"Democracy is under attack. Democracies are not to be taken for granted. And the institutions that support democracy should not be taken for granted. And so, that's what the concern is about libraries and museums. It's part of a fabric. Think of it as an infrastructure that holds up--the libraries have been called one of the pillars of democracy, that you have these institutions in every community that allow anyone to come in and access knowledge." 

The Last Page Book Shop recently hosted its official ribbon-cutting with the Moab Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the shop's grand opening at 55 E. 100 South in downtown Moab, Utah, the Sun News reported.

Owner Jasmin Atwood said opening a bookstore and sharing "how magical books can be with other people" had been a dream for years. "The opportunity never came together--until it did." 

The day after last Thursday's festivities, Atwood posted on Instagram: "The BIGGEST thank you to everyone who came to support us at our grand opening last night! The support we’ve received from the community in the last few weeks has been unreal and I couldn’t be more grateful.... It was the best night."

She told the Sun News that when she first saw the restored 112-year-old building listed as a commercial property, it spoke to her: "This building had the perfect layout, and once I saw it, I knew I had to try."

Atwood turned the space into a functioning bookshop and juice bar within "two months and a lot of improvisation, stocking shelves with a distinct selection of titles not found elsewhere in town," the Sun News wrote, adding that the juice and smoothie bar "is the only one of its kind in town, a point of pride for Atwood."

"There are very few resources when it comes to this type of business," she said, "and I had to do a lot of guesswork to get it to fit the vision I had in mind." 

The Stable Book Group--a collective of independent publishers that was launched in February--has formed Stable Distribution, a new distribution company designed to provide indie publishers with "a powerful and innovative new path to books and logistics in North America."

Stable Distribution is being formed in partnership with Hachette Book Group US Distribution, which will provide warehousing, logistics, and fulfillment services in the U.S. and Canada. The company will operate from Hachette's Lebanon, Ind., warehouse. The Stable Book Group will lead sales and operations for client publishers. All publishers joining Stable Distribution will be integrated via Perfect Bound, the Stable Book Group's publishing management platform that includes title management, real-time sales and inventory tracking, automated royalty accounting, and a global print-on-demand and offset printing marketplace.

Chris Gruener, CEO of the Stable Book Group, said, "Our goal is to open a new avenue for indie publishers looking to grow their businesses and reach through distribution. The recent consolidation across client distribution has made it significantly harder for independent voices to reach the market. Stable Distribution is our response--an operation built to create more opportunities, more discoverability, and more support for publishers who want to thrive on their own terms."

The other leaders of Stable Distribution include Keith Riegert, president, The Stable Book Group; Brooke Warner, COO, The Stable Book Group; and Chitra Bopardikar, CEO, Global Publishers Group.

Most of the Stable Book Group--including Ulysses Press, Trafalgar Square Books, VeloPress Books, Skybox Press, Montague Books, and Mountain Gazette Books--are moving distribution to Stable Distribution from Simon & Schuster, in January. She Writes Press, the Stable Book Group's hybrid publisher run by Brooke Warner, will continue to be distributed by Simon & Schuster. The Stable Group also includes Galpón Press, founded earlier this year by Michael Jacobs and Sheridan Hay as part of Filmore Projects.

Stable Book Group president Keith Riegert, who is also CEO of Ulysses Press, VeloPress, and Perfect Bound, said, "We are deeply grateful for Simon & Schuster's partnership over the past five years. Their extraordinary team helped us grow into the company we are today. While it's bittersweet to leave such an incredible organization, Stable Distribution is the next step on the roadmap we envisioned when we founded the Stable Book Group--an opportunity to build a distribution ecosystem truly tailored to the needs of independent publishers."

For Hachette, the partnership is an expansion of an approach that has worked well in the U.K. Russell Evans, business development director, Hachette UK Distribution and HBG US Distribution, said, "At Hachette we understand and recognize what best-in-class distribution services mean to publishers. Under this model we are not just providing our services to one independent publisher, but to a group. We successfully delivered this solution in the U.K., so to now offer this in the U.S., and in partnership with the amazingly talented team at Stable Distribution, is equally pleasing and exciting to be part of. We are all delighted about this new partnership and look forward to them joining our distribution family."

Todd McGarity, v-p, U.S. business development, Hachette Book Group, added, "We have been looking for a partner that will allow us to scale and deliver services to more publishers, while maintaining our market strategy of focusing services on medium to large clients. This partnership with Stable Distribution will allow Hachette to continue to differentiate itself in the U.S. distribution market, while providing services to independent presses who need support now more than ever."

The Nation and OR Books are together establishing a book publishing imprint, Nation Books, that will launch this fall. Distributed by OR (which is distributed by Consortium), Nation Books will publish four to six titles a year, which will be a mix of material by current writers for the Nation and writers from its 160-year history.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, publisher and editorial director of the Nation, commented: "At this perilous moment, the Nation's indispensable voice and legacy has never been more essential. Our partnership with OR is a great opportunity to deepen the reach and impact of the Nation's most exciting writers and thinkers, past and present--and inspire a new generation."

Colin Robinson, publisher at OR, added: "The first book we published when we started OR was a searing anthology by Nation editors and writers about Sarah Palin, which went on to the New York Times bestseller list. With plentiful new targets, we are very much looking forward to repeating that experience, drawing on the terrific journalists at a superb progressive magazine."

The first Nation Books titles include:

The Nine Have Spoken, edited by Richard Kreitner, which argues that "our current right-wing Supreme Court is no aberration, but rather part of a long history where demands for a more democratic, accountable federal judiciary have been constant--and unheeded--for more than 150 years."

Obsolete by Garrison Lovely, which is "a deep dive into the Silicon Valley hivemind, and a wake-up call for those who fail to register AI as a threat."

These Dis-United States by 50 writers, artists, and essayists, each of whom contributes "a short original reflection on their own state and assess our current national dis-union."

The Myth of Red Texas by David Griscom, which "finds that Texas today is a result of class struggle; to win a better future in the Lone Star state, [Griscom] writes, the Left must embrace its hidden past."

Frederick Forsyth, who "used his early experience as a British foreign correspondent and occasional intelligence operative as fodder for a series of swashbuckling, bestselling thrillers in the 1970s and '80s," died June 9, the New York Times reported. He was 86. Forsyth wrote 24 books, including 14 novels, and sold more than 75 million copies of his works. In 2012, he was honored with the Crime Writers' Association's Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime contribution to crime writing in the English language. 

Frederick Forsyth (photo: Gillian Shaw)

"His stories often juxtapose a single individual against sprawling networks of power and money--an unnamed assassin against the French government" in The Day of the Jackal (1971), a lone British reporter against a shadowy conspiracy to protect ex-Nazi officers in The Odessa File (1972), the Times noted. 

"It's one man against a huge machine," he told the Times of London in 2024. "We don't like machines, so one guy even trying to kill a human being, taking on this vast machine of government, secret intelligence service, police and so on, has appeal."

His other novels include The Devil's Alternative (1979), The Fourth Protocol (1984), The Fist of God (1994), Icon (1996), The Veteran (2001), Avenger (2003), The Afghan (2006), The Cobra (2010), The Kill List (2013). He also wrote two short story collections and two works of nonfiction, including his memoir, The Outsider: My Life in intrigue (2015).

Many of his books were adapted into movies within a few years of their publication. A film version of The Day of the Jackal, starring Edward Fox, appeared in 1973, just two years after the novel's publication. A second movie version, with Bruce Willis and Sidney Poitier, was released in 1997 as The Jackal; and a TV series based on the novel, starring Eddie Redmayne, aired last year. Other adaptations include The Odessa File, The Dogs of War, and The Fourth Protocol. Icon was made into a TV mini-series, and a major film based on The Kill List has been optioned. 

Neil Nyren, former executive v-p, associate publisher and editor in chief of Putnam, said, "Frederick Forsyth was one of the undisputed true giants of international suspense fiction. We shall miss him dearly."

And Tom Colgan, v-p, editorial director of Berkley, said, "Freddie Forsyth was the definition of a larger-than-life figure. He lived each day with outrageous abandon and heroic courage. In the field of thrilling writing, he was second to none. It's almost inconceivable that his first two thrillers were The Day of the Jackal and The Odessa File--two undisputed classics of the genre. We at Putnam and Penguin Random House are proud to have been associated with him and wish him well on the greatest adventure of all."

After high school, Forsyth joined the Royal Air Force and flew fighter jets. He later was a foreign correspondent for Reuters, covering the attempted assassination in 1962 of Charles de Gaulle, which became the inspiration for The Day of the Jackal. In 1965, he worked for the BBC, where he covered a civil war in Nigeria. In 2015, he revealed that while in Africa he had also been an informant for British intelligence. Forsyth's reporting on the conflict led to two books: the nonfiction The Biafra Story (1969) and the novel The Dogs of War (1974).

Though he'd been a decent student, Forsyth had no interest in academics, choosing to pursue adventures, which his parents encouraged. He told the Daily Mail in 2018: "My father's advice--if you want an interesting life, bloody well go out and get one--was good. I did. And I'm glad I did."

While reporting from East Berlin, where his work for British intelligence "eventually went beyond simply providing information. In 1973, he traveled to Dresden, then in communist East Germany, to retrieve a package from a Russian mole," the Times wrote, adding that at the time, the future Russian president Vladimir Putin ran the Dresden KGB office. Forsyth claimed that Putin had almost caught him as he fled the city.

"He thought he would stop me himself, but he quartered the wrong road," he told the Times of London in 2024. "I wasn't on that road. I was on the other one. So I got through the border with about 10 minutes to spare. Or maybe less."

Forsyth said he considered himself a journalist first and a fiction writer only when he found himself broke and jobless. "He would spend six months researching a book before writing a single word, a method that showed in his careful attention to detail--for example, the minutely described process by which the assassin in The Day of the Jackal constructs a rifle that he can break down and hide inside a wooden leg," the Times noted.

His early books were so successful that Forsyth frequently said he was considering retirement, telling the Guardian after the publication of his memoir that it would be his last book. "I ran out of things to say," he noted at the time, adding that his wife had told him: "You're far too old, these places are bloody dangerous and you don't run as avidly, as nimbly as you used to."

But Forsyth published The Fox in 2018, and on November 18, Putnam will release Revenge of Odessa--a sequel to The Odessa File--that Forsyth wrote with Tony Kent.

S&S v-p of independent sales Wendy Sheanin with Maggie Robe of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill and Emily Sommer of East City Bookshop, who made the trip from D.C. for the event

Simon & Schuster recently concluded its Fall 2025 Simon & Schuster Selects tour, bringing six authors with September releases to meet area booksellers in Chapel Hill, N.C., and Cambridge, Mass. V-p of independent retail sales Wendy Sheanin and independent retail sales marketing manager Liv Stratman hosted 40 booksellers from bookstores in each area for a cocktail party and meet & greet.

The Chapel Hill event included booksellers from Flyleaf Books, Epilogue Books, Bookmarks, Page 158 Books, The Regulator Bookshop, and Quail Ridge Books, among others. In Cambridge, attendees included booksellers from Harvard Book Store, Concord Bookshop, Lovestruck Books, Porter Square Books, Belmont Books, Wellesley Books, Copper Dog Books, Trident Booksellers & Café, Newtonville Books, and Brookline Booksmith.

The featured authors were Mona Awad (We Love You, Bunny, Marysue Rucci Books); poet Patricia Smith (The Intentions of Thunder, Scribner); M.L. Rio (Hot Wax, Simon & Schuster); and three debut novelists: Eliana Ramage (To the Moon and Back, Avid Reader Press), Laura Dickerman (Hot Desk, Gallery Books), and Lacey N. Dunham (The Belles, Atria Books). 

"POV: You get engaged to the man of your dreams in the bookstore of your dreams." Godmothers bookstore, Summerland, Calif., shared a video clip of an in-bookstore marriage proposal, noting: "Congratulations Naomi and Alejandro."

Jess Lopez has been promoted to associate publicist at Putnam. She was an intern at Putnam in 2023 and then was hired as publicity assistant upon her college graduation.

The DBT Workbook to Stop Walking on Eggshells: Practical Skills for Families to Improve Relationships and Decrease Conflict When a Family Member Has BPD by Corrine Stoewsand, Randi Kreger, and Carola Pechon (New Harbinger).

Today:
Fresh Air: Molly Jong-Fast, author of How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir (Viking, $28, 9780593656471).

Tomorrow:
CBS Mornings: Sheryl G. Ziegler, author of The Crucial Years: The Essential Guide to Mental Health and Modern Puberty in Middle Childhood (Harvest, $29.99, 9780063378650).

Tamron Hall repeat: Jinger Duggar Vuolo, author of People Pleaser: Breaking Free from the Burden of Imaginary Expectations (Thomas Nelson, $29.99, 9781400341719).

Apple Original Films has released a teaser trailer for The Lost Bus, based on the book Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire by Lizzie Johnson. Directed by Paul Greengrass, the movie's cast includes Matthew McConaughey, America Ferrera, Yul Vazquez, Ashlie Atkinson, and Spencer Watson. It will debut in select theaters and on Apple TV+ this fall.

Written by Greengrass and Brad Ingelsby, The Lost Bus is produced by Ingelsby, Gregory Goodman, Jason Blum for Blumhouse Productions, and Jamie Lee Curtis for Comet Pictures. After hearing the author speak on NPR, Curtis read the book and brought the project to Blumhouse, where she has a first-look deal. Johnson is also an executive producer. 

The PEN/Faulkner Foundation has chosen David Means as the winner of the 2025 PEN/Bernard and Ann Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story, which recognizes writers who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in the short story form. Means will be honored at the annual PEN/Malamud Award Ceremony, held in partnership with American University, in December. 

"David Means has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to the short story form throughout his decades-long career," said Malamud committee chair Jung Yun. "His six collections to date serve to remind readers how finely observed, emotionally compelling, and formally inventive a short story can be, particularly in the hands of a craftsperson like Means who possesses such a clear understanding of the powers and pleasures of the form. Like Bernard Malamud himself, he packs 'a self or two into a few pages, predicating lifetimes,' leaving readers with memories of small, profoundly human moments that are difficult to forget."

Means's story collections include Two Nurses; Smoking; Instructions for a Funeral; The Spot; Assorted Fire Events, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and The Secret Goldfish. His recent novel Hystopia was longlisted for the Booker Prize. 

"I'm deeply honored to receive the PEN/Malamud Award--to be associated with Bernard Malamud and to stand alongside so many practitioners of the short story form," said Means. "The short story feels intrinsic to the human condition, as natural as drinking water or sharing love. It's a singular tool for probing the human experience, illuminating the universals of who we are. The form also feels especially suited to exploring the nature of life in the United States: a country vast and varied, best captured in the precise, revealing glimpses stories can offer. I'm profoundly grateful to the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and the PEN/Malamud Award committee for their support of the short story in these trying times."

Ed Park (Same Bed Different Dreams) writes books that are easy to love and hard to define. His writing is hilarious but also serious; chaotic while still cohesive; irreverent and earnest all at once. The short stories in An Oral History of Atlantis are not linked, not exactly, but characters do recur, and the whole thing hangs together like an ensemble cut from the same cloth. Though the stories span decades and formats ("Weird Menace" was originally released as an Audible Original), they maintain an odd kind of continuity, making the collection highly satisfying.

Park maintains a deadpan delivery even in the most absurd of situations. The opening story, "A Note to My Translator," introduces author Hans de Krap, who is deeply concerned about the translation work in progress. As he notes the errors found in the first chapter, the ridiculousness mounts, and so do the laughs: "Page nine: Solomon Eveready reappears, this time smoking cut-grade reefer and imitating a trout. Explain this to me. Explain also the presence of scuba gear that 'reeks of melon.' "

Not every story is so openly funny, but they all create an unexpected alchemy of droll humor, detached irony, and serious reflection. Take, for instance, the narrator of "Bring on the Dancing Horses," who lives with Tabby, a failed academic who writes fanfic and reviews science fiction novels: "Tabby is a brilliant genius in her own way, but sometimes I worry that she is turning into an alien." This worry doesn't seem to disrupt their relationship, nor does the fact that for his birthday she gives him a review copy of The Truculáta ("book two in the third of four projected trilogies" featuring "the mysterious Weëmim, a clan of psychic Hffr'z descended from the Grand Vizier Fungwafer VIII and his half-horse concubine") and then takes it back and reads it herself. Despite this hilarity, the story feels sad, a feeling embedded in brief asides about his family. When his dad e-mails and the narrator suggests they chat online, his father ignores the invitation while continuing to post on Facebook. He asks, "Doesn't he know I can see them? Doesn't he know I'm his friend? I stay up till two watching his wording get terse." This sense of longing for something just out of reach is the thread that binds Park's stories--to each other and to the reader. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian

Shelf Talker: An assemblage of short stories from celebrated novelist Ed Park, An Oral History of Atlantis melds the unexpected with a healthy dose of humor.

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. Releasing 10 by Chloe Walsh
2. Beautiful Venom by Rina Kent
3. The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden
4. Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton
5. The High Dive by Chelsea Fagan
6. Beautiful Carnage by Caroline Peckham Susanne Valenti
7. You Ate It by Jamie Baker
8. Dream On by Jennifer Hartman
9. Kiss of the Basilisk by Lindsay Straube
10. Little Stranger by Leigh Rivers

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]