Ghoulish New Years (Hours / Sale)
Hello and welcome to the last 2025 issue of The Ghoulish Times. My name is Max Booth and this is our free spooky newsletter.
To keep this one short, as all of our rotting attention spans will appreciate, our physical bookshop in San Antonio is CLOSED Today (Wednesday) and Tomorrow (Thursday). We will reopen Friday under normal hours. But do not stop by today or tomorrow. I’m taking a couple days off. I’m allowed! It’s not against the law! Of course I’m taking two days off from the bookstore but I plan on using this time to get caught up on some other publishing work I’ve fallen behind on. I don’t know what an actual day off would be. I will find out in 3 years when I’m finally dead. (Yeah I’m calling my death like Babe Rube calling a homer.) Anyway
To make up for the lost income we are surely getting hit with from this very selfish decision, we are hosting a special online-only sale on our webstore. Today and tomorrow everything is 26% off. The discount will be auto-added upon checkout.
Visit our webstore HERE.
Last night I did a little cleaning up of the site. Fixed some categories. We updated the homepage. Also realized our ABOUT US page still had the old bookstore address listed. Uhhh whoops lol. It looks nice now and should be easy to virtually browse. If you encounter any issues GO EAT SHIT. Just kidding. Let us know and we will try to fix them maybe.
BOOKSHOP EVENTS
We have two events coming up this week at the bookshop! Both of them this Friday! Both of them involving Johnny Compton. IN FACT ONE OF THEM LEADS RIGHT INTO THE OTHER, ALMOST LIKE WE PLANNED IT, WHICH WE CERTAINLY DID.
Here are the events (again, both on Friday - Jan 02)
San Antonio local horror writer Johnny Compton will be in-person at Ghoulish Books from 5pm-7pm to sign copies of his new story collection MIDNIGHT SOMEWHERE and his previous two novels DEVILS KILL DEVILS and THE SPITE HOUSE.
This will lead directly into…
First Friday Frights is a new monthly reading event at Ghoulish Books (San Antonio’s very own horror bookstore)! On the first Friday of every month, three different writers will read spooky stories to an audience in the backyard area of Ghoulish Books. This is an OUTDOOR EVENT, so please dress accordingly. The readings will begin at 7pm. If applicable, we will also have the writers’ books for sale which the audience can get signed. This event is FREE TO ATTEND but, depending on turnout, we may not be able to seat everybody, so consider showing up slightly early.
FB event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/25067319532950177
January 2026’s FFF will feature readings from Johnny Compton, Lesly Julien, and Max Booth III!
More about them below:
Johnny Compton is a Stoker Award nominated author whose short stories have appeared in Pseudopod, Strange Horizons, The No Sleep Podcast and several other publications. His fascination with frightening fiction started when he was introduced to the ghost story “The Golden Arm” as a child. He is the author of The Spite House, Devils Kill Devils, and Dead First, as well as the short story collection, Midnight Somewhere.
Lesly Julien is the indie comic writer of the spooky comedy Ghost Gauntlet, slapstick fantasy miniseries Savage Wizard, crime thriller miniseries Headcases as well as long gestating horror drama Lost Lake.
Max Booth III is the publisher and editor of Ghoulish Books. This is their bookshop. They are hosting the event. And also reading. Their ego is huge.
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Okay I think that’s it. Once again everything on the site is auto-discounted by 26% upon checkout, today & tomorrow. Go buy some books or movies or vinyl or shirts or crocheted creatures or perhaps some mysterious other thing we have for sale. If you want some recommendations, reply to this newsletter and ask. Happy to help! I do it all day long at my actual bookshop and goddammit I can do it via email too. Nothing is stopping me. I will never die.
—max