The Ghoulish Times | 01.21.25
Hello and welcome to a latest issue of The Ghoulish Times. My name is Max Booth and this is my free spooky newsletter. This is the first issue of 2025, a year that many of us are already dreading for a variety of abysmal reasons.
Central Texas was hit with some bad freezing rain last night, and a little snow. The roads are awful to drive on and should be avoided right now. Thus, TODAY and TOMORROW, our physical retail shop will be CLOSED. I hope to reopen on Thursday (11am-5pm). In the meantime, please consider buying some books via our webstore.
Also, don’t forget! The last Saturday of every month we host a FREE movie night at the shop. This upcoming Saturday our pre-show will begin at 7:30 and the movie will start at 8pm. The title of the movie will be kept a secret until showtime. But rest assured that it kicks ass. 9330 Corporate Drive, Suite 702, Selma, TX 78154. See ya there.
Yesterday, some very dumb and terrible things were officiated in the United States. I mostly blocked them out. Instead I focused on celebrating Frank’s fourth birthday. Here is a photo of him in his Halloween shirt standing on a table being tall:
I got him a red ball for his birthday and he loved it. I don’t know if he loved the fact that it’s red. That detail probably didn’t matter to him. The fact that it’s a NEW BALL is what felt most exciting, I imagine. Never have I known a dog who loved balls so dang much. The dude is obsessed. (Suddenly remembering a local writer who once posted something on Twitter about how if you play fetch with your dog, you are literally abusing them, equating dogs to “heroin junkies” who desperately need you to throw the ball. Maybe the worst “take” I ever encountered on that miserable hell-site? Very glad I no longer have a personal account there. Honestly, it was a dumpster fire long before Musk bought it.)
We ended the night by drinking bourbon (a gift from our wedding! also only I had bourbon. Lori didn’t drink anything. I broke my infamous straight edge lifestyle!) and rewatching Inglorious Basterds, a movie about scalping nazis. Personally, I believe that we [redacted redacted redacted].
This morning I’m a little bummed after hearing back from a real estate agent concerning this location we inquired about. We’ve been debating relocating our bookstore somewhere with more foot traffic, and this spot felt PERFECT. Unfortunately, it’s way out of our budget, so it’s just not going to happen. Would have been cool, though! Probably not going to waste any further energy searching for other spots. There are too many other things requiring our attention right now.
Coming later this week: We will be finally opening our 2025 subscriptions. Meaning you will be able to pay one up-front fee and subscribe to every new release from Ghoulish Books throughout 2025. Stay tuned for that. We’re just finalizing a few last-minute details. Speaking of…if you can think of any incredible exclusive merch ideas that would definitely influence whether you subscribe to a book service or not, drop a note and let me know! We’re open to ideas.
Okay, here are some things I want to show you:
FAMILIAR IN THE FLESH
Folks! Copies of Jeremy C. Shipp’s Familiar finally arrived in the mail, and they are so adorable.
We’ve already mailed out pre-orders and are continuing to catchup on any other orders. The weather has gotten us a little off-track, but we’ll be finalizing any other outstanding orders over the weekend. Order a copy HERE or anywhere else books are sold.
A FEAST OF ART
Last week, Dread Central was generous enough to share Matthew Revert’s cover art for Valentina Rojas’s novella A Feast of Putrid Delights. You can check out the post HERE or simply look below for the front cover:
Ever since surviving the attack of a local queer nightclub, Antonia’s life has unraveled. She can’t sleep, she can’t think, and she certainly can’t focus on the new restaurant she and her friends recently opened together in New York. The only solace comes in the form of a new experimental street drug called Cloud, gifted to her by a mysterious stranger with a peculiar lifestyle. Chronic insomnia miraculously cured, Chef Antonia finds herself consumed by a singular obsession: crafting the perfect dish, one purified from all the rot of the universe. But perfection has a price—and Antonia is running out of time to pay it back.
Pre-order Feast directly from our webstore. Orders will include a signed author sticker from Rojas. Publication date: March 25th.
(psst, if you’re a reviewer, electronic copies are also available for download via BookSirens.)
GHOULISH BOOK FESTIVAL ARTWORK
This newsletter is quickly becoming an art-bonanza (confession: I originally typed art-banana). So let’s continue that trend and finally reveal Betty Rocksteady’s glorious artwork for the fourth Ghoulish Book Festival (which is coming up very soon! March 14 and 15! please buy a badge!!!):
How fucking great is that? Does Betty ever miss? Doubtful! We hope to see a bunch of ghouls IRL this March! Badges are on sale right now! It’s our fourth year doing this festival and it’s so much fun. Consider attending! Decide to attend! Buy a badge!
BETTY ROCKSTEADY OPENS FOR COMMISSIONS
Art Ghoul Betty Rocksteady wants to announce she’s open for commissions right now and running a sale. Cover art is usually $125 for front cover and $150 for wrap, now on sale for $100 front and $125 wrap. Profile/artist pics/pet pics regular $40 and now $30 - can be regular or ghouled up. Also open to any other illustration work you can think of - family portraits in any cartoon style, interior illustrations, gaming projects, character design. She loves drawing comic style cute and creepy stuff and also open to NSFW and gore. Reach out on social media or at www.BettyRocksteady.com, where you can also view more of her artwork and view available pre-made covers.
Here’s another example of recent Ghoulish artwork she’s made for us:
GHOULISH DISCORD LINK
I can no longer share the link to our Ghoulish discord on social media, because it immediately gets flooded by spam bots, so I’m trying to remember to share an invite link here in every newsletter for anyone interested in joining. Click HERE to join. That link will expire in 7 days.
DAVID LYNCH
Like many of you, I was gutted to hear the news of David Lynch’s passing. I spent a huge chunk of the day in tears, which is a very rare reaction from me when it comes to celebrity deaths. But man. Lynch wasn’t just a “celebrity”, you know? He was something much more significant than that. I love his work deeply, and it has shaped who I am as both a person and an artist.
Early last year, I fell in love with Twin Peaks. My stepson and I decided, going forward, every year we would do an annual rewatch of all three seasons (plus the incredible Fire Walk With Me). Our first rewatch? We’d planned to start it this week. We’d already bought the cherry pie filling prior to Lynch’s passing.
Here is what I posted on the day of his death:
The only way to mourn something like this is to throw yourself into the art life. Creativity is medicine. It heals the brain & the heart. Lynch understood the importance of art more than anybody. It's essential we don't forget this, that we don't lose it. It's the one dependable thing we have in this world.
As our country continues spiraling into darkness, with no clear hope in sight, I can’t help but remind myself of the importance of art. It’s really all I know, and all I can aspire to know.
Stay safe out there, ghouls.
