"I am so thankful to everyone who helped us hit our goal," Black told KXAN. "We still do not know where we are going to go, but I do remain hopeful that we will be able to find a space that is perfect for us to be able to provide a safe space for everyone."

A new Barnes & Noble location on New York City's Upper East Side will officially open on July 19, Patch.com reported.

Located at 1550 Third Ave., near East 87th St., the store occupies a 7,000-square-foot storefront that was previously a Duane Reade pharmacy. Opening festivities on the 19th will include a ribbon cutting and signing with Adriana Trigiani, author of The Shoemaker's Wife (Harper).

It is the first B&N to open in Manhattan since 2007 and is much smaller than B&N's previous Upper East Side location, which spanned 55,000 square feet and closed in 2020.

Peter Beren

Peter Beren, publisher, literary agent, author, and champion of the arts and culture of the Bay Area, died on June 28. He was 75.

Beren began his career in 1976 as an editor at And/Or Press. He joined Sierra Club Books in 1988 as marketing director and spent the next nine years building the book publishing and calendar business, culminating in his role as publisher. He then was the founding publisher of VIA Books, a division of the California State Automobile Association, distributed to the book trade by Andrews McMeel, and after that, joined Palace Press International as v-p of publishing from 2004 to 2008. He then started Peter Beren Associates literary and consulting agency.

Beren also authored or co-authored The Writers Legal Companion, The Golden Gate, and California the Beautiful. His articles have appeared in Mother Jones, Newsweek, Publishers Weekly, and Tufts magazine.

As a literary agent, publisher, and editor, Beren worked with such photographers as Art Wolfe, Frans Lanting, Galen Rowell, and Baron Wolman, as well as scholars Colin Wilson, Ralph Metzner and Robert Anthon Wilson. He published illustrators Jack Katz and Brian Froud, the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, and California State Senator and counterculture icon Tom Hayden.

A celebration of life is planned for later this summer in the Bay Area. To receive more information and/or send condolences to share with the family, please e-mail his friend and partner, Susan McConnell.

Parnassus Books, Nashville, Tenn., rolled out the red carpet (literally!) for the launch of Do Tell (Doubleday), the debut novel by the store's book buyer, Lindsay Lynch (pictured at left, in conversation with owner Ann Patchett).

Congratulations to Whitty Books, Tulsa, Okla., which is celebrating its fifth birthday this week. On Facebook, co-owners Victoria Moore and Julian DeLesDernier posted that "5 years ago yesterday, we opened our doors for the very first time. We've done so much and had so much happen since then--we've had author events and live music, we've made mistakes and learned a lot, we survived a pandemic, we got married, we've made new friends and lost loved ones, we moved to a new location, we started our own small press, we helped organize @tulsalitfest--the list goes on and on. This store is in many ways our home, and while running it isn't always easy, it's been truly rewarding. Thank you to all of you that have supported us; you're the reason we get to be here and the reason we get to do what we do. TL;DR--we're feeling nostalgic and sentimental and grateful, so please come celebrate with us this weekend!"

Posted by Bear Pond Books, Montpelier, Vt., after floodwaters swept through the capital city earlier this week: "We are so very thankful for all the people who came out to help us today! We were able to get so much done--we can't believe all the wet books and mud are gone! Thanks to everyone who is messaging us and asking how they can help.... Not going to lie--it was a difficult day. But the incredible support of this community saw us through a big clean-up and we managed to still be smiling by the end of the day. Thank you to this amazing staff and everyone who showed up and got in the mud with us today. It’s truly overwhelming and wonderful to be on the receiving end of all that love in the face of this disaster! Vermonters are the best!"

Training booksellers can be challenging, especially if they're cats. Posted on Facebook by Deadtime Stories, Lansing, Mich.:

Customer: "How do you get your cats to just sit in the window like that?"
Me: "By repeatedly telling them not to."

*If you only see Morrison, look harder.
**Behind the welcome sign in the other window.

Alexis Lassiter has joined Little Bee Books as a sales manager. She will manage Readerlink and assist with Amazon A+ and sales reporting and analysis. She started her publishing career at Scholastic and then worked at Hachette under the James Patterson imprint.

Fifth Season and Mazur Kaplan have acquired the rights to Shelley Read's debut novel Go as a River for a film adaptation, Variety reported. The Mazur Kaplan principals are Paula Mazur and Mitchell Kaplan (owner of Books & Books, which operates several bookstores in southern Florida). Read will consult on the project, with multi-platform publisher Spiegel & Grau executive producing.

The winner of this year's CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award) is Marshmallow Clouds: Poems Inspired by Nature by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek, illustrated by Richard Jones. Presented annually in the U.K., the prize "encourages and celebrates outstanding poetry published for children." The winner receives £1,000 (about $1,300), a trophy, and opportunities to engage in ongoing publicity. Choose Love by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Petr Horáček, was highly commended by the judges.

photo: David James Coxsell

Stephen Aryan was born in Iran and raised in Whitley Bay on the northeast coast of England. He is the author of the Quest for Heroes duology as well as the Age of Darkness and Age of Dread trilogies. His debut, Battlemage, was a finalist for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award and won the inaugural Hellfest Inferno Prize. The Judas Blossom (Angry Robot) is the first in a new Persian-inspired fantasy trilogy.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

A fantasy reimagining of the Mongol Empire's invasion of Persia, following the lives and treacherous journeys of four characters in the heart of war.

On your nightstand now:

I'm currently reading Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey, the sixth book in the Expanse series. I was a fan of the series for a long time but kept dipping in and out. Then I was reading the book after watching every new season of the TV show. Now that it's all wrapped up, I'm going to read the last four books and then all the short stories.

Favorite book when you were a child:

Probably The Hobbit, because my mum bought me a special hardback, illustrated edition (which I still have), and then I went and saw it performed at the theatre. This hooked me early into the fantasy genre.

Your top five authors:

David Gemmell is perhaps the biggest influence on my work. His stories and characters have stayed with me for decades. A lot of people talk about Tolkien being the one that shaped them the most, but for me it was Gemmell. He was creating morally grey, complex characters who were just trying to do their best in difficult circumstances, long before anyone coined the phrase grimdark.

Robin Hobb is an expert storyteller and an incredibly talented writer, whom I admire enormously.

Jim Butcher has been writing the Dresden Files for more than 20 years now, and he's just gotten better over the years. I absolutely love the series.

Stephen King has a remarkable imagination. His books have been a constant companion throughout my life, at every stage, through every trial and tribulation, every birthday and celebration. His stories were there when I was a teenager, still growing up, all the way up to the present, and he's still publishing new stories.

Dean Koontz is a master at what he does, writing pacy, weird, dark, mysterious, supernatural thrillers. I have loved many of his stories over the years, and they show both his enormous skill as a storyteller and his vivid imagination.

Book you've faked reading:

None. Everyone has reading gaps. There are too many books and not enough time to read everything.

Book you're an evangelist for:

The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell. I'm not much of a horror reader and only read bits and pieces. I'm also not a fan of zombie novels. This is both of those things and I absolutely love it, because it's not about the zombies. Not really. It's incredibly well-written; it's beautiful, scary, haunting, thoughtful; and the prose is sharp enough to make you bleed.

Book you've bought for the cover:

None. I always read the back of the book first.

Book you hid from your parents:

The only books I hid were fantasy novels because, to begin with, it was the only genre I would read. My parents wanted me to read other types of fiction, but I resisted. However, after a while they realised I'd get to other genres, because I soon exhausted all of the fantasy books in the local library and the school library.

Book that changed your life:

Legend by David Gemmell. The main character isn't a farm boy with a destiny. He's not a prince or a king or a knight. He's an old warrior, called back for one last fight. He's an ordinary man who built his own legend and is famous for his deeds. His reputation was earned through hard work and sacrifice, but it didn't come without a terrible cost. Legend opened my eyes to what fantasy could be. You could still have great heroes and villains, but the world is very grey and, in some ways, that makes it closer to our own than some of the earlier fantasy I read where it was very simple and clean. One of the main characters in my first novel, Battlemage, was a middle-aged, slightly overweight, balding man with grey in his beard, which came from reading Legend all those years ago.

Favourite line from a book:

"We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long."

It's from my favourite book by Stephen King, The Green Mile.

Five books you'll never part with:

A Folio Society special edition of Dune by Frank Herbert. It's my favourite sci-fi novel of all time, and I treated myself to this hardback edition with paintings and a slipcase. It's gorgeous. It's not for reading, just looking at, so I'll never part with my battered, worn-out paperback copy that I actually read.

The six original paperback volumes of The Green Mile. Stephen King did an experiment, and at the time they were released in little hundred-page chunks. Now you can get a copy in one paperback, but I still have my old, worn-out, little copies, as well as a new paperback.

A signed first edition of Echoes of the Great Song by David Gemmell. It's one of my most cherished possessions, together with a signed copy of Wolf in Shadow, which I had signed when I met him a number of years ago. So that makes five books, really.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

Dune by Frank Herbert. It blew the doors off my mind back when I first read it, and it's something I have reread many times over the years.

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison (Such Sharp Teeth; Cackle; The Return) moves inexorably from the darkly absurd into terrifying horror. Readers follow apathetic, antisocial Vesper Wright as she returns home to her estranged family and learns that what she knew of her unorthodox upbringing was just the beginning.

Vesper is 23 years old, working as a server at a chain restaurant "in an unglamorous part of Westchester County, sporting a polo and serving plates of baby back ribs I was fairly certain were generated in a lab." She's unhappy but relieved to be free from the family, community, and church in which she was raised--until she receives an invitation to attend the wedding of her former best friend and her first boyfriend. Magnetically drawn to the place she misses, dreads, and still thinks of as home, Vesper reencounters not only the unusual church but her powerful mother, a horror movie megastar who never proved very maternal: "I'd only ever seen her emote on screen, her vulnerability behind glass. She was more human to me when she was pretending to be someone other than herself." What she finds at home will blow Vesper's world, and perhaps literally the entire world, wide open. She reconsiders her memories and "that our past is not the truth. It's warped by time and emotion, inevitably muddied by love and resentment, joy and shame, hope and regret." Eventually Vesper will have to rethink everything she thought she understood about her family, her church, and her past--and reexamine her loss of faith.

Early on, Black Sheep exhibits black humor and an accessible 20-something nihilistic angst. Details of Vesper's former church are darkly comic. As the stakes rise, however, Harrison's imaginative plot turns gruesomely to true horror. Fans of the genre will find pleasure in both the playful and the ghastly aspects. Aside from the terror, Vesper's story ruminates on themes that include nature vs. nurture, the legacy of family trauma, and the repercussions of organized religion in its various forms. "Nothing terrified me more than this. The notion that without a choice we inherit parts of us that we cannot change. Cannot cut out." This subject matter elevates a horror novel to a study in philosophy, even as the bloodletting ramps up.

Black Sheep is can't-look-away riveting in its best and most disturbing moments, gripping readers on both conceptual and visceral levels. Vesper's discontent and wrestling with her own worst self, her former family's creepy cultlike demeanor, and the final crescendo of action add up to an unforgettable adventure. --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia

Shelf Talker: In this darkly comedic yet philosophical horror novel, an unhappy 20-something returns home to the insular community and church she'd left behind only to find frights worse than she'd remembered.

Plot Twist Books, South Charleston, W.Va.

Our hearts go out to those who couldn't spend #primeday with their loved ones. We are here in case you need a book and a stiff drink. #shoplocal. --Kramers, Washington D.C. 

Prime Day? More like prime day to support an indie business...amiright?!?! --Bookshop.org

Amazon Prime Day Glitch Offers Controlling Stake in Company for $24.99. --headline in The Onion 

I probably should have done this years ago, but I'd like to designate Amazon the official Xmas Creep, a kind of patron devil for Christmas in July (apologies to the Hallmark Channel). Maybe somebody could design a Prime Day mascot costume--a cross between the Grinch's and Jeff Bezo's head, I'm thinking, with a sneering smile drawn from The Joker and Amazon's trademark eerie grin logo. 

A more appealing Christmas in July tradition, however, involves Indie booksellers countering Amazon's Prime Day punch with their own best creative shots, backed by teammates like the American Booksellers Association, regional bookseller organizations, Bookshop.org, Libro.fm, and more. 

"There's a rumor that today is 'Prime Day' for some conglomerate behemoth," RJ Julia Booksellers, Madison, Conn., noted in its latest newsletter. "Here's our idea of a truly prime day...

• meeting old friends at the bookstore to browse for your next beach read
• chatting with expert booksellers who share their spot-on-just-for-you recommendations
• grabbing a delicious lunch at RJ Cafe on the gorgeous patio, Madison's 'hidden gem'
• enjoying a mid-afternoon treat at Ashley's Ice Cream
• and finishing the day attending a book talk from a bestselling author or watching a movie at Madison Cinemas."

In addition to promotions, displays, events, and other strategies to counter Prime Day, indie booksellers were not shy in sharing their opinions about the Xmas Creep on social media. Here's a sampling:

Two Birds Books, Santa Cruz, Calif.: "The anti Am*zon vibes are strong at Two Birds Books this week!"

Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews, Chapel Hill, N.C.: "Get in Barbie, we're going to Epilogue. We're everything. The billion-dollar corporation persuading you with deals the next two days isn't even just Ken. Shop local, come get recs from our booksellers!"

Left Bank Books, St. Louis, Mo.: "The stakes are high right now for indie bookstores, for small businesses, and for communities. It's time we break the Amazon trance. Amazon is marketing two days of 'epic deals,' but #TheFutureIsIndie campaign is here to talk about what is really important." 

Theodore's Books, Oyster Bay, N.Y.: "The Oracle Deck has spoken: indie bookstores are our future. Before you help one of the world's richest men become richer and go to the moon or whatever, consider how aggressively he tried to destroy your local independent bookstore. We're a young store (in the PRIME of our lives you might say) so why not check out what you can buy online from us today and tomorrow. We promise not to use the money to buy (another) yacht."

Bards Alley Bookshop, Vienna, Va.: "Good morning. It's another beautiful day of boycotting Amazon! To fight back against the big guys today, we want to remind you to shop local and keep it indie!"

Under the Umbrella Bookstore, Salt Lake City, Utah: "Download this libro.fm audiobook [Danny Caine's How to Resist Amazon and Why] by today and tomorrow during the Amazon Prime Days! AND enjoy free shipping on all online book purchases through the Under the Umbrella Bookstore website with the code AMAZONSUCKS."

Black Garnet Books, St. Paul, Minn.: "July 11th and 12th are an evil corporation's made-up 'holiday' designed to entice you into supporting their continued atrocities against us. while Bezos hordes the majority of your dollars to buoy his position as one of the richest people in the entire world, he uses the rest of your dollars to union bust, lobby our politicians for laws that only benefit corporations, price out small businesses, buy up marketplace competitors, and pollute the environment in order to save a buck at the expense of the only planet we call home. gross."

Broadside Bookshop, Northampton, Mass.: "Just a few reasons we are proud to be your independent booksellers! Here's the truth--Independent bookstores need your money more than Amaz*n does. Keep your money in our community so we can be here for years to come. Shop with us in store, on our website, or on our page on bookshop.org. As always, we are so grateful for you."

From My Shelf Books & Gifts, Wellsboro, Pa.: "Amazon exploits workers, breaks economies, and destroys communities. Today and every day, Huck at From My Shelf Books & Gifts thanks you for shopping local."

Pegasus Books, Berkeley, Calif.: "Anti-Prime Day, today and tomorrow! Instead of you-know-who, choose independent bookstores run by real people making connections and providing spaces for personal and local experiences." 

Betty's Books, St. Louis, Mo.: "Every indie bookstore brings something unique to their community, an example at BB's being our Comics Cat Clubhouse! Each request to hang up a coloring sheet in the clubhouse is a joy to be a part of, and it's the kind of direct community connection that Mr. Bezos will never be able to replicate."

Less community oriented but kind of devilishly amusing was a report from Forbes that porch pirates are apparently also celebrating the season, with post-Amazon Prime Day package theft expected to rise 40% this year.

Not surprisingly, Amazon's refund policies for stolen purchases are notoriously convoluted, for customers as well as third party sellers. So, in the true spirit of the season, maybe we should add Amazon Prime Unboxing Day to the Christmas in July festivities.