Hello and welcome to the latest issue of The Ghoulish Times. My name is Max Booth and this is my free newsletter.

The other day on social media we announced that Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing (PMMP) is dissolving. This is... kind of true, but requires extra context. For those unaware, PMMP was the original name for our small press before we rebranded as Ghoulish Books in late 2021 (publishing our first titles under this name—Laurel Hightower's Below and my own Maggots Screaming!—in early 2022). I still consider Ghoulish and PMMP the same company, basically. It just went through a major facelift as we decided to focus primarily on horror, since that had been the direction of our attention for years prior anyway (before this, I'd already been using the name "Ghoulish" for my podcast...which is currently dead, but I'm considering reviving it in the near future). The press's name changed and the logo changed but this is still very much the same company we launched back in the summer of 2012.

Anyway, with a marriage and professional partnership ending later this month, and life alterations progressing faster and faster, some tough decisions are needing to be made. Since I'm taking over the press solo, we will need to readjust how the company is currently registered with the IRS (it will no longer be a Partnership). This seemed like an ideal time to finally shed the old name (PMMP) and fully embrace Ghoulish. However, we still have, like...30 titles under the old PMMP label (there used to be many others, but they went OOP years ago). Those other 30ish titles, though? Well, if you already saw our announcement, then you'll know they're going out of print at the end of May.

You can find the full list of titles going OOP in the graphic below.

We have a limited amount of stock left in our webstore, with the paperback prices decently discounted. Most of them are soldout at this point, but you can still get unlimited eBooks throughout the month of May. You can also buy paperbacks through other online retailers (or request them through your favorite indie bookstore!). We just won't be personally restocking what's soldout in the Ghoulish webstore at this point. What's gone is gone.

Also, important to mention: the anthologies Lost Signals, Lost Films, Lost Contact, and Tales from the Crust will never be reprinted anywhere again. This month is your last chance to purchase new editions anywhere. I'm out of paperbacks already through the webstore (eBooks still available, though!), so I'd recommend clicking the Bookshop.org hyperlinks I've inserted in each title.

My own PMMP books—We Need to Do Something, Touch the Night, and The Nightly Disease—will be reprinted as Ghoulish titles later this summer. Patrons will already be familiar with the new cover art I posted last month. More news on their availability later.

As for the rest of the titles written by other authors, I know many of them have already found new homes (we informed them of the news weeks ago), and I am confident those that haven't yet will soon do so. They're good books and I am proud to have once published them.

It's been an emotional couple of days since we made the announcement (okay, it's been an emotional year). I'm very honored to see so many people saying such nice things about the early work we published and also deeply saddened to let them go. Unfortunately it is a necessary step as I untangle myself out of a messy situation and find a path forward. Running the press solo will not be easy. Downsizing our inventory will be a tremendous weight lifted, and ease physical & budget restrictions that I anticipate facing as I relocate and establish a new life for myself. Ghoulish will live on and I will make it better than ever.

I've been running this press nearly my entire adult life. We launched PMMP (now Ghoulish) when I was 19 and I'll be 33 in July. Earlier this year I thought I would simply need to close the whole thing down. The idea sickened me, to just give up on something I've been building for nearly fourteen years. This thing simply means too much to me. It gives me a sense of purpose like nothing else. But yes. It's going to be a logistical nightmare this year as I continue figuring out how to run things without my previous partner. Maybe a few months ago I didn't have the confidence that I could do it. But fuck that. I know I can and I will.

Ghoulish Books will continue, and I am excited to continue contributing to the world of indie horror. To have made even a footprint in this industry is something I deeply cherish, and I have no intention of disappearing any time soon.

In the meantime, here’s the link once again to the books going out of print. Also, because money is stupid and times are rough, here’s my Patreon link again. Additionally, I’m currently seeking clients for my freelance editing services.

Okay that’s it for now. Goodbye.

—max