The Ghoulish Times | 09.18.25
Hello and welcome to the latest issue of The Ghoulish Times. My name is Max Booth and this is our free spooky newsletter for all things GHOULISH! If you’re new here, Ghoulish Books is three things: it is a small press that has been around since 2012, it is an indie bookstore that first opened in 2023 just outside San Antonio and then relocated to downtown SATX in 2025, and it is a state of mind: one must not only live spooky, but they must also die spooky. What does that mean? I don’t know. I have the head fog of just getting the COVID/flu shot yesterday and sometimes these hands just type to type, you know what I mean?
I tabled at ArmadilloCon in Austin last weekend, which was fun. I had last tabled in like…2013, and admittedly didn’t have a great experience. Back then, everybody kind of frowned at the horror books on our table, since it’s mostly a science fiction/fantasy convention. There was still a lot of that this year, of course, but also way more horror fans too. We sold pretty well, I think. We had early copies of Issues with Authority, The Small Hours, and Mother-Eating for sale. We sold out of The Small Hours during the weekend, which is always nice to see. Ghoulish authors Jess Hagemann, Bob Pastorella, and Andrew Hilbert joined me at the table and I imagine their presence helped move books. On Saturday, all three of them did a reading together, and it was a fun time. I recorded each of their readings but currently the videos remain on my phone. Sometime soon I will try to remember the best way to transport them to my laptop so I can edit and upload to YouTube (along with this month’s First Friday Frights video).
We just released a new book, by the way. Nadia Bulkin’s Issues With Authority. It came out this week. Webstore pre-orders have shipped or are in the process of shipping (we had to do them in chunks due to last-minute increased demand).
Nadia Bulkin’s Issues with Authority features one novelette (“Your Next Best American Girl”) and two novellas (“Red Skies in the Morning,” which has already been nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award—plus “Cop Car,” which is original to this collection).
The team at Ghoulish Books has been a huge fan of Nadia’s work since her debut collection She Said Destroy (Word Horde, 2017) and we are absolutely honored and elated to sign her follow-up, which is out right now and can be ordered directly through our webstore or obtained in our physical bookstore or requested at your friendly local bookstore if it’s not already in stock (ask them to get it if they don’t! we’re on Ingram!). If you’re a Nightworms subscriber, Issues with Authority was also selected for their September box, which is just the coolest shit possible.
We do have some extra signed author stickers leftover from our pre-order push, which we will include in all future webstore orders until we run out of them. GET IT HERE. They’re also available at our physical store, if you’re local. That’s Ghoulish Books, 628 S. Saint Marys, Suite 102, San Antonio, TX 78205.
Here’s what the author, Nadia Bulkin, posted about her book earlier this week on social media:
Yesterday was pub day for my novella collection, ISSUES WITH AUTHORITY. I never know how to convince people to buy things so I figured I'd just talk a bit about the three included stories and where they come from, to mark the occasion.
"Cop Car," original to this book, is about a little girl with psychic powers who's adopted - kind of - by a government agent. To be clear: this little girl is not a heroine. She's an apex predator. I've had her in mind for over a decade, and I'm so happy to be able to introduce her here.
"Your Next Best American Girl," first published by Crystal Lake, is about a pageant contestant struggling with self-confidence, stiff competition, and the suspicion that her body is falling apart. My take on body horror, or rather the horror of having a body.
"Red Skies in the Morning," first published by Dim Shores, is about two sisters - one pragmatist, one idealist - struggling to find purpose in a world overrun by "Ring"-style chain curses. But really it's about our existence in a cold, uncaring universe, and the different ways we deal with that.
I named this collection ISSUES WITH AUTHORITY because, on the one hand, they're about problem women scratching against the powers-that-be, whether that be the state or society or fate - but they're also about the consequences of power, the endless tug-of-war between chaos and order: the issues within authority, no matter who's in charge.
Something I've been thinking about a lot, lately.
You can pick it up here, if you want. I would love it if you did!
UPCOMING GHOULISH EVENTS
We have many bookstore events coming up, including one off-site event that I will talk about first.
For the past two years, Ghoulish Books has hosted a mini horror book fair at Fantastic Fest in Austin, which is the largest genre film festival in the country. We are thrilled to reveal that we’re doing it again for a third year, and if you’re attending the (now soldout) 2025 Fantastic Fest this weekend, you can stop by the Highball this Monday from 11am-4pm to buy books from some of the spookiest motherfuckers in the industry.
In addition to vendor tables, this year we’re introducing something new: LIVE AUTHOR READINGS! Randomly, throughout the day, we will be sending our ghouls up on stage above the vendor tables to perform short live readings of things spooky & strange. The room will remain chaotic and noisy during these readings. It’s going to get a bit…uhhh, messy. Which will be fun! Messy can be fun! Check out our vendor line-up this year…
Hope to see you there?
Another off-site event we’ll talk about more in the next newsletter: in early Octboer we’re tabling in TORONTO at the first-ever LITTLE GHOSTS FESTIVAL!!! AHHHHH!
Now here are some upcoming events at our actual bookstore in San Antonio:
9.20 - In-Person Author Signing with Laura Creedle
9.27 - 2 Ghouls 1 Mic
9.28 - Ghoulish Book Club Meetup (JAWBONE)
10.04 - In-Person Author Signing with Ryan C. Bradley
10.25 - In-Person Author Signing with Jess Hagemann
GHOULISH TALES REOPENS SUBMISSIONS
Last week we published the fourth issue of Ghoulish Tales, so what better time to re-open submissions for issue five?
From September 17 to October 17, we will be considering new short fiction for our horror magazine Ghoulish Tales.
What we are after: short stories that fit our personal definition of the word GHOULISH, which is “fun horror that aims to celebrate all things spooky.”
Note that we said fun, not funny. Comedic stories are definitely allowed, but it’s not all we’re looking to receive. We want stories that remind us why we love the horror genre. We want to have a perverted little smile across our face while reading. Make us slobber like idiots. Turn us into the Sickos.jpeg meme.
Unsure what we might be talking about? Consider reading one of our back issues for inspiration.
STUFF WE DON’T LIKE: We aren’t really interested in cutesy stories (ugh) or pieces representing religious mythology (boring). Nothing with puns for titles, or stories that feel too silly. No cop protagonists. Absolutely no military fiction. Graphic animal violence is probably not going to get accepted. We do not want stories that are more science fiction than horror. We do not want stories that are more comedy than horror. If you send us anything that has utilized generative AI we will hunt you down for sport.
GUIDELINES
Deadline: October 17, 2025 (11:59 PM CST)
Word count: 5,000 max (short stories)
Payment: 10c per word
Simultaneous Submissions: Yes
Multiple Submissions: No (Please only submit one story per open call. If we reject you, do not resubmit until we reopen for the next issue.)
Reprints: No
AI Submissions: No. Please note if you are caught sending us an AI story, you will be blacklisted from ever publishing with us in the future. Don’t do it.
How to submit: Send all stories to ghoulishsubmissions @ gmail dot com with [TITLE] – [ LAST NAME] – [STORY/ESSAY] – [WORD COUNT] in the subject line. Please do not copy/paste the story in the body of the email. We prefer Word doc attachments if possible. All inquiries can also be directed to the same address.
In the meantime, please consider subscribing to our FREE newsletter, which is where we will first post any updates regarding our open call. And, if you happen to also enjoy reading horror magazines, here’s the link to subscribe to the magazine.
As you wait, feel free to come hang out in the GHOULISH discord with 1,000+ other likeminded ghouls.
Submissions will be read and considered by Max Booth (they/them), Mindy Rose (she/her), and Lori Michelle Booth (she/her).
Thank you and good luck!
—max