LITTLE GHOSTS FESTIVAL (2)! Sept. 26 & 27th at the Tranzac Club in Toronto.
An annual FREE showcase of 20+ Vendors, Panels, Tarot reading, and fun with pals. A celebration of the community that makes the indie horror scene in Toronto so fun. We are stacked this year with VHS creators, artists, zinesters, comics friends, small presses, and more. The weekend gets capped with..
Little Ghosts’ SHORT FILM SHOWCASE.
A small ticket price gets you a seat in the showroom for a dozen independently made short films curated by the ghosts team, and you can expect some filmmakers in attendance! A finale to the festival horror fans won’t want to miss. Filmmaker announcements & tickets will be live by Sept. 1st, and we are so excited to see submissions from pals who attended Jay’s Screenwriting Workshop!

You can also find us on the road!
We’ll be at… Punk Rock Flea Market Kitchener, Eden Mills Writer’s Festival, dReadCon, Can*Con, & Punk Rock Flea Market Montreal.

It’s going to be a busy Fall!

September Events… with Phi!
Let’s fill the house with Horror!

UPCOMING EVENTS - SEPTEMBER 2026

• Wednesday, September 9th (and beyond!)... Screenwriting Workshop with Jay!

  • Jason Krawczyk’s Wonderferous Spooky Short Screenplay Workshop

  • In this 6 week course (once a week for five weeks, with one week break), Toronto’s own Jason Krawczyk will host a workshop for participants to craft their very own horror short screenplay. A hands-on class that develops screenwriting skills such as formatting, pitching, editing, story structure, and world building by utilizing the host’s real-world experience, short film examples, visual aids, and class participation. The last session will integrate a table read of everyone’s screenplay with an open and respectful discussion between peers.

  • SIGN UP HERE: https://www.littleghostsbooks.com/events

• Friday, September 11th, 6-8pm… WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT!

  • Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

  • All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.

  • WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT now has a $5 reservation fee. This $5 can be used for a beverage or taken off a book purchase night of! However, in the event of a no-show, fees will not be refunded. Event starts at 6pm, and we will stop seating attendees at 6:15. Please be respectful of our editor and our fellow writers.

• Friday, September 18th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “You Weren’t Meant to be Human” by Andrew Joseph White

Festering masses of worms and flies have taken root in dark corners across Appalachia. In exchange for unwavering loyalty and fresh corpses, these hives offer a few struggling humans salvation. A fresh start. It’s an offer that none refuse.

Crane is grateful. Among his hive’s followers, Crane has found a chance to transition, to never speak again, to live a life that won’t destroy him. He even met Levi: a handsome ex-Marine and brutal killer who treats him like a real man, mostly. But when Levi gets Crane pregnant—and the hive demands the child’s birth, no matter the cost—Crane’s desperation to make it stop will drive the community that saved him into a devastating spiral that can only end in blood.

• Friday, September 25th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “Smoke Season” by Carrie-Edmund Laben

Twenty-something Justin Erasmus doesn’t know how he ended up in the mountains of Missoula, Montana on a commune with Adrian, his hookup from the other night. What he does know is that Adrian might help him find his estranged sister, Helen, since he and the other members of the group are devoted followers of her from afar, by way of her podcast and certain mysterious other communications. Justin himself only has hazy memories of Helen from when they were kids; he remembers her locked in a dog cage in his family’s living room and how, as though she were made of smoke, she reached her arms out to him through the bars before being sent away. A voice is telling him he needs to find her again.

But as his feelings for Adrian grow and the commune starts to feel more like home, Justin discovers he’s not the only person trying to find Helen. A shadowy government organization called The Aversion Project with a mysterious magic of their own are bent on eradicating Helen: her magic, her free thinking, her free-love community and free-living movement in favor of a more rigid, orderly, heteronormative world–and soon they’re knocking on their door... and invading their dreams. If Justin is going to find his sister and remain with his beloved new community, he’ll first have to deal with the ominous figures haunting his sister and found family.

Saturday, September 26th & Sunday, September 27th: LITTLE GHOSTS FEST, PART TWO: SPOOKY BOOGALOO!

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Build up that Fall TBR!

Hello Little Ghosts newsletter readers! How’s your summer going? Lots of reading and relaxing? I picture our extended LG family nestled under trees, cozied up on beach chairs, curled up by fires while camping, or just enjoying a patio - all while deep into their latest read. Because summer is when we often give ourselves permission to just laze about and do whatever we want; and I love how many of you choose books! The number of conversations that I have about needing a book for a camping trip, the cottage, a flight, a train trip and so on, cannot easily be counted. But again, I just love how much you lovely readers need just one more story to add to your next journey or adventure! Books are such a good companion, they don’t complain when we put them down mid-tale, they don’t mind when we share parts of them with others (who among us hasn’t said “wait, you have to hear this part!” to a group of friends while sitting about), and they love it when we insist that someone else read them. Yes I’m imbuing books with personality, but they’ve been talking to me for my entire life so why would I stop now? Regardless of all that, your summer affair with books is noted and loved.

However, amidst all of the lazing and enjoyment is the lurking spectre of fall responsibilities; though we all revere spooky season and a lessening of the eye of Sauron, for many this is a return to work, to kids being wrangled to school and new activities, to a return to school for themselves and more; there’s homework on the horizon! And while I rarely view reading as homework, sometimes as a bookseller you do have a responsibility to your wonderful customers (and to yourself really), to read books you might not have otherwise chosen. And that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy the books we read as homework, it’s just sometimes we put aside a book we’re reading purely for fun and do some product knowledge (or PK for those of you in the biz…LOL) reading. Now, more often than not this equals a book I enjoy and then get to discuss with our lovely customers in a deeper way - it doesn’t always happen, but that is why I always say that’s the great thing about art and books, there’s something out there for everyone and we don’t have to agree on everything. Because wouldn’t that be boring? If we all just like the exact same things? I love the occasional ‘argument’ with a customer or a co-worker about a certain book or author; we all have those cherished titles where we’re aghast if someone didn’t love them; but the older I get, the more I try to let that go and just let people enjoy what they want. Though sometimes you lot are wrong and you should just listen to me, I’m helping I swear!

As to what you’re reading recently? And yes, I mean you dear readers; well you’ve been snapping up haunted house tales, slashers, fungal horror (aren’t mushrooms the best?), and devouring anything we have related to religious horror - we cannot keep them in stock, and believe me we’re trying! You also keep depopulating our sickos (said with love) section and that delights us more than you know. You’ve also - unsurprisingly - been eager for ghost stories and tall tales, and related to all of these has been a real surge in interest for our Canadian author section - we love how you love to shop, and read local! Thank you!

Now to what I’ve been reading of late/what’s on the pile:

Find Me Where It Ends by Cassandra Khaw: This forthcoming novella from one of my favourite writers is not light reading, in fact it’s one I read with some trepidation, but I so enjoy Khaw’s writing that I set aside my fears and dove in. This meditation on death, mortality and living is something I can’t wait for you all to read. The tale of Antigone (no, not that one), who wakes up to find the black hound of death at her door, and instead of being afraid she invites it in, befriends it, and begins reflecting on how she’s been living her life. *coming in October*

Bone of My Bone by Johanna van Veen: The tale of Sister Ursula, a young nun fleeing the destruction of her convent and Elsebeth, also young but full of fire and determination, stumble across one another while running from a band of marauding soldiers. While on the run, they come across a dying man who possesses a human skull in a box, said to be that of a saint. And if reunited with its body, the possessor will be granted a wish. Desperate in different ways and with different agendas, the two women follow a ragged map but are pursued by a necromancer, the horrors of war and whisperings from the saint herself.

Over Growth by Mira Grant: I’m rereading this before bookclub and wow, I think it’s even better the second time around. The story of Anastasia Miller, the girl that no one listened to until it was far, far too late. Stasia has been telling everyone since she was three years old that she’s not human and that her alien family will be coming for her; who listens to a child right? Well, they should have because an alien signal has been detected and Stasia’s biological family are coming to take her home, and they’re not letting an inhabited planet get in their way. Beautiful, terrifying, page-turning, sci-fi horror goodness.

Headlights by C.J. Leede: I am looking forward to this book; after finding ‘American Rapture’ disappointing (I realize that many, many people loved this book, it was just not what I had hoped for), after the unhinged delight that is ‘Maeve Fly’, Headlights looks to be a wild ride, and is receiving raves. A combination of serial killer thriller and folk horror set in the wilderness of Colorado; it’s been touted as a love letter to the Shining. FBI agent Daniel Stafford is done, he’s burnt out, he can do no more; but then on his last day he gets called to Colorado because once again people are waking up on the side of the road with no memory of getting there, wearing the skins of victims they’ve allegedly never met… So now Stafford - who has an uncanny ability to sense danger - has to track a serial killer like no other.

Back For Blood: Never Whistle At Night Part 2 edited by Shane Hawk: Now this doesn’t need my help because the first volume in this (now) series has been a constant best-seller since it was published. However as I am a big, big fan of indigenous horror I have to mention it. Also, it has a story by one of my favourite Canadian indigenous writers, Jessica Johns! I have been anxiously awaiting new words from her, and this will tide us all over until her next book is published in the fall of 2027! She is joined by an incredible array of indigenous authors in this absolute, must read collection.

I could go on dear Little Ghosts family, but I want you to keep relaxing until autumn is truly upon us. And now your LG team is turning their attention towards Little Ghost Fest 2 (coming up the last weekend in September), we’ve got so many wonderful things planned! Check out the site, the instagram account and I’ll be writing about it in next month’s newsletter for sure! We can’t wait!

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Networking.

Chris suggested this as the topic for my next newsletter piece, and I immediately wanted to run into traffic. Then, at the morgue, the mortician would document “networking” as the cause of death. I despise networking. I respond to their invites as if they were radioactive. I’m not physically comfortable there, nor am I comfortable with why I’m there. But if you’re an artist who wants your work to get more exposure and/or progress in your career, it’s kind of necessary. First of all, let’s get out of the way, or at least to the extent I understand, why I dislike networking. Meeting people with the strict goal of marketing themselves is a miserable interaction. You don’t meet the person; you meet an intent, and that’s intrinsically disingenuous. You feel like you’re in a room of used-car salesmen. I’ve literally had conversations that go…

“What are you working on?”

“Eh, development.”

“Any work for me?”

“Sorry, not right now.”

And then they walk off. Wow. Fulfilling.

Also, I’m very uneasy about the prospect of marketing myself. A lot of artists are, and because that’s what the art’s for: you had a thought, painstakingly distilled it onto a page, canvas, or screen, and then are asked to pitch that to the world? No. I don’t want to do that. I used all of that energy to craft the thing. The thing is the pitch. Why do I want to validate the validation? Well, here’s the deal. How will anyone be interested in your art if they don’t know you?

Well, my thing speaks for itself! Sure, and I bet it’s appealing to the naked eye, but so are other artistic prospects. It’s the difference between saying “do you want to watch a shark movie?” and “Do you want to watch Spielberg’s shark movie?” You have a very one-of-a-kind merit that the world is unaware of, and it somehow needs to seep into art culture. The goal is to meet someone, have a genuine connection, have them check out your stuff, enjoy it, and recommend it to others. You are now organically permeating the artistic zeitgeist. But that road goes in two directions. Try to do the same. These are your peers, after all, and who knows what joys you’d unearth. Many of my dear friends were met at festivals and events, and I’ve become a genuine fan of their work. And since they’re also reticent about public relations, I’m glad I met them, because now I know how to access their work.

And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about networking events, it’s that they’re not all created equal. Some are folks holding cocktails, regaling inflated stories of their providence, and some are a bit more authentic. Any function that’s centered around something, like a festival or gallery show, is way more appealing for me. There’s something there to help lubricate conversations, and there’s a baked-in exit strategy if you’re feeling nervous.

All in all, I hate networking. I’ll always hate networking. But it is necessary and not altogether evil. There can be camaraderie in the unsavory aspects of the artistic field, and getting to know people can transcend the surface level to the sincere. So, choose wisely when it comes to networking invites. If it’s not for you, it’s not for you, but there is a myriad of socials, and at least a few of them will be tolerable. And who knows, you may even enjoy yourself, make some friends, share some stories, and discover some art. That sounds like time well spent.

Write on, weary travellers,

Retail Therapy:
xix. Good Things (may) Come to those who Don’t Quit.

For those who blaze their own trail, hoping for positive news and good fortune can feel like staring too long at the sun- it may sting and blind you, and prevent you from seeing everything else around. It’s best to accept that those hopes are there, blazing in the cosmos, burning in the backdrop, potentially never to be reached. Those desires keep everything else lit up, but seem like too much. Unattainable. Far away.

I have gotten lucky in my life, and by lucky, I mean I have been stubbornly present enough come hell or high water that sometimes something great has materialized. The fact that an indie business like ours has even existed for the number of years it has is a small miracle- I don’t come from money, loan rates are high, there is no angel investor. Just me, paying off loans and taking odd jobs and loving it enough to still do it even when it won’t pay the bills. The failures are so frequent that I forget them- closed locations, abandoned ideas, half-built side-quests, activities that cost more than they should and yielded nothing. You have to let it all keep passing you as you continue on your way. If you sit too long with that, you’ll miss the good parts- the good team, the happy people, the freedom in being able to hold the reins through those botched opportunities. I consider myself to be a “Catch All,” doing the jobs that no one else wants when they need doing, and the ones no one else can do as the creative force and curator behind a lot of what we produce. I am proud of my willingness to participate, always, regardless of the outcome.

I don’t believe in many of the cliches of success, and I don’t think you get anywhere by waiting. My impatience is reinforced by all the times that pushing forward on instinct and investment lead to being able to continue to push forward on instinct and investment and on and on. The “bad decisions” were made in the hope for better, so when shit got botched I was just happy to have tried something that may have went well in other circumstances. Little Ghosts is a series of attempts- some things stay, some things go. In a lot of ways, no one notices, really. We’re all trying to keep the things we love alive.

Every now and again, though, the sun shines on you. We’ve put in the work, and got some big good news that we’ll be sharing soon- just on the cusp of having to put down some of the things we love doing. It’s a joy to have your efforts recognized, rewarded. Anyone who is in it for the love of the game knows this. I’m still in shock, maybe. I’ve cried a few times, thinking about how much this will grease the wheels and make my work easier, lessen the weight I’d been carrying of working for free on anything that needed those efforts. I would never ask that of anyone else, but it’s part of the job when you’re the leader, the person who needs to keep the engine running. You set yourself on fire in little pieces just to hold that momentum, and it’s an honour and a privilege and a danger of doing this.

In two weeks, I’ll tell you more- but I want to say it can happen. It can happen for you. Keep showing up. Don’t wait on the thing you love, because we’re only here for a little while. The cliche I do believe is that you miss all the shots you don’t take. You miss some of the ones you do. But every now and again, you win- and it does, it does, it does take the sting off the rest. I promise.

LITTLE GHOSTS FESTIVAL (2)! Sept. 26 & 27th at the Tranzac Club in Toronto.
An annual FREE showcase of 20+ Vendors, Panels, Tarot reading, and fun with pals. A celebration of the community that makes the indie horror scene in Toronto so fun. We are stacked this year with VHS creators, artists, zinesters, comics friends, small presses, and more. The weekend gets capped with..
Little Ghosts’ SHORT FILM SHOWCASE.
A small ticket price gets you a seat in the showroom for a dozen independently made short films curated by the ghosts team, and you can expect some filmmakers in attendance! A finale to the festival horror fans won’t want to miss.
Got a short film sitting on your shelf you want to share with us? QUICK! The submissions are still open for a couple weeks.

Putting together our annual festival is always a treat, and I am so happy to welcome returning friends to the vendor’s room and see some fun new faces. Full panel schedule will get released in August so you can plan your day(s) at the fest!

As for summer, we are busy here in the bookshop as always…

August Events… with Phi!
Hot, squelchy horror to end the summer right!

• Friday, August 7th, 6-8pm… WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT!

  • Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

    All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.

• Saturday, August 8th, 1-3pm… Signing: “Blackmouth: The Witch’s Mark” by Katie Sawatsky & Kyle J. Smith

  • Blackmouth: The Witch’s Mark by Kyle J. Smith and Katie Sawatsky is the first chapter in a haunting tale of witchcraft, ancient curses, and dark legacy. When an age-old evil resurfaces in the isolated town of Blackmouth, a young man is forced to confront the ghosts of his past while uncovering the truth behind an eldritch Witch whose influence has plagued the town for generations. Blending atmospheric storytelling with haunting visuals, Blackmouth: The Witch’s Mark is a chilling gothic fantasy perfect for fans of folk horror, dark fantasy, and supernatural mystery.

    WIth special guest and moderator, Ricky Lima, to host a Talkback!

• Friday, August 21st, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “Overgrowth” by Mira Grant

  • Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she’s an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has believed her.

    Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it’s already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia’s biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.

    What happens when you know what’s coming, and just refuse to listen?

• Saturday, August 22nd, 1-3pm… Signing: “Pit of Eden” by Malcolm Derikx

  • Outside a small town somewhere in North America, a seemingly bottomless pit filled with an unidentified liquid has been discovered. Experts are baffled, and as the Eden substance spreads, strange incidents begin to occur: voices sing in dead languages, bodies morph into unexpected forms, old gods arise and make themselves known…

    Witness the horrors and marvels of the Pit of Eden through fourteen linked comics of ancient Babylonian body horror written by Malcolm Derikx, featuring the artwork of fourteen amazing creators: Alina Wahab, Brenna Baines, Evan Worm, Félix the Rover, Ferro, Hannah E. Smith, Jackarais, Kaz Fantone, KIDSID, KJ Martinet, Luce Northstar, Luke Humphris, Michael Robinson, and Olga Wieszczyk.

• Friday, August 28th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “Saltblood” by T.C. Parker

  • A remote island. A group of prisoners. And an evil as old as time.

  Robin didn’t mean to break the law. Didn’t know at first what law she’d broken. And now she’s on her way to Salt Rock — a new-model prison for a new kind of criminal, way out in the remote Northern Isles of Scotland.

  On Salt Rock, she’ll meet other prisoners like her — men and women from all over the world, spirited away from the lives they knew for crimes they didn’t know they were committing.

  She’ll uncover the complex web of conspiracy that connects them all, confronting some of the darkness of her own past in the process.

  And she’ll come face to face, finally, with an evil as old as the land itself.

  It’s hell in those waters.

• Saturday, August 29th, 5-7pm… Signing: “Queeird” & “Child of Hameln” by Max Turner

  • Join friend of the Ghosts, Max Turner, for a special signing event!

  • Queeird: Androids and aliens, werewolves and vampires, furries and... tentacles? Queeird is a collection of unusual, and at times monstrous, erotica, ranging from the ridiculous to the romantic: expect kinks, quirks and tropes. All fourteen erotic short stories feature trans masculine main characters with a variety of cis, non-binary, trans female and trans male lovers.

  • Child of Hameln: This supernatural mystery and light horror is a dark fable set in 1980’s small town USA, and is a retelling of the German folktale The Pied Piper of Hameln. Elk Pass is a town cloaked in darkness and plagued by an unknown evil, where twenty years earlier all but one of the town’s children were stolen. That remaining child, now the deputy sheriff, is left to unravel corruption and cover up when his mentor, the town sheriff, dies unexpectedly. The mystery unfolds as a snow storm blows in, threatening to isolate the town, leaving Deputy Bobby Taylor to deal with a plague of rats and the monsters, both human and fae, that follow.
    

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Home sweet home… ?

Homecomings can be fraught with emotion, with expectation, with hopes and dreams; in movies they often start a story or provide the device upon which the plot turns. In horror it’s always a bad sign, “I never should have come back…” etc. There’s even the saying, “you can never go home again,” as a warning against looking back, trying to make something what it was when things have changed. However, not all homecomings have to come with a warning label; that first time you come home after a long trip (your bed!), or after visiting family (good or bad, family can be a lot), or being away for work, can be SUCH a relief. Your shoulders drop, you feel tension you didn’t know you were carrying melting away- that’s what the good version of a homecoming should feel like.

That’s what it’s been like being back at Little Ghosts after being away on my business trip (of sorts) to Union Station for all those months. In the few weeks since we closed the pop-up and I’ve returned back to our store, every regular I’ve seen & my friends and family have asked, “what’s it like being back?” The answer, quite simply is: It’s great! I can sleep in my own metaphorical bed, go up and down the familiar stairs, chat with the ghosts, pick a movie to watch (though we’ve all been just watching the OG Scream on a loop), and look outside onto Dundas West so content. Little Ghosts is home, and while Union Station was a nice place to visit, I wouldn’t want to live there.

All of this ruminating on the nature of home got me thinking about whether a book (or books), can evoke the feeling of home. For me the answer is a resounding yes! I can look at my shelves and and make so many emotional connections to when and where I got them (or had them gifted to me), and they take me back to my past; to a home I no longer have, to a snapshot in time of a moment, to family or solo trip and a feeling of contentment. Now I realize that I LOVE (always in all caps) books. I always have. Others may not feel quite as strongly - though I suspect if you’re reading this newsletter, you feel the same. Anyway, books are important to me on every level - and those books that feel like home? There’s the copy of “The Divorce Express” that my aunt gave me when my dad and mom split up - to this day I marvel at how the author seemed to truly know what I was going through and it honestly helped me cope. There’s the “Bedside Book of Adventure” (from the Readers Digest Bedside Editions) that my first stepdad gave to me, as one of the things we bonded over was books. I have to mention my “Complete Illustrated Works of Lewis Carroll” that my dad gave to me not long after he and my mom split up; I look at it on my bookshelf and remember the summer I spent memorizing “Jabberwocky” - it is one of my prized possessions. I have stories like these for so, so many of my books…

Can a horror book bring about that same feeling? Again, I say yes. Because horror books (movies, comics, shows), evoke emotion, memory and connection like every other. I often talk about Shirley Jackson’s seminal short story, “The Lottery” and how it scares me to this day, regardless of how often I’ve read it. I can remember reading it in English class in high school and the number it did on my brain. But it also opened up a door, and again that time and place feel like home to me. It’s a comfort to have that moment etched in memory, carried forward with me through the years, knowing that those words impacted me so deeply, that I could wrap them around me like a blanket if needed. What books are home to you? I know for many it’s their first Stephen King, or that Goosebumps title you read over and over. For others it’s V.C. Andrews (come on, those are pure horror). These are authors and series I hear over and over from customers and friends as ones that have stuck with them, that they can go back to in their memory. The beauty of books and people is that every experience is different, every page turned can hit differently, often depending on when and where you read them.

So when I say that Little Ghosts is home, I mean that on so many levels, and I see it on the faces of so many of you dear readers, when you come through the door of the shop and realize that you belong: That a part of you is on our shelves and that you’re always welcome.

Summerween! Apologies for the sudden sharp turn everyone, but if I don’t talk about at least a few books, the newsletter ghosts get a bit grumpy and no one wants a grumpy ghost! This year everyone is really embracing Summerween and it’s been such fun suggesting titles for you to enjoy for your spooky summer reads. Here are a few that I’ve talked about, and some that I think would be perfect summer horror reads:

Summer Fun Massacre by Craig DiLouie: The first in a new series from DiLouie, giving you all the retro summer camp vibes. Set in the 90s, flashbacks to the 80s - pull your Jason mask out of the closet for company and settle in.

Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen: I know I’ve raved about this book before - but now it’s officially out! And (at the time of this writing), we have signed copies having just hosted the author in store. You need this book in your life all my slasher lovelies!

Abyss by Nicholas Binge: A book that is maybe TOO on the nose given the current hellscape, but I do love existential horror, especially spilling out from the blender of late stage capitalism and creeping liminal spaces.

Summer of the Monsters by David Sodergren: A little extreme horror never hurt anyone, right? Except for maybe Lucy Brannigan and her father after they move to the small, Scottish town of Helsbridge. Sodergren takes you on yet another roller coaster in this sad, sweet, yet brutal coming of age tale.

Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle: The latest from the delightfully out there pen of Chuck Tingle, is just right for your summer spooky read; grave robbing, rock ‘n’ roll, fashion and lots of carnage - what more could you want?

Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey: Celia is desperate to be better, to be the version of herself she imagines, to stop messing up; so she journeys to Kindred Cove, convinced that all the stories are true, that in this reclusive community that only opens its (metgaphorical) doors to outsiders but once a year, will fix everything that’s wrong. So desperate is Celia, that the cracking facade of wellness and togetherness in Kindred Cove doesn’t dissuade her from believing, from knowing that she will be transformed.

Happy reading Little Ghosts family - stop by any time for even more recommendations!

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Comparison is the Thief of Joy.

As a guy who directed his first non-distributed movie at 20, directed a distributed (albeit impossible-to-find) movie at 25, and is still struggling to get things greenlit at 40, how do I feel about the success of things like The Backrooms and Obsession? Well, reflexively, terrible. I can’t say it doesn’t suck. I have a bunch of stories I believe are worth telling, but I have to come to terms with the fact that no matter how hard I try or how well my work is received, most of my projects won’t see the light of day. That’s a harrowing prospect when you have to consider not only the time and effort that went into the scripts but also the mental real estate invested in stories that won’t exist. That energy and focus could have gone into volunteering at a soup kitchen, but no, I had to write an ambitious ’90s thriller that no one was asking for and would cost millions of dollars to produce.

Unfortunately, success in the artistic field is not a meritocracy. I feel like, given the opportunity and proper marketing strategy, many of my talented colleagues would be overnight successes. Timing, social trends, environment, politics, and way more variables that I can’t even fathom play a factor in the success of an artist and their craft. And that’s not even accounting for marketing campaigns (love our one wish willow, but the Obsession coffee at the Toronto premiere was terrible). Does it make me feel any better that art is at the whims of an ever-changing and unpredictable corporate landscape? No. Absolutely not. If anything, it makes me feel worse and further isolated from the human race.

Wow, I feel inspired. Thanks, Jay. Sorry, I’ll set aside my jaded bitterness and get to the good stuff. With cited sources! But first, financial and/or popularity should not be the main priority in your creative endeavors. If it is, there are way easier ways to gain cash and fans. Self-discovery and fulfillment are ultimately why you should pursue your craft. Everything afterwards is a bonus. Sure, but I need a place to live AND eat, and if I can do that through my time, focus, and energy-consuming art, that’d be great. Unfortunately, that’s a rare occurrence. But it isn’t impossible.

I’m going to stray away from art for a moment and delve into the exciting world of published academic studies, you lucky-so-in-sos! While salaries showed a steady increase with age in the education sector, publication rates declined considerably among older adults (over 50). Researchers from Academic Analytics discovered that professors peaked in authorship within 10 years of their last degree and experienced a 90% drop in publications within the 20 years before retirement. That’s terrifying. The neat thing about this was the number of attempts to publish in the latter twenty years. Those professors who remained active in their publishing pursuits had roughly a 60% success rate in the back half of their career compared to the 65% success rate of professors in their peak years. That ain’t bad.

Now there’s a wide spectrum of differences between art and academia, but it does go to show you can’t succeed if you don’t try. And if you do try later in your career, your chances of success are as good as any. And guess what: others’ breakthroughs are also your breakthroughs. I’ve had an existential liminal horror thing I’ve been looking to pursue for a while, and now I have the Backrooms to point to as proof of concept. Also, trends come and go with the wind, so maybe the world is just catching up to your particular aesthetic. No art is made without an affect on the craft overall, so even your least acknowledged work helped sharpen your skillset. You also got to spend time doing your favorite thing, and that is by no means time wasted.

Write on, Weary Travellers.

Retail Therapy:
xviii. Letting go of “Should”

It might be surprising information to the folks who read far enough down on the newsletter to read “Bossman” ghosts’ thoughts that I am plagued often by ideas of how things should look. This idea, this type of doubt and constraint, is rarely associated with the tiny trans punk who does things like organize community action, speak out against societal norms, reject traditional aesthetics, builds a goddamned horror bookstore… and yet. I wake up in the morning heavy with the weight of not being where I should be, about the shape of my life not looking like it should look, of thing not progressing at the rate they should go.

I don’t know what terrible demonic goblin I imagine is regularly assessing my life and finding it wanting, or what part of me IS that awful toothy thing, but when things go wrong it certainly makes it easy to wallow or turn these sharp little shoulds in on myself. I wasn’t doing things in accordance with the made up laws of how shit is supposed to be done, and therefore! It is all my fault somehow. Even when what is going wrong is arguably an “Act of God” (pandemic, recession, ecological crisis, war, flood, fire).

This year was spent shaking off a TON of entrepreneurial shoulds. In this absolute deathtrap of an economic system focused on endless growth, it is easy to be swept up in the Should of Expansion. In a similar vein, sleep is for the weak and no rest for the wicked, so the Should of Hustle is real. On top of all this, there is the ever-present Should of (financial) Success. All of these seem reasonable for a Capital-B-Business-Owner. All of these seem necessary. If I am not doing all this, am I even invested in the survival of myself and the bookstore and the staff and the community etc etc etc?

The answer, my friends, is yes. Of course. Almost every waking hour of my weird, queer, creative, challenging little life is spend in pursuit of making sure that the things I build have longevity and that the people who help them go are safe and comfortable and happy in all the ways I can control. Holding myself to absolutely impossible shoulds is not doing anything but injecting shame into circumstances that aren’t mine to own. Society says we Should Expand, but when we did, we found there was only more pressure to pay more bills and appease more people who weren’t even the people who love, understand, and support our goals. Society says we Should Hustle but when we did, we were impatient with each other and less able to bring a kindness and care into the space and to our creative community, less available to offer the free programming that creates connection and reminds us of the positive impact the work here has. Society says we Should have more (financial) Success, and yes, a pile of money would be nice, but stabilizing the business and making sure everyone is compensated fairly should be prioritized over profit. I’m moving forward without these, knowing what we want is a quieter, simpler, and more radically decent thing than we see in the world.

The truth of it all, small business or personal, is that the presence of Should is a Sign of Expectation. If those expectations don’t align with what you actually want… What you should do is tell them to fuck off. While the expectations of friends and family and outside eyeballs might be borne of experience and a desire to make sure you’re taken care of, that doesn’t mean they fit you- the direction you’re going, the life you’re building, the values that drive you. Hell, the world is so vastly different than it was even a decade ago, those expectations were forged in a fire we couldn’t even imagine in this moment. Folks can throw those shoulds at you, but you don’t have to hold them to yourself and let them eat you alive. I, for one, am trying not to.

Toronto pals can catch us alongside other local small presses and booksellers at Books & Brews: Queer Edition! Located at Left Field Brewery in Toronto’s East End (Leslieville), everyone is bringing a big table of Queer Lit. Everything from Horror, Sci-Fi, Non-fiction, and YA… so no matter what you are looking to treat yourself to as a summer read, you are sure to find something for your list. LF has a ton of amazing locally brewed beers, sours, and seltzers & nonalcoholic offerings, too. Come with pals, browse the stacks, and hang out in a great space. Curating these PopUps is such a treat!

.Aaaaand… THIS IS NOT A DRILL! Phi has a book coming out with Little Ghosts Press!

RSVP to the launch here. Pre-Order the book here.

JULY EVENTS… with Phi!
Summer is.. ALSO BUSY!!

• Friday, July 3rd, 6-8pm… WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT!

  Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

  All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.

  WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT now has a $5 reservation fee. This $5 can be used for a beverage or taken off a book purchase night of! However, in the event of a no-show, fees will not be refunded. Event starts at 6pm, and we will stop seating attendees at 6:15. Please be respectful of our editor and our fellow writers.

• Saturday, July 4th, ???

  • We’re at TERRORONTO @ the Tranzac Club in Toronto! Join us alongside a TON of amazing local vendors for what is like the Punk Rock Flea of Toronto.. BUT ALL HORROR.

• Saturday, July 4th, 1-3pm… Signing: “A Dash of Demon” by J-F Dubeau

  • Miriam DuFour is at the end of her rope.

  Kicked out of cooking school and living in her ex-boyfriend’s apartment, nothing in her life seems to be going right. That is until she inherits the estate of her dead great-grandaunt: a little café in the forgotten town of Achewillow.

  Intent on selling the business and using the money to make a fresh start, Miriam visits Achewillow and discovers that the village sits firmly on the border between Vermont and Quebec. But that isn’t remotely the strangest thing about the place. There’s a cloud worshipping cult, a widow with a ghost husband, immortal raccoons, and something killing young women in the alleys.

  As Miriam juggles demons, coffee, witchcraft, and baking, the town conspires to make her stay. Is it social pressure, financial hardship, or a family history that she hasn’t even begun to unravel? Only one thing seems certain: the answers to her questions are buried in the recipe books, mixing bowls, and coffee cups of the Achewillow café.

• Friday, July 10th, 5-7pm… Signing: “The Haunting of Nicolas Cage” by Marco Mannone

  • Most men buy a sports car or get a tattoo during their midlife crisis –– Nicolas Cage bought the most haunted house in New Orleans. On the verge of bankruptcy, Nic sequesters himself inside the infamous LaLaurie Mansion in an effort to reinvent himself as a writer. But inspiration doesn’t come easy, and he soon finds himself getting more than he bargained for when his home’s dark past reaches into the present to claim his soul. Filled with macabre humor and existential terror, The Haunting of Nicolas Cage is an almost-true story about a man coming to terms with his fame and his fear.

• Saturday, July 11th, 1-3pm… Signing: “The Unfinished Quest (& Other Horror Comics!)” by Robert Iveniuk and Lucas Nemeth

  • “The Unfinished Quest” is a dark fantasy comic set in the world of a broken unfinished videogame. Our heroes trek to find a seemingly all-knowing Sorcerer through a strange land in hopes to shine a bit of light on the mysteries on the corruption of their world, and maybe even find some meaning of their existence.

    Plus some bonus horror comics from Robert and horror art from Lucas!

• Sunday, July 12th, 1-3pm… Signing: “Slasher Summer” by E.L. Chen

  • In this campy love letter to the slasher films of the 1980s, seven friends reunite for a weekend of fun—only to be hunted down by a cold-blooded killer. But the real horror is not being able to escape who you were in high school...

    The sleepy town of Cedar Lake Falls is best known as the shooting location of the campy ’80s horror flick Slasher. In high school, preppy Patrick, jock Jason, cheerleader Tiffany, stoner Freddy, goth Jennifer, and nerdy Michael had played the cast of Slasher during midnight showings, with virginal Carrie as the Final Girl, of course.

    Years later, the friends reunite at the remote cabin where Slasher was filmed. They’ve changed since high school—Patrick came out, Mikey bulked up, and, well, Freddy’s still stoned—and they’re looking forward to a weekend to catch up. But when night falls, and the eponymous masked killer is spotted, the reunion takes a deadly turn. The friends discover their tires deflated and the phone line disconnected, and soon they’re being stalked by a mysterious assailant. Is someone trying to make their Slasher experience as authentic as possible?

    One thing is for sure. Before the night is over, they each will have to take on the role they thought they’d left behind.

• Friday, July 24th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “This Book is Full of Spiders” by Jason Pargin

  • WARNING: You may have a huge, invisible spider living in your skull. THIS IS NOT A METAPHOR.

    You will dismiss this as ridiculous fear-mongering. Dismissing things as ridiculous fear-mongering is, in fact, the first symptom of parasitic spider infection -- the creature secretes a chemical into the brain to stimulate skepticism, in order to prevent you from seeking a cure. That’s just as well, since the “cure” involves learning what a chainsaw tastes like.

    You can’t feel the spider, because it controls your nerve endings. You can’t see it, because it decides what you see. You won’t even feel it when it breeds. And it will breed. So what happens when your family, friends and neighbors get mind-controlling skull spiders? We’re all about to find out.

    Just stay calm, and remember that telling you about the spider situation is not the same as having caused it. I’m just the messenger. Even if I did sort of cause it.

    Either way, I won’t hold it against you if you’re upset. I know that’s just the spider talking.

• Friday, July 31st, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “Dirty Heads” by Aaron Dries

The story of a boy who dreamed of becoming a man… But dreamed up a monster instead.

You’re on the run. Marked. Don’t think about the kid you used to be when you’re homeless and dumpster-diving in the rain. Just eat whatever you find to keep your engine full. Because the shadow with too many teeth wants you tired.

You’re easier to catch when you’re tired.

It has hunted you since the summer of 1994, back when we confessed who we were through mixtapes. When every movie at the video store had dirty heads. You were thirteen and thought you knew who you were. Only the shadow with too many teeth knew you better. It still does. And it won’t stop. Not until you come home.

Back to where it all began.

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Farewell, Union Station!

It’s not goodbye, it’s see you later: that’s how I’m looking at our approaching Union Station departure. While our time at Union is coming to an end, hopefully we’ll see some of you at LG OG on Dundas, and I’ll likely stop by to say hi to all the lovely people I’ve come to know.

What a time though! Four and half months have, for the most part, flown by in a haze of customers, questions, more questions, boxes of books, rideshares with boxes, streetcar/subway trips with boxes, early mornings, working on days off, and even more questions. While a lot of those questions have been for directions, or asking for newspapers (or stamps, notebooks - Union folk consider a newsstand!), most of them have been about books. The best part of that is how it usually begins, and that’s almost always with a general level of excitement over the mere existence of a bookstore in Union Station. People are SO EXCITED when they see a bookstore! All ages, all backgrounds, all walks of life - just pure joy at knowing there are books nearby. I’ve worked in and around books for a pretty long time, and I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve been told that “no one reads anymore”, or “physical books are dead, everything’s digital now” - those people are what I like to call, mistaken. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not printing money as an indie bookstore, but I can tell you that people love books, they love physical books, they love supporting an indie and they are so excited to talk with those that love them too. Even though many did not buy books (because horror and/or romance aren’t there thing), people still came in to say hi, to say they hope we’re doing well, to talk about how important bookstores are and they wish us continued success. This happens literally every day - books will never die.

Pros of spending most of my time at Union Station these last months:

1. Getting to introduce people to Little Ghosts Books. “There’s a horror bookstore in Toronto? That’s so cool!”. And then watching people see books and authors that they don’t see anywhere else; the same thing happens at our permanent location, but it’s always a joy to surprise someone in such a positive way. But really just again, seeing the excitement upon the discovery of our existence is pretty damn great.

2. Having regulars! Our pop-up regulars have been a huge part of my enjoyment each and every week - thank you so much for coming back over and over, it has been just wonderful getting to know you. I hope you’ll come visit us at our store!

3. Every time someone said that they don’t read horror, but still let me recommend books for them to try, because like most genre fiction there are so many degrees and types of horror. I will continue to maintain that there’s a horror book for everyone. And the best part of that is whenever they came back to either get another book, or just to tell me that they enjoyed what I suggested - they may not read another horror book any time soon, but they tried something different and liked it.

4. The staff at all the other stores on our floor that I got to know; such a lovely group of people and a really welcoming community. I will miss them quite a lot.

5. In addition to just the pure joy of talking about books all day, it’s the response to what we carry, to what we decided to put on the shelves at the pop-up - so many folk who just want to read good, weird, out there horror. And queer, DEFINITELY queer; which is the best. And the pop-up is currently FULL of all kinds of wonderful, queer horror - some classics, some new and everything in between. It’s been so much fun ordering even more queer horror to celebrate Pride Month and having great conversations - it is the best thing ever.

Cons of spending most of my time at Union Station these last months:

1. Not being home with my Little Ghosts family. Missing all the things that make working at our store so great, not seeing the people I’ve spent the last three years with every week, not being in our beautiful store - isolation is hard; even amidst the traffic and the lovely folk I’ve interacted with these months at Union Station, it isn’t the same and it’s been harder than I’ve likely admitted. It’s weird to both be part of something, while being apart from it.

2. Reading, or lack thereof. I just haven’t been able to read as much as I usually do, the pop-up keeps me very busy and well, sleep or chores often win.

3. Not knowing what it’s like outside; our permanent store has big, beautiful windows that look out on the world, plus our patio - you get to watch the world go by and it’s pretty great. At Union we are unfortunately not as lucky, and it’s weird to always be underground. I will not miss being one of the mole people.

4. As a lifelong night owl, 5:30 am alarms are the worst.

Books! I have done some reading, and am still reading several books, plus the growing pile (and my non horror reads) at home and at the store. But here are some highlights:

Muneca by Cynthia Gomez: This book, oh my gods this book. I missed subway stops (more than once) because of this book. Sapphic, witchy, the dangers of unseen forces, the wretched things the rich do, the love story! This book is wonderful and you should read it.

Nightjars by Michael Wehunt: The upcoming (September) novel by the author of ‘The October Film Haunt’ (which as you all know I LOVE). A man begins receiving creepy photos of himself and his father when he was a kid; but these aren’t things he remembers, or does he? Was his dad a murderer, is he? As the layers get peeled back and more is revealed this book gets more unsettling and - though I’m not finished yet - I will not read it at night.

A Reckless Indulgence by Aveda Vice: A siren and a half dragon/half human pirate, in a sort of enemies to lovers, high seas, sexy adventure? Yes please. A bit lighter than some of Aveda’s other books, but full marks for a spicy good time.

Next up:

The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer: The latest from the author of “We Used To Live Here”, is a perfect ‘the things we do for money’ story. The main character Macy, needs money so she takes a weird job that she found posted on Craigslist (honestly this can only end poorly), in a secluded house where she has to perform a series of strange rituals in order to keep an incomprehensible evil at bay.

Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm: This comes out in September but I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this Palestinian horror novel, about three generations of women attempting to stop the haunting of their ancestral home, before the past drowns them all. Everything I’ve read about this is amazing and anyone I’ve talked to about it, loves it - can’t wait to get into it.

Not to mention the long list of queer horror that I just giddily look at every day; some I’ve read but want to reread, some I haven’t gotten to yet (waves at The Salvage by Anbara Salam in particular) - and I look forward to sharing what I got up and got into in next month’s newsletter. As well as what it’s like to be back with your family after such a long time away. Happy Pride everyone! I hope you get to celebrate in whatever way brings you all the queer joy! Love you!

ON WRITING… with Jay!
An Ode to Heavy Metal.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing, Sheep Detective.”
“…what?”
“Sheep Detective, The movie about sheep…detectives? Their Hugh Jackman is murdered and then-“
“I heard you. I just wasn’t ready for that sentence.”
“I have a soft spot for talking Farm animal movies.”
*LONG BLINK*
“They’re born into a kafeseque dystopia hellscape, and, almost immediately, their cruel, limited life is scheduled for execution only to appease faceless wealth hordersin feeding the masses they exploit! They literally have to defy a highly sophisticated, oppressive force through sheer innovation and collaboration.”
“Okay…we can watch Sheep Detective.”
“Hooray.”

This totally real and in no way exaggerated conversation leads us to today’s topic. Metal: Originally a subgenre of rock with a dash of blues, Heavy Metal emerged in the late 60s with bands like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. The aesthetic has taken on a life of its own, inspiring a slew of subgenres, such as quest metal, doom metal, black metal, death metal, glam metal, power metal, symphonic metal, nu metal, and three more that just sprouted up as you were reading this sentence. Along with music, Heavy Metal magazine helped proliferate the style with illustrated stories depicting dystopian wastelands, cyberpunk megacities, and barbaric fantasylands. Weapons were outrageous, vixens were just as voluptuous as they were dangerous, and villains were impossible galactic threats.

But that’s a wide spectrum. How does one genre have room for Motley Crue and Gwar? And what’s going on with the narratives? Other than hulking sensationalism, there aren’t really any commonalities. Well, not on the surface, but the subtext is an entirely different beast. While Heavy Metal’s visual and auditory spectrum covers… well, everything, its core principles rest on a very precise and fortified bedrock. While the images and lyrics regale indomitable adversaries and interminable challenges, the Heavy Metal philosophy is an unapologetic “fuck you” to those impossible odds.

After my father died, I had to take care of his estate and get my health-compromised mother into an assisted living facility. It seemed impossible. And after the funeral, I had to drop Chris off at the airport to go back to our home while I got my parents’ affairs in order. That drive back to my minus-one-parent’s house was grueling. I was homesick beyond reason, had no idea what I was doing, and had to see off the love of my life. I was in my Dad’s car at the time, and he didn’t have Bluetooth, but he did have satellite radio. I knew right where to go. Their metal stations. While most music genres’ core themes range from “but I really want to have sex with you” and “I miss having sex with you,” Metal’s only tenet is “everything sucks, succeed out of spite!” It was exactly what I needed.

Metal does not patronize its audience. It looks you dead in the eye and declares the odds are against you. But the odds are against all of us. That message transcends a medium and establishes an ideology that does not discriminate (except for black metal, what the fuck guys?). But despite war-ravaged fantasy lands and corporate cyber-futures, the fight for justice rages on to distorted riffs and grinding chords. And that’s why Babe remaining kind through the nightmare that is his existence is the most metal thing I’ve ever seen.

Write on, weary travellers.

A POEM… from phi!

Reasons to Keep Breathing

i. to see the moon again;
to let it remind me that no day
is ever the same as the one before;
Something, however small, will
always change.

ii. the tulips in front of my childhood home
are my favourite part of Spring.
the snow melts, and before anything else
begins to bloom,
the tulips stand tall and bright,
coloured full of life, asserting,
We are here.
it’s almost April.
I will see them soon.

iii. unexpected phone calls from friends.
the stories.
the laughter.
the spontaneity of it all.
the urgency of information needing to be pass along
right now and in person.

iv. to hear my cat chirp when I come home from work.
the way she wraps her tail around my leg
as if we are holding hands.
To hear him Yell.
Yes, Little One, I missed you, too !
Tell me more about your day.

v. every year, for Christmas, I am gifted with at least one bag of
pistachio nuts.
this is the only time of year that I get to eat them
and they are my favourite snack.

vi. to dance in the rain.
my favorite song
is the anticipation;
and the Thundering Chorus !!
and the Reckoning !

vii. to wear my favourite outfit.
the one that matches my eyes,
and the feather-down grass,
and the moss on friendly tree stumps.
It is a beautiful feeling
and I want to remember what beautiful feels like.

viii. it hurts, it hurts, it hurts,
but I want to know what hurt feels like
I want to know what it feels like
when my chest stops burning.

ix. to write this poem.

x. to keep breathing.

Retail Therapy:
xvii. Hey, Jealousy.

Contrary to the opinion of my husband, my coworkers, my friends, I am never doing enough. I want to ride in all directions at once. I want to see and do everything there is. I want to curate everything. I want to change the world.

I get struck with delicious envy when I see another shop, restaurant, artist, idea, event crop up- an enlivening tinge of “Ohhhh.. I should have thought of that.” Genuinely, I am a man with enormous compersion. I root for the success of everyone around me, I take joy in their joy, I fight alongside them when they need support for a battle that is bigger than they can take on alone. But I just.. want to be part of everything. It is a nuisance to me, the 24hr clock, the limitations of location, the terrible mortal coil and need to do things like eat and sleep. How rude I cannot be everywhere doing everything all at once. I am certain it is not the first time even in this newsletter series that I have said that when human cloning is developed I will be first in line and damn the consequences. Three more of me, please. Imagine all we could accomplish.

This year has already tested the limits of what we can take on, between the Union PopUp, our events calendar, our publishing schedule, the upcoming Little Ghosts Fest, and a few irons still in the fire TBA. I often felt stretched beyond my means, crabby, had burnout, etc. Still, when presented with opportunities to do some fun community building with our authors (published and yet to be) and new indie businesses… I rode! We enjoyed WIP IT OUT: Work in Progress Public Reading on the patio at Little Ghosts, and our Monster Smut reading night in Ottawa at the brand new Evermore Books.

Now that our bigger PopUp is coming to a close, I can get back to the scrambling around, the throwing down tables at small DIY Punk festivals, promoting our publications and indie horror alongside our in-house designed merch. I missed meeting new people in new towns, connecting with artists and zinesters, finding new ways to collaborate with creative people and lift them up. I feel the gulp of fresh air and chaotic energy coming, and I am filled with new life and relief.

On the subject of collaboration, we have begun testing events in the new Workshop space… and… it is looking good, y’all. We are about to put in some murphy tables, allowing for three stations of 4 each (5 if we get squishy). Then the spot will be available for YOU to run your thing during shop hours in a lovely semi-private spot. Writers workshops, zinemaking, crafting, indie film screenings… the list goes on. Keep your eyes peeled on our Events listing as it is about to get even more unhinged.

On a different topic (but one that, again, if you read this piece regularly you know is deep in my heart) I am helping to curate a Lost Landmarks Gallery Show down the street from Little Ghosts. I have been doing some small business advocacy work with the Better Way Alliance and this is culminating in an open call for paintings, prints, and sculptures of beloved third spaces and businesses we’ve lost over the years (usually due to the disproportional rise in commercial rent). I can’t wait to showcase spaces the community has loved- and have an important conversation about the culture we lose when we allow big companies to acquire large swaths of our storefront real estate. If you’re local, come to the show! If you’re elsewhere in Canada… let me know if you think there would be a gallery near you hosting something like this. It’s not just a Toronto issue. The affordability crisis is everywhere. I, of course, painted Honest Ed’s for the call graphic.

Also, don’t forget that we’re gearing up for our second LITTLE GHOSTS’ FEST!

This is our annual love letter to everything that makes Little Ghosts and the Horror Genre so special. Two days of vendors, panels, readings, and ending in a short horror film festival. Hosted Sept. 26 & 27th at Toronto’s Tranzac Club so SAVE THE DATE!

Vendors can still apply here.
Filmmakers can submit short films here.

Poster, panel schedule, and vendor list coming your way in the July Newsletter.

On May 23rd, plenty of reasons to visit us both in and out of town as we welcome artists into the bookshop for Spooky Marketplace & we join fellow booksellers and publishers at Collective Arts Hamilton for the return of Books & Brews: A Travelling Book Fair!
Crazily, you could visit us in three places on that particular Saturday, as our Union Station PopUp with Hopeless Romantic is still open and going strong. If you hit every location, you’ll have successfully seen every Ghost, as this will be an all-hands-on-deck weekend. No matter where you go, we hope you have an amazing time with us and the respective creative communities we share space in (gothic creatives, small publishers, and indie bookstores). These connections are what makes our work at Little Ghosts so fulfilling.

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Why we Read.

Hello wonderful newsletter readers! How’s everyone doing? Slowly improving weather starting to lift your spirits? Have definitely seen more of your lovely faces out and about; both at the Union Station pop-up and at Little Ghosts OG location on Dundas. Everyone seems just that little bit lighter and I’m so hopeful for all of us to feel that little bit of joy (though I’m always hoping for LOTS AND LOTS OF JOY for us all) that the warming temps and the budding trees and plants bring to our being.

One of the (many) things that I love about working in books are the conversations with customers, co-workers, authors, publishers and so on. Usually the conversation centres on “what are you reading” or “who/what’s your favourite book or author”? But another question that comes up - especially working in a horror bookstore - is why do we read the books that we do, or sometimes indeed, just why do we read? Now that’s a big, big question and the answer is going to be slightly different for everyone, but I’m going to make a stab at answering both for you, dear reader.

Why do I read? For me the question is akin to why do I breathe? It is foundational to who I am; outside of the need to dance (yes I am a real life SIM), I have been reading for almost as long as I can remember. Words on a page have never not fascinated me; the worlds they open up, the knowledge conveyed, the emotions stirred, and of course the escape. Books have always made sense, even if I didn’t understand the context of the words, the books themselves never confused me. I could carry them with me, (instant friends), I could close them to think about what I’d read, or to do something else and they’d still be there, and I could lose myself in a million different worlds and that wonder, that awe, has never gone away. I truly don’t know who I’d be without books; they surround me at home, and fill me with memories and joy; they surround me at work and I feel those same emotions, but also I get to share them with those of you that come to the store. We all read for a variety of reasons; because we have to (school and/or work), because we’re curious about something, because we want to teach ourselves a new skill, or more often than not, as an escape. Books are brilliant as an escape, and have been mine for many a year.

Books have made me feel safe, they’ve given me haven (thank you library club in elementary school), I’ve made friends, been successfully hit upon (and vice versa) and cemented friendships - all through books. The thought of not having books in my life - regardless of genre, as I read multitudes - honestly causes me pain. When the first year of lockdown literally stole my ability to process the written word (our brains are just jerks sometimes), I truly thought I would go mad; to be alone but with all my friends on the page sounded manageable, but to be alone surrounded by those same friends and for them to be silent? That was one of the longest and darkest years of my life; also began my addiction to tiktok.

So I read because I can’t not; it’s the rarest of days that I don’t read something, anything - it’s my comfort, my security, my sanctuary and it reminds me of who I am; and often of what we can be.

Now then to the other part of the equation; why read horror. I didn’t always read a lot of horror (though always some), instead I was raised on mysteries and science fiction; I loved a puzzle and a fantastical world. Those early books - some that I’ve written about in earlier newsletters - are still on my shelves, they are my best friends, my earliest pockets of happiness. But along with all the puzzles and the far flung worlds came the occasional scary story, the chill down the spine, the creepy tales that tickle a different part of the brain. Though again, I was more a watcher of horror films (and I watched a lot of them), than I was a reader of them through my adolescence. In fact I eschewed Stephen King when all of my peers were devouring him. Save for Salem’s Lot and maybe Needful Things, I didn’t start reading him until later - instead I was reading the occasional ghost story, Shirley Jackson (of course) and then finally Clive Barker both on the screen and on the page. Even then I didn’t fully know why I liked certain horror books, but much like a lot of the sci-fi and mysteries that I read, I connected with the weird people, the ones that didn’t always fit in, or that were looked at differently. When the stories didn’t make them the bad guys, instead showing why they were the ones that people should listen to, should support and so on - well that made all the sense to me. And as the years went on, those weirdos in all those creepy, odd, thought provoking stories took their place among my friends. So again, why horror? Because sometimes we want to name the monsters that hurt us, we want to see them in a form that we can fight, because we just want to be in the story, because sometimes the monsters are who we should be cheering for. And it’s fun to be scared sometimes; ghost stories around a campfire, a haunted house, trick or treating, jumping out at your siblings or your friends hoping for that satisfying scream - it’s part of most of us, and getting that in book form? Oh that’s the best. Horror writing hits all the notes; it can be funny, bloody, gory, scary, spooky, sad, existential, gut wrenching, disgusting, political, sweet, and more! I’ve always loved genre fiction more than lit fic (as we say in the biz), and in my former life at the big chain my staff always came to me when a customer wanted something weird, something different, something not on the usual picks table. So give me all of the haunted house, indigenous, sci-fi, sapphic, unsettling, weird, existential, occasionally make me recoil books you can. Oh and all the slashers please - I love a good slasher!

So dear readers, why do you read? What brought you to horror books?

What’s Kristin reading?

Year of the Mer by L.D. Lewis: What if the Little Mermaid’s granddaughter is about to go to war with her bodyguard and fiancee Nova at her side. Set to inherit the throne, a coup leaves Yemi and Nova on the run and only Ursla can help them. I’ve only just started reading this but am anticipating a page-turning, bloody good time!

Neon Moon by Grace R. Reynolds: “Where The Whiskey Burns Hotter Than Hell” - what a great tagline! Darlene survived a deadly attack and has found a home at the Teegarden Saloon; until an axe-wielding maniac tries to wreck that home. Darlene and the rest of the customers will have to fight tooth and nail to survive this night. The first chapter already has me stressed out, and on board with whatever she does to make it just one more day.

The Bewitching by Silvia Morena-Garcia: I’m a sucker for any book that involves books (or libraries); I’ll pick them up just because of that regardless of the author. But show me a multi-generational horror, where the main character is studying the history of horror literature and I will RUN to that book. Which brings me to Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s latest, and how I haven’t already torn through this I have no idea - however I’m in it now and already loving the descent into madness. Family trauma and legend, witches, books, and a cursed campus? Let’s go!

The Library After Dark by Ande Pliego: This one is high on my TBR; a library science student and horror enthusiast, is trapped in an infamously haunted library that holds her darkest secrets, but there’s a murderer in her tour group that’s killing everyone off one by one, to deal with first. Oh no, a locked room mystery, with a killer in a haunted library - not at all up my alley. *apologizes to the rest of the TBR* Will I love it? Wait until next month to find out!

I hope that the month of May is indeed merry for you all! See you next month!

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Nonfiction.

While I primarily write fiction, a fair share of my creative energy is devoted to nonfiction as it is more reliable at paying bills. Not to say nonfiction isn’t creatively fulfilling, as I do find the research, process, and craft satisfying, but inherent worries do present themselves when I vacation to the “real world.” Will my fiction suffer, or, worse yet, will my ability to craft compelling prose dull the edge of my cerebral rapier in the ethereal battlefield of the written word?

I started writing movie reviews for an online blog in my early twenties. I had fun, got to watch some weird stuff, and I received a whole 5 dollars for each 600-word review. Not too long after that, I started my own blog for movie reviews, which eventually led to a podcast and interviews with anyone who would say yes. Turns out musicians are more attainable, and they’ll also give you free press passes to their shows. I had a decent DSLR camera at the time and enjoyed photography, so why not? I’d get a free show, and the band would get photographs and an interview. Not a bad deal. I did enough on my own that record labels would eventually contract me to shoot photos and/or interview bands coming through my neck of the woods. Hell, yeah! I get to sharpen my relationship with cameras, discover some new bands, and talk to some eccentric folks.

What I didn’t know was that I was developing a portfolio. What that portfolio allowed me to do was pitch contributing articles to magazines and blogs, and those articles provided me with the resources and resume to apply for and receive a nonfiction grant. That grant is going to the upcoming Canadian horror movie compendium: The Great Fright North (shameless self-plug). I’m very excited by it, but this is where my fears come to fruition. How can you write a large non-fiction guide and remain entertaining, informative, and engaging? The last thing I want to do is write a glorified encyclopedia.

Fiction helps inform my nonfiction. No matter the nonfiction subject, there is a compelling story to be told. Identifying that story is the tricky part. When it came to movies, I did my best to identify what the filmmakers were trying to do and analyzed whether that was achieved. They had a vision, developed it, and executed. Did it work? Did they come up short? Did they not have the resources? Did they seemingly pander to outside forces like audience anticipation, or did studios interfere? It helped me remain as unbiased as possible while also affording me an elastic foundation to write an article.

When it came to interviews, it depended on the subject. Every professional at one point was a novice, and every novice at some point was a beginner. Those humble beginnings are inherently compelling, and those stories are always an arduous journey rife with victories and defeats. So, if you’re reading this right now and believe your endeavors are too uncertain, that’s the life of a craftsman. Life on the edge. It’s fun, but make sure to take care of yourself. But finding the kernels of victory and defeat in someone’s passion, whether it’s their entire career or a single project, is genuinely inspiring.

Contextualizing something real can be just as terrifying as an A24 movie with the right lens. Finding that creative bedrock is what makes nonfiction so compelling. The subject has learned something along the way, and so will the reader. Also, no successful human being has ever known exactly how their story would unfold, nor have they earned success alone. Their life has always had surprises and assistance. Tapping that vein of adaptability and camaraderie is a deeply profound life lesson. Knowing everyone’s story is yet to be written is a comforting thought. We only get one go at this life thing, and we’re not going to nail it one-hundred-percent of the time. So, to me, that makes everyone’s story worth telling.

“We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.”
― Kurt Vonnegut’s Dentist Son

Write on Weary Travellers.

Pip did not write a poem this month.
Instead, enjoy a snail photo.

JUNE EVENTS… with Phi!
Happy Pride Month, Ghosts!

• Friday, June 12th, 6-8pm… WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT!

  Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

  All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.

• Saturday, June 13th, 1-3pm… QUEER AUTHOR WIP READING

  • Join us for a WIP night open to the public! Hear stories in progress from both established horror authors and up-and-coming queer writers. No matter where you are in your publishing journey, your stories are important to us. Readings from Andrew Robertson, phi rowan, Suzan Palumbo, Jay Krawczyk, and more…

• Friday, June 19th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “Wife Shaped Bodies” by Laura Cranehill

  • Forbidden from leaving her house from girlhood until marriage, Nicole has only her mother’s lessons and what she can see from her bedroom window to draw on in forming her view of the world, and of herself. Taught that the mushrooms which cover the women in her village are repulsive and dangerous, she conforms to a rigid set of rules to protect herself and those around her.

    When her wedding day arrives, Nicole moves from one prison to another—an empty mansion on the very outskirts of town belonging to the husband she’s been promised to since birth. As she haunts the edges of Silas’s unknowable life and decaying home, maintaining control over her own transforming body becomes increasingly impossible. And when another wife with rebellious tendencies pays Nicole an unexpected visit, something within her cracks open. Their furtive explorations yield confusing answers, unearthing the long-buried secrets of the generations of resentful brides that came before. Unmoored, angry, and at last awakened, Nicole must reckon with who she really is, and perhaps, give in to what she truly wants.

• Saturday June 20th & Sunday, June 21st, 12-4pm… QUEER VENDOR MARKET!

  • Vendors TBA!

  • email phi (events@littleghostsbooks.com) to apply to be a vendor!

• Friday, June 26th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark” by Warren Wagner

  • In The Only Safe Place Left is the Dark , an HIV positive gay man must leave the relative safety of his cabin in the woods to brave the zombie apocalypse and find the medication he needs to stay alive
    

  • Saturday, June 27th… Books and Brews: QUEER LIT EDITION @ Left Field Brewing in Leslieville

  • Join us for our travelling Book Fair for adults… this time ALL GAY! LGBTQA+ works from indie publishers and queer authors, all showcased in a lovely local brewery that encourages you to stay and mingle with other bookish community members. Get your Queer Reads with us!

• Sunday, June 28th, 5-8pm… Post-Pride Crash Out @ Little Ghosts!

  • Tired from a busy weekend of partying (or not partying)? Come hang with the Little Ghosts and unwind with some snacks, quiet reading time, or just chill vibes with your fellow bookworms!

    

• Tuesday, June 30th, 6-8pm… LAUNCH PARTY: “Across the Trapped and Boundless Deep” by philip rowan

You read that correctly! Little Ghosts’ resident Editor and Events Ghoul is publishing their first novella! Celebrate the end of pride month with the Little Ghosts and special guest: Suzan Palumbo!

After the senseless and preventable death of their partner back on Earth, Shel takes a job as the astrobiologist onboard The Inkblot. Its 50 year voyage into deep space will bring them to the edge of the known universe on a mining expedition. A mundane exercise in gathering the metals required to build new spacecraft.
It’s the perfect place to die in peace.
All the while, Shel is haunted by memories of their lost love—memories that are becoming more and more real with each passing day. Memories that are being weaponized by a force greater than they can comprehend.
Something is out there… and it sings with your voice.

Retail Therapy:
xvi. (Strategic?) Growth.

For those of you following along at home, you’ll know that for the last few months we have been operating in two locations: Little Ghosts OG, our longtime home on Dundas West near Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods Park & HRB x LGB Union Station PopUp inside Toronto’s historic train station, a black x pink horror x romance combo the size of a generous postage stamp.

The PopUp, with its adorable colour combo and very instgrammable concept, is coming to an end. After the solstice (June 22) we wave goodbye to this very fun and very charming collaboration with one of our fave indie genre bookstores. It’s been a treat to chat with bookish folks who maybe otherwise wouldn’t have dipped their toe into the wilds of horror literature. For me, I never dreamed of having such a large presence or press behind our brand. The visibility of it will last beyond our stay. It was a great opportunity- I’m glad we took it. More people read this newsletter, more folks come curiously by the OG shop, and we have more audiobook listeners through Libro.FM. The advertising worked. The effort of it was enormous, and the Ghosts team will all need a little break to recover from expanded scheduling and two-location inventory tracking. If you haven’t stopped by quickquickquick you have a month! Get that crossover merch! Then, the horror x romance meet cute will disappear.

We reabsorb all staff and stock into the classic location, but not an unchanged one- somehow, during all this, construction has begun on the Little Ghosts’ Workshop Space. A garage out back is being transformed into a smoll but mighty little home for our Book Clubs, WIP nights, Screenwriting Workshops, Readings, Marketplaces… and more! It is looking like the major points of this renovation will be done by early June (at the time of writing this, we have framed new doorways, poured concrete, and fully replaced the roof). This project was made possible so far by the generous response to our Crowdfunding efforts in March, and we even got a very succinct write-up about it in 6ix Retail ! Fulfilment on Crowdfundr rewards is beginning in the coming weeks- including hanging of ceramic Little Ghosts donor plaques inside the store this long weekend.

It’s hard, as a small business, to know which directions to take. There is always pressure to expand, opportunities to take on more work. How do you know when the juice is worth the squeeze, or when more is simply… MORE? When outside forces start to put a strain on our efforts, I try to bring myself back to the mission and vision for Little Ghosts. It becomes an alignment question. How does this grow the business, sure sure, making more money is an unfortunate need as the costs of everything increase beyond control. But does it grow the brand in a direction that reflects its values? At Little Ghosts, representing our LGBTQA+ indie creative horror community and providing a safe and encouraging space for the people who make that art as well as the people who consume it is… the whole point of the thing. Internally, offering good jobs with decent pay, predictable scheduling, and room to contribute meaningfully to the mission is, again, the whole point. If something shiny comes along that will need the attention and labour and visibility of Little Ghosts and our team… we have to keep asking if it serves the Little Ghosts ethos. It has to be a fit. The PopUp was an amazing opportunity to work with friends and get out in front of more eyeballs, but ultimately our focus on creating opportunities for creative folks and platforming them is where our long term investments live. Its closure marks a return to the travelling book fairs we organize, to planning for Little Ghosts Fest (Sept. 26 & 27th- vendor call Live on the Website ) and to offering up more space for folks to come host their workshops with us.

Missed our Crowdfundr campaign? While some of the limited edition rewards are no longer available, we’ve opened up to donations again and have a small amount of wall ghosts and rewards back up for those who want to help us out on a few key elements we have yet to be able to afford (like AC… and heat). We can’t wait to host in our newly expanded and improved space in time for pride! And to refocus our efforts and the expertise of the team to offer even more programming hosted by all the lovely folks who frequently haunt Little Ghosts. Keep your eye out for those event listings as they emerge- and maybe even a Workshop Warming Party! Dates TBD (you know how renovations can be).

Contribute to the Little Ghosts Workshop Fund

Regulars around the shop and readers of our newsletter will notice the new look- previously a black-and-white two-parter, this year I made us something a little prettier to navigate with. These maps will be available as art prints in the shop as early as Thursday April 16th. I want to get them in your hands ahead of planning your crawl next weekend!

On the day? We’ll have maps at both locations alongside my annual short run of the Toronto Indie Bookstore Zine. The Zine contains bookstore locations of yore, new friends, and all the secondhand bookstores in the city as well (woefully not included on the colour maps this year, but a colour version of the map with just those might become available at some point… forgive me… I can only art so quickly).

Visitors to the Union Station LGB x HRB PopUp will be treated to an exclusive handmade brand new collaborative tote- for sale only at the PopUp! Designed by your truly, as always. More details to be slowly teased out on our instagram stories.

Visitors to Little Ghosts’ Trinity Bellwoods shop will be treated to live Sheet Ghost caricature drawings. That’s right! Quick pen sketches of you or a friend as a sheet ghost, drawn live on-site for one day only. Be nice to your resident art ghost who might get some serious hand cramps.
We’ll also have some giveaway bags to the first few guests, and mystery wrapped ARCs for customers who spend $25+
Plus we have a Libro.FM GOLDEN TICKET for one lucky horror pal to find in the store- that gets you a 12 AUDIOBOOK CREDIT! Learn More Here

For so many reasons you should be saving the date, grabbing some friends, and planning your Indie Bookstore Day Crawl! Let me know where you went and what you picked up in the comments. I love to hear about your book adventures, and the bookshops you love out where you live.

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Breaking the reading slump.

Happy spring Little Ghosts Family! I type that in hope that by the time the newsletter is published, winter has finally packed up and gone home. It’s been rough hasn’t it; I know that we’ve all been pretty deep in the doldrums this year. And honestly why not, the world continues to be on fire, day to day living seems to get exponentially more difficult every week and again, winter really wanted to be memorable this year, and far overstayed its welcome. Anyway, it’s been tough, we all feel it, and thankfully we have each other to lean on, to talk to, spill our guts to, share with - without community and your friends we’d be in much worse shape. I’m continually grateful for my LG found family, for my friends, and for you dear readers (many of whom I get to see here in the store), knowing that you enjoy the books I suggest, that you’ve found new authors and new faves - well that literally lifts me up. Knowing that I’ve contributed something positive to your world, but especially through books? It’s the best, truly. So thank you all for continuously lifting us with your kind words, your lovely messages and your excited faces when you come into the store or the pop-up.

Speaking of being lifted up; are you like me in that the right book can lift you out of almost anything? I know that this endless, grey, cold winter has affected many and made it difficult to read. Sometimes the seasons just wear so heavily upon us, that our brains refuse to process new information - even when it’s something that we’re excited about, be it a book, a television show, movies or music. I’ve been through that more than once and it is SO frustrating to not be able to enjoy the thing you love. Anyway, what book, or book series has helped to break you out of that funk? Coming out of the winter I’m often stuck, but then jumping into the land of pop-up fun (and it is fun!), severely restricted my time and ability to read anything new or complex. But a couple of book club reads (which fortunately were books I had read before), and a bit of comfort reading of old favourites helped jog me loose. Sometimes it doesn’t even have to be the best written book, or the most challenging subject matter, often it’s the most unexpected and fun read that will do it. So as promised, for this month I have new books to tell you about. More than one of these titles were delights, and I found myself almost missing subway stops so engrossed was I in the material.

Recent reads: these are some of the books that I’ve read and loved of late; a couple of novellas, an ARC (which I cannot wait for you all to read when it comes out), a short story collection and a delightful novel.

Hard Luck Jenny by David Sodergren: This creepy, icky, ribald novella from Sodergren is absolutely worth your time. I read it almost feverishly, racing to what I knew would be an unhappy, yet satisfying conclusion. Sodergren’s combination of folk and extreme horror continues to be the genre mash-up we need.

Middle Finger Rigor Mortis by Andrew Adams: A riotous good time! How many books start with a main character that’s escaped multiple massacres by the same serial killer and that’s not the main story? Come for Marilyn’s wit, sarcasm and defiance, stay for the dark, bloody aftermath.

Cathedral of the Damned by Nathan Ballingrud: The second book (and Stoker nominated) book in the Lunar Gothic Trilogy, this is an excellent sequel to Crypt of the Moon Spider. In fact I think I like it better than the first. It’s weirder than the first book (which was pretty weird), the story moves along and I found it more immersive; truly looking forward to the final book in this trilogy, and that’s after initially thinking the first book didn’t need a sequel. For those of you that like creepy, gothic sci-fi.

Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen: Coming soon (June!) from the author of Sweetside Motel, is this absolutely note perfect slasher. This is exactly what you want in a book in this genre; hidden secrets, tumultuous relationships, redemption arcs, small town hijinks, an implaccable killer (how DO they do that?) and more! I loved every page. I can’t wait for all of you to visit Cedar Lake…who will survive??

Pedal Zombies edited by Ely Blue: This reprinted collection of short stories is one of my favourite reads in some time. Each story is vastly different; but the overarching themes of zombies, bicycles, survival and community are so well articulated. In fact the closing to one of the stories moved me so much, that I was compelled to annotate my copy while on the subway.

Reads that are flying/that I’m excited for: All four of these are high on my TBR or I’ve already started paging through them. All brand new and eagerly anticipated by your ghosts.

Partially Devoured by Daniel Kraus: From the author of Whalefall, Angel Down, and many more, comes a love letter to one of the best horror films ever made, “Night of the Living Dead”. Having first watched it when he was 5(!), and some 300 times since then, Kraus’s frame by frame examination of this film, its impact on the genre, its anti-racism theme, the life of the writer and so on, will have you immersed in its pages. I am waiting to have a few days off to properly appreciate a book that I’m really excited about. Also, we have signed copies!

Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell: I am so intrigued and excited to read this horror novel taken from Welsh mythology. Part psychological fairy tale, part Frankenstein, all tragic. A young boy has a companion created from flowers that is supposed to die with the turning of the seasons, but so in need of her, he delves ever deeper into magic as the years turn, going deeper to keep her with him. As control and consent are confused with love, things turn ugly. (this is written by a local author too!)

This Vicious Hunger by Francesca May: A sapphic, gothic, magical folk horror, with science underpinnings? Need I say more? No really, of course I’m going to read this, it practically has my name written all over it. Set in an ever so slightly alternative world, we meet Thora who is lost and penniless after the death of her husband, but is offered an opportunity to go to university and study under a famous professor. There she encounters Olea, who is the keeper of a poison garden under Thora’s window, the two rapidly become involved, and Thora becomes obsessed with freeing Olea (who seems bound to the garden). How far will they go?

Wretch by Eric LaRocca: Oh this one is going to hurt, but what’s pleasure without a little pain right? This latest novel from Eric Larocca centres on Simeon who is consumed by grief after the death of his husband. He finds a support group of sorts called the Wretches, where he is introduced to a mysterious figure named Porcelain Khaw, who has the ability to let people have one more moment with their loved ones, for a price.

These are just a few of the titles that have captured my eye and my reading time over the past month - I hope that you’re finding books that are keeping you entranced as well! Now we turn our attention to preparing for Indie Bookstore Christmas, aka Canadian Independent Bookstore Day! Last year was JUMPING from open to close at Little Ghosts, and I had just the best day being surrounded by lovers of books. I cannot wait to see all of you again this year; it’s going to be bigger and better than ever!

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Rejection.

No matter your vocation in life, you will experience rejection. From job interviews to the dating scene, you are not going to tread this mortal coil without being turned away. It’s an unfortunate shared experience. If you’re a writer trying to get your work published, oof- buckle up. You’re in for a ride paved on “unfortunately, we’ve decided not to…” Does that foresight make it any easier to cope? No, not really. It certainly takes away some of the sting, but since you were rejected, someone else was accepted. And for sure, comparison is the thief of joy, but what does that intrinsically mean? What didn’t you have that they did? Every publisher adds an arbitrary “this is not a mark on your quality” in their rejection, but it is to a degree. Maybe, just maybe, you’re not good enough.

Holy hell, what a depressing opening paragraph, but I’m going to do my best to navigate the process of rejection with a positive outlook while simultaneously not patronizing you. Jerks with a microphone in front of their faces bombard their listeners with “rejected? Good! Failed? Excellent! You now have an opportunity to sharpen your tools and try again! The pain means you’re alive! You can’t kill what doesn’t give up!” Wow… thanks. I despise that kind of advice, and that disdain is amplified when it comes from someone who is flourishing. So, take it from a guy who was recently rejected for a project they’re dying to make, your artistic pursuits are worth it.

Alright, so let’s get something out of the way: never being accepted for anything is a possibility. Unlikely if you’re working on your craft and honing your submissions, but there is a very real threat that nothing of yours ever gets published, printed, produced, or what have you. That is a potentially harrowing consequence and one you’d probably want to avoid at all costs. Rejection is also painful, so avoiding submissions may save you from the emotional torment. You’re sacrificing the potential zeal of acceptance, but it might be worth it to at least take a break along the way.

As smart as our brains are, they treat emotional pain with the same severity as getting hit by a car. Research shows that social rejection activates neural pathways in the same way your brain reacts to physical pain (the anterior insula and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, to be specific). There is a quite literal “heartache,” and your feelings can be “hurt.” Personally, I feel it every time I’m rejected. The absolute faceplant of rejection has never gotten easier, nor have I grown numb to the experience.

Okay, so why, with all this mounting evidence of the horrors of rejection, should I pursue writing? Welp, funny enough, the reasons to pursue a creative craft have nothing to do with acceptance. For me, at least, the highs of accomplishments last about eighty seconds, and a lot of that is my fault. The absolute agony I put myself through in the submission process burns me out before I even get to cross the finish line. Writing query letters, treatments, and researching is in itself a full-time job. Then there’s the waiting. The constant push and pull of “I’m a shoo-in,” and “I’m going to get rejected,” is a sort of mental whiplash my poor grey matter doesn’t deserve. (Unfortunately, I’m currently doing that very thing, so this article is as slice of life as it’s going to get). It’s hard not to fantasize about what may be, but even if I do get accepted, those fantasies won’t match reality. I’m pretty sure I scoffed when I saw “Reality Squall” was accepted for publication, and I was so fried waiting to hear if “Sunset Superman,” got into the festival that I was practically a zombie at Fantastic Fest.

But do we write, paint, or draw for accolades? Most certainly not, for there are easier ways to achieve adulation. We do it because we like it. It gives us purpose and provides internal catharsis. Even writing this newsletter piece has helped me heal from rejection. So, my advice to you if you fear rejection, is to be very precise in your submission process. You’re just asking for a tsunami of rejection if you submit to every open call. Instead, find submission calls from publications or literary agents you genuinely gravitate toward. Read their criteria a few times over and tailor a query letter specifically to them. And also, don’t be afraid to take breaks. There’s no need to batter yourself, so treat the submission process with a gentle hand.

There’s still no guarantee of acceptance, but your chances for publication substantially increase when you research and refine your pitch. And don’t be afraid to show your query letter to friends. A second opinion is always helpful. And if all else fails, write the next one. Digest those emotions and use them to fuel your next endeavor, rinse and repeat. If I get rejected this month for my dream project, I’ll do my best to take it in stride. It’s a project that I believe in, so I’ll take a breath, reevaluate, and try again while working on the next one. The prize is the art, and everything else is just a bonus. So I can guarantee you this: if you continue working on your craft, enduring rejection, your art will not only get better, it will become more you. And that’s when you’ll have something truly special.

Write on Weary Travelers

MAY EVENTS… with Phi!

Friday, May 8th, 6-8pm… WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT!

Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds. All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.
WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT now has a $5 reservation fee. This $5 can be used for a beverage or taken off a book purchase night of! However, in the event of a no-show, fees will not be refunded. Event starts at 6pm, and we will stop seating attendees at 6:15. Please be respectful of our editor and our fellow writers.

• Saturday, May 9th, 1-3pm… Signing: “The Dummy” by Jonny Ward

  Walter finds a ventriloquist dummy. A childhood dream come true. But things begin to shift. Time slips, shadows move, and the line between old trauma and outside influence thins. The dummy sits still through it all. Watching. Smiling. What follows is a spiral into ancient horror, obsession, and fractured faith, as Walter uncovers The Dummy’s purpose. Whatever lives behind that painted grin has plans for him, and they reach far beyond one broken mind.

• Friday, May 22nd, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World” by Daniel Kraus

  A New York Times bestselling author dives into a horror movie classic to examine his favorite film’s importance to our history, culture, and psychology, creating a perfect blend of research and memoir in the vein of Quentin Tarantino’s Cinema Speculation. Daniel Kraus first saw George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead when he was five years old. Through watching it approximately three hundred times since, Kraus discovered the many ways the film is tied to his childhood trauma and how its influence has carried into his adulthood. He couldn’t help but Are there other admirers of the film out there who feel the same?

• Saturday, May 23rd & Sunday, May 24th, 12-4pm… SPOOKY VENDOR MARKET!

  • Vendors TBA

  • Email phi (events@littleghostsbooks.com) if you would like to apply for a vendor spot!

• Friday, May 29th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “Queer Werewolves Destroy Capitalism” by M.J. Lyons

  • Sexy, capitalism-defying adventures take you around the galaxy in this debut collection of five high-heat erotic short stories by MJ Lyons. A pack of werewolves tear through downtown Toronto to protest cruel treatment of workers, led by a werewolf & witch couple who are equally passionate about the cause and each other. From charnel landscapes to queer utopias, from the crepuscular cruising grounds of 19th century Paris to the urban werewolf hunting grounds of 21st century Toronto, from the tender to the consentacled, these tales of unapologetically queer, unabashedly smutty speculative fiction will thrill, titillate, and delight. A male/male erotic short story collection from Microcosm’s Queering Consent series.

Hey Friends!

My brother (who is also my roommate) and I recently purchased a Nintendo Switch 2. This is good, because it is Bad™ out there and Pokopia is the only thing that keeps the darkness at my core from expanding and consuming the rest of me like the event horizon of a mentally-ill black hole.

So anyway, here’s a poem in honour of my slow, pokémon-filled descent into madness. It isn’t new, and I won’t apologize for that, because it is the best thing I’ve ever written to this day.

Cheers!

phi

An Ode to Bulbasaur

Garlic Pokémon is both
Fragrant and
Kind

oh so kind
oh so kind
you blow my
mind

with your solar beams
hey cabbage patch baby
if you choose me
I will choose you
always

Retail Therapy:
xv. Burnout

People who say, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life,” are fucking idiots. This quote is from Mark Twain, and from my very scant research that I completed in two minutes just now, he was lousy with weird get-rich-quick schemes and died in horrible crippling debt. Maybe the phrase should be amended to, “Do what you love and die owing millions of dollars to banks and creditors.” Considering everyone I know has some sort of student loan, car payment, credit card, or mortgage (or a heady combination of all of the above), I don’t think that’s an experience exclusive to the whimsically-employed.

Sorry folks, I’m in a mood. I’m burnt out. It was bound to happen. We’re running two locations, planning the workshop renovation, getting ready for books to release from the publishing house, I’m working a part time job, I freelance edited a manuscript, and I’m going back to school in May because why not. This is sometimes what it looks like to have your passions be your career. It’s messy and intoxicating and exciting and heartbreaking and I do work. Every day. Of my goddamned life. All the time. Nearly every person in my orbit tells me I am the busiest person they know (over dinner at my place or drinks out, because despite it all they are all very dear to me and I try to make as much time as I can for them- so my friends, if you’re reading this, I love you).

I have been told by more than one retail entrepreneur in my life that they stopped interacting with the thing they sell- comic shop owners who don’t collect or flip through pages, wellness product salespeople who secretly use cheap Dove soap. I used to think no way man, that could never be me. But, dear reader, burnout came for me this year and with it The Worst Reading Slump of my Life. I am bummed to admit it, but I stopped even logging my reads because the amount of DNFs was getting depressing. Nothing spoke to me. Luckily, this aligned with Book Clubs that has backlist titles as picks for the most part, and a break in slush reading for the press. I could rot in obscurity, my shame a secret. Maybe I hate books forever now?!

I’m pleased to let you know that I’m back (and we can thank Persona by Aoife Josie Clements), but the feeling of falling out of love with what I do was a nauseating free-fall through a black hole of purposelessness. I may work absolutely all the time, but rarely do I have to stare at the mountain of tasks and ask WHY I am charging through an insurmountable load with the momentum of a freight train. While tallying and sending out royalties to our authors, I was struck with the jolt of having a positive impact on our creative community. I made a difference to our small pool of writers- with money! It was the reminder I needed to shake some of the lethargic angst out of my exhausted bones. Between that, and reading annihilating trans body horror, then being accepted to an upcoming trans anthology by my fave small press I think it’s going to be okay. Eventually. After a few more naps.

To all my creative pals, entrepreneur friends, and anyone who takes on a few too many projects: I’m sorry the world is cruel, and it feels like the cost of everything is outpacing our ability to perform and produce. In this death rattle of late stage necrocapitalism, try to hear me when I say It’s Not You. We weren’t meant to do this much. I’ve never had so many plates spinning for so little money. Sit down for a minute, don’t lose sight of the passion, which parts of the process light you up. Don’t forget what you love and why you love it- because you’re going to be working way too much of your life to not enjoy at least some of it.

There’s still time to join JAY KRAWCZYK’S SCREENWRITING WORKSHOP(S)!

Learn the craft of screenwriting from a seasoned professional, our very own writer-in-residence and Toll Bookshop Dad. This previously SOLD OUT beginner crash course has blossomed and is being offered ONLINE for the first time ever! Join from anywhere in the world, and leave these five weeks with your very own short film script.

Took the first course or have film experience? Now, for the first time, Jay is offering a LV. 2! Get into the weeds about dialogue, symbolism, and more. Work on your feature script and meet fellow film folks in person at the bookshop.

Get in while there's still spots!

The website discount code for readers is NEWSLETTERGHOST
Use it at The Little Ghosts’ Webstore for 10% off your next purchase.

To finish off what has been a whirlwind month, we are running the book sales at Daniel Kraus’ upcoming event at the Toronto Reference Library! He’ll be chatting about a love of Night of the Living Dead. We had the joy of meeting Daniel at GHOULISHFEST a couple years ago (he even was on a panel about low budget horror movies alongside Jay) and it’s always a treat to hear where his love of horror came from. The talk is free and you’ll be able to buy signed copies of Partially Devoured off our table, and we’ll have his previous works like Whalefall, Angel Down, & The Ghost That Ate Us. You can reserve your spot here!

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Writers and the Sads.

The tortured artist is synonymous with pretty much every medium. From painters to filmmakers, to architects and musicians, almost every creative field has its share of sad sacks. Vangh Gho was a notorious depressive who sawed off his ear during a panic attack. David Chase claimed to have spent most of the 60’s in bed before finding catharsis in writing The Sopranos, statistics show that architects have higher divorce rates and endure early mortality, and it seems every album ever recorded has at least one ode to sadness. Andrew W. K, the guy who’s devoted his life to partying and optimism, has a song entitled “You’re Not Alone,” sharing his own internal struggles.

I don’t think it’s any great secret that my psyche is dialed a few shades darker than the average person. I have a fairly vivid memory of telling my mother, driving home from middle school, “Something’s wrong with me. I’m having a hard time enjoying things.” Her response was “try not to be sad.” Okay, awesome. Depression cured. Not delicately handled, I admit, but in her defense, I was asking a spork to perform a surprise craniotomy. Also, I don’t know how well twelve-year-old Jason would cope with hearing, “yup, that’ll be a lifelong issue you’re going to have to manage.” It was pretty disappointing to have once-exciting toys gradually turn into pieces of inert plastic in my hands, but I wasn’t ready for that to happen with everything!

So, the question has to be asked: are creatives inherently more susceptible to mood disorders, do creative pursuits cause mood disorders, or is it some incalculable slurry of variables that causes one to feel hopeless? Did the forlorn chicken lay the inconsolable egg, or did the ineffable concoction of primordial ingredients hatch a traumatized chicken?

As a working artist who knows plenty of other working artists, I can tell you that the lifestyle can be crushing. Art, and in this instance writing, is an incredibly personal experience, and you’re investing yourself into your work. Your product is a fragile little version of you. That’s nerve-racking. If you’re lucky enough to have an editor, they’re going to analyze and critique your work with the tools and precision required for a craniotomy. Since your writing comes from you, they are ipso facto criticizing you. They’re identifying weaknesses and hypocritical cracks in its foundations and, therefore, your life.

Then, after that, the general public has a say…or not! Getting loads of bad reviews is almost better than no reviews at all. At least you’re being acknowledged. So if the general public rejects you, then maybe you don’t have a place in this world? Maybe you’re defective and don’t have anything of substance to contribute? Or, maybe worst of all, your mere presence is actively harming the world around you. How are you feeling about yourself if you believe your pursuits are burdening the ones you love? Oof.

Also, the job security is as strong as that wrapping paper used for gas station fireworks. Flimsy and easily combustible. Contractors aren’t exactly reliable, there are a finite number of paydays, and the current political climate seems to value real estate over readers. That. Is. Terrifying. It takes up way too much mental bandwith and it can feel unescapable. I devoted so much time, care, and thought into this one skill that no one likes, doesn’t sustainably pay the bills, and is irrevocably linked to who I am, and it is now obsolete in a cruel and unjust world. I am an expert in nothing.

Statistically, there does seem to be a correlation between creatives and mood disorders. All data on the subject is relatively weak, however, because it’s difficult to measure creativity and introspective turmoil. But one study did indicate that 80% of people who worked in a “creative occupation” (novelists (8), poets (18), playwrights (8), biographers (5), and artists (8)) did suffer from a mood disorder (bipolar, substance abuse, depression, mania), with the control group of normies coming in at 30%. That’s a pretty lopsided statistic, but the same questions remain. Do folks who emotionally struggle gravitate toward the artistic lifestyle, or are they struggling with the style of life?

A monthly newsletter’s not going to have the definitive answer, but I do have thoughts. I was writing before I told my mom about my penchant for ennui, but…BUT, I hadn’t yet decided it was my life’s passion. That came a little later, and when I did choose the life of a writer, it was a genuine epiphany. For the first time in my adolescence, I was enthusiastic. I looked forward to life rather than tolerated it. Working on art, mine or otherwise, does provide a purpose. It allows me to internally justify existence, and I think that’s the ultimate association between art and the conscience. Interpretation. Within an impartial and impossibly complex reality ruled by entropy, while living in a commerce-oriented society, it’s hard to validate…well, being. Not only can it feel like we’re living in a vacuum of purpose, but it can also feel impossible to comprehend. Art is gestating those bleak variables and transforming them into something beautiful, defiant, and coherent.

Most importantly, Art is meant to be shared. It is distilled empathy that lets the world know you are not alone. It is a rebellion against the void and the merciless circumstances in which we exist. So, are artists genuinely sadder than the general population? It certainly looks like it, but they’ve found a way to cope in such an endearing way. That’s why most of them, myself included, find art a necessity rather than a choice. Ideal or convenient? No, absolutely not. I’d love to be able to enjoy myself rather than wrangling the internal multitudes of characters holding the darkness at bay. That sounds nice, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me, and that’s okay. Those characters and stories helped me manage my sorrows and fortify the mechanisms for me to live and love. And the characters, stories, paintings, poetry, gymnastics, architecture, comics, novels, posters, portraits, documentaries, zines, designs, music, novellas, sculptures, essays, journals, crafts, dance, short stories, cartoons, movies, performances, and other forms of expression do the same. So, thank you for defending me from the abysses. I couldn’t do it alone.

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Women in Horror Month!

Hello Little Ghosts family! I hope that March is treating you gently, that you enjoyed fake spring (volume 1, we all know it’ll fool us again), and of course that you’ve found time to read at least one book. Your favourite ghosts have a silly amount of things going on, but really that’s nothing new! We’re celebrating our 4th birthday this month (we’re 4, can you believe it?), we’re continuing to work on our plans to renovate our workshop space, we’ve got signings and bookclubs and launches almost every week, and we’re still having so much fun at our pop-up in Union Station!

I really want to thank everyone that’s come to visit us at our pop-up in Union Station. It’s been so lovely to see familiar faces from the shop, but also to meet new friends that haven’t been able to get to our Dundas St. W storefront; every time someone says how happy they are to get to experience Little Ghosts, it really does fill me with joy. I don’t think we knew just how many of our online followers would be able to come see us - it’s truly been amazing.

I think one of the best things about this pop-up (other than working with another wonderful, independent bookstore *waves at Hopeless Romantic Bookstore besties*), has been how excited people are to see a bookstore; they are positively giddy when they realize there is a bookstore here. I’ve worked in books for the majority of the last 25 years, and throughout most of those years people have been talking about the death of reading, the book is dying, no one cares about books anymore, everything is digital anyway, etc etc etc….I’ve heard it all x 1,000,000. I can tell you that working in a bookstore puts paid to those statements every day. People LOVE BOOKS. They really do. I’ve had customers twirl in delight when they come in, exclaim in happiness when they see a book they’ve been looking for, laugh delightedly as they look at the shelves and leave with the biggest smiles on their faces - all because of books. Many of these customers/booklovers are like me; they split their reading between physical books they buy, books they borrow from the library (get your library card!), and those they read on a digital device (whether purchased or borrowed), but I can tell you that they all love holding books, picking them up, smelling them (oh that book smell!), and then taking them home. And that, my friends, is a beautiful thing.

Women In Horror Month: With International Women’s Day having just passed, we want to celebrate the amazing women in horror writing! From the originators (Sheridan Le Fanu, Mary Shelley, Shirley Jackson), to the incredible array of voices we get to enjoy each and every day, it is truly a wonderful thing to be able to turn to the shelves and offer up book after book, all written by incredible women. Long gone are the days when women authors had to disguise themselves as men via pseudonyms and pen names, now we shout them from the rooftops, and proudly display them throughout our stores.

Here is a small sampling of some of my favourite women in horror (please note that this list is not remotely exhaustive):

Shirley Jackson: The Lottery remains one of the most terrifying stories I’ve ever read; in fact it scares me every time I read it (that ending!), but please read anything and everything she’s written, she is well worth your time. (Personal faves: The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived In The Castle).

Laurel Hightower: “Crossroads” hooked me, and her short story collection “Every Woman Knows This” sealed the deal; a deeply felt collection that takes so many of those horrific experiences and flips them. The imagery and emotion she evokes in so few pages is astonishing.

S.A. Barnes: As someone that grew up reading Sci-Fi, I leap at any and all sci-fi/horror crossovers, and S.A. Barnes is probably the first one I came across at the shop - a definite recommendation for anyone that loves a genre crossover!

Mariana Enriquez: Best known perhaps for the gorgeous, historical occult novel “Our Share Of Night” (a must read), I’ve recently fallen in love with her short stories and highly recommend “A Sunny Place For Shady People”, set once again in her native country of Argentina, these twelve stories will sear themselves in your brain.

Rachel Harrison: An automatic read author; if she writes it, I’ll read it, no questions asked. Not only does Rachel tackle an array of supernatural beings and situations, she writes women and female friendship so incredibly well. I feel so at home in her books. Favourite title: So Thirsty

Ai Jiang: One of our favourite local authors, an all around lovely person, and a super talented writer, who can take on any genre and write something great. My go to is always her beautiful grief horror novella, “Linghun” - set in the mysterious suburb of HOME (just outside of Toronto), where you move to live and be haunted by your departed loved ones.

Hailey Piper: A favourite of the entire staff at Little Ghosts, we love the dark, cosmic, oft noir inspired weirdness that she brings to her writing. “No Gods For Drowning”, “The Worm and His Kings”, and her current novel “A Game In Yellow” are all books you will devour. Speaking of devouring, I have to mention “Queen of Teeth”, what if your vagina sprouted teeth, and what if a pharmaceutical company was hunting you down because of it?

Judith Sonnett: And no list would be complete without my mentioning Judith Sonnett. Probably best known for her extreme horror novella “No One Rides For Free” (not an easy read, check those content warnings, but very well written), I was delighted when she penned her first novel, “The Home”. One of the scariest books (for me, we are all scared by different things) I’ve read in some time. Featuring the terrifying Mr. Friendlyman, this tale of a serial killer, a house steeped in evil and something more, told over several decades made me stop more than once; you will not want to read this one in bed.

Who are your favourite women in horror? Your friendly ghost wants to know! I hope that you’re excited to try some authors, or revisit old favourites. And thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, for four amazing years of Little Ghosts goodness!! Here’s to many, many more - we love our Little Ghosts community, we would not be here without you.

APRIL EVENTS… with Phi!
All the reasons to hit the Little Ghosts Flagship location.

• Friday April 10th… WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT!

  Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

  All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.

  WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT has a $5 reservation fee. However, in the event of a no-show, fees will not be refunded. Event starts at 6pm, and we will stop seating attendees at 6:15. Please be respectful of our editor and our fellow writers.

• Saturday, April 11th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “Camp Nightmare” by John T Haas

  Camp White Bear was more than a sleepaway camp for underprivileged kids. It was the place where twelve friends passed from teen to adulthood, forging their friendships over multiple summers.

  Now, twenty years later they reunite at the camp to rekindle those relationships and reminisce about the past, maybe retell some horror stories around the campfire. It should have been a fun reunion. But when night came the fun was over. The first of them went missing. Then the road out disappeared. Not all scary stories would remain around the campfire.

• Friday, April 17th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “Mother is Watching” by Karma Brown

  Mathilde “Tilly” Crewson, a thirty-nine-year-old mother and art conservator, is tasked with restoring The Mother. The painting, believed to be the work of a female surgeon-turned-artist after a personal tragedy, is the rumored fourth piece in a collection of only three known works. But this newly discovered painting, scarred by fire, holds more than meets the eye.

  Soon after receiving the painting, Tilly discovers she’s unexpectedly pregnant. But almost immediately, strange, inexplicable things begin to terrifying insect swarms, eerie visits from her long-deceased mother, and sinister whispers that invade her mind. As these malevolent forces intensify, Tilly comes to a harrowing the only way to sever the perilous bond she shares with the painting is to destroy it. But The Mother has plans of her own—and they’re darker than Tilly could ever imagine…

• Saturday, April 18th & Sunday, April 19th, 12-4pm… SPOOKY VENDOR MARKET!

  • Vendors TBA

• Friday, April 24th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “Afterbirth” by Emma Cleary

  A fractured sisterhood. A disturbing transformation. A desperate obsession.

  Abandoning the ruins of her stalled life after an ill-omened romance, Brooke flies to Vancouver to care for her estranged sister, Izzy, who is recovering from reproductive surgery. But Izzy’s rapidly decaying apartment building, its hallways stalked by an ominous crone known only as Medusa, offers little of the refuge Brooke craves.

  Seeking solace in the horror movies her ex-girlfriend loved, Brooke soon finds traces of horror bleeding from the screen into their lives. As old wounds reopen, strange forces begin to exert their power over the sisters, culminating in an unexpected and inexplicably accelerating pregnancy that will lock Brooke and Izzy in a nightmarish rivalry, and send one of them spiraling into dangerous obsession.

• Saturday, April 25th… INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY!

  • Plan your Book Crawl with the Indie Bookstore Map designed by the Little Ghost himself, Chris! Show your love for the indie bookstores in Toronto by hitting up as many as you can!

• Sunday, April 26th, 1-3pm… Signing: “A River from the Sky” by Ai Jiang

  • Join friend of shop and honorary Little Ghost, Ai Jiang, for the launch of her latest novella, A RIVER FROM THE SKY.

    Fleeing from the bone palace and crashing into the waters below its steep walls, Lufeng and her siblings reach Gear, with its huge deadly water wheels, where their sister Sangshu is waiting for them. In the chaos of the enormous waves, within moments they’re snatched away and taken into rebel territory, where they learn more of the deadly experiments Zinc has wreaked upon the people.

    Loyal to Copper now, Sangshu herself is a victim of Zinc’s experiments. Desperate to find her family, she races through Gear to Engine, ruthless Zinc’s industrial heartland, where she burns with a desire to fix her own mistakes and those of others and find a way to save her world.

    

    … and now… A POEM!

  afterthought

I am learning to breathe,
Deeply, slowly,
For what feels like the
first second third
Hundredth time

I am conducting exit interviews
With my own tired reflection,
Asking myself
what did i do wrong this time
What can I do better
Next time

Somewhere, behind my eyes:
A choir,
Salt on my lips, my tongue;
Your voice down my throat

I am not sure if I know
How good I have it, or—
At least,
That’s what they always told me
and i fucking hate them for it
And I am grateful
For the perspective,
Limited though it may be

I hope I can attend
My own funeral
i hope everyone cries
I hope no one cries

Retail Therapy:
xiv. In House Publishing.

While Little Ghosts has been publishing for about three years now, this year brought us a first- we made a zine!

Inspired by the excited response to Wet Screams: A Monsterfucker Anthology (out from our press in November 2025), we were eager to continue with the fun mix of erotica and horror. However, with everything else going on for us, we couldn’t do another 20 story anthology- nor could we manage another 600+ deep slush pile. A play on Friday the 13th, everyone’s fun visit from a horror franchise outside of October, we decided on Friday the Flirteenth: A Zine. Shorter word counts, a tighter timeline, a more budget-friendly format, and a focus on local writers. The submissions were a blast, and it is always a treat to work with pals who we have met before in the flesh! While we didn’t go full DIY and staple these in the basement (a local print shop took on our assembly), it was a much quicker process. I am very proud of how it turned out, and eager to do it again- perhaps every time that destined date comes along.

I always love it when a shop has something special that they produce in house- from zines and physical newsletters, to locally roasted coffee, a specialty food item, a piece of merch. There is something extra personal in a handcrafted offering from a passionate person or group of people that showcases what they love. With Main Street retail in a precarious state, these small pieces of joy can feel like such a shining resistance- a hope that the creative energy and community around these places has tangible meaning. I find myself always drawn to the zine section of local bookstores- these relatively low-cost pieces have a quality of immediacy and personality that is hard to define. Like buying a demo tape, back when we would do that at basement shows. Like a sketch by an artist at an event. Like buying a photo strip from a machine at a venue. A small token of a moment charged with all the meaning of a moment.

I hope folks have fun with Friday the Flirteenth, and we are looking forward to doing more zines and small publications in the future. In April we always drop both the Toronto Indie Bookstore Map & the Indie Bookstore Zine (this one IS lovingly cut and stapled, DIY-style). It’s my gift to the network of lively, beautiful, and endlessly supportive indie bookstores in this city. This year we’re hoping to print something a little nicer to help everyone navigate, and have it for sale in both the shop and the Union PopUp all year long. I will, of course, attach the updated map to the April Newsletter, which will drop the week prior. Feel free to print it at home! I hope you spend Independent Bookstore Day crawling your town, wherever you are, and browsing some special pieces of ephemera they might have. These little touches of humanity are truly what makes the world spin- for me, at least.

The website discount code for readers is NEWSLETTERGHOST
Use it at The Little Ghosts’ Webstore for 10% off your next purchase.

Let’s address the big news first and foremost-
Horror x Romance have collided in the Pink x Black collaboration Bookstore Pop-Up in Toronto’s Union Station! Running from Feb. 7th- May 31st, this space combines the two genres that have been historically marginalized in the literature space to bring you a selection like no other store. And.. it’s pretty.
I want to give some cookies where they’re due. Union Station could have likely had any bookstore they chose, and they chose to reach out and have small businesses. Even though it was still very expensive, splitting it across the two stores made it (KIND OF) an accessible task in costs of stock, build, rent, staffing. Hopeless Romantic team were generous in managing communications, Little Ghosts team handled furniture pickups and errands. The experience in real time of “many hands make light work” of this build out made it possible to get open in A Fucking WEEK. Never have I done such a crazy timeline, and it is hugely in thanks to everyone who helped out in what was a whirlwind setup. I haven’t had that much support in the setup faze… ever. Never ever. My black little heart has grown three sizes.
And thank you, thank you, to the feral readers who LINED UP DOWN UNION and waited hours for us to open the door for the first time. I designed a limited run tote and it was gone in 40 minutes. We got in a little trouble for causing a ruckus. Thank you for that ruckus. May the book readers of the world cause more stirs about indie genre literature for all of the years the Earth spins. I tell you that you rock all the time, and I’m here to tell you again. You rock. You’re keeping books alive. We are Eternally, Dearly, grateful to you, you Little Ghosts, for haunting the new bookstore and posting and reviewing and as always going Beyond.

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Co-writing & Collaboration.

I unfortunately had more failures than successes in the collaborative arts, but there were some triumphs, and I think I learned a thing or two along the way. My very first attempt was co-writing a script I would direct. I was in my early twenties, and there was a not-very-seasoned-but-more-seasoned-than-me writer/director who wanted to get the ball rolling on projects. I was living with seven dudes at the time, who all worked in production, and we had a decent amount of equipment including a RedOne camera I sold ten years ago and fully paid off ten days ago. It was more of a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” relationship, which, in hindsight, is a pretty essential way to get started- but requires the right backscratcher. This guy was not it.

Despite having similar interests, our attitudes couldn’t have been any less aligned. He was more aggressive in his pursuits and insisted we use the “save the cat” template to write each version of the script independently, then fuse them later. Terrible idea. I was in no way comfortable with this and he just pressed hard that his script was more on point. If I ever disagreed, he’d hark, “Explain it to me. Go into detail how mine isn’t superior.” It sucked. I could feel his aggression throughout the process. He was hoping to steamroll a less experienced writer to get what he wanted and use our resources. The table read was embarrassing.

There were a few more co-written script attempts after that, and while some fizzled out, some went on to completion. Despite not being produced, some scripts that are sitting on a digital shelf I still consider very good and have merit to exist. “The Faker,” co-written with James LeSage, is a rad autobiographical dramedy about stand-up comedy. Jon Cranmer and I would be celebrating our 10th Emmy if the “Two Dudes in Space and Time” pilot were ever produced.

So, what attributes were present for the successfully finished projects versus those that died on the vine? Well, there are way too many variables to count, and a lot of them are naturally stumbled upon rather than deliberately calculated. James and Jon are dear friends first and foremost, so a lot of the camaraderie and shorthand was baked in. So genuinely liking the person you’re working with is going to get you the majority of the way there. The other discernible characteristics necessary to foster a healthy working relationship are trust and humility.

Writing is a very vulnerable process. You are mining internal thoughts and experiences and materializing them for others to judge. It is totally natural for criticism to instigate defensive maneuvers. It’s a personal craft, and the first region of our brain to respond when criticized is the highly sensitive amygdala, aka our “lizard brain.” It’s a more primordial part of our limbic system, and it does a lot of things, but for the sake of this article, it reacts to immediate threats. And since we’re highly complex and emotional organisms surrounded in an ever-changing landscape, having your art reviewed is just as significant as being stalked by a sabertooth tiger. Remaining calm and patient when your ideas are on the immediate chopping block is a must. You are not working independently; you are facilitating skills you’ve honed independently for a new project. When your idea is being critiqued in real time, this is when you have to take a breath, fight your instincts, and let your lizard brain cool down so better angels can prevail. It’s also important to show that same compassion to your writing partner. There is a human on the other side of this partnership. They have the same emotional connection to their ideas as you do to yours. Productivity and sympathy are not mutually exclusive. Ask a question or two about their approach and what they would like to see come from their input. It’s really easy to fall into a defensive spiral, but benevolence yields more fertile creative soil. You’re in service to the art, not yourself.

And here’s where the trust comes in. Working on an artistic collaboration is a trust fall exercise. Some parts will be invisible. You have to have some faith that this piece is not entirely yours. Something that wasn’t conjured and vetted through your psyche is going to exist with your name on it. Scary! But that’s okay. You get to see yourself, your collaborator, and your partnership on display. And that’s something special. It’s a testament to your ability to communicate, to share ideas, and connect with humanity. It’s a leap, but if you find the right folks, you might fly.

Write on weary travellers.

Check out Spine of the Land, a graphic novel co-written by Jay and A. Shay this October from Deadsky Press!

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Your Relationship… with Books!

Hello lovely newsletter readers! How’s everyone holding up? I know it’s been rough, and for my GTA ghosts winter has felt extra cruel this year. Hell, I live on a major bus route and they literally just cleared away the snowbanks; I’m having nightmare flashbacks to the tiny sidestreet I used to live on. I don’t think we ever saw a plow, we were the street that city planning forgot. Anyway, enough urban infrastructure whining- we can do that year round! So instead let us rejoice; we have passed the mid-winter mark and are slowly making our way to spring, glorious spring! I want to thank all you lovely ghosts for braving the grim and the grey and visiting us at the store - we always love to see your beautiful faces, it helps lessen the gloom and quiet of this part of the year.

And even though this is usually the quietest part of any retailer’s year, we thought we’d flip the script this year and give ourselves lots (too much?) to do! So we decided to open a pop-up at Union Station with our friends from Hopeless Romantic Books, and we launched a CrowdFundr for our upcoming renovation project! We have to fill the hours somehow!
The pop-up came together VERY quickly (literally a matter of days), and we couldn’t be prouder of how it looks, as well as the response - wow you blew our socks off! To everyone that’s come to visit, that’s been able to visit us for the first time and so on, it’s been SO GREAT! Opening day was non-stop (I have blurry memories of happy bookbuyers everywhere), and it’s been wonderfully busy ever since. We’re there until the end of May so you’ve lots of time to check it out!
As for the reno project; well that is a gift to you, our wonderful community, as well as to ourselves. If we can find the way, we’re going to renovate the garage off of our back patio and build a beautiful event and workshop space! It will allow us to do so much more for, and with our community and customers and we’re really, really excited! So - brace for shameless plea for money - if you’re able to contribute (any amount, honestly, we mean that), that would be amazing, if not please just share widely! Thank you!! We love you all and we want to make Little Ghosts even more a home for all of our ghostly peeps than it already is.

Now, having just passed that day of love and all of its heart shaped blandishments, I’m curious as to your relationship with books. Do you think of them as friends, as an obligation, as a need, as an obsession; or all of the above? Or something I didn’t even list. I know that throughout our lives we often change our relationship with books; some of us seem to come out the womb in love with the printed word (raises hand), others struggle or develop an adversarial relationship due to being forced to read at school (one of my brothers), while some just find it okay. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll always feel that way; my brother hated reading, hated it with a passion for years, and then (I’m not making this up) someone gave him a Stephen King novel and uncle Stevie just connected with something in his brain. While not a voracious reader like his big sister, he reads for pleasure and for education to this day. I know people that get burnt out on reading because of schooling; they just can’t stomach cracking open another book no matter how much they love them. And some people just never find their way to books, and I admit that makes me sad, because books have been my comfort, my refuge, my teacher and my window on the world. I’ve dated people because of books, I’ve made lifelong friends because of books and I’ve - for over two decades - made my living because of books. I cannot imagine my world, my existence without them. Which is why during the first year of the pandemic, after I’d lost my job, when I was home alone with little to no social interactions but surrounded by my beloved books I was DEVASTATED to discover my brain refused to process the printed word. Not new books, comfort reads, fiction or non-fiction; for more than a year I did not read, and it just about broke me. Luckily I found my way back (thank you brain), and my lifelong co-dependent relationship with them continues! Maybe co-dependent is too harsh, a love affair that shall never end is perhaps a better description, because I do love them, and the joy they bring to my life is almost indescribable.

Speaking of books: Kristin, aren’t you going to talk to us about any books? Yes, of course I am, although only a few this month, because as I mentioned above we’ve been BUSY. Here are some of the books I’ve read/am reading of late…

Pedro The Vast by Simon Lopez Trujillo: This tense, dark, weird fungal horror (that just went out with our subscriptions), is for you cosmic horror readers, for those of you that love different voices (this is a translation), and for those of you that cheer when the natural world fights back against man. This novella packs a punch!

The Girl In Red by Christina Henry: A post-apocalyptic take on Little Red Riding Hood by Christina Henry, who is one of the best when it comes to reimaging fairy tales and legends (you’ll want to read Alice), along with her other delightfully creepy horror novels. This follows Red, who is desperately trying to get to the safety of her Grandma’s house in the woods. The world as she knew it a mere three months ago is no more; before the Crisis, before the quarantine camps and literal and figurative coyotes and wolves in the wood, before she had to commit acts she never thought herself capable of. But is there something worse than the men and beasts in these woods?

Morning Glory Milking Farm by C.M. Nascosta: I had to include at least one spicy book! A book I never thought I’d actually enjoy, turned out to be a surprise. The tale of Violet, a 20s something post-grad desperate to pay off her student loans, and a client that seems to be crushing on her as hard as she is on him? Spicy and smutty yes, (be prepared to read about a LOT of Minotaur peen), but also a realistic (within monster smut boundaries) relationship? The conflict doesn’t take a Hallmark turn of gross misunderstanding, they actually talk things through fairly reasonably? It was unexpected to be sure. I enjoyed this far more than I expected; it’s also a fairly easy read so perfect for a bit of afternoon entertainment.

That’s all for this month my ghosts, I promise to have many more books to discuss next month! Thanks as always for being wonderful, read when you can, and breathe some fresh air- it helps.

MARCH EVENTS… with Phi!
All the reasons to hit the Little Ghosts Flagship location.

• Sunday, March 1st, 1-3pm… Signing: “MAN VS BEAR” by John Davies

  • From the twisted mind behind Hobo with a Shotgun and Kids vs. Aliens comes Man vs. Bear—a blood-soaked, no-mercy nightmare of metal and mauling. Mitch Jamison, lead guitarist for the toxic sleaze-metal outfit Psycho Dave and the Flying Monkeys, ditches the tour bus for a remote cabin after his psycho frontman forces him to dump the only woman he ever loved. One drunken swerve later, he flattens a bear cub on a dark forest road. Mama—five hundred pounds of blind, raging grief—smells the blood and starts hunting. No escape. No redemption. Just claws, teeth, and a final solo played on shredded flesh. By sunrise, the only thing left will be blood on the fretboard.

• RESCHEDULED: Friday, March 13th, 6-8pm… ZINE LAUNCH: Friday the Flirteenth!

  • A local zine filled with flirty, squelchy, campy, deliciously monstrous horror smut produced by Little Ghosts Books! Get your copy, and maybe even meet some authors on site.

• Saturday, March 14th & Sunday, March 15th, 10am-7pm… BOO DAY BOOK EXCHANGE!

  • Happy Boo Day Little Ghosts! We just turned four!

  • Looking to find a new home for some of your books? Maybe you didn’t vibe with a particular one, or maybe you loved it but it’s time to make room for new books! In either case, bring a book and leave with a book! Swing by the shop at any point over the weekend and browse our Boo Day Book Exchange table!

  • Tarot? Vendors? More to be announced soon!

• Friday, March 20th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “Green Fuse Burning” by Tiffany Morris

  • The debut novella from the Elgin Award winning author of Elegies of Rotting Stars. After the death of her estranged father, artist Rita struggles with grief and regret. There was so much she wanted to ask him-about his childhood, their family, and the Mi’kmaq language and culture from which Rita feels disconnected. But when Rita’s girlfriend Molly forges an artist’s residency application on her behalf, winning Rita a week to paint at an isolated cabin, Rita is both furious and intrigued. The residency is located where her father grew up. On the first night at the cabin, Rita wakes to strange sounds. Was that a body being dragged through the woods? When she questions the locals about the cabin’s history, they are suspicious and unhelpful. Ignoring her unease, Rita gives in to dark visions that emanate from the forest’s lake and the surrounding swamp. She feels its pull, channelling that energy into art like she’s never painted before. But the uncanny visions become more insistent, more intrusive, and Rita discovers that in the swamp’s decay the end of one life is sometimes the beginning of another.

• Sunday, March 22nd, 1-3pm… Signing: “Women of Sorrow and Blood” by Dianna Gunn

  • When 18-year-old Alma is invited to live with Nightfather and pursue the Pleasures of Power, she’s determined to win his affection and ultimate gift: eternal life.

    Yet life in the House of Night is not what she expected. Nightfather spends all of his time alone with Nightmother, leaving his second wife to rule with an iron fist. The servants brought from Alma’s home are hollowed out versions of their former selves. Others—including Alma’s own mentor—have disappeared entirely.

    Alma buries her suspicions and throws herself into attending to the Daughter of Night, an extraordinary woman who requires special care.

    When Nightfather calls upon Alma at last, she begins to see that his eternity is not a reward but a trap—and that it is not him, but the woman he calls his daughter, that her heart longs for. But tragedy lurks in every corner, and sometimes the only escape is death.

• Friday, March 27th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “Persona” by Aoife Josie Clements

  • A feral shut-in discovers a disturbing internet porn video of what seems to be herself. A seance of coked-up artists summons unearthly forces in a studio apartment. The staircase of an exurban marketing company descends endlessly beneath the earth.

    In Aoife Josie Clements’ electric, nightmarish, intricately layered novel, the impossibility of goodness crowds in upon two young trans women barely surviving on sex work and zero-hours contracts. Below the familiar evils of capitalism and the bottomless depths of internet culture, a darker horror awaits. What curse follows these women? What are they escaping? What are they running towards?

• Saturday, March 28th… Books & Brews @ Hamilton 12-5pm !

  • Book lovers! Join us at Collective Arts for the return of BOOKS & BREWS, a book fair for adults. Meet local small presses and booksellers who know indie Canadian literature best. Browse the stacks and imbibe with both non alcoholic and boozy options from one of our favourite local breweries. Bring your friends and make a whole afternoon of it in Collective Arts’ big beautiful space.

• Sunday, Match 29th, 1-3pm… Signing: “Sweetside Motel” by E.L. Chen

  • With the pandemic sweeping the globe, Sarah Ng makes a desperate escape from Toronto to start a new life. But when her car breaks down in Sweetside, an isolated country town, she is forced to quarantine with two charming but disquieting brothers who run the local urban legend: a decaying roadside inn nicknamed the “Suicide Motel”. Trapped between the threat of xenophobic violence and her dark past, she must convince the brothers to help her escape. But how can she know who to trust when everyone, including herself, has their ghosts?

… and now… A POEM!

Sad Poet By-Line.

I told myself:
I would never sound like every other
sad poet,
writing about broken hearts.

but here I am with a pen in my hand
and smoke on my lips…

I wish I could forget your name;

wash the taste of you from my lips;
a Nicotine Head Rush
and the bittersweet
longing for one more kiss.

I used to dance
to so many more songs
than I do now;
I used to sing along;
write poems that used all of your
favorite words;

I used to—

I used to breathe you in.

I cannot get used to breathing you out.

Retail Therapy:
xiii. Uncertainty

Look before you leap is generally good advice, but after over a decade of small business ownership I can say with pretty heady confidence: Nothing is Promised. That makes me sound like some kind of old man Doomsayer, but it’s true. I ran two spaces during COVID. I am running retail now, as shipping costs and material costs skyrocket, as tariffs change according to the whims of an angry orange fart-machine, as weather reports are being given with an emergency-level kind of insistence, as corporations offer everything more cheaply and conveniently than ever, as AI generates more content than any human person can to the tune of AI bots consuming said content and tanking any semblance of marketing algorithm… All this to say. Sometimes you take a leap, having looked and looked and looked and then the puddle is actually a sinkhole, or the lake was filled with tiny piraña, or what you thought was a fluffy cloud was actually a spray of acid. It happens. Solely blaming your own planning/eyeballs and capacity is to misunderstand the topsy-turvy modern necrocapitalist landscape.

So is everything a leap of pure blind faith? Yes and no. When I can’t trust the economic landscape around me, I tend to trust my community. I turn to other compassionate people who understand what I do- not always better than I do, but differently. This week we opened a collab space with Hopeless Romantic Books inside Toronto’s Union Station- think NYC’s Grand Central but smaller. More retail seems like a dubious choice during the very real affordability crisis we are all in at this moment. Kristin and I asked everyone who would talk to us who ran a spot inside the location, and pretty universally they said that being here was absolutely worth it. To me personally, the visibility alone paired with the opportunity to work closely with other book people doing a same-but-different genre space would be worth the effort. Already, I can say we are learning from each other. In uncertain times, we have to believe that high water raises all ships. This is the method by which I am leaping.

In the middle of all this, we are running our very first fundraiser. It seems crazy, and is scarier to me than bigger jumps that I have failed at before, because it does require us in some small part to be caught. The Little Ghosts space was built small because I was uncertain about how it would be received. I knew that I wanted to see a more diverse, more robust, gayer horror selection in bookstores. I knew that I wanted to meet people who believed in human-made art, practical effects, literature as catharsis for marginalization and very real political horrors…. etc etc etc. But there was always a chance that I was in the minority here, so I made a space that I could manage on my own if sales were slow and I was joined by just a few dedicated souls who could see this vision. Readers, I was wrong. Little Ghosts, in every way, surpasses my expectations. We extend what we offer in stages according to what I can afford out-of-pocket, and when an activity is high effort and no pay, I give my time and energy because the staff should only have to agree to labour that pays their bills. We have rolled out workshops, signings, artist markets, and even a weekend festival with a Horror Short Film portion, and y’all are feral for it. I have watched not one but three horror bookshops open in the four years we’ve been here, chatting with them by video call and cheering them on when I can. It’s beautiful to witness and heartening to be a part of and I am one man paying off the loan I took on to start it and now to expand our space to accommodate all our programming… I need help. I leapt, and I stumbled, because I didn’t build it big enough for y’all! Small piraña.

So, Little Ghosts… if you believe in what we do, have enjoyed our programming, and want to support us building an expanded workshop space to keep hosting our community. Now is the time! We are attempting to Look Before we Leap and not take on additional loans or move into a more expensive space, but expand where we are do to what’s been working (sometimes poorly, because we just can’t fit everyone). You can read all about it on our Crowdfundr page. If we don’t hit our goal, we will need to build in pieces, but we are hoping not to have to do that. Only 13 days left on our counter! If you donate, you can get some pretty cool fundraiser exclusive donation gifts, designed in house as always by yours truly. And of course, thank you, always always.

Back the Little Ghosts Workshop Campaign!

.

(For our lovely out-of-town pals, we are looking at running remote feedback sessions this year- it is just a matter of figuring out the platform format and time management. Keep your eyes peeled for something soon!)

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Are AI Artists… Artists?

As much as my cynical heart wants to say, “No, goodnight, everybody,” this is a discussion in the whirlpool of AI discourse that is rarely talked about. AI Art is a hot topic, but someone or some group is prompting that AI. So, are those humans considered artists? Is there genuine craft in influencing a generative non-corporeal entity to do the vast majority of the artistic labor? Is AI the 21st-century paintbrush opening doors to innovations we have yet to comprehend? Was the first caveman to use a stick to draw in the sand considered a hack or a genius?

First things first, let me get my experience with an AI artist out of the way to acknowledge any latent bias. Not too long before writing this article, I was contacted by a social media AI artist with a horror channel. They made 15 to 30-second horror shorts and have hundreds of thousands of subscribers. That traction granted him the eyes of producers and a budget to make his very own live-action feature film. They had a script and needed someone to punch it up, add an ending, and put it into proper screenplay format. I was conflicted about working for someone who only really knew AI content, but at least they were reaching out to a human to help write a thing for humans to perform. That, and I could’ve used the cash for the holidays.

Shortly after that, I received their “screenplay.” It was seven short scenes written over four pages, which scored a “High likelihood of AI-generated content at 85–90%” on Grammarly’s AI detector. Not a fan, but I persisted. To write a 90-page screenplay with four pages of material within their parameters was not going to be easy. I sent samples and asked for feedback. They enjoyed it at first, but eventually, they let me go from the project. They were taken aback by the liberties I took to fill the page count. They wanted little dialogue, all in one location and one night, and to strictly elaborate on their seven scenes. I did my best, but I didn’t know how that was possible. That’d be hard to stretch out to ten minutes, let alone ninety.

I’m going to be honest. It really hurt me. It fouled my mood and warped my perception for the next couple of weeks. I’m not proud of myself for letting a setback sour my disposition, but writing is my livelihood. Not being considered worthy of the craft really struck my ego. If I’m not good enough to write, what am I? So, yes, there’s going to be some inherent bias in the article.

Jim, The AI Whisperer from Medium Magazine, definitely says “Yes.” AI artists are artists and declares that “if mechanized reproduction and curating ‘regurgitated’ images make something ‘not art’, then much of what we’ve culturally considered art throughout the 20th century is also ‘not art’.” Which is an argument to pontificate. We develop new tools daily to aid in artistic endeavors. Chris, the other day, just purchased a “sleeve board” to specifically aid in the screenprinting of graphics on long-sleeve shirts. I don’t believe that makes the printed shirt any less artistically potent. The sleeve board is a tool to help efficiently elevate your craft, not a hack to do the craft for you.

But the word ‘hack’ exists for a reason. The Game Genie was something I longed to get my hands on in the 90’s. My neighbor had a Nintendo, and I desperately wanted to dominate the likes of Contra with unlimited ammo and impervious skin. The Game Genie was a video game accessory that altered code to allow players to enhance their abilities in the game. It hacked your games’ intrinsic rule set and made the experience easier beyond its intended use. Cheat codes, to be blunt.

So, I played Contra with every weapon and zero consequences. The initial sugar rush of immortality was a treat, but I quickly lost interest. Soon, every game I played with the Game Genie lost its appeal. The experience of growth wasn’t just diluted, but completely vacated from the experience. I didn’t have to learn patterns or earn a new weapon to dispatch enemies. I just had to be there, with no incentives to be there.

The same goes for art. It requires work. It requires struggle to wrench empathy upon your canvas. When attempting to find the struggle within my punch-up gig, I had a significantly hard time identifying the humanity within their project, let alone elevating it. In their defence, that’s not what they were looking for. They were looking for a sugar rush. It’s how they built a successful platform, and that’s not what I was providing. But is what they’re doing actually art? Well, people like it. Does audience appeal weigh in on the debate? If so, are memes art? How about security camera footage of people falling? I don’t think so. Looking back, I made a massive misstep in accepting the writing gig. It sent me down an emotional spiral I’m still working myself through. And if I learned anything from my attempts, it’s that my motives were disingenuous. I wanted the extra holiday cash and tried to trade in my convictions for a project I was deeply uncomfortable with undertaking. Time to eat some humble pie and ground myself back to earth, I suppose.

In my eyes, Nick Cave said it best in his Red Hand Files, “…even though the creative act requires considerable effort, in the end you will be contributing to the vast network of love that supports human existence.” And he’s right. When I look back on my writing, regardless of its quality, I love it. Despite the woes of a writer, I loved the process of it, I loved who I was before it, and I loved who I became after it. Then I get to let that go into this ecosystem of love. That’s ultimately what happens with Art. The world, more often than not, can be brutal and unforgiving. Art is humanity’s defiance of that impartiality, and we need to not only cherish that rebellion but protect it. Someone I don’t know cultivated something that started as an ethereal pinprick in their soul, crafted it into a tangible thing with their effort, and shared it with the world, where it touched and inspired other people. AI art can’t do that.

Write on Weary Travelers.

Jay’s SOLD OUT Screenwriting Workshop is BACK in January! Open to writers of all skill levels, this 5 week seminar will have you leaving with an understanding of script structure and storytelling- even if you have never written before. Perfect for pals who have some big writing goals in 2026, and an absolute steal at just under $20 per session. This workshop is capped at 12 attendees, and at the time of writing this Newsletter there are only FOUR SLOTS AVAILABLE.
Sign Up Here!

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
The opposite of a Case of the Januaries.

Welcome to the new year Little Ghosts newsletter readers! And happy one year anniversary to the newsletter; one full year of us talking about books, events, writing and the life of running a small business - it’s been so much fun to share our thoughts with you! No really, every time someone mentions something they read in the newsletter, or buys a book that one of us talked about, or comes to an event we featured, and so on - it truly makes our day. Sometimes it even brings people together: someone I used to work with at the evil empire realized who I was after our December newsletter and that gave us a chance to reunite and reminisce! (waves at person, you know who you are). Who knew our little newsletter had such power! Here’s to even more connections, interactions and bonds forged and renewed in the coming year, we’ve got so much planned for you!

Last year I was deep in existential dread when writing my first contribution to the newsletter, and I don’t know if my rant about my former life in bookselling helped me to work through that this year, or if I’m just in a different frame of mind- but I’m feeling more positive this year. Now of course that’s not to say that I’m not still eyeing all the contemplative, mind-bendy horror; of course I am! Only this time it isn’t dragging me down into the depths… perhaps that will come later? Did anyone else just glance over their shoulder like in a horror movie? No, just me? *shakes it off and continues to type*

Social media feeds at the end of December and the beginning of January are littered with people posting their reading accomplishments from the previous year, and I have to tell you as someone that reads a lot (but used to read much more), I find myself scrolling past those pretty quickly a lot of the time. It can be very intimidating, especially those posts from people that read hundreds of books; I feel like how can I as a professional bookseller be so far behind? How are they managing to read ALL OF THOSE BOOKS? (Mostly I’m jealous, I too once read in the hundreds every year). So when I hear a customer shyly say that they only read *insert allegedly small number here* books last year, as though they failed, it kind of breaks my heart. Whether you read one or one hundred books, you know what’s great? You read! That’s what matters, you took the time for yourself and your brain and you read. And isn’t that freaking awesome!

What I want to talk about with you my dear readers, are your reading goals for 2026, and how you do not need to set any if you don’t want to! And by that I mean you do not need to set a number - whether big or small - the only goal you really need is to just read; start with one book, and then when you finish that, pick up another, and so on. If you happen to need a little encouragement - hold for shameless product plug - you can pick up one of our shiny, new reading journals! They are interactive, beautifully illustrated and designed by Chris, and they give you lots of guidance about what you did (and perhaps didn’t) like, plus if you bring your beautifully filled out journal page back to the shop, we’ll give you a sticker! Remember when we got stickers for our accomplishments? Remember how much we loved that? We’re here to make reading fun! Oh and did I mention that there are TWO different journals? One for your straight up horror reads, and one for your spicy monster reads; like I said we want to make reading fun.

Now please understand that I am not dismissing reading goals, not at all - I set them for myself - but I recognize that they’re largely aspirational, something to give me a little push, and if I don’t hit that target then I don’t beat myself up. I take comfort and joy in the fact that I read, and that I (hopefully) read books that engaged, entertained and excited me, that had me pumped to share them with customers, co-workers and friends. The hope that I’ve read something unlike anything I’ve encountered before - and honestly rarely does a year go by in which that doesn’t happen - aren’t books just the best? So yes, please set goals for yourself, and take it one book at a time.

Lastly, I want to mention that it does not matter in which format you choose to read, and to reinforce for you that all formats are valid! Physical, audio, e-books, comic, graphic and so on - don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not “really reading” if you don’t have a heavy ass book (with no pictures) on your lap. Personally I do prefer a physical book of some kind, that’s my preference, also I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by books every day, so my access is perhaps different than yours. However, I always have at least one book on my phone, I love graphic novels and I do make my way through some of our kids’ books (because some great writing happens for the younglings). I don’t listen to a lot of audio books, not because I don’t think they’re great, they absolutely are, but I am so bloody fussy about who’s doing the reading that I often tap out. Also, I am easily distracted, in that if I’m walking and listening to a really interesting book, there is a good chance that I will walk into someone and/or a tree. I tend to shut out the world when a book has me in its grasp, so for my safety and everyone else’s I only do audio books at home, and even then I’d rather curl up on the couch with the book in hand. But I’ve a number of friends that are audio devotees and that allows them to read so much more than if they had to sit still, and I love that! So whatever format you choose, whether or not you set a lofty reading goal for yourself, just enjoy the experience, lose yourself in those stories people! Give yourself that time if you’re able, and give yourself grace if you’re not - life changes all the time and sometimes you just can’t (see me during the first year of Covid, my brain refused to process the written word, it was nightmare fuel).

Okay, I know you’re wondering when I’m going to get to the books - stop rambling Kristin - and the answer is right now! Just a few titles to get us started, let’s ease into our reading year.

And since I didn’t talk about it during our end of year wrap-up (silly me), I am going to start with some existential, mind-bendy, sci-fi horror:

There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm: This book, my word this book. Sci-fi horror and just all out weird fiction at its best. I cannot say enough good things about this book and the trip it put my brain through - to put it bluntly, it’s an absolute mindf*ck. The non-linear story (trust me, it works beautifully) about a group of people fighting against antimemes; ideas that exist yet don’t (do they?), that eat memories, that make you question who and what you are - how do you, how does anyone fight back against something they don’t always remember exists? When knowing what you know is dangerous, you know? The writing is excellent, the pace propels you through the story as you anxiously flip pages wondering; can this battle possibly be won? And will you even remember when/if it is?

And now just a few recent reads/books I’m reading:

October Film Haunt by Michael Wehunt: I struggle to describe just HOW GOOD this book is; the layers upon layers you delve into as the story gets deeper into the mythos surrounding an old horror film called “Proof of Demons”. Is someone recreating it, filming a sequel, or just f*cking with Jorie Stroud, the former horror film blogger and October Film Haunt social media darling, and for a time, internet pariah after a blog post about “Proof of Demons” contributed to the death of a teenage girl. Jorie’s just trying to lead a quiet life with her son, away from her ex and anything to do with horror movies, until a mysterious VHS tape is delivered to her. As you fall further into this fever dream, you’ll struggle to figure out what’s real - or was it real all along, and we’re all complicit in summoning a being from another realm? Is what we’re reading in fact, instructions?

Queer Werewolves Destroy Capitalism: Smutty Stories (Queering Consent) by MJ Lyons: Come for the pack of werewolves who roam downtown Toronto damaging and wreaking havoc on the centres of capitalism, stay for the smutty fun after we destroy the oligarchs! This is a snack-sized collection of five stories that are perfect for whiling away a dreary winter’s day.

The Cold House by A.G. Slatter: This has moved up my TBR as the title appeals to me in a seasonal way, and the description of what’s inside certainly scratches an itch in my head; part grief horror, part gothic, part lonely widow in a creepy house, part “everything I thought I knew was wrong”. This novella looks to be perfect for sending shivers down your spine, wondering if you just heard a voice echoing from another room, when you know you’re home alone…

I’m going to leave it at that for now lovely newsletter readers, I promise to overload your brains with books next month. And truly, thank you all for reading along, for coming to the shop this past year, for your orders, your reposts, your tags, your lovely reviews and more. Let’s do more of that this year! Can’t wait to see you, whether virtually or in person, or both! Welcome to the new year, let’s kick its ass instead of the other way around.

Retail Therapy:
xii. Sales vs. Value.

In January & February, notoriously the slowest months for retail, I have taken to putting in the time to strategize, rest, and regroup. Those of you who are familiar with the Little Ghosts’ Annual Cycle know that we always close for a week after New Year’s- time is very liminal after the Holidays and we take advantage to sneak away. I can’t speak for the whole team, but I can speak for myself and say that getting back into a solid gym routine, eating well, cleaning the house, and sleeping a full 8hrs a night does wonders for starting the year on the right foot. If the quality of the newsletter pieces and the meetings we have been having as a team are any indicator, I can say that we are all better for doing it. Obviously the sales for this period suffer, but I think the quality of work and planning going forward is worth it.

Despite having run small businesses for 10yrs, I have never been good at sales. I want people to be comfortable, to be happy, to have a good experience- if parting them from their dollars seems like it would hurt them, I simply won’t apply pressure. I like to think the spaces I make (and Little Ghosts’ in particular, with all of its community programming) have value inherently. We sell books, and of course I am a person who believes in the transformative power of storytelling, so I think what we sell also has tremendous value. $24-$28 for a work of art that someone poured years of their lives into making is a steal. Considering all of the hands it takes to polish a manuscript into something on our shelves (editors! designers! marketing! print shop workers! distributors and delivery people- our Purolator guy is one of my favourite people on Earth long may he make great wages with benefits and pension!) it is a small miracle every time a new book arrives.

Unfortunately, the value of the undertaking does not automatically equal sales. I can tell you that from the bottom of the piece of my heart that broke when I closed The Sidekick, a cafe x comic store that ran for nearly a decade. The vibes were priceless and immaculate straight down to the people who had their wedding photos there, who raised their families by our weird VHS fireplace- and it always struggled to pay rent. I have never heard complaints about the costs of goods the way I heard them in comic book sales, which is and will always remain wild to me. For every person it takes to produce a prose novel, you can x2 for that in comics. You have artists (multiple! inkers and colourists at least), editors, writers.. plus the paper quality means a higher print cost overall. A prose book may cost $24, and a comic may cost only $2-4 more. But people will bitch to high heaven, despite pages and pages of breathtaking artwork and re-readability. So it wasn’t just that space, but that whole industry, which struggled with Value vs. Sales. I could have a separate rant about everything a cafe is expected to provide for its surrounding community in comparison to the average per person spend- it is a miracle every year a small neighbourhood coffee shop survives. It’s a dream to provide space for knitting groups, parent socials, filmmaker screenings, paint nights, open mics and more. It’s a shame none of it ever pays enough to live, and that it always seems like people are playing a game of how little they can spend for how much they can use the space. I miss The Sidekick so dearly every day, but I do not miss that tension for even a minute.

The Value question has cropped up for me again as we plan our activities into 2026, and as we start to put little price tags on some of the things we used to do for free. On one hand, I always want all of the programming at Little Ghosts to be accessible to everyone- we encourage Book Club pals to use Libby, grab books from the library, or share amongst themselves. We never charge for readings, signings, or even for attendees of Little Ghosts Fest. We didn’t used to charge anything for Work in Progress Night, or Marketplace Vending either. All of these things have a lot of value and have created a lot of goodwill and opportunities for participants. However, we ran into a problem where free meant people treated it as no-value. An increasing amount of no-shows, last-minute cancellations, and out-and-out bad behaviour means that we have had to start encouraging people to stop and think about the time, effort, and value of these activities. That means we have to put a dollar amount on it. Ew. Capitalism.

In order for spaces like ours to survive, we are going to have to get good at sales no matter what we believe our inherent value to be. Vibes don’t pay bills. We can of course get good at communicating that value through marketing and outreach (and I think we are good at that!), but ultimately it is up to consumers to agree with their dollars. I do not want to get into a whole ass thing about big corporations again because you could simply read my prior newsletters for those spicy feelings about big businesses who save customers a buck by undercutting everyone along the way. Sales may not equal Value, but Sales do equal staying power for small businesses. So in 2026, try to get your dollars to communicate your Values, where possible! If that means no-spend periods where you prioritize rest and savings to better strategize future purchases, I encourage it. It helps us each personally heaps every year! And like our free community activities, you can do a lot of free things that help out in the literary and small business space- leaving reviews on indie books you loved, sharing the posts of local shops or tagging them when you post about a product you got from them and are enjoying, or y’know liking and commenting on this newsletter- all things that are high value for no sale at all.

FEBRUARY EVENTS with Phi!
Wait… is this slow season?! Sure doesn’t look that way!
UPCOMING EVENTS - February 2026

• Friday, February 6th, 6-8pm… WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT!

  Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

  All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.

• Saturday, February 7th & Sunday, February 8th, 12-4pm… VENDOR MARKET!

  • Looking to get some Valentine’s shopping done? Support local businesses and artists this year! Swing by the Shop to check out an assortment of local vendors and artists!

  • (Vendors TBA)

• Saturday, February 14th, 1-3pm… ZINE LAUNCH: Friday the Flirteenth!

  Get flirty on a Friday the 13th that hits right before Valentines with a collection of indie monsterotica by local horror authors! Gobbled by Goblins, Scooped up by Sea Creatures, and Made to C*m by Creatures of Mythology… something for everyone in this great little zine from Little Ghosts Books.

• Friday, February 20th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “Helpmeet” by Naben Ruthnum

  • It’s 1900, and Louise Wilk is taking her dying husband from Manhattan to the upstate orchard estate where he grew up. Dr. Edward Wilk is wasting away from a mysterious affliction acquired in a strange encounter: but Louise soon realizes that her husband’s worsening condition may not be a disease at all, but a transformative phase of existence that will draw her in as much more than a witness.

• Friday, February 27th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “Countess” by Suzan Palumbo

  • A queer, Caribbean, anti-colonial sci-fi novella, inspired by the Count of Monte Cristo, in which a betrayed captain seeks revenge on the interplanetary empire that subjugated her people for generations.

    Virika Sameroo lives in colonized space under the Æerbot Empire, much like her ancestors before her in the British West Indies. After years of working hard to rise through the ranks of the empire’s merchant marine, she’s finally become first lieutenant on an interstellar cargo vessel.

    When her captain dies under suspicious circumstances, Virika is arrested for murder and charged with treason despite her lifelong loyalty to the empire. Her conviction and subsequent imprisonment set her on a path to justice, determined to take down the evil empire that wronged her, all while the fate of her people hangs in the balance.

• Saturday, February 28th, 1-3pm… Signing: “Wretch” by Jeremy Wagner

  Chicago is choking under the hottest summer on record, but the true heat comes from the blood spilled on its streets.

  Detective Donnie Lynch trails a killer who shouldn’t exist. Mob boss Tico “The Meatgrinder” Tortellio has stepped out from the shadows of his empire with a personal vendetta to avenge his daughter—and nothing short of blood will settle the score. Both men are hunting the same man— if “man” is still the right word…

  The elusive killer, Derek Hoffman, is a steroid-abusing-sociopath twisted beyond recognition whose body and mind have been grotesquely transformed after his participation in a clinical trial for an experimental ED-arousal-drug called, LIBIDONAL. Hoffman has become something monstrous, a predator driven by lust, rage, and a thirst for blood.

  With the city becoming a killing ground for a new apex predator, Lynch and Tortellio race toward the same target. But who will reach Hoffman first? And when they do, can bullets or brutality be enough to stop him?

• Saturday, February 28th, 11am-5pm… Little Ghosts Books @ Book Bazaar!

  • Located at 1540 Durham Regional Hwy 2, Courtice, ON

  • A whimsical market of books & treasures by day, with author meet & greets, panels & readings by night! By day, wander through rows of indie and Canadian authors, cozy vendors, and bookish treasures. From enchanting reads to handmade goods, every corner offers something unique for book lovers and curious minds alike. Discover your next favourite story, meet the people who write them, and shop one-of-a-kind creations that capture the spirit of imagination.

  Whether you’re a lifelong reader, a casual browser, or simply love supporting local creators, The Book Bazaar promises a day (and night!) of stories, community, and magic.

  

  Phi writes, poetry edition.
  
  modern boy

  by philip rowan
  

  i am a modern boy

  and i am going out

  to be a modern girl

  who shakes her ass
  

  i am covered in cat hair

  but under the kaleidoscope

  of the disco ball

  and the funky fresh tunes

  you would never even notice
  

  and maybe my eyeliner is smudged

  and maybe my beard
  doesn’t quite match
  the sunflowers on my skirt

  but i never got to have a girls’ night
  

  no one ever taught me

  how to be pretty

  or elegant

  or how to do fucking mascara
  without poking myself in the eye
  and ruining the whole look

  with a good, manly cry
  

  for the record,

  i think my skirt matches both

  my beard and my steel-toed boots

  and I will kick you in the shins,

  if you say otherwise
  

  i’m out of breath;

  i’m running out of ways to say what i mean,

  so kiss me goodbye

  behind the bleachers
  

  i’ll see you under the disco ball soon.
  

  
  Thank you to everyone who reads this newsletter!
  The website discount code for readers is NEWSLETTERGHOST
  Use it at The Little Ghosts' Webstore for 10% off your next purchase.
  

  Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free here.

In order:
1. Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk & Theodore C Van Alst Jr
2. Zegaajimo: Indigenous Horror Fiction by Kegedonce Press
3. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
4. The Butcher’s Daughter by David Demchuck & Corinne Leigh Clark
5. Your Body is Not Your Body: A Charity anthology of Gender nonconforming authors by Tenebrous Press
6. Eynhallow by Tim McGregor

What I’m not surprised to learn from this stack is that our customers like Indigenous fiction, anthologies, weird fiction, feminist horror, queer horror, small presses, and Canadian authors. Little Ghosts readers are readers with exquisite taste! We are happy to curate a collection for such discerning individuals. Thanks folks for another great year of horror literature!
(This list doesn’t include our publications, and this year both It Looks Like Dad by J Krawczyk & Little Guts: An Anthology of Short Gories curated by Lor Gislason made the top 5. Demons & Death Drops: A Queer Performance Horror Anthology also made the list and is now completely sold out of its print run. Reprint, anyone?)

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
My Love-Hate Relationship with the Holidays.

Hello lovely Little Ghosts family! This month I’m starting out a little differently; usually I talk about things that I love, but first I want to talk about how I used to hate the holidays. I’m not exaggerating, I loathed the holiday season for many years. That pretty much all stems from working in big box retail for almost two decades. In my former life as a bookseller I worked for *that* chain for 16 years - 15 of them as a manager, and the majority of those at one of the biggest stores in the chain - in other words: Hell.

What I want you to understand is that I LOVED being around books, and having a wonderful staff that also loved them, and some truly lovely customers that lived and breathed them. However, when your job requires you to work non-stop while you set up carefully curated often gender-based displays (which I often argued against), while you fight to get diversity into your sections instead of just the latest _____’s pick, while you put signs up everywhere explaining deals (knowing that no one would read them), while you do your best to keep your team’s spirits lifted and the schedule balanced so that people can take breaks and spend time with their families, while you don’t take breaks, and you have no life, and, and, and…It’s exhausting.

I never felt like I was celebrating anything, just doing my best to stay afloat amidst a sea of consumerism and crass commercialism, having to navigate a desperate frenzy that lasted for two months. Having to paste on a smile and pretend to be jolly for customers and staff alike. Also, the store I worked at was the merchandising template for the chain, so we had Xmas set up in October most years. It stopped feeling special very quickly. I used to really enjoy the holiday season; in no small part because I truly love buying (or making) thoughtful gifts for those I love. But instead I was exhausted, I was stressed, I felt under constant pressure. What holiday magic?

As the years went on my shopping happened later and later, I didn’t have the time to spend picking out meaningful gifts; I just didn’t have time to breathe, rest, or look after myself in any way. I saw no one because I was working (every weekend of course) or sleeping and I resented having to care about stretch goals, coupon redemption rates, discount card sign-ups and the endless lines of returns/exchanges/demands for Boxing Week discounts on items purchased weeks before and so on. I would arrive home (often barely for a day), and scarcely be able to enjoy being with my family and friends. By the time I finally left that company I was so burned out on holidays, I had long since stopped caring for the most part (all the while still constantly worrying that I wasn’t doing enough for those I loved).

I’d say ask anyone that’s known me for a long time what I was like during those years, but I fear hearing about what a grumpy, stressed, negative person I was - because I know that’s who I was for those months every year.

Jeez Kristin, can you lighten up? I’ll try, I promise! Listen, working in big box retail was never easy for me, because it goes against my nature - I’m not a buyer of things (books don’t count!), I don’t really like to shop, and the forced guilt upon the populace to buy more and more- to get those deals, you/your kids/partner/family/friends won’t be happy unless you get “X”- has just never appealed to me. I attribute a lot of that to my upbringing (Commie atheist at your service). We were never a family that wanted to keep up with the Jones’s, we wanted to have fair pay and good benefits, I got my ‘latest gadget’ fix through my friends if I needed. Anyway, while I am good at sales, basically because I like talking to people and when I believe in something you know it, but having to sell for the sake of selling grates on my being. I found it more and more difficult to give speeches to staff members to convince customers that this deal, this item was absolutely worth it (though I really did try to be honest as a salesperson, I hate lying to people). But I love books, so I worked with books because that part of the job really did make me happy. And I stuck it out for far longer than I should have, I was close to a nervous breakdown by the time I left.

So it has taken me several years to find my holiday happiness again, and that’s in no small part due to working at Little Ghosts. Yes, being away from that type of retail made a difference, but Little Ghosts is the best place ever (as you’ve heard me say many a time). That’s the people I work with, the customers I get to talk to every week, the community we’re part of and yes, the books! When you’re working side by side with three other people, you support each other, you make sure they take breaks and take time for themselves. Plus the connections! I’m not saying I didn’t have that at the other store, I had lots of regulars, but I also had thousands of people that I never got to know - which isn’t their fault, it’s just the reality of large scale retail (capitalism really is the worst). Every single week at Little Ghosts I get to see someone that I know, that comes in just to say hi, or make new connections with that person who’s wandered in for the first time. I am excited to go to work every day, no matter the time of year, no matter the seasonal expectations. And while yes, I would love it if people were filling our store every day (independent businesses NEED YOU), I am thrilled to not have to talk about ‘Black Friday deals’ or ‘Boxing Day sales’ and so on. I just talk about our books, and the amazing merchandise that Chris designs, and the events that Phi books, and the work that we all do every week, because we love it. You might even get to hear my Saturnalia (okay, pagan Commie atheist - what can I say, I contain multitudes) playlist at some point this month - fair warning you WILL end up hearing ‘Fairytale of New York’.

Love you my Little Ghosts Family, thanks for making coming to work a literal joy. I hope you get to do whatever makes you happy during this season.

Kristin’s TOP THREE reads this year were…

Landlocked In Foreign Skin by Drew Huff: This sapphic, sci-fi novella is one of my absolute favourite reads of the year! I tore through this book with a fair amount of reckless abandon, and shove it at anyone that I think will enjoy it! The tale of the Fisherman, trapped in human form because their skin has been stolen, sucked into a toxic relationship with the one that has trapped it; can they escape - do they want to? Sci-fi, dystopia, an uncaring god, a bit of spice and more, all wrapped into this excellent novella.

Dear Stupid Penpal by Rascal Hartley: A late entry for my top 3 this year, but what a wonderful novella to have towards the end of the year. This sci-fi/cosmic horror details the relationship of Finch and Aku (told entirely through letters); Finch is on a spaceship moving futher away from Earth and Aku is their assigned planet-bound penpal. What ensues is touching, terrifying and altogether consuming as Finch and his crewmates engage hyperdrive and time starts moving very differently. This book is full of cosmic dread, an exploration of those lifelines we cling to and what it means to exist in the universe.

The Burial Tide by Neil Sharpson: This Irish folklore novel had me in its grip early on. Set on a small island off the coast of Ireland, it centres around Mara Fitch, a woman that doesn’t remember her death, and who claws her way out of her grave and back to life. As she tries to return to her life in the eerily not quite right community, and more of her memories return, the dangers from the villagers grow. Tense, frightening and exactly the kind of book to rattle you with unknown terrors - well worth the time.

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Jay answers your Q&A from our Instagram Stories.

This round we did something a little different- we opened questions up through our social media for Jay to answer at the end of the year in the segment. We got some thoughtful inquiries, so thanks everyone who wrote in to prompt Toll Book Dad x our Permanent Writer-in-Residence!

Do you write every day? How do you keep momentum/a schedule for your writing?

Unless there’s an event that keeps me away from a laptop, I do! It’s become fairly rote for me, so if I skip a few days, my subconscious has inventive fail-safes to rectify my inactivity. Weird dreams, anxiety, and dissociation will plague my psyche after a few days. Social events will just be me staring off into the middle space, saying, “I know, crazy, right?” When I come across a lull in a conversation. So a bit of it has become a habit, and that’s from decades of forcing myself to write. I also supremely enjoy the process, so that always helps.

If I can get 500 words a day in, I’m pretty content. Now, I’m writing multiple projects at once, so those 500 words may be spread across a screenplay, a manuscript, a newsletter, and/or an article, but a little bit every day works… so far. Some writing projects also pay the bills, so those are more of a necessity than a craft. I do get frustrated when the monetized projects are prioritized over the personal ones. But that doesn’t mean I’m not writing. I am formulating stories even when I’m not actively writing them down. Long walks with Bruce, streetcar rides, and that hour or so in bed are usually devoted to pontificating on ideas and plotting. Especially that hour before bed. I wake up to several unhinged text messages from myself, which I have to decipher like a drunken stream of texts to an ex.

What do you do when you get stuck- when the plot, characters won’t move forward?

I write whatever garbage I have to get to where I want to be. That’s not exactly the most elegant way to put it, but editing a bad sentence is more proactive than trying to write the perfect sentence.

For example, I was having trouble moving An Earth That Knows Magic forward. It idled for months before I touched it again. It got to the point where I was so frustrated, I just killed a character I wasn’t planning on killing, and BAM, now everyone had something to do. Sure, I had to retroactively massage those beats after I typed “The End,” but it at least got me to “The End.”

So, my advice for anyone with writer’s block is to write whatever placeholder you have to keep the momentum. No matter how unrefined or hamfisted your pros may be, it’s at least a bridge that’ll get you to where you’re going.

How do you plan a story layout? I get overwhelmed when worrying about continuity.

Solid continuity is a wonderful tool in writing. It’s fun to catch as a reader, lets the audience know thought was put into your story, and it builds a framework for consequences and payoffs.

That being said, continuity is a tool for a story and not the story itself. As long as characters are three-dimensional and their arcs are complete, structure can be finessed later. A lot of writers’ struggles come from starting, but deleting, rewriting, and editing are just as much writing as….you know…writing. You don’t need to know every single facet of your story to get to the finish line, let alone start.

Your writing career has momentum- why are you so popular?

I’m a gatekeeper to pet Bruce.

How do you recommend staying on the lookout for submission calls?

Social Media is shockingly helpful. I follow as many rad presses as possible, and they’ll usually post when submissions are opening up. Submission grinder has also been a great tool. That’s an online rolodex of presses and their submission criteria. It’s also free, so you can build an account to keep your submission game on track.

And one trick I do is if I come across a submission to a press I admire, but it’s not open yet, I’ll write an email query and schedule it to send on the date the submission opens. That way, I don’t have to worry about it, forget that I even did it, and get a rejection a year later.

How do you know when a piece of writing is finished?

At some point, you just have to say you’re done. I could work on every project I’ve ever written until I die. I would love to edit Reality Squall and It Looks Like Dad, but they’re published. It’s human nature. We’re all works in progress, in a constant state of flux, so why wouldn’t our art be the same?

I try to look at my writing as a time capsule for the person I used to be. It is a bizarre lens to view your work, but each book or movie was written at a different time in my life. So, in that case, art is not just a manifestation of expression for the artist but a precious souvenir of a place and time.

So, when I feel like I’m merely spinning my wheels on a project and just making pedantic changes that may or may not enhance the final product, then I’m done. The themes and story have been crafted. If I have nothing left to contribute to the framework of thought, then everything else is mere window dressing.

Thank you for the questions and write on weary travelers,

Jay’s SOLD OUT Screenwriting Workshop is BACK in January! Open to writers of all skill levels, this 5 week seminar will have you leaving with an understanding of script structure and storytelling- even if you have never written before. Perfect for pals who have some big writing goals in 2026, and an absolute steal at just under $20 per session.
Sign Up Here!

Jay’s TOP THREE reads this year were…

Overgrowth by Mira Grant:
The 1962 sci-fi horror movie “The Day of the Triffids” terrified me as a child. Looking back at the hammy special effects, it’s hard to believe anyone being scared of a vegetative alien takeover, but here comes Mira Grant’s “Overgrowth” to remind us that it can not only be horrifying, but would most likely be brutal, bleak, and existentially merciless.

The Organization Is Here to Support You by Charlene Elsby:
I’m a notoriously slow reader. I read The Organization Is Here to Support You in one sitting. Its sprightly pace and satirical takedown of bureaucratic nonsense reminded me I wasn’t insane.

The Home by Judith Sonnet:
Best known for extreme horror, Judith Sonnet’s “The Home” maintains a grisly atmosphere while adding a welcome complexity to its viscera. Plus, Mr. Friendlyman is a wonderful villain.

Retail Therapy:
xi. Loyalty Cards & Going Analog.

Brick and Mortar retail & shopping in physical spaces is an analog activity, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that folks who like a physical book still enjoy visiting an indie bookshop. Stands to reason that people who see value in the experience of a curated space, an experience, an in-person recommendation, also like to indulge in a printed book they can hold in their hand. Retail therapy of the specific kind we offer (much like Vinegar Syndrome’s curated selection of DVDs & BluRays or Rotate This and their vast collection of vinyl) is made possible by consumers with a preference for the analog. An object they can hold, media they can own outright, and an experience and culture they can actively participate in.

Those who visited Little Ghosts in our first two years were treated to the Little Ghosts’ punch card- a small cardboard business card that featured 10 reading ghosts, and at the end was a sheet ghost yelling, “BOOOOOKS!” who, once punched, got you a 10% discount. That was our first loyalty card, and we redeemed a healthy amount of them. Every now and then a customer still fishes them out of their wallet, to the exclamation of “AH! A collector’s item!” The punch cards were fun, cute, and people liked to carry them. Unfortunately punches only counted when books were bought with us, and engagement in horror literature in all its forms (eBooks, Library Books, Audiobooks) didn’t count towards your redemptive Ghosts. It was imperfect. It also didn't satisfy my personal little weird nosey curiosity- yes, but what were you reading? Did you like the book? Are you here for more books by the same author? What did these books teach you about your likes and dislikes? Which had the best ending?

Look, the Mariam Webster word of the year is SLOP, the TIMES person of the year are the inventors of AI, and the Pantone colour of the year is Cloud Dancer (a shade of white we at Ghosts’ have deemed “landlord special”). It’s looking like a fucking tech dystopia outside and here we are, a bunch of little analog horror weirdos with What-The-Fuck looks on our faces. Nearly everyone I talk to at our Book Clubs and in our authors circles are burnt out on algorithms, social media videos, and digital content meant to just keep them scrolling. Just going to physical spaces, shopping local, moving away from screens, and reading books from libraries or indie bookstores is resistance to the steady thrum of the desensitized and unstable online hellscape. We hope this newsletter brings us back to the long form and personal touch of the 90s blogging internet, when we were searching for community beyond borders and not just a 30 second dopamine hit. But it is not enough.

Enter THE LITTLE GHOSTS’ READING JOURNAL. Our answer to the return of a physical loyalty card, every review page inside this journal with custom formatting and prompts has space for a special Little Ghosts’ sticker. Everything was designed by hand, the interior covers feature a Ghost pattern made up of the Ghost drawings from the OG punch card. Fill it up with your horror arc reads, your eBooks, your Library Books, your Audiobooks, and your books purchased and read from our bookstore- there’s space to check off the book format, and we welcome them all! Come by and say hi and share your pages with us for stickers that translate to a % discount. 20 review pages, so a full reading journal translates to 20% off- save it all for the end or redeem as you go.
Reading from far away? No problem. Email us at littleghostsbooks@gmail.com and show us some pictures of your finished book reports- we’ll send you a digital redemption code, and mail your stickers with your order.

Little Ghosts Books is not only a physical store, but we aim to be a community of readers, writers, and horror enthusiasts. Sharing the love of these books is part of what makes being here fun! We hope to help y’all feel connected and able to share without the need to be constantly online. Yes, we all have to do it some, but we can consciously choose to use these platforms as a stepping stone to deeper and more engaging conversations and relationships. Let’s share our reads together this year!

Also, because it is me… READING JOURNALS ALSO COME IN MONSTER ROMANCE FLAVOUR. I’ve included the Monsterfucker Trope Bingo I developed for my personal Book Club. Hope you enjoy it as much as the Monsterfucker Support Group has.

Get the Little Ghosts Reading Journal or the Monster Romance Reading Journal

Chris’ TOP THREE reads this year were…

The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Canas:
Demonic possession inside a silver mine? Yes, please. Part feminist gothic period piece about escaping the life set out for you (or never being able to escape where you came from), and part brutal possession horror, and part sexy forbidden romance… It’s horny, it’s vibey, it’s delicious, and it has a toothy good-for-her ending.

HOWL: An Anthology of Werewolves by Women in Horror:
I love a themed anthology, I love horror by women, and I love werewolves. I was going to love this book. This takes Ginger Snaps (did you know Jay interviewed the director? Read that here! ) and wields it in many different creative ways. A romp in which femininity is a strength, revenge is sweet, and being a monster is often a celebration. Hell yeah.

A Feast of Putrid Delights by Valentina Rojas:
A fever dream, stream-of-consciousness queer horror about food. What is terrifying about eating? Probably everything in my opinion. This novella didn’t help that, and it made me absolutely sick (complimentary). A fatalistic and nihilistic and disgusting time. A must-read for all the sickos out there.

JANUARY EVENTS with Phi!
Ssshhh… the Little Ghosts are sleeping…
Little Ghosts is CLOSED for our annual sabbatical Jan. 1-5th.

• Saturday, January 17th, 1-3pm… Signing: “Red and the Wolves” by Cherry Zong

  For lovers of Through the Woods,Blackwater, and Squad, comes a dark, sapphic retelling of a classic tale.

  Red, a fiercely loyal hunter, has dedicated her life to protecting her witch Grand Mother. Monsters have been roaming the forest that they call home, bringing forth a mysterious illness that has devastated the land and chased every living soul away. Until Red stumbles upon an injured wolf-girl named Sil.

• Friday, January 23rd, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “Spread Me” by Sarah Gailey

  • Spread Me is a darkly seductive tale of survival from Sarah Gailey, after a routine probe at a research station turns deadly when the team discovers a strange specimen in search of a warm place to stay.
    Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the solitude, and the way the desert keeps her far away from the temptations teeming out in the civilian world.
    When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it into the hab. But the longer it’s inside, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can’t be ignored any longer.
    One by one, Kinsey’s team realizes the thing they’re studying is in search of a new host—and one of them is the perfect candidate....

    Saturday, January 24th, 1-3pm… Signing: “XY-Girls and More Stories” by Derwin Mak

  • The ladies of Southern Comfort are the most gorgeous and lively women on any mining colony in the galaxy. But when they start turning up dead and the local police do nothing to protect them, it’s time for these girls to take the law, their safety, and their destiny into their own hands.

    Why do people see the ghosts of their loved ones on the mysterious asteroids called the Siren Stones? And why is there a girl claiming to be Jesus reborn on one of these rocks?

Friday, January 30th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “Queen of Teeth” by Hailey Piper

• Within forty-eight hours, Yaya Betancourt will go from discovering teeth between her thighs to being hunted by one of the most powerful corporations in America.

She assumes the vagina dentata is a side effect of a rare genetic condition caused by AlphaBeta Pharmaceutical, decades ago, when she and several thousand others were still in the womb.

But, when ABP corporate goons upend her life, she realizes her secondary teeth might be evidence of a new experiment for which she’s the most advanced test tube... a situation worsened when Yaya’s condition sprouts horns, tentacles, and a mind of its own.

On the run and transforming, Yaya may be either ABP’s greatest success, or the deadliest failure science has ever created.

Phi’s TOP THREE reads this year were…

Feeding The Machine by Michael Boulerice:
This nifty little cosmic horror is bloody and tense and visceral and has stuck with me since I read it in the summer. Two childhood friends stumble upon a creepy and violent ritual in the woods and soon they benefit from the otherworldly boons it grants - but how long are they willing to pay the price? What more can I say? I like it when foolish men feed [REDACTED] to the horrible cosmic grinding wheel of the old gods.

What A Fish Looks Like by Syr Hayati Beker:
This book sucker punched me right in the sternum. Told across six clever reimaginings of classic fairy tales, this book is whimsical, melancholic and filled with yearning and heartbreak in equal measure. I was hooked by this delightful book after I had the pleasure of hearing the author read the first story at Little Ghost Fest and I am happy to report that the rest does not disappoint in the slightest. I love a book with doodles and margin notes and experimental formatting.

Heaven, West Virginia by Ravi Teixeira:
I admit it... I love werewolves, I love it when a Sad Gay returns to their hometown to confront their past traumas... and I love it when those things are artistically rendered in a colorful and creepy comic book. If you haven’t yet checked out our selection of horror comics, or even if you have, this is a great addition to your bookshelf!

From our little family to yours, we hope your holidays are filled with lots of cozy time doing whatever makes you happy and that you get a break from the monotony of the workdays. May that break include some reading!
A reminder that the Little Ghosts’ physical store closes for the first week of January every year so the team can regroup. We have lots of 2026 announcements for you after the break, so stay tuned, and thank you as always for reading our newsletter.

If you got this far, your discount code for 10% off your next purchase with us is NEWSLETTERGHOST
Enjoy & Stay Spooky, Ghost pals!

PHI INTRODUCES THE GHOSTS…
And reveals a softer side!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I wanted to take a moment to express how grateful I am to all the phantoms and spirits that have haunted the shop the last year (and every year before). Truly, it is a pleasure to have made so many wonderful connections and built such a robust and welcoming community in Toronto.
And it’s not as if this was a slow year! We hosted book signings, workshops, two monthly book clubs, monthly work in progress nights, two screenwriting workshops, several Books n’ Brews, near monthly vendor markets, and even organized the very first annual Little Ghosts Fest!

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Please keep showing up, making noise and introducing us to your friends - we could not and cannot continue to do this without all of you.

But before I go, I want to take a moment to shout out the rest of the Little Ghost staff; without the endless patience, generosity, and support they so freely give, none of this would happen. I’m sure most of you have met us all by now, but in my own words, please allow me to introduce you to…

KZ
“Life is too short to drink bad wine.”
This is Kristin’s email signature, which jumpscares me every time I read it, because ‘wine aunt’ is not how I would describe this person, who may be the result of an unstoppable force meeting and immovable object. KZ is easily the friendliest person here; she is patient, attentive and kind with everyone. I have yet to find a challenge that Kristin cannot overcome with grace and humour and I am starting to suspect I won’t.

SARAH
Sarah is the social media wizard who films and edits all our social media content.
She used to work behind-the-counter, but nowadays she is entirely behind-the-scenes, and I remain grateful that she likes us enough to hang around and make content with us. Sarah has a contagious laugh and a genuine curiosity that makes her easy to be around and any morning grumpiness we bring to Content Shooting evaporates pretty instantly when she’s there to cheer us on.
And let’s be real… our instagram and tiktok look way better now that she does it.

JAY
The Tallest Dad to ever be a Dad Who Is Tall.
While you may not see Jay on the floor as often as myself or Chris, I cannot understate how integral Jay is to everything we do. He is the main force behind all the grant writing we do, but he also provides consistent, quiet support and encouragement to all of us; covering shifts, driving us to events and festivals, running workshops, WRITING GRANTS, and most importantly, he’s just kind—one of the kindest and most caring folks I have the pleasure of calling a friend. He has never ended a conversation with me before asking, “Can I do anything else for you?” followed by a cheerful, “Always a pleasure to see you!”

CHRIS!
The BossMan, himself !
One day I might even convince him to take an appropriate number of days off… but then, who would design all of our merch, draw all our stickers, run all our book clubs, facilitate our Work In Progress nights, organize Books N’ Brews, edit and format all our publications, arrange entire festivals, guest speak at TPL events, and still work behind the counter 30+ hours a week?
Chris! is our fearless leader. He is passionate and creative and honest. He is fiercely protective of his friends and his staff.
He cares.
He cares A LOT.
And it shows.
And we are all better for it.

Chris is now chiming in here, because it would be an atrocity to publish this without..

PHI
Our events manager, staff coordinator, publishing copyeditor, and the skeleton on which we place the sheets of the Little Ghosts.
If you have ever booked an event with us, Phi has put you in the calendar and made sure we have ordered books in a timely manner, corralled Sarah into prepping the social media assets. If you have ever been to the shop, it is so so likely that Phi has given you a passionate stack of recommendations and engaged you in conversation with insight and hyper focused humour that always keeps me in stitches. When there is a problem, Phi can deliver corrective measures with a characteristic charm that is sure to soften any blow- an art I have yet to master. They make fast friends with authors, with vendors, with sales reps. I am never worried about the shop when it is in their deft hands. Whatever I pay them is not enough. I am happy that I never had to run Little Ghosts without them, as they were my first interview. They’ve grown alongside the shop and it has been so wonderful to see them flourish in a variety of roles.
May we all be so lucky to have such an outspoken, organized, and open-hearted person in our lives.

Little Ghosts staff for all eternity. <3

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Horror for Ghosts of all ages!

Happy November dear readers! Okay, I realize that November brings its challenges with the ever shifting weather, and adjusting to the time change (haven’t we saved daylight yet?), and that weird limbo between Halloween and Xmas - BUT at least it’s only 30 days! (clutches for straws and silver linings…)

I realized that we (I?), haven’t spent much time talking about books for our smallest customers, the wee ghosts that come in to haunt the store with their parents/aunts/uncles/and more. Now if you know me, you know how much I love kids - our wee ghosts are among my favourites. I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember, if I look through old pictures so many of them are of me reading or being read to; they’re linked to many of my favourite memories. Every time I see a young person that’s excited about books, I remember the feeling every time my dad took me to a bookstore, or whenever I was gifted a new book, and I want nothing more than to help them keep that excitement for as many young readers as possible. So when kids are brought into our store who want to read a scary story I am so happy! The same goes for adults that want to buy one of our cute story or board books for the tiniest of ghosts; not all the books we carry are designed to frighten - some are just to make you laugh, to make you go “awww” and to entertain. Also, never underestimate a young person’s desire to read a scary story, kids love scary stories, and the ones that come to our shop REALLY love them!

Our stock of kids books doesn’t always stay the same, but we do our best to have delightfully spooky (or silly) titles in for the young one in your world. Here are some of our favourites and a few new titles:

Johnny Boo! The Best Little Ghost In The World by James Kochalka: Meet Johnny Boo, he’s got Boo Power! Which means he can go “BOO!” really loudly! And his pet ghost Squiggle, has Squiggle Power! Which lets him fly and do cool loop-the-loops! Together they have the best adventures!

Funny Little Ghost by Rosa Von Feder: It’s Halloween and Little Ghost needs a costume! What should they be? Little ones will love this lighthearted tale and charming illustrations.

Cryptid Babies by Kelly Milner Halls & Ness Halls: This absolutely adorable compendium of cryptid babies is for all ages (even if it’s aimed at our little ghosts), as you get the perfect introduction to the weird and wonderful world of cryptids, Cryptid Babies uses fun rhyming text and adorable illustrations to show young children how popular cryptids eat, sleep, and play—just like us.

Bog Myrtle by Sid Sharp: The second book from Toronto based author & illustrator Sid Sharp (the first being the awesome ‘The Wolf Suit’), is a must have for any young reader’s library. Two sisters, one stubbornly cheerful (Beatrice) and one relentlessly grumpy (Magnolia), live in a drafty old house with a family of helpful spiders. When Beatrice is gifted magic yarn from a giant forest spider obsessed with sustainability named Bog Myrtle, she and the spiders set to work knitting up a perfectly warm sweater. But greedy Magnolia sees only the opportunity for profit, and quickly converts the old house into a magic sweater factory. The exhausted spiders are driven to strike, and Bog Myrtle is not pleased . . .
Bog Myrtle is a witty modern folktale that touches on themes of capitalism, environmentalism, labour rights, and being a nice person.

The Little Ghost Quilt’s Winter Surprise by Riel Nason: The sequel to ‘The Little Ghost Who Was A Quilt’ has arrived! Join the little ghost quilt as he discovers something happening in the town. People are putting up warm, twinkling lights, and there’s a fun festive feeling everywhere — like Halloween, his favorite season, but with snowmen and wreaths and candles in windows instead of pumpkins. He is filled with excitement and happiness looking at all the beautiful decorations and joyous people, yet he can’t help but feel sad that his friends can’t be there.
But then, after almost getting caught in a blizzard, the little ghost quilt is struck by inspiration . .

Ham Helsing (Volumes 1-3) by Rich Moyer: This punny store favourite is perfect for your graphic novel loving young person! Read all about the adventures of a famous family of vampire hunting pigs! Ham wasn’t always an intrepid monster hunter, preferring to paint or write poetry, but after the death of his brother Chad (quite the daredevil that preferred to leap before looking), Ham reluctantly takes up the family mantle and his journey as vampire hunter begins!

Creepy Cat (Volumes 1-3) by Cotton Valent: From the beloved web-comic, now a gorgeous set of graphic novels, come the tales of Flora and Creepy Cat.
“Flora moves into a mysterious mansion and finds it inhabited by a strange creature—Creepy Cat! Thus begins her strange and sometimes dangerous life with a feline roommate. This Gothic comedy brings the chuckles...and the chills!”

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi: This award nominated, thought provoking novel about a creature that escapes from an artist’s canvas, is perfect for the young person who questions what they see in the world around them. “There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their life. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colors and claws, who emerges from one of her mother’s paintings and a drop of Jam’s blood, she must reconsider what she’s been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster--and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption’s house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also uncover the truth, and the answer to the question: How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?”

Welcome To The Ghost Show by J.W. Ocker: From one of our favourite non-fiction writers comes this delightfully creepy tale of Hazel Gold (Zel to her friends) and her fellow members of the Creepy Club as they investigate the mysterious ads about The Ghost Show, which turns out to be a black, five-story skull that appears on the edge of town! Should Zel and her friends trust eccentric Amadeus Everest Mancer (the guide of The Ghost Show); is he just odd or is something more sinister going on?

The Strange Grave of Mikey Dunbar & Other Stories To Make You Poop Your Pants by Jeremy John: This collection of ten short, spooky stories is perfect for reading out loud on Halloween night, at a sleepover, around the campfire, or anytime you want the fun of a good fright. Jeremy John delivers a frightening trip to the past, where Wild West criminals met the hangman and brave knights battled monsters in the forest, through to today, where young vampires use dating apps and home smart speakers manipulate their owners. Turn out the lights, grab a flashlight, and enjoy the fun frights of a pumpkin patch that hides a terrible secret, the real reason Sasquatch are rarely seen, and of course, what is buried in the grave of Mikey Dunbar.

This is by no means an exhaustive look at our selection for younger readers, but it definitely hits upon many of our favourites - both new and old! Bring your little horror fans to the shop and let us help them choose the perfect tale. For our more grown-up ghosts who want to entertain their inner child, there’s also our wall of vintage Goosebumps titles to bring you back to the first time a book scared you! Happy reading to all of our ghosts, young and old.

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Multiple things at Once.

My goal is to make a decent living from strictly artistic projects with my name on it, but that’s a long bridge to cross these days, and I’m still crossing it (hopefully with more bridge behind me than in front). So to satiate the pompous artist within my psyche, I ghostwrite to pay the bills. It’s a stepping stone compromise that sits in the orbit of my passions while simultaneously sharpening my craft.

I’m currently ghostwriting two projects, a non-fiction autobiography and a horror screenplay. Those two writing assignments could not be more different. One is a first-person past-tense true-life biography, and the other is a third-person, present-tense, atmospheric horror screenplay. Working on two projects (and my own personal manuscript, so three) sounds like a recipe for psychological whiplash, but in my experience, working on projects concurrently can enhance all the materials involved. Not sure if this is the case for everyone and there is a limit to its benefits, but writing one turns the soil for the other.

First things first, let’s define ghostwriting and punch-up. Ghostwriting’s a loose term, but you’re effectively writing a story for someone else. You’re a hired gun for a client who wants some professional flair to their product. In this case, someone wanted an autobiography and didn’t believe they had the time or skill set to complete it. For something like this, I try to work as closely with the subject to establish what they want to see from their story. We host weekly interviews, and then I transpose those interview notes into chapters. This helps identify how much time goes by in each chapter, what their inner monologue may sound like, and what themes consistently reveal themselves. As the interviews go on, I massage the chapters as I reconstruct the person’s life on the page. Punch-Up, on the other hand, is a subsidiary of ghostwriting. You’re polishing a third-party project, so you’re working off of something. I’ve done a bunch of punch-ups in my day, mostly for screenplays, and I’m usually called in for dialogue, thrills, and pacing. Honestly, I love it. Identifying the screenplay’s potential and adding in the touches to amplify it is insanely gratifying. It’s like having access to a fully stocked spice cabinet for a fairly simple recipe. Not this time around, for my client is looking for a more slow-burning existential dread to their story, but I also love that aesthetic. I’m genuinely excited for the challenge.

Now, a schedule is important. I have deadlines for both these projects, so I need to make sure there’s sufficient time blocked out for each. But here’s my deal, and this takes some discipline; I work on an alternating schedule. Outside of my own work or a crunched timeline, I never work on the same writing assignment two days in a row. If I do, I find myself procrastinating, constantly trying to find the right playlist, rewriting sentences for no reason, or endlessly doom-scrolling. The alternating strategy allows one creative endeavour to rest while the other is being formulated.

Excuse the workout metaphor, but creative output is like a muscle. If I expend energy on one manuscript or screenplay for too long, I’ll deplete whatever innovative reserves I may have had. But if I work on a different project or muscle, and I let the other one recover, then I can return to it renewed. If you try to work the same muscle group every day, you’re going to get an adverse result. And honestly, most of my ‘writing’ isn’t in front of the keyboard. It’s the hour in bed before I fall asleep, the walks with Bruce the pup, or idling on a streetcar. That’s where I catch myself problem-solving and crafting my prose. When I finally sit at my desk I’m mostly just dictating thoughts I had at some other time and place.

So, if there’s anything to take away from this article, it’s that your brain is always working on your story. Even subconsciously, your grey matter is disentangling the puzzle factory that is storytelling. Overriding your thoughts with creative demands is just going to create rough cerebral seas for you to sail. But if you give yourself some time and a little patience, creative burnout can settle, and when it does the horizon will be so very clear.

Write On, Weary Travellers.

Retail Therapy:
x. Shop Small… or else!

It will surprise no one who knows me, knows Little Ghosts, reads this segment of the newsletter, or pays any kind of attention to the flurry of events we host and attend that I am passionate about small makers and businesses. This week came with announcements of a few businesses that I love shutting their doors, including and not limited to my favourite bakery/cafe up the street from the shop- the one where I get little treats for the team for early morning content shoots. I have been happy to be a regular, often filling my mug with coffee despite heading off to open the Little Ghosts coffee station, just to say hi to our local, get a treat, and have a little interaction before doing some of the lonelier tasks of bill-paying and chasing book shipments. I’m devastated (and will be there most mornings until the last day of service).

I have had my own final weeks of business (maybe one day I’ll be able to talk to you about The Sidekick, the comic shop x cafe that lives forever in my heart which I ran for 10 wonderful and challenging years), and attended more final weeks at businesses than I care to count. It is absolutely wild to me how busy those final days are. Yes, goodbyes are hard and important- it is nice to send off your local with a big hug and a bustling room. I also find the sudden influx of customers horrifying. Must we only know what we’ve got when it’s gone? As I wander to the post office with our mail orders in tow, the staggering amount of For Lease signs on Toronto’s Queen St W fills me with dread. In Canada’s biggest city and in one of the most walkable neighbourhoods (that also gets a fair bit of tourism), how is it that our boutiques, craft stores, and cafes cannot survive? Are we simply fighting a slow-losing battle of keeping brick-and-mortar shops and physical third spaces? With the rising costs of not only goods sold, but the astronomical commercial rents, is this even a feasible proposition? These are the thoughts that keep me up at night.

Look, I don’t want to get doom-y on main. I try to keep this portion of the newsletter hopeful even when I reveal my sadboi underbelly. I am capable of a ton of whimsy! But I also have a big, raging Support Small Business “Buy Local or Bye Local” fire in my heart. I feel extremely passionately that if we cannot have family run shops, or if artists and makers cannot support themselves on the sale of their craft, then this is not a world or an economy that I recognize or want to be a part of. There are a thousand factors out of our control that make it harder every year (postal strikes! tariffs! pandemics! AI scraping art and creating drop-shipped plagiarized products on TEMU!) but we as consumers do have some power here. Every time you choose to buy on Am*zon, on Ind*go, from Wallm*rt, etc etc etc you are supporting companies that not only notoriously pay criminally low wages, they support AI content creation, evade taxes, and don’t engage in your local community or economy. You vote with your dollar for the world you want to live in. I for one am not looking forward to the Company Store Conglomerate Dystopia that we are currently funding. Let’s break that trend, shall we?

I’m here to help you out! I’m stoked to not only have frequented many local shops here in Toronto, but enjoy many businesses across Canada and the states. Here is a shortlist of recommendations I have for shopping small this season, from paper goods to physical media and beyond. Here’s to an eternity of shopping local and supporting creative folks, okay? Okay!

For handmade goods:
I super encourage you to walk a Main Street in your neighbourhood and check out a consignment shop or two near you! If you’re in Toronto, shoot on over to Secret Planet or Scout or Arts Market - all local spaces that platform a variety of handmade goods. I’m sure your town has one, too! If you’re in Kingston, ON get yourself onto Wolfe Island and treat yourself to a visit to Fishtail Shop & Lured Bakeshop where two best friends make crafts, host local markets, and bake a variety of treats and whole meals. You won’t be disappointed.

For the foodie in your life:
If I had an infinite budget to stock a pantry to the brim, I certainly would spend it all at Good Cheese- the best there is at not just cheeses, but jams, libations, crackers, and other shelf stable goodies. It’s not quite the season for it, but if you get a chance to grab a picnic kit and get to the park, do it. Thank me later.
Out near Ottawa I recommend La Trappe . For our American friends, Detroit has the famous DeVries which is timeless for a reason. In Chicago, get your Holiday board needs met from Beautiful Rind .
Again, I implore you to take a wander! You may find you too have a fabulous vegan bakery (in Toronto we are spoiled to death with Bad Attitude & Bloomers ), or a niche little spot that specializes in fantastic cookies and cakes (Hamilton has Pleasant Cookies , Campbellford has my absolute favourite Doohers ). I’m sure your Main Street or neighbourhood also has bakers that make magic.

Physical media ghouls:
How do I love Vinegar Syndrome ? The ways are uncountable. Remastering trashy classics galore, this (still small!) brand puts out quality and has shops on both sides of the border. If you’re in Toronto, I highly recommend hitting up the physical location. While you’re there, catch a screening at the local gem and indie Cinema run by the best group of scrappy cinephiles Revue Cinema - maybe you should gift that special person in your life a Membership? Revue Memberships come with access to special screenings, concession discounts, and more!
Locals can have custom VHS tapes made from our friend Nick Undead Media who promises quality work and employs local artists to design beautiful packaging.
Located in the states? Material Void is on the rise! A custom tape company with quality and passion. Follow them on Instagram for upcoming drops, or reach out with a request.

MAKE IT FASHION:
Toronto is spoiled with an amazing thrift scene, and I rarely buy anything new. Outside of haunting Kensington Market (which is a great afternoon stroll through countless shops which woefully don’t have websites SO JUST GO) Black Market Clothing never lets me down and has been around forever. Let’s keep it forever, okay?
Looking for something new and super stylish? Coal Miner's Daughter & Damzels are here for the femmes with great quality indie designers.
Looking for Queer Goth branded gear? GRRL Spells has the goods! In the states and want to shop somewhere that gives back? Transfigure Print Co. is in Michigan and they’ve got you.

Hello, I am here because I like Spooky Books:
One of us, One of us, One of us…
Canada:
Raven's End in Winnipeg, Nocturne Books in Calgary!
USA:
Twisted Spine in NYC, Bucket O Blood in Chicago, Ghoulish Books in Texas, Spineless Reads in Virginia, Butcher Cabin Books in Kentucky, Black Heart Books in Wisconsin…
Get out and support the one nearest you!

You know what makes a great gift for folks who don’t get out and visit as much as they wish they could? Our subscriptions! Shameless Self plug. We ship bookmarks, stickers, and 2-3 books every month or quarter. Options are available on the front page of the website, or here:
Monthly Subscription & Quarterly Subscription options available. We even have Sticker Club for folks who just want the little treats.

All types of books are for me!
Go haunt your local bookshop! Many indie bookstores offer a subscription service, or will order in any book you are looking for. In my travels I have enjoyed the selections at Ottawa’s Spaniel's Tale , Boston’s Trident Bookstore, or Philly’s Wooden Shoe Books -
But our Toronto pals know that I make an Indie Bookstore Map of the city every year for CIBD, soon to be updated for 2026. Here is the 2025 version, and yes Glad Day has moved and Hopeless Romantic has opened their Queen W location so a few changes need to be made!
You can support your local bookshop through your audiobook purchases when you switch to Libor FM and linking your account to your local.
I also urge you to support your local library- perhaps with some TPL Merch !

DECEMBER EVENTS with Phi!
Last visits before January hibernation.

Saturday, December 6th & Sunday December 7th, 12pm-4pm… HOLIDAY VENDOR MARKET!

• Looking to get some gift shopping done? Support local businesses and artists this year! Swing by the Shop to check out an assortment of local vendors and artists!

• (Vendors TBA)

Friday, December 12th, 6-8pm…WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT!

• Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

• All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.

• WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT now has a $5 reservation fee. This $5 can be used for a beverage or taken off a book purchase night of! However, in the event of a no-show, fees will not be refunded. Event starts at 6pm, and we will stop seating attendees at 6:15. Please be respectful of our editor and our fellow writers.

Saturday, December 13th, 12-3pm… SIGNING: “Changelog” by Rich Larson

• Join author and friend of shop, Rich Larson, to celebrate the launch of his latest collection of short stories!
  

  In the long-awaited follow-up to his debut collection Tomorrow Factory, Rich Larson plunges us through a multiplicity of futures.

  Ranging in length from byte-sized drabbles to elaborate novelettes, the twenty-six stories assembled in Changelog rove from the sands of biopunk West Africa to the scarred hull of a generation ship to the dismantling of time itself — exploring the symbiosis of humanity and technology at every stop.

NEW DATE: Sunday, December 14th, 1-4pm… SIGNING: “Remind Me To Tell You Later” by Motzie Dapul

• Join longtime Little Ghost, Motzie Dapul, as she launches her latest collection of scary stories, based on the segment from her podcast, Hi Nay.
  

  From the man-eating infant Tiyanak to the womb-sucking Tiktik, from peeping ghost nuns to Filipino Christmas Parties and traditional dances, this book delves into Filipino folklore and culture from the perspective of a Filipina immigrant who lived through the supernatural horrors, and the all too real horrors of fascism and corruption, than many pinoys grow up with.

Friday, December 19th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians comes a tale of the American West, writ in blood.
This chilling historical novel is set in the nascent days of the state of Montana, following a Blackfeet Indian named Good Stab as he haunts the fields of the Blackfeet Nation looking for justice.
It begins when a diary written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall in 2012. What is unveiled is a slow massacre, a nearly forgotten chain of events that goes back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow, told in the transcribed interviews with Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar and unnaturally long life over a series of confessional visits.
This is an American Indian revenge story, captured in the vivid voices of the time, by one of the new masters of literary horror, Stephen Graham Jones.

Monday, December 29th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Bookclub presents… “The Gilda Stories” by Jewelle Gomez

Gilda laid the secret open with great detail. She described her first bath, the scent of her mother’s sweat, the feel of Bird’s arm around her waist, the sound of laughter from the women at Woodard’s, the thrill of moving beside the wind and how the smell of wind had changed in the years since she’d taken to the road. She even described the rush of life she felt as she shared the blood, leaving dreams in exchange. She told of mourning friends and family long dead. And of her fear of not dying, of not being one with the universe again.”
An elegant, sensual, and naturalistic fantasy--a Black vampire story. Time-traveling from Southern slavery in 1850 to environmental devastation 200 years later, Gilda is the quintessential outsider seeking community.

Thank you so much for reading the November Newsletter! If you got this far, enjoy 10% off your next purchase from us with the code NOVGHOST

.Speaking of the Halloween Season… we aren’t done yet!
A reminder that we’ll be at Can*Con in Ottawa Oct. 17-19th, which is the big Speculative Fiction convention. A big thank you to the OAC for supporting us with a travel grant so that we could comfortably stay the weekend and attend some great programming to represent the Horror in Canadian Speculative Fiction! Ghosts will be in the vendor’s room, but we also have Jay signing books, and all three of us are appearing on several panels. I drew us a little schedule so you can do some ghostspotting while you’re there

Looking to make something cute but spooky? We’re having a PWYC zine making workshop in the bookstore! Oct. 25th 5pm to 8pm, Drop-In & PWYC.

A celebratory zine-making workshop in the spirit of Halloween!

Join artist Cleopatria and Little Ghost Books in collaborative zine creation where we will create one-page zines that tell the story of the little ghost inside us all. Zine templates will be provided but blank paper will be available as well.

Sign up here!

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Book Fairs & Festivals!

Happy Spooky Season Little Ghosts newsletter readers! The weather has finally (and hopefully for good), taken a turn for the cooler; properly crisp nights that call for just one more layer, your comfy socks and it’s definitely time to dig that toque out of the closet, (that one with the little book reading ghost of course), to ward off the chill.

Embrace the pumpkin/apple/cinnamon/squash of it all - go to a corn maze, check out a ghost walk or a haunted house, wander through your favourite cemetery and imagine whose shade you’d like to converse with. It’s all here for us to enjoy!

Speaking of enjoyment, we are still riding the high from our first ever Little Ghosts Fest (held at the awesome Tranzac Club) on the first weekend of October; what better way to kick off our favourite time of year? I have to say THANK YOU to everyone that came out to support us throughout the weekend, seeing so many of your wonderful faces meant the absolute world to us! I’ve lost track of all the conversations I had throughout that weekend, but I won’t forget the sheer delight I saw on so many faces, the laughter, the giddiness, and oh my goodness the ENERGY that flowed throughout the space, it was palpable and I swear it truly energized me. You all lifted us up and helped underscore why we do what we do.

Of course this Festival put me in mind of others from the past, most notably of course the Scholastic Book Fairs of my elementary school days, but also Book Expo from my early Chapters days, and other book fairs and gatherings throughout the years - but the main thread running through all of these experiences was the love of the books and the community you found yourself with.

Scholastic Book Fairs were what I looked forward to every year - a chance to pick out and buy my very own books? Just me, a pencil and whatever allowance and birthday money I’d managed to set aside. The agony of decision as you circled the books you wanted and tried to squeeze just one more from the change you’d found - you needed that book on wolves (I really did), I still have a number of the first books I bought at those fairs and these are my favourites:

Shark Lady: True Adventures of Eugenie Clark by Ann McGovern - a book about a woman that was fascinated by sharks from a young age and became a world renowned ichthyologist. This was one of the first books that made me realize you could learn really cool stuff from books! Not just be transported away to different worlds or go on great adventures.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin: I reread this kids’ mystery pretty much every year. It’s a wonderful mystery, full of misdirection, a colourful cast of characters and not only is the best character the young girl (smartest of the lot), but the key to solving the mystery is words!

But one of the books that heralded my (then unknown) love of horror related books and more was “Movie Monsters” by Alan Ormsby. This book had everything! It gave you a history of the old school Hollywood movie monsters, as well as background on the actors, chapters on make-up, how to film something creepy and more! I will never get rid of this book, it is just wonderful.
https://andeverythingelsetoo.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-make-movie-monster.html

Book Expo was an industry event that allowed booksellers to meet authors, check out publishers’ offerings and basically just get high off of the sights, smells (oh that new book smell!), and the excitement of your fellow book people. I remember having to take a cab home from my first one,because I got so many books I couldn’t travel on transit! This was what we referred to as bookseller Christmas - you got everything on your list and then some! It was such a joy to talk to authors and gush, and tell them how they changed your world, or what their books meant to you, but in an often more relaxed environment. You got to tell publishers how their books did, what you thought of the new catalogue, or the cover treatments and maybe, just maybe get a little inside scoop on what was coming next.

These experiences live on in my memories (and on my bookshelves), and now so does our first ever Little Ghosts Fest! Having so many authors and publishers, along with our amazing and talented vendors made this something truly special. And I felt that with every conversation, every smile, every crowd I had to wade through and every single time our booth was swarmed and I was talking to five people all at once; dear reader I loved every second. Thank you.

Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight some of the books that you were snatching off of our table! You really loved these titles when I was at the booth:

Good For Her: An Anthology of Female Rage - not only is this collection full of fantastic, rage fueled tales by some of our favourite writers, 100% of the proceeds go to Sisters Uncut.

What Stalks The Deep by T. Kingfisher - the latest installment in the Sworn Soldier series takes place in a (possibly) haunted coal mine in West Virginia - you know you want to read this gothic goodness.

Modern Folklore by Daniel Perry - What happens when your longtime friend suddenly goes missing right after you help them move, and the last time you saw them a mysterious woman was leading them out of a concert; the same woman you saw outside of their apartment the day after they moved?

The Witch of Willow Sound by Vanessa F. Penney - this delightfully dark, east coast gothic tale has been FLYING! Follow as Fade tries to find her missing (long suspected as a witch) aunt Madeleine in the forest of Willow Sound, all while dealing with the angry villagers of nearby Grand Tea who seem to want Madeleine burned at the stake.

The Fake Ghost by Nuzo Onoh - this satirical, creepy, weird, darkly thrilling tale of the POTUS’s soul being reborn as a Nigerian child in a small hut. As the child grows up, he insists on being called POTUS until one day a connection is severed and he needs the help of a local medicine man to put things right.

This is truly just a small sample of all the books people bought, asked for, talked about - not to mention all of the other wonderful books (and more) available throughout the festival.

Again, these are the best of things, the times when we can be together, being ourselves around the people and things that we love, and just enjoy. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did.

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Submitting.

There’s a rhetorical thought experiment questioning whether you would kill a baby Hitler. Even with his latent psychological predisposition for authoritarianism, baby Hitler is still a lump of clay. That clay may contain some broken glass, but it’s still malleable enough to avoid his evil potential. So, that baby didn’t go through the historical, environmental, and social experiences to toxically nurture the Hitler that plagued humanity. Now, if you asked me if I could kill the baby manifestation for submitting manuscripts for publication, I wouldn’t blink at tearing that baby’s head off and punting it into a tire fire. Despite the hamfisted and inappropriate opening, I do need to express my extreme and unfettered hatred for pitching and/or submitting art for a greenlight, publication, festival consideration, etc. Out of the handful of articles I’ve written for the little ghosts newsletter, this will be the most biased.

Going back to the nature versus nurture metaphor, unlike a psychopathic toddler, pitches are an inherent misfortune in the art community. They’re something you’re going to have to do in one way or another. Even if you independently publish your book, you will have to market your text to the public. So, you have to effectively “pitch” your book to an audience. So, what makes a good pitch, and why oh why am I so vehemently enraged by the concept?

First things first, let’s go over the pitch. What do you need? Well, for a manuscript, you’ll need at least a logline, synopsis, and query letter. A logline is a one to two-sentence summary that’s supposed to encapsulate your work. Not the easiest thing in the world to accomplish, but presenting the premise while hinting toward an aesthetic isn’t impossible. “JT must fix his grandmother’s leaky sink while simultaneously keeping her oblivious to a deadly home invasion.” A bit comedically dry, but it helps evoke the premise while simultaneously displaying the type of humor in Sunset Supeman (or, according to Jeopardy, Don’t Mess With Grandma).

Then comes the query letter. It is an introduction to not just your work, but also to you yourself. There’s the opening, this is who I am, what I’ve worked on, and what I’m presenting. Following your introduction is a small synopsis of your story. It should be a little over the logline, but not much more than a paragraph or two. To reach maximum enticement, you can end on a cliffhanger, so don’t spoil it… yet. The end of your query then concludes with similar titles, the work’s potential audience, and why you think this agent or publisher is right for this project. The whole purpose of a query letter is to package your manuscript as best as possible for not just its quality, but for its marketing potential. Don’t forget to add a little of yourself into a query letter. You’re not just pitching your work but yourself, and authenticity shines through.

If your logline and query letter get eyes to the next stage, then you may require a synopsis. It is strictly what happens in your story with little to no fanfare. Here are your characters, here’s the conflict, and here’s how they either prevail or fail. Spoilers allowed. The agents and publishers want to know what happens before they dip their toes into your work. Following those three major hurdles, now agents and publishers will want to read something. That may be the first three chapters, it may be the entire manuscript, but now your work is being reviewed, and you are now a slave to an enigmatic mistress of time.

And this is where things tend to sour. How long should you be expected to wait? What kind of response should you anticipate? Well, the only real answer to that question is “expect nothing, appreciate something.” It’ll take at least a few months for an agent or publisher to review materials, but that’s not a hard rule. I’ve received rejection letters a full year after I submitted. Some are personal and some are copied and pasted, but they all sting just the same. But, more likely than not, you won’t receive anything. So, after painstakingly working on your craft for months to years, toiling on your submission materials, researching the perfect publisher and or agent, and building the courage to display your vulnerability to a stranger, there is a very high chance you won’t hear anything back. So, be as mentally prepared for the void as you can.

When better angels prevail, I understand the process. Reading is time-consuming, and agents and publishers receive thousands of submissions each year. An agent is just one person, and the vast majority of publishers are a small team that may have another career outside of publishing. Going over a slush pile is a mentally taxing and exhausting effort. For the most part, they’re doing their job to the best of their ability, and no ill will should be directed toward them. When I become ensnared by the cynicism of the process, I try to recontextualize my thoughts. Instead of trying to take my grievances to social media or compatriots, I try to channel that potentially rancid energy into finding a new submission call, working on a different project, or refining my submission materials. There are always options to hone your craft, and rejection is a fuel that burns bright.

But alas, much like days over 100 degrees, botflies, and hailstorms, pitching a project is a part of the creative ecosystem. The sheer idea that the work can’t speak for itself and an artist has to spend time creating something outside of their craft boils my blood. That’s a sanctimonious vantage point to judge. Everyone, aside from the one percent of the one percent, has to promote their work, and quite a few artists enjoy the art of promotion. Marketing does not have to be a Sisyphean labor, as there are creative outlets and innovations to be had in the process.

So, much like death and taxes, pitching your work is an absolute necessity for any artist looking to be published or produced. It’s a shared frustration (if you even consider it a frustration) and that means it can be cathartic to share your submission journey with your peers. There are insights to glean, leads to be garnered, and friendships to be made.

Write on, weary travellers.

NOVEMBER EVENTS with Phi!
It’s a month of signings… oh my!

• Sunday, November 2nd, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “Choices: An Anthology of Reproductive Horror” by Dianna Gunn (editor)

  • Join editor Dianna Gunn and contributing authors, R. Haven, Raluca Balasa, A.V. Black, and A.H. Davidson for the launch of their latest collection of stories about the horrors of reproduction!

    As the horrors close in around us, we turn to story to process our fears, our desires, and our futures. In An Anthology of Reproductive Fiction, nineteen writers whose reproductive rights are under threat explore the stories of those who, like them, have had their choices stolen. The horror of being forced to carry a child you don’t want. The catharsis of taking revenge on a man who stole your right to choose. The terror of being threatened by the world for having a baby you do want because you’re “the wrong gender”. The pride of knowing you fought for a better future, even if that future claimed your life. These stories serve as a reminder of the power of choice and the importance of fighting for every human’s right to choose their own future.

• Friday, November 7th, 6-8pm… WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT!

  • Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

    All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.

    WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT now has a $5 reservation fee. This $5 can be used for a beverage or taken off a book purchase night of! However, in the event of a no-show, fees will not be refunded. Event starts at 6pm, and we will stop seating attendees at 6:15. Please be respectful of our editor and our fellow writers.

• Saturday, November 8th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “Remind Me To Tell You Later” by Motzie Paul

  • Join longtime Little Ghost, Motzie Paul, as she launches her latest collection of scary stories, based on the segment from her podcast, Hi Nay.

    From the man-eating infant Tiyanak to the womb-sucking Tiktik, from peeping ghost nuns to Filipino Christmas Parties and traditional dances, this book delves into Filipino folklore and culture from the perspective of a Filipina immigrant who lived through the supernatural horrors, and the all too real horrors of fascism and corruption, than many pinoys grow up with.

• Sunday, November 9th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “DEMONDUST” by Pascale Potvin

  • Join author Pascale Potvin for the launch of her latest literary foray!

    A splashing, boiling product of depravity, DEMONDUST is a demon on the shoulders of its 15 stories. At times fantastical—others, a too-gritty extension of the body—these curated personal hells force us to confront our concepts of memory, sexuality, flesh, and other terrors.

• Saturday, November 15th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “Robins” by Madeline Nixon

  • Join author Madelin Nixon for the launch of her latest collection of creative non-fiction!

    Some people get ghosted. Others get ghosts. Seven years ago, Madeline chronicled the first twenty-two years of her life in ghost stories. Now, older, wiser, and a bit more clairsentient, she’s back with more. Robins is a collection of thirty ghost stories with a little something for everyone. From things that go bump in the night, to dreams that seem a little too real, to final goodbyes: Robins is a followup you won’t want to miss.

• Sunday, November 16th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “Heaven, West Virginia” by Ravi Teixeira

  • Join cartoonist Ravi Teixeira for the launch of their latest graphic novel!

    Lamont’s father was not a good man. And now Lamont’s father is dead.

    When Lamont arrives in the tiny Appalachian town of Heaven, West Virginia, its lush landscape feels stubbornly at odds with the roiling anxiety that’s come to define his inner life. Living there and learning the art of foraging and tea-making from his kind, stoic aunt LaToya should be idyllic—even a paradise. But in the shadows of Heaven’s woods, Lamont sees a dark, hulking figure, long, glimmering teeth, and piercing red eyes. No one else seems to see this beast . . . not his aunt, and not the handsome cowboy, Coyote, whose gentle voice evokes the comforting, electric aroma of LaToya’s brews. Escaping its voraciously hungry pursuit feels impossible, and Lamont will have to face more than the darkness of the woods to do so.

• Friday, November 21st, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror” by Tori Bovalino

  • A cemetery full of the restless dead. A town so wicked it has already burned twice, with the breath of the third fire looming. A rural, isolated bridge with a terrifying monster waiting for the completion of its summoning ritual. A lake that allows the drowned to return, though they have been changed by the claws of death. These are the shadowed, liminal spaces where the curses and monsters lurk, refusing to be forgotten.

    Hauntings, and a variety of horrifying secrets, lurk in the places we once called home. Written by New York Times bestselling, and other critically acclaimed, authors these stories shed a harsh light on the scariest tales we grew up with.

• Saturday, November 22nd, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “The Exchange & Other Calamities” by Mallory McCartney

  • Join author Mallory McCartney for the launch of her latest book!

    Evil lurks in the darkness, clawing its way towards unsuspecting victims… A woman living with fibromyalgia finds an artifact that unleashes a reality she never thought possible… at a steep price. Two high school seniors take part in a tradition that brings them face to face with the monstrous truth behind a haunting dark urban legend. The face behind a popular Youtube ghost hunting show travels to the scene of a horrific event to find fresh horrors await there. Fate takes a bite out of a young woman who ventures into the wilderness to grieve her mother. Best-selling author, Theo Anderson, takes part in a sleep study that turns her into the very thing she fears.

    Hold your breath as you immerse yourself in five harrowing stories written by best-selling author, Mallory McCartney. Fans of her gripping Black Dawn Series will be kept on the edge of their seat by this horror collection inspired by real life events!

• Friday, November 28th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Bookclub presents… “Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror” by Sofia Ajram

  • A manifestation of ecstasy, heartache, horror and suffering rendered in feverish lyrical prose. Inside are sixteen new stories by some of the genre’s most visionary queer writers. Young lovers find themselves deliriously lost in an expanding garden labyrinth. The porter of a sentient hotel is haunted within a liminal time loop. A soldier and his abusive commanding officer escape a war in the trenches but discover themselves in an even greater nightmare. Parasites chase each other across time-space in hungry desperation to never be apart. A graduate student with violent tendencies falls into step with a seemingly walking corpse.

• Saturday, November 29th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “Upkeep #2” by Ari Gross

  • He’s back for round two! Join author and illustrator, Ari Gross, for the next installment of his comic, UPKEEP!

    It’s year two of Adam and Yvonne’s new life in Garrison Manor, the mysterious mansion that grants its owners anything they desire… for a bloody price. Now they confront a chilling new terror: trying to find affordable childcare! Also, murder.

  

  Retail Therapy:
  ix. Smut Peddling.

The rise of smutty literature reigning supreme in the book space is real. As a longtime fan of erotica, I have no qualms with this. Zero. I think that creative expression and sexy exploration is super important, especially for marginalized folks whose space for celebration and joy and expression has been swallowed up by awful rhetoric about who is allowed to access pleasure. If I were to do my life over again, accessed my own freedom and gender journey sooner, and lived a little louder there would be a universe where I opened a sex shop with a robust book selection. As it stands, I was raised on Oh Joy, Sex Toy and am a regular listener of Savage Love - aaaand for those who know, I host a private book club at home called Monsterfucker Support Group, running for the past few years with an amazing group of queer folks where we meet monthly, discuss our Paranormal Romance du jour, eat snacks, and swap stories.

Last year, I did a Queer Erotica writing course and designed a cover for the physical collection of student’s stories. It was a ton of fun to see folks from the community learn and grow and share some very sexy pieces. I also got to see my little MM werewolf golden shower story in print! I’d like to say I did it all just for me, but really I wanted to sit on the writer’s side of the desk for a second after editing and publishing for our press. It seemed extra important for what we were planning next- to feel the vulnerability in creating sexual content out of personal fantasy. From that place we announced the next Little Ghosts’ Anthology- WET SCREAMS: A Monsterfucker Anthology.

Almost a year in the making, I am so so thrilled to share that Wet Screams is releasing November 1st! This is an erotic collection that blends romance and horror to create something that I think is very unique in the smutty book space- TWENTY stories, lots of LGBTQA+ representation, and so much pushing of boundaries in terms of creatures and kinks. We wanted to showcase variety and holy tails and claws and electrostimulation did we GET IT. I’ve been reading in this space for many many moons and our authors still managed to surprise me. The spectrum of what turns me on is ever-growing. Here’s a little TOC teaser for you:

Stag & Stone- Megan Bontrager: MF Gargoyle Romance in a magical setting.
Nyxion, Room 91- Kari Kephali: Nonbinary & Succubus get hot in a brothel.
The Red Drake of La Montaña en Llamas - D.O. Rackham: MF Dragon Arranged Marriage, with a little cucking for good measure.
Interactive Archaeology- Morgan Gage: F Getting Down on the Ancient Relics… for science !
Mirrors- Lena Moth: Trans MC finds pleasure and solace in the creature who visits them at night.
Isolation- Lee Ohlson: MM 1800s, a creature in the woods makes a special visit.
Come Inside- Haven Valentin: MM Erotic possession story.
On Shipless Oceans- LH O’Donoghue: MF Mermaid? Kraken? Either way, she’s everything he was looking for and more.
Blood in the Water- Verna Lorne: FF Vampire & Siren get what they need.
The Artist is Pregnant- Briar Ripley Page: Performance Art gets hot with transM & Insect.
Love Letter from a Human Test Subject- Grant Lange: M saved from space and pulled into observation… and more!
Housekeeping- Alex Appleton: MM Haunted House gone wrong… or right?!
I Know He’s not my Husband- Kris Morra: MF Tentacled Doppelgänger.
The Devil Tree- Tristan Marlowe: TransMM & Breeding Ritual.
Otherworld Tattoo- Bex Newton & Elle Waters: TransM haunted by the shadows living inside his tattoo.
Love Has Many Arms- Tanya Pond: F entranced with the tentacles in the impossible pong behind her dead end job…
Dick in a Box- Ramses Wolfe: Temptation is a Glory Hole Box.
A Delicious Cycle- Cultivator Space: Vore Hurt/Comfort.
static.- Shannon Riley: MM Shadow(static) Daddy ruins your life.
The Slathering Moisture- Michael Louis Dixon: Blobpacalypse but make it Fucky.

Personally, I can’t wait to gush (heh) to everyone about this great book, after years of stocking the Monster Romance selection in the bookstore. No matter if you are a seasoned veteran of the genre or just monsterfucking curious, I think this collection will have something to delight you. We’ve got dragons, we’ve got gargoyles, we’ve got shadowy creatures and spindly insectile critters and tentacles and sentient goops… we’ve got it all! Particularly, I was pleased with the amount of trans representation- something we need more of in the erotica space in general (as a trans guy, I’m biased). For some, when you are told your whole existence is monstrous… it can be cathartic to embrace, kiss, touch, and subvert that. Particularly in a space dominated by straight pairings (which we also have here, because we love those, too).

Join us for the RELEASE PARTY on Oct. 31st at Hopeless Romantic Books in Toronto at STACKT MARKETPLACE or…
Preorder HERE!
Add to your Goodreads

Did you miss Jay’s SCREENWITING WORKSHOP?
He’s at it again this November!

In this five-day course (once a week for five weeks), Toronto’s own Jason Krawczyk will host a workshop for participants to craft their very own horror short screenplay. A hands-on class that develops screenwriting skills such as formatting, pitching, editing, story structure, and world building by utilizing the host’s real-world experience, short film examples, visual aids, and class participation. The last session will integrate a table read of everyone’s screenplay with an open and respectful discussion between peers.

Requirements:

• Access to screenplay software. Celtx is free: https://www.celtx.com/

• A stomach for horror. We will be watching horror shorts, so be prepared for suspense, gore, and the macabre. We will not watch anything promoting hate speech, discrimination, sexual violence, or cruelty to animals.

• Along with watching, we will not write anything promoting hate speech, discrimination, sexual violence, or cruelty to animals.

• A respectful group dynamic. Sharing your art in a group setting is a vulnerable place to inhabit. Please be mindful and supportive of your peers.

• Probably a pen and paper. Or pencil. Whatever you’d like.

Spooky Syllabus:

• November 5th: Introduction and screenplay formatting.

• November 12th: Developing an idea. Three-Act Structure.

• November 19th: Pitching, Aesthetics, and World Building.

• November 26th: Pitch Session.

• December 3rd: Table Read- HERE WE GO! Please expect this session to be longer than previous.

By signing up for this workshop and sharing your email, you are committing to the five weeks outlined here and consenting to receive email materials and correspondence between weeks from Jason. You will not receive any advertising or spam from Little Ghosts Books, only materials relevant to the workshop and constructive feedback on works submitted.

We understand that life happens! If you miss a week, we will do our best to get you caught up- however, no refunds (partial or otherwise) will be provided for missed weeks. Please arrive on time and be respectful of your instructor and fellow writers.

Sign up for it here!

The Bookworm Market: 183 Geary Ave. in Toronto
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD MARKET is organizing another bookworm gathering, this time on the west west side. If you have been to previous events at Society Clubhouse, you know how fun these are- many vendors do really great mystery book packs, plus there are local artists from all over with a bookish theme. Hand sewn book sleeves? Fun bookmarks? Great stickers? You’ll find it all. And of course, we’ll be there.

BOOKS & BREWS: Left Field Brewery in Leslieville
Books & Brews is the Travelling Book Fair for Adults that we organize! As always free to attend. This round find us with a crop of local publishers and our pals at Hopeless Romantic (the Romance Bookstore in Toronto) for a great showing of books of all genres. Plus get some local sips in from one of our favourite indie breweries! Personally, I’m hoping the marshmallow stout is back on draft by then- this comes with a roasted marshmallow on top. YUM.

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Fall Book Releases… So far!

Happy fall dear newsletter readers! The October season is (almost) upon us, YAY! We can wear pants, layer up with our favourite cardigans and hoodies, and get ready to do some serious hot beverage drinking while curled up and enjoying a good book! With the change of the calendar (and the weather) we start to see more and more of you, as going outside no longer means bursting into flame, everyone’s back from summer adventuring, and of course, some of you are coming to see us for your annual horror read - we’re getting those witchy, autumnal, folky, forest laden suggestions ready! We love seeing you whenever you come to the shop - no matter when or how often; so what we’re not doing this year, is apologizing for only visiting us once a year. It warms our ghostly hearts that you make us part of your spooky traditions, and getting you the book that will make that even more enjoyable? There’s nothing better for a bookseller (or as the needlepoint a good friend made me says, a “punk-ass book jockey”), then making someone’s day (or year) by getting them the right book.

I love being a bookseller, period. There are very few things in this world that give me more joy than books; reading books, reading about books, talking (and talking) about books and of course recommending books to others. I get such a thrill out of putting the right book in someone’s hand, that book that you know they’re going to love, that’s going to make the day they finish reading it just that much better. Being someone’s “book person” is quite honestly the best thing ever.

I’ve worked in books for about 20 years, (between this amazing place and my previous life at that big store chain) and it is the best job. Yes, because you’re surrounded by books… but you also get to talk to other book obsessed people all day - it’s the best! A good geeking out over the books we love makes my day every single time. If you’ve spent any time with me in the store, you know that I can get VERY passionate about the books that I love! I just cannot help myself, and that applies if I see you every week, every month, once a year - or in the case of one of our customers, once every two years! I’ve had amazing times with customers that I’ve only ever met once - so again, we’re just happy that you’re spending time with us, so never be worried about how often you darken our doorstep.

Whenever you do come to visit us - but especially if it’s in the next couple of months - you will be treated to so many new books! The fall book season is no joke and we have already received a PILE of new goodies. From Rachel Harrison’s newest “Play Nice” (always an automatic read), to Clay McLeod Chapman’s new short story collection “Acquired Taste”, Keith Rossum is back with his vampire tale “Coffin Moon”, Alma Katsu’s present day fear fest, “Fiend”, Eric LaRocca’s “We Are Always Tender With Our Dead”, (the first offering in a new trilogy), Mason Coile (aka the late Andrew Pyper) returns with “Exiles”, Hailey Piper is sure to delight with her short story collection “Teenage Girls Can Be Demon”, and I have to mention Andrew Joseph White’s “You Weren’t Meant To Be Human”, his first foray into Adult Fiction that we’re so excited about!

These, and so many more that are already in store (and more arriving every day), plus all of our favourites are just waiting to make your spooky season the absolute best. Plus we’ve got markets, book clubs, pop-ups, our first ever festival - you ARE coming to Little Ghosts Fest - and so much more in the coming weeks and months. We can’t wait to see you!

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Freelancing.

I’ve been freelancing since I was 23. I’m 40 now, and I can tell you without a shred of doubt that it is the most horrifying, wonderful, terrible, stressful, elating, depressing, invigorating, exhausting, life-affirming, and harrowing lifestyle for an artist. There you go! That about wraps up my article on freelancing.

Write on weary travellers!

…

…you’re still here…?

…okay then…

…continuing to write.

There are quite a few people like me. Folks in the film, TV, literary, editorial, performance, journalism, photography, design, and/or all of these industries scattered across the globe. We’re not the majority, that’s for sure, but we’ve doubled down on our pursuits, and we’re all chugging along. I know when I meet someone who’s only ever had a stable job, their first inclination is to ask, “How the hell do you exist?” And the answer is “adaptability…I guess.”

Jackson Stewart is a hyper-talented writer/director known for “Beyond The Gates.” He recounts starting his freelancing journey, “basically I stumbled into my first writing job around 2008 after a little under a year of seriously pursuing it. Prior to that I never thought it would be a possibility. I’ve basically never had a full-time job outside of a couple brief stints since 2012. It beats punching a clock for sure. The ups are the flexibility of your schedule and making changes on the fly. The downs are the whole ocean of doubt you can waddle through in between gigs. It's definitely not for everyone.”

I’ve directed a few movies, and if one or more of those movies do well enough, you can get residuals. So after the initial paycheque dwindles, you have something to keep you covered. Granted, I’ve had to reinvest my director’s fee every time to see the movies get made. Not anymore. I can’t. I want artisanal cheeses in my life… and another dog. Granted, I'm directing indie movies starring Henry Rollins and Michael Jai White, so those checks aren’t breaking the bank, but they usually do pay rent on the best days and groceries on the worst. Other services I offer include contributing articles, editing, event photography, producing, punch-up, and ghostwriting (and apparently workshops!). I’m currently ghostwriting someone’s autobiography while simultaneously canvassing my resources. So, a good chunk of my day is looking for the next gig.

Dylan Burnett is a comic artist whose illustrated for Marvel comics including “Cosmic Ghostrider” and “Ant-Man,” while also writing and illustrating his very own creation, “Arcade Kings.” “It was never really a deliberate choice to go freelance, it just kinda happened to be the nature of my industry, and I went with it. It's been one learning experience after another but I like it. It's great to be able to make your own schedule and manage your tasks as they come. You have tons of control over your day. Though that can sometimes come as a negative if you get overwhelmed easily (like me) or if you don't like having to log all your hours or keep all your receipts and track so much of your life and your money. Also negative: technically no job security? Though, does that even exist for most people nowadays?”

Man, oh man, can I relate to those downs, especially in an ever-changing landscape. I didn’t used to have to canvas my services as much as I do now. Chat GPT has certainly devoured a lot of my ghostwriting and punch-up gigs, and as I garner more experience and responsibilities, my rates shouuuuld go up. Fresh-faced up-and-comers can afford smaller paydays, so my pool for potential jobs shrinks. It’s a harrowing indictment, but it just emboldens me to hone my craft to an exceptional point.

Andrew Barr is an illustrator, creature designer, and infographic designer. His work appears on pretty much everything, including newspapers, t-shirts, album covers, comic books, and movie posters. “I decided to give freelancing a shot because I didn’t really enjoy my full-time job. And then I got downsized and thought it might be worth going fully freelance for mental health reasons… the ability to take on work I wanted to do was a big factor. The biggest ups and downs are the work. On the upside getting to choose not to do work I don’t really want to do, on the downside having to do the kinds of jobs I don’t really want to do because it’s been a while since the good jobs have shown up.”

Okay, Freelancing is quite an adventure. I use the word adventure because, much like all good stories, it contains the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. “Don't give assholes space in your brain, no matter how much you admire their work and have a hobby outside of work. The deadline is your friend (most of the time).” Dylan Burnett recounts, while Andrew Barr suggests, “Freelancing is tough, scary, and can be soul-crushing, but when it isn’t, it’s the most fun way to work. It’s not for people who want an easy life.” “Be cautious of middleman wisdom as it's usually about three years past its expiration date, and I've never seen it pay off for anyone.” Jackson Stewart warns, but also includes “If you believe in something and love it, other people will too.”

If anything, I hope this article enlightens those who are interested in freelancing. It’s hard to give concrete advice for freelancing because adapting to the unknown is a part of the lifestyle. But don’t let that disparage any dreams you may have. If anything, adversity breeds innovation, and if you are contending with your own vocation, then you, yourself, are in a constant state of invention. And that doesn’t sound like a bad way to live.

Write on, weary travellers.

OCTOBER EVENTS with Phi!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

• Wednesday, October 1st, 6-8pm… SIGNING: “DEMONDUST” by Pascale Potvin

  • Kick off the Halloween Season by joining local author, Pascale Potvin, for the launch of anthology, DEMONDUST

  • A splashing, boiling product of depravity, DEMONDUST is a demon on the shoulders of its 16 stories. At times fantastical—others, a too-gritty extension of the body—these curated personal hells force us to confront our concepts of memory, sexuality, flesh, and other terrors.

• Saturday, October 4th & Sunday, October 5th, 12-5pm… LITTLE GHOSTS FESTIVAL

  • The Time Has Come!

    Join the Little Ghosts at The Tranzac Club (292 Brunswick Ave) for a weekend of fun with the spooky community! There will be Vendors, Authors, Readings, Panels, A Tarot Reader, and even a Film Festival!

    • Vendors Include: Jaddora Art, Cherry Choke, GRRRRL Spells, Rue Morgue Magazine, Cinnamon Bat, Moonwater Ceramics, Monstercliche, GHOULISH BOOKS, Stelliform Press, Undertow Publications, Dust Bunny Jewelry, Vivi Doodles, New Moon Technocraft, UNDEAD MEDIA, Trevor Henderson, and more!

    • FILM FESTIVAL: Short Horror Films! (Sunday 7-10pm)

      • Limited Seating Available! Admission is 5$! Come watch some scary and very fun horror shorts, curated by the Little Ghosts Staff!

    • FLEXI WITH MAC (Sunday, 11am)

      • Limited Space Available! 15$ to reserve a spot! Get stretchy with our pal, Mac, who might be superhuman?

    • PANEL SCHEDULE:

      • Saturday:

        • 1pm: Horror In Comic Books

        • 2pm: WET SCREAMS: Horrotica + Monster Romance

        • 3pm: QUEER FEARS: LGBTQIA+ Scares

      • Sunday:

        • 1pm: Eco Horror + Climate Fiction

        • 2pm: Horror on Film

        • 3pm: Toronto is Terrifying: Cities as Settings

    • Catch readings from Andrew Roberston, Madison McSweeney, SJ Shank, Lor Gislason, and more…

• Saturday, October 11th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “Eerie Whispers: Exploring Canada’s Reluctant Relationship With Its Ghostly Lore” by Brian Baker

  • Canada’s paranormal roots run deep — from ghost stories told around flickering campfires to inexplicable encounters — but our polite, risk-averse nation buries these experiences and this history under layers of unease. We fear stigma, career fallout, the unknown itself, and our cultural discomfort with death only deepens the feeling, pushing our ghostly heritage further into the shadows only to come out during the Halloween season.

• Friday, October 17th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING” by Max Booth III

  • A family on the verge of self-destruction finds themselves isolated in their bathroom during a tornado warning.

• Friday, October 17th → Sunday, October 19th… Little Ghosts @ Can*Con!

  • If y’all find yourself in Ottawa this weekend, head on over to Can*Con!

    • The Little Ghosts will be in attendance, selling books, promoting our latest publications, and speaking on panels!

      • Please come visit us! We like to make friends!

        • xoxo gossip ghost

• Friday, October 24th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “NEGATIVE SPACE” by B.R. Yeager

  • Four teens in a New Hampshire mill town abuse a bizarre hallucinogen called WHORL in order to cope with a devastating suicide epidemic.

• Saturday, October 25th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “Happy Death Club: Essays on Death, Grief, and Bereavement Across Cultures” by Naomi Westerman

  • Join Naomi Westerman for a Q&A and Reading from her latest work!

    • Naomi Westerman was an anthropologist studying death rituals in other cultures, then her entire family died. Death moved from being academic to deeply personal. Encouraging people to think and talk more openly, and break taboos, Happy Death Club explores how death is everywhere in our culture, but grief often isn't, whether it's writing horror movies for a living, true crime podcasts, working in the death industry, death peer support groups, and looking to death rituals in other countries.

Retail Therapy:
viii. Autumn.

I struggle to think of anything I don’t like about this time of year. I’m a basic brat when it comes to fall, I love it all- the flavours, the colours, the fashion, everything. Fitting that I started the horror bookstore, but it’s deeper than just liking scary movies and genre literature. I love to bake a coffee cake with cinnamon and cloves all year. Pumpkin pies rule. Shops start rolling out toques and flannels and lovely knitted cardigans- give me all of it (in black for me, but you are all out here in your earth tones and greys and I absolutely love that for you). I live for a throw blanket, I breathe a decorative pillow, I thrive in a thick knitted scarf. I love a mulled wine or a rich chocolatey stout (recently sober for over 3 months, and this was easier in summer when it is all sours and spritz’s).

It should surprise no one to know that I have been to Spirit Halloween no less than six times already to do what I call “visiting my plastic skeleton friends.” Not just human skeletons, this lovely sprawling Halloween Retailer adds some new weird bones each year- I’ve spotted rats and bats and snakes, but now also… fish! Octopi! Elephants! Bones in places they should not be, but that doesn’t stop whatever mad sculptor they’ve commissioned. I revel in the creativity and I eye the ever-increasing pile of decor while planning my attack on additions for the shop and my front lawn.

I was literally born for this. My birthday is Oct. 17th, perfect, as there is no end to nice trinkets folks could pick up for me or activities to choose from to celebrate. All of the desert options at my favourite bakeries are good options. Movie releases are tailored to my tastes. Haunted houses, costume parties, and apple picking? Yes, yes, yes. To add to the good vibes, Jay & I got married on my birthday. Now we get to celebrate each other in the best time of the year, too. Bruce’s birthday is Oct. 25th. Does everything good happen during fall? I maybe think it does.

I have no idea how to wrap-up this edition of Retail Therapy, suffice to say- get out there! Browse your local shops, wander the neighbourhoods. Folks are already decorating with all of the good stuff: twinkling purple lights, hanging witches, rubber bats, spicy scented candles. Get a pumpkin spice latte. Put on your good denim jacket or favourite flannel shirt. The Doc Martins can come out of the closet. Enjoy it all, the lovely crunch of the leaves, the blue skies, the crisp air. Buy yourself a new sweater. Consider it a hug special from me, smoll bookshop Dad.

LITTLE GHOSTS FEST!
It’s almost HERE!

This is the LAST NEWSLETTER before LITTLE GHOSTS FESTIVAL! It is hard to believe that by the time we post October’s mail out… it will be over and we’ll be writing a little after-action report.

This event is meant to be a gift to the amazing horror community that has come out for us over the course of the past 3+ years. Free to attend both the vendor room aaaaaaaand the stacked list of Panel Discussions, Readings & Book Launches!

Sunday AM we have a stretching class with Mac for pals who wanna get limber before the festival to some good heavy metal tunes for the low low price of $15 (which all goes to our lovely instructor).
Sunday night brings us the HORROR SHORT FILM FESTIVAL! Curated by the Little Ghosts Team, we are showcasing 13 indie short films with cheeky commercials and ads for some great local programming at the Revue Cinema! Many of the filmmakers will be in attendance, so clap EXTRA LOUD, okay?? $5 a ticket, and tickets are nearly sold out, so act fast!

Get all this info, a gallery of vendors, and the links for tickets here:
Little Ghost Festival

Coming out Oct. 1st from Little Ghosts Press: How It Feeds- Elijah B. Wilder

Nature abhors a vacuum. One way or another, every hole gets filled.

In a not-distant-enough future, pollution has throttled plants of their ability to communicate with the natural world. Cut off from pollinators, flowers have devolved into colorless, unassuming things. Passively awaiting propagation via human intervention. Fully dependent upon the species responsible for their helplessness.

Deep within the Free Republic of Florida remains a rare expanse of wilderness. It is rumoured one orchid may still bloom there, although no signs of bugs nor birds have been found. One question puzzles all the orchid’s would-be discoverers: How does it reproduce? When Orion Rael Armijo, trans man and botany scholar ventures in search of the fabled orchid, he realizes their collective folly.

What they should have been asking was: How does it feed?

PHI INTERVIEWS ELIJAH B. WILDER…
Learn about the author of HOW IT FEEDS.

Hey Folks!

As many of you know, Little Ghosts broke into the publishing game in the last year, and I’ve had the pleasure of editing (in some capacity) seven out of ten of those nifty little books! I’m happy to let y’all know that we’ve currently got plans to publish another three this year; one anthology and two novellas (one of which, Student Bodies, has just come out recently). The next of those novellas to drop, titled How It Feeds, is being written by the talented and insightful, Elijah B. Wilder. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Elijah last fall while hosting the launch of his debut novel, HEREAFTER LIES: R.I.P, which quickly became one of my favorites of the year, ending up on my 2024 Staff Picks. This novel was a delightful train ride through the beyond; clever, tongue-in-cheek (gideon the ninth wants what this book has), and mysterious. Deja Vale, our POV character, is snarky and dropping quips like some kind of spectral spiderman, but it never feels like too much, nor does it distract from the other events going on. All the while, it raises important questions about our relationship to death and its role in our lives. 

All this to say, I was pretty excited to see his novella submission show up in the Little Ghosts inbox and even more excited when the rest of the team also wanted to work on this piece. 

How It Feeds is an erotic trans-masc eco-horror featuring speculative botany with floral monster fucking that plucks on the rhymes between climate grief & personal grief, fetishization & desire, addiction & fulfillment, and codependency & interconnectedness. 

Enjoy! And remember to stay tuned for more updates on How it Feeds! 

If you want to follow Elijah’s work, you can do so at his website! Or on instagram (elijahbwilder). 

What was your inspiration(s) for this piece? 

[EBW]

I was on a bit of a botany kick, and was getting super into this massive academic debate on plant intelligence—I get the sense saying “intelligence” anywhere near a conclave of botanists might cause one or more fights to break out? I really live for that kind of petty academic-squabble shit (when it’s happening far, far away from me). Anyway, by getting deeper into the weeds on this debate, you necessarily start learning about all the super-cool (and occasionally fucked-up but super-coolly fucked-up) shit plants get up to. Orchids are repeat offenders on the super-coolly fucked-up list. Like, the orchids that deploy sexual mimicry mimic to seduce male wasps into pollinating them. Or, orchids that lure in bees then trap them until they’ve been successfully pollinated. I won’t get too into it here, but there is a lot of freaky shit (complimentary) that plants—especially orchids—get up to. Fantastic horror fodder. A lot of it ended up in How It Feeds. 

Much of the sci-fi/cli-fi element stems from the (unfortunately true) fact that these species depend upon semiochemicals to communicate with their pollinators. It’s a crucial form of communication—one that’s being compromised by pollution/climate change. The world of How it Feeds is one in which flowers have completely lost their ability to communicate with the pollinator species they coevolved with. 

Most fundamentally, this novella began as fuck-you letter from a trans man, and ended as a love letter to trans men. We don’t start in a trans POV. We go through the POV of an ostensible ally, a gay professor, who fetishizes trans men (and tends to go for his students). Working through those sections was rough, but they were based (unfortunately) on all-too common experiences of trans men. As an artist and trans man, I wanted to work through a lot of that collective and individual trauma via art. And then I wanted the offending predator to die a horrible, grotesque, pornographic death via floral fucking. Soooo, I did! And it really was pretty cathartic for me!

Whoops. Spoiler. 

[phi] 

No, that’s ok. Get his ass. It was cathartic to read about this guy’s demise, so I am sure it felt even better to craft it.

What themes or theses are you working with in this piece? 

[EBW] 

Climate change and our collective grief about our powerlessness to stop it is probably the most apparent one, just from the synopsis. And that’s certainly deeply rooted in this work—okay, OKAY. I’ll try to stop botanically punning, but know that it hurts me. 

Odd as it might seem to somebody who doesn’t idle away studying the cultural history of botany, orchids have a longstanding twin association with sex and death. In my mind, climate change and its relata are also pretty tied up in sex and death. To get more specific, there’s a very fine line (if any line exists at all) between fetishization/objectification and intimacy; codependency and interconnectedness (another form of intimacy); addiction and sustenance/fulfillment. The shape those relations take was very much on my mind. 

I suspect few people understand the relationship between sex and death (and all those other relations/oppositions I listed) better than trans people [see previous answer]. I wanted to come at that from as many angles as possible while still maintaining a cohesive story. But if I were going to summarize that particular thematic facet in one soap-boxy line, it would be: FFS JUST LET THE TRANS MEN TOP! 

What kinds of research do you do before/during the writing process? 

[EBW] 

I don’t generally research things specifically with the intent of writing a particular story. Doing that tends to make things feel a bit book-reporty, I find, because I feel compelled to stick in every little thing I learned. For me, speculative elements arise from the research I already did—either for professional reasons, or because I was just really interested in it. It’s already sort of settled in my noggin that way. My hope is that doing so keeps the speculative elements (a lot of sci-fi in this case) feeling organic rather than forced in. It’s not writing from experience, by any means, but it can give it a bit more of that feel. 

How do you balance genre elements? Horror, SciFi, etc. 

[EBW] 

This is assuming that I DO balance genre elements. Whoa, if true.

In seriousness, though, I struggle with this. Like, what even is genre? I mean, I KNOW… but also, there are my own standards for what makes a genre a genre, then there’s “Industry Standards” (which change), and everyone else’s standards (which also change). Is it subject matter? Intent? The font we use on the cover? 

Also, my neurodivergent brain has a really hard time sticking to one genre anyway. It just writes the stories it thinks are cool, and those stories usually wind up straddling two or three genres. Emphasizing one genre over another is often something that has to happen in post for me, but only if it can happen in a way that feels authentic to the story (and only if there is a good reason for it). 

Okay, let’s pretend I do balance genre elements. I (quelle surprise) am going to answer this in a very roundabout and overly verbose way. Picture my mind as the diffuse and ever-expanding trash heap of outer space, scattered with floating bits of space garbage—various rocks, dead Verizon satellites, ice-cubed animals the Soviets launched up there, Elon Musk’s spine, all sorts of shit. Really, it’s like “cool fact I learned about bees,” and “witty one-liner,” and “omg how scary and fucked up would THAT be,” and, “idea for a weapon that absolutely fucks.” And it’s usually just floating around, not doing anything but adding texture to the little imagination movies I play myself when waiting in line various places. But then sometimes, one rock is way bigger (and LOUDER) than the other rocks. It’s got enough gravitational force on its own to start pulling in other little rocks. Add some motivation, and that’s how an actual book gets made in my brain.

In this case, my ginormous floating space-boulder of transmasc rage sucked in some nearby cool-orchid-fact meteors and “omg how scary and fucked-up would THAT be” space junk. Little Ghosts’ call for submissions provided the motivational impetus, and now here we are! For How It Feeds, some of those bigger, foundational rocks were “horror” genre elements and some were “sci-fi.” While writing, though, I definitely found myself thinking “this needs more horror genre elements,” and let that percolate in my mind while pushing through the main meat of the story. Then when I’m grocery shopping and feeling up avocados or something, a cool idea for some spooky shit will pop up and I’ll leave a note for Future-Me in my phone to add in post. But that’s only something I’m doing because it feels authentic to the story. I know that doing so makes the story more itself. 

Welp, that may not be glamorous or theoretically compelling, but it’s how I roll.

I’m fully making that up, by the way. I can’t afford avocados. 

What kinds of horror do you find most compelling as a reader / writer? Do you find there is a difference?

[EBW] 

There is absolutely a difference for me. A lot of that stems (okay, OKAY last botanical pun I SWEAR) from the fact that I feel compelled to write what feels (mostly) enjoyable to write. Life is hard and I don’t make money off of this. And writing things I’m relatively good at writing feels much better than having to struggle through something that feels counterintuitive. I’m pretty good with dialogue, humor, and character-driven stuff. So, the horror I write tends to be quite character-driven, with a lot of dialogue, and has a fair amount of humor sprinkled in there. The horror I like to read isn’t necessarily that. (Though, I do enjoy Grady Hendrix’s work a great deal, and those are traits you’ll definitely find there.)

Reading is different. I get a special joy out of witnessing real artistry, and when somebody can do something that I can’t do (or can’t do well) it always just feels much more impressive. Like, when somebody can shred the cello, that’s super impressive to me because I am not musically inclined. By that same token, somebody who can write a great short story is going to be super impressive to me, as is somebody who can write compelling atmospheric horror (like Shirley Jackson—on both counts). 

Do you have a particular book/movie/show/game that got you into Horror? 

[EBW] 

I couldn’t identify a particular work that got me into horror in general. As a tween, I was scared of a lot of shit. Real Life is scary! I found something pretty cathartic and thrilling about horror though. I think because it’s a (controlled) experience of fear, and that fear almost always gets resolved. That’s something Real Life usually fails to do (so far… technically my story isn’t over until I’m dead, I guess? Somebody contact me via Ouija and let me know how my story plays out, please. I assume I’ll be bored and nosey when I’m dead.). 

As for writing horror, I started writing horror by writing screenplays. And the movie that got me into that was Poltergeist. (I mean the original. I use the original and the remake as paradigmatic examples of everything that can go right with horror vs. everything that can go horribly wrong with horror. I have died on this hill, been resurrected by the posthumous spite of the non-relocated dead on this hill, and am fully prepared to die up here again if I have to.) 

Poltergeist is not a panacea of film so don’t @ me. But one of the things it does very, very well is this: it’s a horror movie where the horror stuff isn’t the real horror. It’s not about a poltergeist. It is. But it isn’t. It’s about not knowing what happens to us or, more to the point, to our loved ones when they die. And that no matter how much we love our children (or anyone, but especially those most dependent upon us), no matter how much we fight to keep them safe, we can’t. Poltergeist takes a white-picket-fence family who, ostensibly, should have been safe, and snatches their youngest child away to a place they can’t see, they can’t understand, and can’t find. And they can hear her, they know she’s out there somewhere, but no matter how hard they scream for her, no matter how hard she cries for them, the family still can’t understand where she is and so they can’t save her. 

There’s a multi-layered baklava of relatable horror there—a full spectrum of direct, literal parallels to more distant, metaphorical parallels. Like, you don’t need kids to relate to one or more levels of Poltergeist’s horror. Have a loved one you’re losing to addiction? I can absolutely see that parallel there. We are afraid because we are afraid for the characters, but we’re also afraid for ourselves. That’s possible because there’s a level of depth and space that enables a certain flexibility of interpretation which makes the scariness of Poltergeist accessible to a wide range of people, but in a way that doesn’t dilute the impact. That is hard to accomplish—also, genuinely fucking fascinating on a formal level. And that’s the kind of shit I aspire to as a writer. 

Fingers crossed. 

Same question as above, but about writing/art in general this time? 

[EBW]

Hmmmmm…. We ain’t got time for that. 

[phi] 

Alright… keep your secrets…

Outside of Horror, what other interests or hobbies do you enjoy?

[EBW] 

Killing orchids with my love. 

I have a warren of rabbit-holes in my brain—a bunch of different hyper-fixations that keep my dopamine channels a-flowing. So, there’s almost always one or two things that I’m semi-obsessively researching and pondering and/or (ill-advisedly) experimenting with at all times. Now, it’s orchids and tailoring (not at the same time…. yet).

Then there’s the foundational stuff I’m always doing to help me scrape together something like a meaningful-adjacent existence: hiking, baking, painting, calligraphy, daydreaming about future potential tattoos, communing with the dust bunnies in the northwest corner of my bedroom… that type thing. 

How do you find your background as a philosopher has influenced your own creative process / work? 

[EBW] 

Hmmmmm…. I’m not sure my background as an academic has impacted my creative work? At least not in terms of process. My creative work has always had far more of an impact on my academic stuff—to both its benefit and detriment. Mostly its detriment. Like, at least 80% detriment. 

Content-wise, I certainly tend to roast academia/academics a fair bit in my fiction. But I feel like that’s not what you’re asking. 

[phi] 

Correct me if I am wrong, but when we hosted the launch for HEREAFTER LIES, did you not say that HAL happened because you needed a way to express the thoughts that wouldn’t fit into your academic dissertation?

[EBW] 

….Well, exactly. See, my dissertation wasn’t really um… super… sanctioned? Officially? Like, I just went off and did my own thing topic-wise? 

The TL;DR is: No, HAL wasn’t inspired by my academic philosophy career; my dissertation wasn’t even inspired by my academic philosophy career. 

There was no expert in the department on what I was researching, which is generally the precise opposite of what you’re meant to do. You research and write under the guidance of somebody who knows more about the thing than you do. Except in my case, I effectively was the expert in the thing I was researching. And that research trajectory wasn’t shaped by my academic experience so much as my own personal interest. 

Tragically, I ran into the same problem I ran into when writing Hereafter Lies. Word count. Unless you are Brandon Sanderson, you really can’t get away with publishing a 300k-word book… which is what Book I originally was. The whole series got reworked from a trilogy to a hexology. Also, with my dissertation, I finished what I had intended to be Part I of III only to be told, “No, actually, you’re done. This is your dissertation. Just conclude and gesture toward that other stuff you did all that research and writing for, but if you make your committee members read it and make me edit it, ISTFG Elijah, I will walk into the SEA.” 

That’s not at all what my advisor said, but that was my reading of it. 

Those next parts were the best bits, too! Alas, I didn’t get to it—THERE. But, thematically speaking, that is what Hereafter Lies is all about. The deleterious impact of this artificial segregation of all things “death” from all things “life.” If you’re familiar with the Death Positivity movement or any of Caitlin Doughty’s work, then you get the general vibe of where I was headed. Except, I was extending the argument to—you know what, never mind. See, my advisor was right. I do not have a stop button. This is why I adore (and pity) my editors. :D 

What, in your opinion, is the role of queer artists in Horror (or Speculative Fiction in general), if there is one at all?  

[EBW] 

I’m reluctant to go assigning roles to anybody else, but I’ve certainly got a strong sense of what I’d like my own contribution(?) role(?) to be. 

Back when I was trying to convince literary agents to represent me, I saw a lot of talk about wanting to recruit DIVERSE VOICES™ and emphasizing how much they wanted to hear from TRANS WRITERS™, and what they wanted specifically was HASHTAG QUEER JOY™. Which is fine, that’s got its place. It’s exhausting living in this world as a Queer person, and sometimes you just want to read about two hot boys hating each other but then also maybe kissing about that. Only, a lot of it seems catered to a non-Queer audience, and/or be a bit surface-level with its representation. Like, a character will be labeled as trans or something, but there won’t be much depth of experience there. That sort of ticking-a-box-off-on-a-list representation doesn’t do it for me. I’m not knocking it; I genuinely think that has its place, too. But I personally can’t connect with it. 

Thing is, I do want Queer joy. I love a happy ending. But if you’re presenting me with some utopic or shallow world, any Queer joy taking place there is going to feel very Hashtag Queer Joy™ to me. I won’t believe it, and so I’m not going to derive any joy from reading it. To get any joy by proxy, I need to be able to identify with the world and the characters and their struggles. I need their lives to be at least as bad as mine, and then I need them to achieve joy in a way that feels plausible to the story. Because then, even though the world for trans people is—well, you’ve seen the world—part of me can hope that finding joy is still possible. Because someone shared a story with me about Queer people in fucked-up worlds/situations finding joy in a way I could actually believe. 

Those sorts of stories aren’t easy to write, but they’re the stories I need to read to find anything like hope in this world. So, they’re the stories I’m trying to create.

No pressure.

Hashtag Queer Joy or whatever.

Do you have a favorite author or book of all time?

[EBW] 

No.

Absolutely not. 

Well, maybe.

What I’m going to give you is a non-exhaustive list of seven books that have had a big influence on me/my emotional-support books (in no particular order): 

1. Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

2. Terry Pratchett, Hogfather (really, all the Death books)

3. Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

4. Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn 

5. Richard Adams, Watership Down

6. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

7. Ursula K. Leguin, The Left Hand of Darkness

What are you reading right now? 

[EBW] 

Ugh… fine I’ll get up and get the book off the nightstand so I can cite this thing correctly… 

Jim Endersby, A Cultural History of Orchids. 

My eyes are shot, and it’s only available in print so it is very, very slow going. My orchids are dying way faster than I can read about their ancestors. 

I’m also listening to the audiobook of Last Unicorn to help me sleep because my ears, unlike the rest of me, are basically fine.

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Current Reading List.

Hello beautiful newsletter readers! I hope that - like me - you're finding ways to enjoy our long, hot, summer; and that books are a big part of that!

I have a question for you: How many books do you read at a time?
Are you dedicated to one at a time, or do you flit from book to book like a bookish bee, pollinating your brain with different flavours of writing?
Unless a book has me deep in its grip, I am usually the latter; I like to jump between different titles depending on my mood, my location, and sometimes time constraints play a part in my decision making.
If you've talked to me at the shop, you know that I'm usually reading at least a couple of different books at the store, (when I'm not happily chatting and suggesting titles for you!), and that I've likely got a book in my bag as well.

I read at the store because *gestures at shelves filled with wonders*, how could I not? My usual reading material at the store is either something new that I want to dive into, or a novella (they're often one in the same).

What am I reading at the store right now you ask? At the time of writing I'm reading:

The Saga Double of “Killer On The Road” & “The Babysitter Lives” from Stephen Graham Jones (one of my favourite authors). His take on two of horror’s most familiar (and loved) tropes, all in one convenient, oft gruesome package! I decided to start with KOTR, because who doesn't love running from a demented killer when you've finally decided to run away from home. Oh and your little sister, your on/off again boyfriend and your best friend are somehow along for the ride. Did I mention that they pissed off every trucker within the state, so there's that to contend with on top of everything else.

Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin: Come read all about The Baroness; a cursed (and perhaps haunted?) film long thought destroyed by the Nazis 50 years ago, now discovered and being painstakingly restored. Assigned the task is Ellen Kramer, an archivist deep in denial about her desires and needs, who finds herself falling under the spell of the Baroness. As she falls further under the movie's sway, it starts to manifest around her, subsuming her life. This one is a RIDE my friends.

What about when I'm at home, what do I read there? The answer quite honestly is everything. Whereas I concentrate on horror books at the store (so weird, right? ), at my place it could be sci-fi, mystery, a graphic novel, quirky fiction of some kind, or yes more horror. Often it's a mix, as it is right now.

At home I’m currently reading:

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kalsuke: This comedy horror told entirely in Slack messages is about Gerald; he's a mid-level employee of a NY public relations firm and has had his consciousness uploaded to the company Slack channel; brilliant prank/motivational tactic by the company? Or is Gerald well and truly trapped for good?

Little Bird: The Fight For Elder's Hope by Darcy van Poelgeest: This is a gorgeous, dystopian graphic novel from filmmaker van Poelgeest. Told from the perspective of Little Bird, a young resistance fighter born in the Canadian Rockies. As she fights against an oppressive American empire, she also struggles to find herself and her place in the world.

The Crystal World by J.G. Ballard: This classic sci-fi horror from Ballard is one that I’ve been meaning to read for ages, and lo and behold there it was on the shelf at the library! It’s the story of a physician that’s known for treating leprosy, making his way through the jungle to treat patients, only things are not all what they seem as the environment seems to shift around him and feel, alive?

What's in my bag? You know I have to have a commuter book! My sitting on transit commute isn’t really that long (as I often walk), but I’d be lost without a book on my person. I’m one of those odd duck that reads books in bars.

Anyway, my current carry around book is an ARC (advanced readers copy) of an upcoming September release:

Spread Me by Sarah Gailey: Think “The Thing”, only hornier. You’ll love it.

There are more but that’s okay, there are more newsletters and conversations to be had with all of you! I am curious though; one book at a time, or do you mix it up? Let me know!

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Starting a thing.

Starting a writing project is kind of like getting dressed in a dark closet… After getting off the Gravitron at a poorly managed roadside carnival… during an earthquake.

Whether it be a screenplay, manuscript, or short story, there is a fairly large expanse of unknowns that you’re going to have to navigate. Even if you do think you know what you’re getting yourself into, there are innumerable variables that could and most likely will divert your narrative path. No matter how detailed your treatment or beatsheet may be, the final product is going to be altered in some way. So, how do you start a thing? How much is in your head or on paper before the first word? Does that even matter?

For me, the pupa stage for any endeavor is an aesthetic. What will this book, movie, or script feel like? If I can’t at least build a stylistic sandbox to play in, the book, movie, or script will not gestate. And, usually, the source of the inspiration isn’t the medium. The movie He Never Died was mostly inspired by Vertigo comic books, while Sunset Superman was inspired by jazz, heavy metal, and Looney Tunes. It Looks Like Dad uses H.P. Lovecraft as a bedrock for lore, but its main inspiration was Terminator. Sometimes it’s not even a specific art form, but a timeframe or acute sense of nostalgia. The entirety of my next book was kickstarted by being inside an attic in an antique store on a road trip. I wanted to capture the surreal nature of exploring modern-day ruins while distilling the smells, textures, and the overwhelming sentimentality for a place you’ve never been.

So, catering to a very specific environment to work in helps prime your psyche to at least step into the beginning. It helps quiet the mind of distractions while also allowing ideas to experiment with their identity. Playlists, a schedule, and a consistent writing place always help. These are all things I try to have locked down before I even start to write. Will this always be the case? No. Sometimes you’ll have to write on lunch breaks, at ungodly hours, and/or in a car- but you’ll at least have a cerebral lighthouse to sail toward.

David Lynch expressed the importance of routine, stating, “I like habitual behaviour because it’s a known factor, then you’re free to mentally go off any place. You’ve got a safe sort of foundation, and a place to spring off from.” This all makes sense when you take into consideration that he’s dressed pretty much in the same iconic outfit and maintained a similar haircut throughout his entire career. “The purer the environment, the more fantastic the interior world can be.”

So, how much of the story is thought up before the story even begins? The answer is always frustrating: ‘depends.’ For me, I have fairly fleshed-out characters, with at least the opening pretty well crystallized in my mind. That, along with at least an amorphous shape as an ending, I’m prepared to at least start a story. There’ll be bumps along the way. Characters will contradict where I intended them to go, plot beats will reroute the past, present, and future, and planned foreshadowing will lead to nowhere. But a part of the game is problem-solving. You're putting together a puzzle, but you don’t have all the pieces, and some of them are from a different picture. So no matter how measured the box art may be, your puzzle is going to look a bit different at the end. But it’s also fun, hence the game metaphor.

Starting a new project is a leap. You’ll never know exactly what you’re going to write, no matter how much you’ve prepared. And that’s a good thing. Scary? Sure, but that’s one of the thrills of writing. And every time I start, I have to relearn this lesson. I don’t exactly know everything yet, but that’s why building it is so satisfying. Some of it will be taken out of your hands by the time you get to the finale. A fleshed-out character will start dictating their own story and you’re just there to guide them. It’s a sign that you truly care for the craft. So, take that leap. You, your characters, and the world you create will be grateful you did. I guarantee it.

Write on, weary travelers.

Retail Therapy:
vii. Special Guests.

From DVDs to jewelry, collectibles to preserved foods and everything in between, you likely have had the enlightening experience of meeting the real person who made something you love. If you’ve worked in a retail space, too, maybe you connected at some point in the stocking process- for a PopUp, or a walk through of the shop. In the case of Little Ghosts Books, having authors in for book launches & signings is a regular part of the business. When we talk about books, love seems like a vast understatement. I am very much deeply and truly of the position that stories touch hearts and change lives. To meet an author who wrenched your soul from your body can be a blessing or a curse, depending on how that interaction plays out.

Whenever we have an author come in, I take the ability to introduce readers to the real person responsible for crafting the work like a gift. It is always my hope that genuine connection happens. I live with a writer and run a small press- I know how moving it is, after months or years of worldbuilding and edits and critiques and online reviews in relative isolation, to have a real person come up to you and tell you that they spent time on your art (and hopefully liked it)! I run a book club, and am an avid reader and fan of literature- I know how amazing it is for readers to meet someone who scared the shit out of them, made them cry, changed their mind on an important topic, and how elating meeting that real person can be. To curate these experiences and have these guests in our space is truly a dream come true.

Having said all of that, regularly I have so much fucking anxiety about our special guests. What if we meet someone and they don’t like the space, have disappointing sales or attendance, what if they are mean to the staff (yes, it has happened)?! Ultimately, people are people, and you can’t control an interaction. Just because you’re a fan of the thing someone has created doesn’t mean necessarily you will be a fan of the real person who shows up and introduces themselves. When that happens, I roll with it, but it does feed the recurring hours of anxiety I have before I know someone is coming by for an event or the heart rate spike that occurs when they show up unexpectedly to sign stock.

I am so happy to report that negative experiences are not the norm, and many of the local authors who have celebrated their books with both the Little Ghosts team and the readers who make up our clientele have become fast friends with us. It’s a joy to receive the news from a favourite-author-turned-pal that they have a brand new book coming out, and that they’ll be back to make those connections through us again. No better positive review for us (and hopefully for them) than repeat launches.

For those of you who watch our social media, you’ll know that we had a very special guest indeed: Grady Hendrix popped in this past weekend to sign some stock. There’s anxiety, and then there’ what was going on with me that day… a type of pacing reserved not only for bookshop guests, but for folks you’ve been playfully emailing back-and-forth with for a few months. Grady was gracious enough to take in a ramble I had about how touched I was by Witchcraft for Wayward Girls which is personally my favourite of his works (so far!) and influenced me to take a personal chance in my life. Afterwards, he vowed to come visit me in person, and I’ll admit I put it in the One Day category in my mind of Nice Things That Likely Won’t Happen. Of course, because he is not a jerk who doesn’t do what he says, he came by on Saturday. Little Ghosts- I am so happy to report the funny person I was emailing is a real person. We talked about bad movies, we talked about books, we talked like pals who have been talking for months. The anxiety wasn’t needed. I hope that the next visit is longer, so I can connect him with his readers here with the same ease and confidence I give all of the authors we have had before who have proven to be such lovely pals.

For me, personally, when I meet a real person who makes something I like and I find that we truly connect or I get a better understanding of who they are and how that affects what they do… it makes me like what they make even more. I am glad to be given such a gift of connection so regularly, and to get to share it with all of you so frequently.

LITTLE GHOSTS FESTIVAL:
Film Fest Update.

Little Ghosts’ Fest is approaching! Oct. 4 & 5th is a weekend of vendors, Tarot, panels, readings, all ending in a short horror film fest the night of the 5th.

We received over 1500 short film submissions for this and hooooolllyyyy shit thank all the Gods for Jay who went through them all to whittle us down to a shortlist of 35, which we all watched as a team. We finally have our final 13! An amazing mix of local and international talent, these gory, funny, smart, horrifying, and even sometimes musical shorts are all being edited into what is sure to be an awesome fucking time at the festival.

While the whole festival weekend is free to the public, the short film block is a ticketed event and at the time of posting this newsletter we are 30% sold out! You don’t want to miss this great showing of horror filmmaking talent so get your tickets now.

A full slideshow of vendors and panel schedule going up on the festival page soon!

SEPTEMBER EVENTS with Phi:
It’s a doozy!

Hey Pals! 

I wanted to take a moment to shout out found in translation, a new indie bookstore based in Toronto that specializes in translated works. I had the pleasure of meeting some of the team when they stopped into the shop the other day! 

Check out their website or their instagram and get your hands on some sweet, sweet literature. 

Without further ado…

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Friday, September 5th, 6-8pm…WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT! 

  Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

• Friday, September 12, 6-8pm… SIGNING: “The Organization is Here to Support You” by Charlene Elsby, ft Shelley Lavigne!

  Join Charlene Elsby for a signing of her latest novella The Organization is Here to Support You! Joining her will be Shelley Lavigne (“The Flesh of the Sea”) for a Q&A session!
  

• Saturday, September 13th, 11am-5pm… LITTLE GHOSTS @ DREADCON!

  Horror and Dark Fiction Convention taking place in Burlington Ontario. Authors, Publishers, Artists and Makers. Come to the extensive market and enjoy panels, book launches, events and more! Check out their website for more info! 

  Little Ghosts will be there and we’d love to see you, too! Our Fearless Leader, Chris will be moderating the Queer Horror panel, and we’ll even be doing some pitch session, if you want feedback on how to pitch your latest project to publishers! 
  

• Friday, September 19th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “MARY: An Awakening of Terror” by Nat Cassidy

  Mary is a quiet, middle-aged woman doing her best to blend into the background. Unremarkable. Invisible. Unknown even to herself.

  But lately, things have been changing inside Mary. Along with the hot flashes and body aches, she can’t look in a mirror without passing out, and the voices in her head have been urging her to do unspeakable things.

  Fired from her job in New York, she moves back to her hometown, hoping to reconnect with her past and inner self. Instead, visions of terrifying, mutilated specters overwhelm her with increasing regularity and she begins auto-writing strange thoughts and phrases. Mary discovers that these experiences are echoes of an infamous serial killer.

• Saturday, September 20th & Sunday September 21st, 12pm-4pm: SPOOKY VENDOR MARKET!

  Swing by the Shop to check out an assortment of local vendors and artists! 

  (Vendors TBA)

• Friday, September 26th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “TRANSMUTED” by Eve Harms

  Her doctor is giving her the body of his dreams... and her nightmares. Isa is a micro-celebrity who rarely shows her face, and can’t wait to have it expertly ripped off and rearranged to look more feminine. When a successful fundraiser makes her gender affirming surgery possible, she’s overjoyed—until she has to give up all her money to save her dying father.

  Crushed by gender dysphoria and the pressure of disappointing her fans who paid for a new face, she answers a sketchy ad seeking transgender women for a free, experimental feminization treatment. The grotesquely flawless Dr. Skurm has gruesome methods, but he gets unbelievable results, and Isa is finally feeling comfortable in her skin. She even gains the courage to ask out her crush: an alluring and disfigured alchemy-obsessed artist named Rayna.

  But Isa’s body won’t stop changing, and she’s going from super model to super mutant. She has to discover the secret behind her metamorphosis—before the changes are irreversible, and she’s an unwanted freak forever.

• Saturday, September 27th, 12-5pm… BOOKS N BREWS: Leslieville! 

  Join us at Left Field Brewery in Leslieville (36 Wagstaff Drive) for another fun afternoon of Books and Brews! It’s the grown-up scholastic book fair that you always wanted!

Don’t want to miss a thing from Little Ghosts?

Subscribe now

Upcoming Events…

• Friday, August 1st, 6-8pm…WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT! 

  • Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

  • All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.

  • WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT now has a $5 reservation fee. This $5 can be used for a beverage or taken off a book purchase night of! However, in the event of a no-show, fees will not be refunded. Event starts at 6pm, and we will stop seating attendees at 6:15. Please be respectful of our editor and our fellow writers.

• Saturday, August 9th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “The  Knave of Graves” by S.J. Shank

  • Join friend-of-shop, S.J. Shank, for the launch of his latest dark-fantasy novel! Drop in anytime to chat and grab signed copy for yourself! 

    Jeppo loathes his hometown and he can scarcely tolerate the townsfolk. Mostly, he despises his life as a gravedigger. He went to the Academy in the south, after all. He was never meant to take up his father’s shovel.

    When a wicked sorcerer arrives at his gate demanding the bones of the local saint, Jeppo has no objection in principle. But he fears the wrath of the night hag, to whom he has been selling corpses for years.

    Jeppo must choose the lesser of two evils, and do so quickly. The spiraling feud threatens to spill innocent blood … and worse still, his darkest secrets.

• Friday, August 22nd, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “Moon of the Crusted Snow” by Waubgeshig Rice

  • With winter looming, a small northern Anishinaabe community goes dark. Cut off, people become passive and confused. Panic builds as the food supply dwindles. While the band council and a pocket of community members struggle to maintain order, an unexpected visitor arrives, escaping the crumbling society to the south. Soon after, others follow.

    The community leadership loses its grip on power as the visitors manipulate the tired and hungry to take control of the reserve. Tensions rise and, as the months pass, so does the death toll due to sickness and despair. Frustrated by the building chaos, a group of young friends and their families turn to the land and Anishinaabe tradition in hopes of helping their community thrive again. Guided through the chaos by an unlikely leader named Evan Whitesky, they endeavor to restore order while grappling with a grave decision.

• Friday, July 25th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle” by Steve Hugh Westenra

  • Tyler Kyle doesn’t believe in monsters.

  A washed-up thirty-year-old actor and reluctant cryptid investigator, Tyler is used to playing the Scully to his best friend Josh’s Mulder on their stupidly popular YouTube channel. But when Tyler receives previously unseen footage of the B movie bombshell mother who abandoned him eighteen years ago—footage linked to an isolated island in the Canadian wilderness—the mystery is one conspiracy he’s determined to investigate. The fact that following the scent gives Tyler an excuse to run away from the “straight” Josh, whom he drunkenly made out with, is just the cherry on the shit sundae.

  Even worse, the footage of Tyler’s mom came from someone on the island–a stalker whose obsessive fascination with both Tyler and Josh is about to make Tyler wish he hadn’t gone this one alone. Puppeteered by his stalker, searching for his mother, and debating whether it’s possible to queerbait yourself, Tyler comes to realize that it doesn’t matter so much whether you believe in monsters, if they believe in you.

  THE ERSTWHILE TYLER KYLE is an adult horror comedy for fans of GHOST FILES, BUZZFEED UNSOLVED, and TWIN PEAKS.

Little Ghosts’ first SCREENWRITING WORKSHOP!

For all our local pals, Jay is hosting his first Screenwriting workshop! 5 weeks on Wednesdays from Aug. 6- Sept. 3rd, get cozy and watch some short films, learn about formatting and script structure, and meet other writers before finally doing a table-read of your very own script!

Sign up here!

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Beach Reads.

Hello lovely readers of the Little Ghosts newsletter; I owe you an apology…When I said last month that I loved summer, I’m afraid that the weather gods took me a bit too seriously - this is not what I meant! I hope that you’ve all managed to stay cool, and are enjoying the season regardless. Now since it seems like we’re going to be having a capital “S” summer, I figured we could all use some Beach Reads! I love a good beach read; weird stuff, trashy stuff, anything that makes me laugh - nothing that takes itself too, too seriously, while still with the potential to give you a scare. I’ve got lots of goodies lined up to share with you, so with that in mind…

Novels: For cozying up with on those cooler summer days, when you can really get into a story.

Bird Suit by Sydney Hegele: What better place to start than the seaside town of Port Peter? Where the tourists come to enjoy the sun (and some most definitely for the fun), which leaves some of the locals with unexpected gifts that they leave for the bird women who live in a meadow below the lake and cavort on the cliffs.

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield: The debut novel from Julia Armfield about Leah and Miri (married couple from England) and the aftermath of Leah’s last expedition. Leah is a marine biologist who comes back from what was supposed to be a three week routine expedition, but became six months of worry and fear for Miri. Upon her return, Leah withdraws, barely eats, spends more and more time in the bath and starts drinking seawater. What happened when that submarine sank to the bottom of the ocean, and can their relationship survive?

Lure by Tim McGregor: This horror novella from one of our favourite local authors is steeped in blood, old gods and desperation. Set in a small fishing village, we follow a young boy (the son of the local preacher) as he tries to navigate life and provide for his family; until one day a mermaid appears. What is at first seen as a blessing, shifts into a living nightmare for the villagers. There is no singing or happy ending in this dark tale - you’ll love it.

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix: Shifting gears away from all things watery, let’s go for some pure 80s horror fun. It’s exactly as described on the package - two best friends and one who thinks the other is possessed by a demon. The year is 1988 and sophmores Abby & Gretchen are doing all the things you do in high school, including dropping acid one fateful night which sees Gretchen disappear, only to return claiming nothing happened - but Abby begins to suspect something is amiss. This book is such a fun romp; you’ll be reading it out loud to your bestie on the beach.

Short Stories: Sometimes you just want a snack, just to tide to you over.

Pink Agave Hotel and Other Stories by V. Castro: Come stay at the Pink Agave Hotel, doesn’t it sound inviting? So lush and sweet, perfect for a summer stay - perhaps you should reconsider. But don’t reconsider diving into this gorgeous collection of stories, influenced by Mexican folklore and told from a feminist perspective; we find that unrequited love, lust and longing go hand in hand with horror - especially when you stay at the Pink Agave Hotel.

A Sunny Place For Shady People by Mariana Enriquez: From the author of “Our Share of Night”, comes this stunning collection of short stories set in Argentina. Follow along as ordinary people deal with terror, the supernatural and more, among them: A neighborhood nuisanced by ghosts, a family whose faces melt away, a faded hotel haunted by a girl who dissolved in the water tank on the roof, a riverbank populated by birds that used to be women and more.

Zegaajimo, An Indigenous Horror Anthology: If you’ve talked to me for very long at the shop, you know how much I love indigenous horror, and especially Canadian indigenous horror! So of course I had to include this new collection that features such writers as: Waubgeshig Rice, David A. Robertson, Francine Cunningham, Karen McBride, Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler (also one of the editors), and six other deadly writers.

Non-Fiction: Now for something completely different; for when you want to astound your friends and family with your vast knowledge of random things.

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? And Other Questions About Dead Bodies by Catilin Doughty: From the author of one of our favourite books, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”, we get this oft hilarious collection of questions from kids about death and dead bodies. Blending her morticians background and trademark sense of humour, you’ll have everyone in stitches as you regale them with the snippets of delightful information enclosed in this book.

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach: I’ve been reading Mary Roach’s fascinating science books for years and she rarely fails to intrigue and enlighten, even while she might be grossing you out.

SMUT: Come on now, did you really think I wasn’t going to include just a little smut?

The Leviathan Fitness series by Ashely Bennett: Since we just got restocked on this delightfully sweet (and definitely spicy) series, this is sure to tickle your fancy (or whatever you kids are calling it these days) when you’ve got some alone time - or maybe not, that’s fun too.

Anyway, you’ve got “Muscles and Monsters”, “Tentacles and Triathlons" and “Minotaurs and Mantras” - in this world everyone knows about the monsters and some people really, really like them. So swing by Leviathan Fitness and see where your animal instinct takes you.

There are so many more books I could add dear readers, but I want you to have some non book fun at the beach too! However if you’re at a loss, swing by the store and I’ll fill your arms with fun, weird, trashy horror goodness. Until next month!

ON WRITING… with Jay!
Plagiarism: It’s a Thing.

“I stepped in shit.”
“What kind?”
“I don’t know, we’re in the woods. Animal shit.”
“There is that hobo.”
“Don’t remind me.”

That’s the sentence I 100% stole from Brian Azzarello and his comic 100 Bullets. It was even filmed for a feature I was directing, “The Briefcase.” I needed a segue for a scene, and I couldn’t come up with anything better than what Mr. Azzarello already wrote. It wasn’t an accident, it wasn’t an unconscious decision, and I didn’t even tell myself it was “different enough.’ I wasn’t homaging 100 Bullets, I straight-up copied and pasted 100 Bullets. I had a problem, and it had a solution. Granted, to the confusion of my editor (sorry James), I was so wracked with guilt I cut it from the movie. But, goddamn, I still tried and it’s haunted me enough to confess it in a newsletter fifteen years later.

Plagiarism is a very real form of tyranny practiced by the scrappiest of indie artists, well-off seasoned professionals, and everyone in between. Guillermo Del Toro, M. Night Shyamalan, Dave Franco, Alison Brie, James Cameron, Shia LeBeouf, Seth McFarlane, Luc Besson, Sergio Leone, Andrew Niccol, Quinton Tarantino, and Sylvester Stallone have all had plagiarism allegations go to legal deliberation. Some accusations look to be examples of the also very real, but also very convenient, scapegoat of parallel thinking- while others are horrendously egregious. Either way, they all seem to be doing fine… professionally.

The trouble with plagiarism and enforcing its just repirmand is reasonable doubt. Evidence is locked away in the accuser's and accused's skulls. Unless someone emails a paper trail that includes “Let’s steal this person’s idea,” there is reasonable doubt to be had. Ideas are mercurial constructs that are in a constant state of flux. So, there needs to be a direct and deliberate example of theft. Lines have to be lifted word for word, beats in the story have to follow the same path, and aesthetics have to completely overlap. A few changes from the source material, and the perpetrator attains that reasonable doubt. Therefore, most of the evidence for plagiarism is circumstantial rather than imperical. That’s a tall order for proving beyond a reasonable doubt.

Let’s do a thought experiment! Let’s say you write a movie with a very specific tone and actor in mind. For the sake of argument, let's say it’s an action comedy where a military veteran defends his elderly grandmother from a home invasion. You’re a long-time fan of the actor, Michael Jai White. He has the skillset, talent, and passion necessary to get your long-gestating passion project off the ground. It finally gets greenlit, and you reach out to an incredibly talented Billy Zane to play the main antagonist and leader of the home invaders. You struggle through some top-tier adveristy but, goddamn it, you get it in the can. And it turns out that it has enough charm to premiere at one of your dream festivals. You play it there, meet some folks, and it’s off to the races. Then, a couple of months later, a movie from a producer who attended that very same festival announces a Michael Jai White action comedy where he plays a veteran defending an old folks home from a Billy Zane-led home invasion. Is there enough smoke to say that this totally rhetorical-and-in-no-way-possible-and-practically-criminal-while-also-blatantly-evil example supports the plagiarism fire? Who’s to say?

Either way, Plagiarism in the creative is a harrowing dilemma, and the advent of AI is only going to make the artistic landscape more convoluted. It’s not just theft in terms of the work, but also of the originator’s psyche. They’ve tirelessly crafted an idea and thought it had enough merit to share with the world. Sharing art is an act of bravery. You are in a state of pure vulnerability and openly volunteer to be judged. Plagiarism is far worse than any review. It’s an isolating experience that warps your sense of community, diminishes your ambitions, and compromises your faith in humanity. Like any endeavor, artists must be careful with how they promote themselves. Charlatans look for paths of least resistance, and copying others is far easier than the introspective journey of creation.

Much like a childhood bully, I’d like to pity them for their shortcomings, but they’re choosing deceit. They’re shameless assholes, and you have to be responsible around anyone willing to sell their soul. But, if you can take anything away from this article, it’s that you should not be discouraged by plagiarists. Don’t let paranoia hinder your drive. Be mad at them, for sure, but continue to work on your craft. Trust in yourself and the peers you’ve made along the way. And if you do so happen to come across someone or something claiming others' work as their own, be vocal. Theft will always exist, but it will be less likely if the thieves face consequences. You’ll have the support of anyone who’s made anything genuine, and that’s someone you want to know. You owe it to yourself and your art.

Write on and weary travelers and fuck off plagiarists.

FYI:
(The Shape of Water is eerily similar to Paul Zindel's play “Let Me Hear You Whisper,” which was adapted into a TV movie. James Cameron’s Terminator now has to have a title card acknowledgment of Harlan Ellison at the end because he ripped off the Outer Limits episode “Soldier.” M.Night Shyamalan won his $81 million case over his TV show “The Servant” copying the movie “The Truth About Emanuel,” but goddamn, is that one suspiscious. Dave Franco and Alison Brie were supposedly sent the script for “Better Half,” which they turned down, only to later produce the supposedly similar “Together” in a pending lawsuit. Shia LeBeouf straight up copied and pasted the Daniel Clowes graphic novel “Justin M. Damiano” for a short film. Sergio Leone was sued by Akira Kurosawa and lost for “A Fistful of Dollars,” which is a remake of “Yojimbo” (you’ve got to tell people, Sergio!). Luc Besson wrote and produced “Lockout” and was rightfully sued by John Carpenter for ripping off “Escape from New York.” Harlan Ellison returns to sue Andrew Niccol for “In Time” for lifting his short story, "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman" (that one’s a tad more iffy). Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay for Rocky after watching Chuck Wepner fight Muhammad Ali in very Rocky-esque circumstances. Wepner won that lawsuit. Seth McFarlane was sued over the idea of a Teddy Bear coming to life, but that seemed like a case of similar ideas. Quintin Tarantino made a career of straddling the line of homage and theft, but he admits he steals the last 10 minutes of the Chinese film “City of Fire” for “Reservoir Dogs.” Not cool.)

PHI DOES PHOTOGRAPHY!
Summer vibes.

I have a history of finding baby animals when I go… well, just about anywhere. This summer… the babies are finding me... and I am not ready for parenthood. 
I hope that Mother Nature chose me for this task because she digs my vibes. I hope she knows I will do right by her little ones. 

With that in mind, there have been two cardinals in my backyard for the last few months, and the other day I was finally able to see what they’ve been up to.

I present… 

the liddlest chimken nuggie

Retail Therapy.
vi. Seasonal Drops

There is something special about a limited edition thing.

A marketing gimmick? A sly way to encourage buyers with scarcity? I mean, sure! Read any book about sales, and they’ll suggest pulling a fast one with words like “ACT NOW” in your advertising (now posts because there seems to be no advertising, only the internet). However, when small makers and favourite artists of mine hand make a small run of shirts, or prints, or keychains… I am there for it. In the heyday of vinyl figures, I used to jump immediately on those small release blanks to paint my own- an art piece! An edition of one! If you’re reading this and you make vinyls, there is at least one guy in Canada who will buy a blank. Please and thanks.

I guess it is only natural then that Little Ghosts has started to do short run merch drops. For our birthday, we did 100 limited edition Little Ghosts sticker packs (we still have THREE- but that's all! ). For Indie Bookstore day, I handmade 50 Indie Bookstore zines featuring the storefronts of over 30 indie bookstores in the city, and also did a short run of 75 FINAL GIRLS READ BOOKS handprinted and blood-splattered toes (these are all gone, sorry sorry). For summer? The pink and yellow Bookworm Totes and the three baseball cap drops (Cosmic Horror , FUTURE GHOST , GAY VAMPIRE ).

Sure, as a consumer there is an appeal for something that many many people don’t have. For me, as someone who is on the production end of the limited edition drop, it isn’t so much the scarcity of the item, but the ability to change my mind. Owning a shop and a publishing house is mostly an exercise in endurance. How long can you dedicate yourself to this one thing, for better and for worse, when you’re busy as fuck and when you can barely pay the bills? When I used to mentor folks with entrepreneurial dreams the first think I asked was, “Do you love it?” If the answer is no, you won’t pass the test of pouring all of your money, free time, emotional energy, focus, sanity, etc etc etc etc etc etc because you will lose the why of it all somewhere in the exhaustion. I’m lucky- I can say with vigour that I deeply and truly love Little Ghosts Books even when I am cried out and half-asleep and broke as all heck (and I’m sure the staff will all tell you that they’ve seen me do so more than once).

A limited edition gives me the freedom to decide that I am really into library ghosts, or biblically accurate pigeons, or Sasquatch reading books in a hammock- but without having to tie myself to that image, sticker, shirt, or tote for the rest of the shop’s existence. We’re currently reprinting the No Gods, No Billionaires & Protect Trans Rights T-Shirts , but I can tell you the Fall/Winter long sleeves and sweaters will all be brand new designs. Will we keep them longer than just one season? Not usually!

Why (you say upset and betrayed when you missed a piece of merch)?!
So I can have the joy of designing our next limited edition thing.
So that each time we make a new shirt, tote, sticker… I am painting a blank.

Don’t want to miss a Little Ghosts Update?

Subscribe now

Upcoming Events…

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Friday, June 11th, 6-8pm…WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT! 

  • Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

  • All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.

  • WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT now has a $5 reservation fee. This $5 can be used for a beverage or taken off a book purchase night of! However, in the event of a no-show, fees will not be refunded. Event starts at 6pm, and we will stop seating attendees at 6:15. Please be respectful of our editor and our fellow writers.

• Saturday & Sunday July 12 & 13th 12-4pm… SPOOKY MARKETPLACE!

  Join us for a weekend of Pop-Up tables from local craftspeople! Free to attend, browse artwork, stickers, jewellery and more from creative pals in the community.

• Friday, July 18th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “Monstrilio” by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

  • A literary horror debut about a boy who transforms into a monster, a monster who tries to be a man, and the people who love him in every form he takes.

Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased eleven-year-old son Santiago’s lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family’s decaying Mexico City estate. Eventually, Monstrilio begins to resemble the Santiago he once was, but his innate impulses—though curbed by his biological and chosen family’s communal care—threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life.
A thought-provoking meditation on grief, acceptance, and the monstrous sides of love and loyalty, Gerardo Sámano Córdova blends bold imagination and evocative prose with deep emotional rigor. Told in four acts that span the globe from Brooklyn to Berlin, Monstrilio offers, with uncanny clarity, a cathartic and precise portrait of being human.

• Friday, July 25th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club Presents: “From the Belly” by Emmet Nahil

  • The whaling vessel Merciful has just made its strangest catch: a massive whale containing a still-living man secreted within its stomach lining. Sailor Isaiah Chase is tasked with keeping the enigmatic man alive.

As their relationship grows, a series of accidents, injuries and deaths quickly befall the ship and its crew. Isaiah is plagued by strangely prophetic dreams, even as the crew continues their endless quest for whale oil under the command of an increasingly unhinged captain.

As events spiral further out of control, the mysterious man confesses what Isaiah has begun to the crew of The Merciful has fallen into a cycle of punishment for their greed and destruction. Isaiah must confront the sea's vengeance made flesh, and choose between this new, strange love and the fate of the ship itself.

• Saturday, July 26th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “The Exchange and Other Calamities” by Mallory McCartney

  • Join author Mallory McCartney for the release of her latest anthology! 

    Evil lurks in the darkness, clawing its way towards unsuspecting victims… 

A woman living with fibromyalgia finds an artifact that unleashes a reality she never thought possible… at a steep price. Two high school seniors take part in a tradition that brings them face to face with the monstrous truth behind a haunting dark urban legend.  The face behind a popular Youtube ghost hunting show travels to the scene of a horrific event to find fresh horrors await there. Fate takes a bite out of a young woman who ventures into the wilderness to grieve her mother.
Best-selling author, Theo Anderson, takes part in a sleep study that turns her into the very thing she fears. Hold your breath as you immerse yourself in five harrowing stories written by best-selling author, Mallory McCartney. Fans of her gripping Black Dawn Series will be kept on the edge of their seat by this horror collection inspired by real life events!

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Summer Vibes.

Greetings Little Ghosts readers, and welcome to one of my favourite months! While I love the fall (and believe me, I do), I am a summery ghost that gets recharged under the sun - find me on a long wander, or on my bike, or at the beach, or under a tree, and you’ll see a giddy ghost just lapping up the Vitamin D, obviously with a book nearby! June just happens to be a combo of two of my favourite things: Pride Month and the Summer Solstice.

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a bit of a nature worshipper and the solstice brings me joy; plus reading books while in nature = happy place pour moi. The solstice is the longest day, and that’s always fascinated me, that we start the summer with the most daylight we’ll see all year, that time when many become sun worshippers, but it’s already slowly slipping away, until we have so little of it as winter embraces us in six months. Isn’t the turning of the seasons just so freaking cool?

Also, Pride Month is the best, because there’s so much queer joy everywhere! Pride is first and foremost a protest, but it’s also a celebration of our queer family! And it also means that I get to see so many wonderful people who are in town to celebrate Pride, and come to our queer little horror bookstore, and then it’s just the best time. Nothing makes me happier than talking to book lovers and finding that exact right book (or books) for them - if you’ve met me, you know how I will give you WAY too many choices, but only because there are so many wonderful things to read. And as so much of horror, both past and present, is queer as hell, you can bet that at least one of those books will be too.

So here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of books - some queer, some folklore/folk horror - that I think you’d love. Please note that some of these may be sold out by the time the newsletter goes live, but they’re probably already back on order and we’ll get you a copy as soon as we can.

Cabal by Clive Barker: The basis for the movie “Nightbreed”, this was the first Clive Barker book that I read, and without giving too much away, the monsters aren’t the bad guys, the killer isn’t who they say it is and the “good guys” are the worst; where the monsters are just trying to protect themselves from the evils of the mainstream society above. This book just highlighted that being “other or different” - whatever that meant for you - shouldn’t be demonized, because different is just that, different and it’s not hurting anyone. Also, it’s a short read, perfect for a day at the beach; but also we all need some uncle Clive in our life.

Sleep Alone by J.A.W. McCarthy: The story of Ronnie, a succubus that’s travelling with one of those touring bar bands (you know the ones, that show up at your local every few months and everyone knows them) in the Pacific northwest, soaking up human emotion, experience and more in order to sustain herself. Until she meets someone at a gig and things start to go more than a bit sideways.

I Can Fix Her by Rae Wilde: This book by the author of “Merciless Waters”, and “I Will Not Apologize for My Positions On Men”, is one of my favourite combos: queer/sci-fi/horror - and for a tiny book it packs a punch! It takes place over the course of a week as the boundaries of time and space intertwine with one person’s desire to fix a broken - likely toxic - relationship (we’ve all been there, this time I can change them!), until…well, you’ll see when you get to the end.

Grey Dog by Elliott Gish: Gothic, sapphic, nature laden, full of female rage and chaffing of gender roles - this debut novel by Halifax based writer and librarian Elliott Gish, is well worth your time. Don’t let the size intimidate you, this book may be a slow burn to start but you will be engrossed very quickly. Set in 1901 and told from Ada Byrd’s journal entries, the tale of the spinster schoolteacher (and amateur naturalist),newly arriving in a small town, hoping desperately for a fresh start where no one knows her or her secrets, Ada sets out exploring the woods, making new friends and teaching her new students. But as she starts to witness strange and horrifying phenomena in the woods - the work of what she calls the Grey Dog, or something else. As time passes Ada starts to change and wonder - who or what is the real horror?

(Also: Landlocked In Foreign Skin, This World Is Not Yours, It Came From The Closet, Your Body Is Not Your Body, Carmilla, Tell Me I’m Worthless, The Z Word, Flesh Inherent - you can’t go wrong with any of these).

The Black Lord by Colin Hinckley: Atmospheric, cosmic tinged, folk horror - this family drama laced debut novella is one of my favourite books. “Eddie’s parents may be arguing about the disappearance of his infant brother Danny, but Eddie’s facing a terror all of his own. There’s a strange figure outside that claims it has Danny safe and sound—all Eddie needs to do to get his brother back is open that window.”

Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris: This indigenous, eco-horror, award winning debut novella, is one of many standouts from local indie publisher, Stelliform Press. The main character Rita (Mi’kmaq, as is the author), a painter, is dealing with the death of her estranged father, when her on-off again girlfriend forges her name on a grant application that gets her an artist residency in a remote cabin in the woods. Feeling disconnected from her heritage, and dealing with unanswered questions of her family and questioning her own talent, she’s unprepared for the effect the surrounding land, the nearby swamp, and the animals have on her psyche (fever dreams anyone) and her newly inspired work. Can she resist the call from the decaying swamp?

The Lamb Will Slaughter The Lion by Margaret Killjoy: The story of Danielle - a nomad who’s spent the last decade on the road - who travels to the anarchist community of Freedom, Iowa, to find out why her best friend suddenly decided to take his own life. What she finds in this eerie folk horror novella, is that the residents have summoned a god to deal with those that won’t fall in line, not realizing that soon the god’s eyes will fall upon them. This quietly creepy and chilling tale will stick with you and really make you think about the structures of power, even in the midst of a supposed utopia.

Frightful Folklore of North America by Mike Bass: This delightfully dark and creepy collection of over 100 tales from Greenland to the Panama Canal, is such a great addition to your bookshelf. Each story is illustrated with linocuts that just highlight what you’re reading. Here’s a sample of what you’re in for between the covers:

Qallupilluit of Nunavut: This green, scaly, web-handed sea-monster hunts along the ice floes, kidnapping children that wander too close to the water.

La Corriveau of Quebec: A woman hanged for murder and witchcraft runs through the night in her gibbet chasing her victims.

Sasquatch of the Pacific Northwest: The Wild Man of America, who has been spotted throughout history.

Ghost Moose of Maine: Hunters are drawn to keep pursuing this spectral creature until they die of exhaustion or exposure.

La Diablesse of Tobago: A young woman who made a pact with the Devil. When in human form, she entraps men with her beauty and lures them to an untimely end.

Green Lady of Hawaii: With seaweed for hair, knotted roots for hands and jagged splinters for teeth, she hunts for children to replace her own lost boy.

(Also, Rebel Folklore, Folktales of Canada, The Watkins Book of African Folklore, The Salt Grows Heavy, The Only Good Indians, Grasshands and more)

I could add so many more to this, but then you’d be busy reading a massive newsletter and not a shiny new book! Happy Pride and Happy Solstice everyone - celebrate in the ways that make you happy, and with those that love you for who you are. If you need me, I’ll be dancing about in the woods somewhere, if not on a beach or gazing at the stars; but definitely dancing - hey a girl can’t read all the time! See you next month!

ON WRITING… With Jay!
Finishing a Thing.

There are plenty of motivational articles and social media posts about starting a literary project, but finishing one is its very own idiosyncratic beast. I just finished my most ambitious manuscript, and it took about a year to complete from the first word until the “end.” There is a specific intangible feeling that follows finishing a creative endeavor. It’s hard to articulate the sensation, let alone navigate the transition. But if I had to give it a one-word summation, it’d be hollow.

The more I read about other authors and their process, the hollow dread that comes from finishing a book seems to be ubiquitous. Emily Lynn Paulson, author of "Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing” said, “The symptoms came on about a month after my book was released. I felt increased anxiety, a generalized worry about ‘what’s next,’ and unplaced energy that I didn’t know what to do with.” She even goes so far as to compare the feelings to actual postpartum depression. “After my third child was born, I had all of the above, along with even more intense symptoms of panic attacks and insomnia. It was severe enough that I treated it with medication.”

Okay. Listen. Chris and I won’t have children who aren’t quadrupedal and covered in fur, but I totally understand that feeling. I’ve been internally debating medical intervention ever since I exported the PDF. It's something that takes up a great deal of your time, not just on a keyboard, but in your skull. For the last two years, I’ve been building characters and mapping narrative structures while buying groceries, driving a car, or taking my eighty-five-pound trash-loving son for walks. (I always feel bad when I run into a friend while on a walk. I look like a serial killer, doing the Kubrick stare into the middle space, visualizing some sort of gruesome scenario….for a book!)

Anyway, all that time devoted to cultivating fictional lives vanishes in a single keystroke. All that cerebral real estate nurturing their fate is no longer present. Those characters are on their own now. Sure, they’ll be editorial notes, but I’ll just be visiting. They moved out of the home I built for them in my frontal lobe. That’s a fairly significant absence for your psyche to endure overnight. Not to mention what happens to them in the outside world.

Author of “Everything Is Awful and You're a Terrible Person”, Daniel Zomparelli, stated, “I always feel very sad and scared when finishing a book. I feel deflated, like I just got let go from a job that I liked. Scared because what if I spent the past six years writing a garbage book and everyone hates the book, then hates me.”

Yes. Of course. How could you not? You’ve been doing invisible work for an extended period of time, and all of a sudden, people can have thoughts about it? Fuck you, people! How dare you even consider judging the result of years of ineffable struggle! The fact that you're reading the words is a miracle in itself. If you don’t pass out because you are flooded with a tidal wave of psychic euphoria and gratitude, then you didn’t get it and don’t deserve art, you slack-jawed knuckle-dragging, Snyder-cut-loving philistine!

Pumping the brakes on unadulterated ego, I do think I have a grasp on the major catalyst behind completion melancholy. Writing’s fun. It’s fulfilling, and if you do it long enough, it becomes a habit. So, upon completion, there’s a void where once a way of life presided. You’re now in freefall, where a satisfying and joyful activity once held you in its embrace. And that’s okay. Instead of feeling like a part of you is missing, think of it like a fresh new adventure awaits your first step.

Finishing a project is terrifying. That means you’ll have to start again, and starting over is fraught with unknowns and sobering introspection. But you’re not actually starting again. You have gained experience and sharpened your tools from the previous project. You’re now a more complete champion of pros. That’s why mythic heroes leave their homes. To return wiser and more capable. How fun would a role-playing game be if you didn’t improve your skills or upgrade your abilities? Above all, how satisfying would a game be if it didn’t get more challenging?

If you can take a page from the last comic strip of Calvin and Hobbes, Hobbes remarks over a pristine, snowy landscape. “It’s like having a big white sheet of paper to draw on!” And Calvin responds as the two sled into a blank page, “It’s a magical world, ol’ buddy. Let’s go exploring!” I’ll try to do the same. Write on, weary travelers.

“I admire anybody who finishes a work of art, no matter how awful it may be.” – Kurt Vonnegut

Notes from the Editing Desk
Double-Edged Swords.

There will be no retail therapy this month, and ironically, I could use some. As we approach BIG DEADLINES for the in-house publishing imprint, anyone who has come across me in-person in the bookshop may has noticed I am distracted, distant, dazed. I’ve been banned from any reading that is not the re-reading of the stories on my desk, at least until everyone had been given storyline edits and authors are diligently typing next drafts. Then, maybe, I can sneak a book or two before… those drafts are back to me, rinse, repeat.

There is no task on my list more fulfilling than helping an author polish their vision to a pristine shine, to help a story gain strength and reach its audience. Being included and trusted with that process between first draft and print release is maybe one of the highest honours of my life- besides, of course, stewarding my eighty-five-pound trash loving son through his adorable fur-covered existence. It is magic that anyone creates anything in this crazy world full of very real horror and endless distraction, another miracle that they have the dedication and follow-through to muscle their way onwards to draft after draft to proofreading and on and on.

Of course, woefully, unfortunately, painfully, we can’t take everyone. I’m one guy wearing several hats on a budget of not enough, and while I do pretty good with the time I’ve been given on this Earth… it is still limited by the absolute audacity of having to sleep, eat, and shower (and heaven forbid something personal come up and it always fucking does). This means our slate stays relatively small, despite every submission call we have done getting more volume than the last. I’ve been a voracious and insatiable reader with a wide spectrum of likes and now I have horrifyingly sent rejections to authors I love. I have sent rejections to people who are my friends. I have sent a rejection to my own husband.

There is no greater gift to me than to be able to help a piece I believe in get published and no greater mortification event to say, “No,” to that in order to keep my deadlines tight and the finances for the press functional. If I think about all the things I have passed on too much I will bury myself under the overstock books and simply never emerge again.

So, with a good bit of blinders-on energy, we push through to release the books that I’ve been editing enthusiastically since the beginning of the year. Truly, I cannot wait to have these print editions in my hands and on our shelves, these marvellous accomplishments made possible by such talented and devoted writers. And as I say to everyone who has ever received a pass on a manuscript, I also hope to be buying those books our press could not take when another press picks them up, to display them on our shelves, and to get them to readers that way. Through a little Retail Therapy.

LITTLE GHOSTS FESTIVAL!
Big News, Little Ghosts!

This year we are doing our FIRST (annual?!) festival! In the past few years, we have experimented with attendance at festivals both locally and internationally and now we have become crazy enough to try to create one ourselves!

Little Ghosts Festival will be a celebration of the horror community we have created over the past three years. With vendors tables, panels, and readings on Oct. 4 & 5th 12-5pm, this is a FREE event showcasing craftspeople, authors, small presses, tarot readers, and more! The Tranzac Club is an accessible venue space and non-profit organization with a full cash bar and gender neutral bathrooms. The Main Hall will be populated with our vendors and a cozy Living Room space for panels and readings. Come and go all day and enjoy some of the great affordable eats in the Annex neighbourhood of Toronto, and easily attend as the venue is on the subway line. Full panel and reading schedule will be released in August.

Sunday you can join us for the Horror Short Film Festival portion of the weekend! For $5, come see an array of short films hand-picked from the submission pile by the Little Ghosts Team (good lord we have over 600 submissions already). Enjoy as we give awards to the best in show!

Ready to commit to attending what will for sure be a blast of a weekend? Head to www.littleghostsbooks.com/little-ghosts-fest on our website and RSVP for free! It helps us know how many folks to expect (and how many free festival buttons to make).

Hope to see you there!

Love this newsletter? Don’t want to miss any ghostly musings?
Also get 10% off your next Little Ghosts purchase with the code JUNENEWS
But you gotta hit this button.

Subscribe now

Upcoming Events…

• Saturday, June 7th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “Zegaajimo: Indigenous Horror Fiction” from Kegedonce Press

  • Join contributing authors Drew Hayden Taylor, D.A. Lockhart, and Tyler Pennock for readings from Kegedonce Press’s latest anthology! 

  • You never know what’s hunting you, while you’re hunting it…

Zegaajimo brings together tales of monsters and the macabre, terrifying transformations, strange places and unexpected wonders. These stories warn of billionaires with hidden intentions, spark vigilance for ominous figures that might appear on doorsteps, and caution you to let the river keep what belongs to it.

But these stories of supernatural settings and dreadful deeds are more than speculative fiction, they are also reminders that monsters are already in our midst, that the known can be just as frightening as the unknown, and that the slightest mistakes can have dire consequences.

• Wednesday, June 11th, 6-8pm… QUEER POETRY READING

  • Join queer poets Ash Winters, Daniel Scott Tysdale, Jake Byrne, Jes Battis, Larissa Lai, Matthew Walsh, and Trish Salah as they read from each of their newest works! 

• Friday, June 13th, 6-8pm…WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT! 

Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.

WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT now has a $5 reservation fee. This $5 can be used for a beverage or taken off a book purchase night of! However, in the event of a no-show, fees will not be refunded. Event starts at 6pm, and we will stop seating attendees at 6:15. Please be respectful of our editor and our fellow writers.

• Monday, June 16th, 6-8pm… SIGNING: ECW Press

  • Join authors Elliot Gish, Suzan Palumbo and AGA Wilmot for readings and a Q&A about their latest works. 

• Friday, June 20th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “Summer Sons” by Lee Mandelo

Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn’t know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom with bleeding wrists that mutters of revenge.

As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie’s death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie’s nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble, letting in the phantom that hungers for him.

• Friday, June 27th, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club presents: “Lupus in Fabula” by Briar RIpley Page
  
  Lupus In Fabula collects thirteen stories about the interplay of lust, violence, yearning, and grief; about becoming a monster and loving monsters; about transformation; about strange occurrences in sad, mundane lives. Whether you prefer witches and werewolves, grisly body horror, or surreal scenes of small town decay, this collection offers something to sink your fangs into.

ON WRITING… with Jay!
The Touch: Can you lose it?

As a writer and a human being that ages, I am often haunted by what seems like a very real possibility. Losing my grasp on the craft. Shifting perspectives while aging is a harsh enough reality to pontificate on, let alone blindly be guilty of. I think we all know people that we once had confidence in who jumped ship to a much less savory ideology. A family member that all of a sudden blamed marginalized groups for their ailments, a close high-school friend that joined a religious group that preaches segregation, or a once steadfast co-worker that is now inundating you with questionable factoids from a clear conspiracy theory. While common sense tells me these people found a more palatable reality than the one we’re currently in, one prevailing anxiety persists. Am I the one with a clouded sense of my surroundings?

I’m not going to go over the edge with modern-day umvelts. This is a literary newsletter, after all (real quick: you’re aunt and uncle are wrong, religious extremists are cults, and cults are bad, and there are plenty of peer-reviewed and impartially cited news outlets out there. They may not be as fun as a YouTube video essay, but at least you won’t have to trade in your self-respect). We’re sticking to art starting….RIGHT NOW!

I think any fan is accustomed to seeing their particular fandom deteriorate before their eyes. The original STAR WARS trilogy was a hallmark for millions of fans around the world. How could George Lucas miss so badly with the prequels? The absolute basics of storytelling and filmmaking seemed misguided and hollow. Frank Miller’s early career was daring and thought-provoking. The Dark Knight Returns revolutionized not just Batman but superheroes while being stylish and a rebellious commentary on Regan-era politics. Now, his craggy art is garish, and his stories are hamfisted if not straight-up offensive (I’m looking at you Holy Terror!). I don’t even want to give her the oxygen but what the fuck JK Rowling? You did it. Go AWAY.

What happens to these seemingly righteous and talented artists? I can’t say for sure, but I can make a few observations. One is life. When you’re twenty-three and can live with six people on a thousand dollars a month, you have the time and the focus to really hone your passions. You’re also driven. You have something to prove with little recompense with failure. But, all of a sudden, your body aches, you are supporting more than just yourself, and the bureaucratic netherworld is demanding more and more from you. Your focus is divided, and your soul’s direct line to art has many winding alternate and diverging routes. Still want to create art but also have a mortgage? Write copy or illustrate an advertisement for a company you don’t hate. Need more money for healthcare or to get out of debt? Provide your services for a company you do hate. They’ll pay.

Once you cross that line, though, it’s hard to go back. How can one compartmentalize passion-based art and commerce-based art? One is riddled with shortcuts, reluctance, and compromises, while the other is perfected to the highest degree the artist can attain. Exhaustion and bad habits are sure to be absorbed. But here’s the other, more insidious, reason for an artist's decay: Ego.

You see it in the music industry. Early albums are a hit. Of course, they are. They’ve gone through a gauntlet of touring, seeing what works with an audience in real time. There is an adversity period that fine-tunes everything to its sharpest point. And if successful, record labels will straight up pay you for a new album. Holy hell! What a deal! A legitimate dream come true. But now a few steps are missing. Time is sparse, and that precious editing process is absent. It is on the artist to know what works and what doesn’t without that precious experimental phase.

Some artists can acknowledge their shortcomings and provide themselves a workflow that breeds innovation. Some don’t have the opportunity because of that pesky life factor, but those who are lucky enough can have an honest look in the mirror and start refreshed. BUT! Some can drink their own Kool-Aid and proclaim everything they do is just as good as everything they did. The Beach that Makes You Old is just as good as The Sixth Sense! They fall back on their leurals and activate all the shortcuts and comprimes that allow them to maintain a certain amount of clout.

It's easier. And the more responsibilities that are piled on with life, the more alluring the path of least resistance. There’s no sobering inward retrospective or contention with one's hubris. Self-reflection stings. I get it, but the process also stings. So, there is no singular reason someone’s craft starts to rust, but there are certain failsafes one can do to maintain quality control. One is an honest look at your resources. What is the best way to accomplish my goals with what I have at my disposal? If you shrink your ambitions, that’s a-okay. Passion and quality shine through any scale. Another much harder guardrail is fulfillment. Do you genuinely like what you’re doing? Not what your editor or the audience thinks, but you. If you don’t, that is also okay. It’s a great place to be, in actuality. That gives you the mindset to ask, ‘Why am I making this?’ And the answer to that question, whether it’s expression or anger, or nonsense, or boredom, or envy, or joy, is worthy of your art.

Art on weary traveler.

KRISTIN’S KOZY CORNER…
Fears edition !

Hello beautiful Little Ghosts Newsletter readers! I hope the merry month of May is treating you well, and that you’ve started to embrace reading spooky books in idyllic places; it’s take a book to the park/bench/backyard/beach season after all! I’ve loved talking to customers who are coming to get a book and then heading directly to the park to enjoy a scary read in the sun!

Every month I contemplate what to share with you and this month, it’s what scares me.

One of the most asked questions we get at the bookstore is: what’s your scariest book? And my response is always: well, what scares YOU? Because everyone has different fears, we all jump or quiver at a wide variety of evils, monsters, nebulous frights and more. Sometimes we don’t even know what scares us until we encounter it in a book, in a movie, or even in life. I don’t always read horror to be scared silly, but it’s fun (yes, fun) when it happens.

Reading about our fears can help to conquer them, make them less terrifying, but also still allow you that prickle at the back of your neck, the hairs standing on end, and your pulse racing as the adrenaline spikes. So what scares me?

More things than I’m willing to admit (have to keep a few secrets), but if you’ve talked to me at the store you know that mannequins (dummies, puppets, dolls) creep the hell out of me. I get properly unnerved and freaked out by those blasted things. And yet, I deliberately read books and watch media with them, because I will not be bested by them damn it! So there (as I metaphorically stick my tongue out). Examples you say? Oh I’ve got examples!

One of my favourite horror films - which also happens to be Canadian - and possibly the genesis of this fear: Pin by Canadian director and writer Sandor Stern. This twisted tale of a brother and sister and their father’s come to life anatomy doll has lived rent free in my head since I was a teen. I get the full body shudder just thinking about it.

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones: This novella by one of my favourite horror writers is everything you want in a scary mannequin tale: friends use mannequin to scare each other, friends go back to school and ‘abandon’ mannequin, mannequin doesn’t like that.

William by Mason Coile (aka Andrew Pyper): The last book published by Pyper before his passing, this absolutely creepy tale about an agoraphobic engineer who creates an AI and puts it in a half-formed robot he names William will have you unplugging your smart house devices and fleeing. Worth reading for the ending alone.

You know what else scares me? Haunted houses! Those noises and bumps in the night, the creak on the stairs, the movement that you can’t quite glimpse… delicious, isn’t it?

You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann: this novella about an author who rents a house through AirBNB to vacation with his wife and daughter, while trying to write a sequel to his best-seller unnerved me in the best way. The dynamics of the failing relationship, the frustration of the writing, all played against the backdrop of shifting reality and nightmares. It plays with your mind as it is playing with the main character’s; is this reality, is it a dream, a hallucination? The deeper you get, the less you know. At the book’s end I sat there staring at the last page trying to figure out the truth.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson: this book is a classic for a reason, and one of the finest examples of what is real and what is imagined? Is the house haunted, is it the visitors, both? What horrors do we manifest from the depths of our mind when we give into suggestion? I cannot recommend it enough.

The Grip of It by Jac Jemc: This literary, psychological horror had me yelling at the main characters as they seemingly ignore the horrors happening around and to them; the architecture changes, stains appear and disappear, the wife has mysterious bruises, and that’s just the beginning. What is supposed to be a fresh start, becomes a fresh hell.

And finally - well, finally for this entry - the thing that really scares me? The evil that exists in the mundane, the unexpected, in the sunshine on a seemingly normal day. Where horrifying things have no business disturbing your peace or freezing you in fear. And while I could list many examples, I’ll just leave you with my favourite, the story that I reread once a year, that never fails to terrify me even though I know every beat, every step and yet it chills me to the bone.

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson: This small town horror was required reading when I was young, and I think it is one of those stories that is timeless, even if the locale and the people are mostly in the past. Picture a beautiful summer day, an entire town gathering for an event, everyone in high spirits, culminating in something incomprehensible; but something that no one in the tale questions and I think that lack of questioning should make us all stop still in our tracks in fear and recognition.

So dear Little Ghosts readers; what scares you?

Retail Therapy.

v. Teamwork makes the Dream Work.

This is a cliche. It’s always been my favourite one.

Pride month seems like a great time to talk about community, and about found family. You see, I try not to say it too much. I don’t want to create a manipulative or toxically positive environment. Companies that say the employees are family are something to be suspicious of… what hides behind that shiny veneer? What sort of emotionally BS string-pulling are you trying to do. And yet, here at Little Ghosts… it is hard NOT to say it.

If you have been reading these newsletters, you are privy to the kind of team effort we do here. These beautiful photos are taken by Sarah, our social media Ghost who keeps us giggling and making the silly videos you see on our Instagram and TikTok. Phi, events Ghosts, scheduler extrodinaire and copy editing perfectionist, keeps our book signings from overlapping and the team from overworking themselves into oblivion (or maybe that’s just me they demand, “GO TAKE A NAP” at). Kristin is our book recommendation Ghost, re-order note-taker, the best listener, and an all-arounder with more bookstore experience than any of us. Without her Kozy Corner, would you even read this Newsletter?! I mean, you would, because Jay is sliding in here with his funny anecdotes and segments on writing for all our writers in the house, Toll bookshop Dad and our permanent Author-in-Residence. This is our team, and where some of us aren’t strong the others take some of the work until another month is under the belt, then another.

Little Ghosts Books is what it is (a small queer horror bookstore with a BIG community and an even bigger heart) because of our team. While I do these segments, design our merch, keep authors and submission call deadlines, and have a rough vision of what I would like things to look like- those sketches come to life through the people who dedicate their time and energy to helping make it so. All of these Little Ghosts are talented, charming, intelligent, and caring people and they could spend their precious days on this earth doing anything at all- the fact that they spend a chunk of it with me, working on this bookstore, is a gift that I work to acknowledge. Tangibly with money! Also by building out roles that suit the strengths of the people here, and making space for more involvement where possible.

Last week we all went out for a family dinner at a local restaurant. We were seated in a spacious back booth. Company dinners can be stuffy, and I was nervous as I always am before a group gathering. Several hours, cocktails, and big plates of food later… we closed out the place. We planned a night of horror movie catch-up at mine soon, everyone surprised and disappointed that our time spent was already over.

Small business ownership is a difficult endurance test with no clear outcome, and I am not always good at keeping the faith. Add to it the unpredictable economic hurdles and personal losses of the past couple years and it is just flat out true that I do not know if we would have made it this far… if I didn’t look around me and see such belief and strength in the faces of the absolutely fucking lovely folks who do this work with me.

It’s a cliche to call your coworkers a family, but they hold me like one, and I hope I can do the same.

UPCOMING PUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENT!

Student Bodies- T.T. Madden

There's a relic being passed around in one of the fraternities of Holstenwall College, tied to a dark ritual and disguised as a drinking game. When Frankie Starling stumbles upon Dominion, a powerful sleight of hand that allows players to swap bodies using the skull of a strange beast, she inadvertently arouses something ancient and terrifying. Seeing through the eyes of others awakens truths inside those who play Dominion- secrets and desires delicious to the unseen force behind the game.

Now, the evil has become insatiable…

This great body-swap novella we have affectionately been calling TALK TO ME x IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE (but gayer and hornier)! Dropping at the end of July from Little Ghosts Press and the first of three novellas on our 2025 publishing slate, T. T. Madden will be at STOKERCON this year with ARCs- so if you see them out there, get that good good advance copy! We'll be doing some ARC giveaways on our socials so keep your eyes peeled for those.

Looking to pre-order? Grab your copy here!
littleghostsbooks.com/products/student-bodies

Thank you so much for subscribing to the Little Ghosts Newsletter!
Use the code MAYNEWSLETTER in store or online for 10% off your next purchase.
Not subscribed yet? Click the button…

Subscribe now

Upcoming Events

A Personal Note from phi….
Hello everyone! 
Turns out we are not the only Kool Kats on the block!Little Ghosts is proud to support our local Deaf and hard of hearing organizations, businesses and artists! You may even spot yours truly running around in a volunteer shirt! 
Check out the biggest Deaf expo in Ontario: 

MAYFEST! 
May 2 & 3, 10am-4pm at the Enercare Center!

And another thing!
If you, or anyone you know, is interested in hosting any Queer Literary Events during June for Pride, please do not hesitate to send me an email (events@littleghostsbooks.com)! 

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Saturday, May 3rd, 12-4pm… POP-UP: Aaron Millard Illustrations and Cards!

  • Aaron Millard Illustration is a Toronto-based illustration studio & card shop specializing in pun-filled, witty, and humorous greeting cards. Designed for shoppers who appreciate clever wordplay and cute, charming artwork, these cards bring laughter to every occasion. From funny birthday cards to holiday greetings, wedding wishes, and everyday moments, Aaron Millard Illustration delivers memorable, high-quality greeting cards for every gift giving occasion.

• Sunday, May 4th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “Art! Trash! Terror!” by Chris Alexander

  • From filmmaker, former Fangoria editor-in-chief, and Corman/Poe author Chris Alexander comes ART! TRASH! TERROR! Adventures in Strange Cinema, a treasure trove of in-depth essays and edifying interviews that celebrate some of the most eccentric and unforgettable movies in cult cinema history. From recognized classics to misunderstood masterpieces to unfairly maligned curios, the author takes an alternately serious and playful but always personal look at several strains of international horror, dark fantasy, and exploitation film ― motion pictures that transform, transgress, challenge, infuriate, shock, and entertain.

• Friday, May 9th, 6-8pm… WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT! 

  • Are you a Local Author? Come by and share your latest and spookiest with a room of writers and supportive folks. Read your own or summon a reader from the room if you’re feeling shy and receive valuable constructive criticism before your work gets sent out into the publishing wilds.

  • All attendees MUST bring work to read! It only works if we are all vulnerable- but don’t be scared. Your bookshop Dads are here and believe in you.

  • WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT now has a $5 reservation fee. This $5 can be used for a beverage or taken off a book purchase night of! However, in the event of a no-show, fees will not be refunded. Event starts at 6pm, and we will stop seating attendees at 6:15. Please be respectful of our editor and our fellow writers.

• Saturday, May 10th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “The Butcher’s Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs. Lovett” by David Demchuk and Corrine Leigh Clark…

  • London, 1887: At the abandoned apartment of a missing young woman, a dossier of evidence is collected, ordered chronologically, and sent to the Chief Inspector of the London Metropolitan Police. It contains a frightening correspondence between an inquisitive journalist, Miss Emily Gibson, and the woman Gibson thinks may be the infamous Mrs. Lovett—Sweeney Todd’s accomplice, “a wicked woman” who baked men into pies and sold them in her pie shop on Fleet Street. The talk of London Town—even decades after her horrendous misdeeds. As the woman relays the harrowing account of her life—from her upbringing on Butcher’s Row in the unruly streets of Victorian London to her daring escape from a mad doctor—her missives unlock an intricate mystery that brings Miss Gibson closer to the truth, even as that truth may cost her everything.

• Friday, May 16th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “The Eco Wife” by Sarah Gailey

  • “I’m embarrassed, still, by how long it took me to notice. Everything was right there in the open, right there in front of me, but it still took me so long to see the person I had married.
    It took me so long to hate him.”
    Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d never be.
    And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband.
    Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and both Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up.
    Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty.
    

• Saturday, May 17th, 1-3pm… SIGNING: “Killer Debt” by Dianna Gunn…

  • Join author Dianna Gunn for the launch of her anthology! And maybe even get your own murder immortalized in the written word! 

  • Have you ever wanted to die… in fiction? Dianna Gunn asked the internet this question and over 30 people said yes. These are their stories. Sacrificed to demons, killed by velociraptors, hacked to pieces by axe murderers—these are just a few of the deaths you'll find within these pages. From the humorous to the horrific, this horror collection contains a murder for every reader. Which one will be your favourite? There's only one way to find out.

• Saturday, May 24th, 12-5pm… BOOKS AND BREWS: Collective Arts (Hamilton)

  • We’re back, ghosts n’ ghouls! Come by Collective Arts in Hamilton for Books and Brews! There’s books! There’s brews! You know the drill. 

  • Meet fellow Canadian Publishers Book*hug, Stelliform Press, Wolsak & Wynn, Invisible Books, Dundurn Press and more!

• Friday, May 30, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club presents… “The Flesh Inherent” by Perry Meester

  • One of my personal favorites from 2024! Gay Cowboys and Gross Aliens. What more could a wretch like me want in a book? 

  • On a hot summer night, something enormous screams down from the sky and pierces into the desert not far from the small town of Farchapel. The stories that trickle back from the crater are strange indeed—those who find it and return claim to be forever changed, transformed into the better, ideal versions of themselves they've always wished to achieve.Jamie, recent mysterious visitor in town, is a man on the run, all too eager to escape his current form no matter the cost. Sidney, local drunk, would rather face a hole in the ground than the things he’s done. As the two men venture into the desert canyons in search of their better selves, they soon discover that what hides there is much more terrible—and eager to lure them in.

• May 31 & June 1st, 12-4pm… QUEER VENDOR MARKET!!!

  • Spooky Market Place…. But make it gay! 

  • VENDORS TBA.

Kristin’s Kozy Corner
(AKA how much the KILLER VHS SERIES from Shortwave Rocks)

Hello lovely Little Ghosts newsletter readers! It is finally, *peers out window*, spring! After winter parts 1-5, it is time for us all to stretch our legs, go sit outside with a beverage and book, and shake off the last of the winter doldrums (I love that word, doldrums - it’s perfect).

I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about this month, but then I got really sick and was stuck at home full of misery, and all I wanted was comfort; comfort foods, blankets, clothes, TV, and of course comfort reads. Now, horror may not be the first genre you think of as comforting, but comfort comes in all forms. A “I can't stay in bed another minute” sick day has tea, some kind of toast, a spicy brothy something, my fuzzy socks and blanket, curled up on the couch watching baking shows. But when I’m finally feeling that little bit better, when I’ve had some eggs and potatoes with my toast and tea, I want a book; but not just any book - I don’t need anything challenging because concentration has long since flown the coop - I want something entertaining, that makes me laugh, that distracts me from how crappy I’m feeling.

What are these wondrous books you ask? While that does change, for my horror comfort reads? I like silly, fun, to a certain degree predictable (but in the best way), and these days those books all come from one series: the Killer VHS books! If you’ve chatted with me in store, there’s a good chance that I’ve recommended one or all of these just fantastic little books. Called “Goosebumps for adults”, this entire series just brings the fun. Full of old school horror movie vibes, giving homage to slashers, B movies, tropes and more. I’ve yet to read one that I didn’t enjoy, and a couple of them are among my absolute favourite books.

#1 - Melon Head Mayhem by Alex Ebenstein - the one that started it all! Have you ever wanted to live inside your favorite horror film? Cousins Carson and Sophia are in town for their grandma’s funeral and after they find an old unfamiliar VHS tape tucked away in grandma’s house, they figure the worst that can happen is a few cringeworthy moments and 90 minutes wasted. Instead, the video summons the movie monsters—local urban legends called melon heads—into their very real lives!

#2 - Candy Cain Kills by Brian McAuley - I have an unhinged love for this less than merry Xmas tale: When Austin’s parents drag him and his little sister Fiona to a remote cottage for Christmas, he’s less than thrilled about the forced bonding exercise. But after learning that their holiday getaway was the site of a horrific crime, this family on the rocks will have to fight for their lives against a legendary killer… because Candy Cain is slashing through the snow with a very long naughty list.

#3 - Teleportasm by Joshua Millican - If you could safely teleport, wouldn’t you give it at least one try? What if you can’t stop? Four friends unearth a unique VHS tape that, when viewed, causes short-distance teleportation with euphoric after-effects, inadvertently launching a perilous trend. As copies of the original tape are made, the results become less predictable and ultimately gruesome due to analog generational decay. Despite the danger, some will risk everything for just one more trip.

#4 - Cicada by Tanja Pell - A B movie in a book, you gleefully follow every signpost to the kills and outcomes you’ve been wanting from almost the first page: Ash is stranded at a rural horror film festival about a giant killer cicada and can't decide what's worse, the movie or her idiot boyfriend, until she realizes she's starring in the bloody sequel when people start dying and the locals won't let them leave.

#5 - Candy Cain Kills Again by Brian McAuley - the only sequel in the bunch, but hark the slasher angels sing. (You’ll have to read the first one, no spoilers here!)

#6 - Night of the Witch-Hunter by Patrick Barb - who hasn’t accidentally summoned an evil witch hunter from the past, while trying to speak to your magical ancestor with your best friend that you think you’re in love with? As the new millennium approaches, outcast teen Josey’s school video project for history class inadvertently leads to the resurrection of Pryce, a demonic witch-hunter from the 1600s. As he unleashes puritanical Hell on Earth in her small New England town, Josey must rely on her best friend, an ancestor accused of witchcraft, and the mystical powers inside herself to put an end to the Night of the Witch-Hunter once and for all.

#7 - Coming this fall from (squeeeeee) Laurel Hightower - The Long Low Whistle: A woman searching for answers about her father's death decades ago, joins a group of cryptid hunters to penetrate the abandoned mine where he was last seen.

I cannot wait for each and every new installment, I look forward to seeing my collection of these books all together on my bookshelf, well worn and loved from many rereads. You get scares, creative kills, fantastic characters, delightful storytelling and more. Truly cannot recommend this wonderful series enough. What are your comfort reads? Let us know!

On Writing… with Jay.
Dyslexia writing with:

I don’t read sentences like this. This a sentence like read more I. Well, that’s as close as I can get to expressing how I read in the written word. I’ve only ever had the one perspective, so it’s hard to distinguish how I digest the English language versus everyone else. But after decades of doctor appointments and armchair research, that’s what I’ve distilled as my interpretation of dyslexia. And much like everything in life, dyslexia lives on a spectrum and is different for everyone with the condition. Some sentences look like this. Msoe esncetces nac kolo ilek shit. Sometimes words aren’t a problem but symbols and memories are jumbled. If you are diagnosed with dyslexia, you have your very own distinct affliction. That is a harrowing indictment, but there are ways to manage, as well as, slingshot, the neuro disorder to elevate your craft. So, what’s it like to have dyslexia and what’s it mean to be a dyslexic writer?

The former question is a bit harder to answer. I have no idea what it’s like to have dyslexia because I’ve never not had dyslexia. There’s nothing for me to contrast the experience. But I can tell you other people get horrendously frustrated with my comprehension of certain activities, so I can assume where dyslexia makes the most impact. Spelling, grammar, lists, and directions. If you give me foolproof, precise directions, I will get lost. 100%. It’s a foregone conclusion at this point. List of instructions? That Yoda Lego set is going to look like a brown and green abstract art piece. This article? It’s a series of misspellings and coded phrases that will be reconfigured over and over again until I think it’s palatable enough for an editor. That’s also how I read. To read a book, I have to re-read it. Sometimes more than once. I envy anyone who can read and retain pros in one passing, but that is not me.

I was diagnosed in second grade. My grades were decent enough, but if you gave me a word problem or standardized test, I’d fail them without fail. Teachers caught on pretty quickly and informed my parents. I was off to specialists. I had no idea why I was there or what was wrong with me. Their tests seemed like standard everyday activities. Draw your best anatomically correct person. Journal about your day. Watch this video and tell me which direction people were heading. Even at eight years old, I thought this was a supreme waste of time. Doctors didn’t, however. I was apparently so dyslexic I became a case study. I’m cited in outdated psychological literature.

At that time, 90’s medicine thought they could “cure” dyslexia. I took a handful of pills and sprinkled some kind of prescription medication on my cereal every morning for at least two years. I didn’t feel any different other than ashamed I was so obliviously defective. Trying to explain what I was going through with my friends was immediately met with jokes and confusion. And for good reason. I had no idea what was happening, and neither did the specialists, despite their claims. Either way, I plowed through the rest of school, did well enough in class, and took the SAT five times before my parents would leave me alone.

It turns out it’s an innate psychological predisposition. It’s something you manage, not ameliorate. Also, if you have dyslexia, there’s nothing actually wrong with you. The world is designed around a majority you do not inhabit. Isolating? Without question. Frustrating? Extremely. But you are, truly, fine. It even comes with some advantages. Creative problem solving and adpation are a dyslexic’s strongest tools. Einstein, Muhammad Ali, Whoopie Goldberg, Keanu Reeves, Tom Cruise, Cher, Leonardo DaVinci, Picasso, and Steven Spielberg are all dyslexic, and any group that includes Cher can’t be all that bad.

When it comes to managing dyslexia, patience is a virtue like no other. I am a late bloomer for I have to learn, relearn, edit, and re-edit all of my endeavors out of necessity. This is where health comes into play. Stress will only exacerbate the negative symptoms. I know when I’m sick or in a bad spot, my confusion is amplified. So, a general focus on health and routine will not only placate an adventurous brain but embolden creativity, drive, and empathy. I’m a tad different from most and that’s a-okay. It took decades to acknowledge that and I’m still in the process of understanding how I think. But when you apply that mentality to everything you do, you will excel at anything towards you direct your heart.

Retail Therapy.

iiii. Customer Service

My favourite part of owning a bookstore is the people.
Yes, yes, yes. I know. “But Chris,” you say, “isn’t it the books?”
Maybe.

You see, people make the books. If you have been to Little Ghosts on a Saturday, or stumbled in on a Friday night, your quiet little browse has been completed derailed by people. Little Ghosts Bookstore, like other bookstores, hosts a ton of events. We have two different monthly book clubs this year, a monthly author Work in Progress Night, and anywhere between 1-3 author readings or signings on any given month. This would be absolutely sadistic behaviour for anyone who didn’t like people as much as I do. Readers and authors. Books are magic because they come from folks, and books stay magic because they touch folks- change the way they think and feel, instil empathy for experiences they haven’t had themselves.

My favourite afternoons are ones where I have chatted with someone about a book they have loved, mornings when someone has shared something with me as I have made their coffee, evenings when an author got vulnerable with the work or readers shared a passage that split them open. These small moments of trust between people are why I get up and open the shop in the morning, and comfort me when I go home exhausted at night.

This newsletter musing, I actually have no overarching thought or thesis- suffice to tell you that I am lucky to exist in a space in the world that allows me to let people in. It is so easy to get swept up in the negative aspects of customer service. Sometimes someone wanders into your little shop which you give all your blood sweat and tears to with nothing but negativity. It’s far far rarer than the times people excitedly beam at me from across the counter wanting a book recommendation (and where else can you say “how fucked up do you want to be?” with a playful grin and be met with warm anticipation). I love my job, and that is because people have come in and made it real. I could read horror at home alone on my couch, and I did for many years. This shop has given me coworkers who devote precious hours to seeing this vision with me and lifting it up, folks who commute in to discuss books we picked together for hours every month, authors who trust us to fill a space for their book’s special day… and in my darkest, remind me that yes, what I do does matter in its own small way.

I hope your visits to Little Ghosts bring a small bit of joy to you, because they do to me, well and truly, every time.

Collabs across Borders

This month we released a T-Shirt alongside TRANSFIGURE PRINT CO. A trans owned screen printing brand in Michigan that does a ton of charity work for trans folks in the states. If you have been by the shop you would have seen their many PROTECT TRANS KIDS & PROTECT TRANS FOLKS shirts, which we have carried since the shop opened in 2021. However, due to tariffs on imported goods, it was looking like we would have to stop buying their brand…
The solution?
I designed a shirt for free that could function across borders. They sell in the US, we sell in Canada. They donate to their trans organization, we donate to ours. Bailey was very excited to do this, and we had a successful enough pre-order that we both will have these as regular stock in our respective stores real soon! If you pre-ordered with them or from us, a big silly thank you from your trans owned businesses who are making art together. If you missed it, keep your eyes peeled for it landing in the shop real soon!
Protect Trans Folks. (Also fuck tariffs)

Don’t want to miss a single Little Ghosts update?

Subscribe now

• Sunday, April 6th, 1-3pm… BOOK SIGNING: “A Palace Near The Wind” by Ai Jiang

  • Join local author and friend of Little Ghosts, Ai Jiang, as she launches her latest novella! Make sure to arrive early so you don’t miss the reading, followed by Q&A with 

  • Sometimes called Wind Walkers for their ability to command the wind, unlike their human rulers, the Feng people have bark faces, carved limbs, arms of braided branches, and hair of needle threads. Bound by duty and tradition, Liu Lufeng, the eldest princess of the Feng royalty, is the next bride to the human king. The negotiation of bridewealth is the only way to stop the expansion of the humans so that the Feng can keep their lands, people, and culture intact. As the eldest, Lufeng should be the next in line to lead the people of Feng, and in the past, that made her sisters disposable. Thankful that her youngest sister, Chuiliu, is too young for a sacrificial marriage, she steps in with plans to kill the king to finally stop the marriages.

• Saturday, April 12, 12-5pm… BOOKS N BREWS: Left Field Brewery (Leslieville)

  • We’re back, ghosts n’ ghouls! Come by Left Field Brewery in Leslieville for the first Books n’ Brews event of the season! There’s books! There’s brews! 

  • We’re joined by Stelliform Press, Rad Riot Books, Dundurn Press, Black Eye Comics, Augur Society, Wolsak & Wynn, Book*hug and more! Don’t miss the chance to mix and mingle with some great local small presses and booksellers.

• Friday, April 18th, 6-8pm… Little Ghosts Book Club Presents: “The Witching Hour” by Anne Rice

  • We’re continuing to explore the Classics… this time, with Witches!

  • On the veranda of a great New Orleans house, now faded, a mute and fragile woman sits rocking... and The Witching Hour begins.
    It begins in our time with a rescue at sea. Rowan Mayfair, a beautiful woman, a brilliant practitioner of neurosurgery—aware that she has special powers but unaware that she comes from an ancient line of witches—finds the drowned body of a man off the coast of California and brings him to life. He is Michael Curry, who was born in New Orleans and orphaned in childhood by fire on Christmas Eve, who pulled himself up from poverty, and who now, in his brief interval of death, has acquired a sensory power that mystifies and frightens him.
    As these two, fiercely drawn to each other, fall in love and—in passionate alliance—set out to solve the mystery of her past and his unwelcome gift, the novel moves backward and forward in time from today's New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and a château in the France of Louis XIV. An intricate tale of evil unfolds—an evil unleashed in seventeenth-century Scotland, where the first "witch," Suzanne of the Mayfair, conjures up the spirit she names Lasher... a creation that spells her own destruction and torments each of her descendants in turn.

• Saturday, April 19, 1-3pm… BOOK SIGNING: “Boreal: An Anthology of Taiga Horror” from Strange Wilds Press

  • Join contributing authors JS Betula, Sarah Musnicky, Vincent West, and Jon Gauthier as they read from this latest anthology from Strange Wilds Press!

  • Two sisters huddle in a cabin seeking protection from a dark force… An engineer and an anthropologist search for their lost geologist partner on a derelict expedition… A disgraced tracker investigates a desecrated shrine in a small village...War-ravaged trees, hypnotic glades, and cold desolate mountains await you. Try not to get lost in them.

  • Featured in this anthology are: E.M. Roy, Akis Linardos, Vincent West, Jon Gauthier, KL Massey, Nicole Lynn, J.R. Santos, Neil Williamson, Marisca Pichette, Ren Graham, J.S. Betula, Ally Wilkes, Daphne Fauber, Bryan Holm, Jonah Buck, Airic Fenn, Brian Rowe, H.V. Patterson, LB Waltz, SJ Townend, Sarah Musnicky, & Kuzma Mac.

• Friday, April 25, 6-8pm… QUEER FEARS! A Little Gay Book Club presents… “Paradise Rot” by Jenny Hval

  • Jo is in a strange new country for university, and having a more peculiar time than most. A house with no walls, a roommate with no boundaries, and a home that seems ever more alive. Jo’s sensitivity, and all her senses, become increasingly heightened and fraught, as the lines between bodies and plants, and dreaming and wakefulness, blur and mesh.
    This debut novel from critically acclaimed artist and musician Jenny Hval, presents a heady and hyper-sensual portrayal of sexual awakening and queer desire. A complex, poetic and strange novel about bodies, sexuality and the female gender.

• Sunday, April 27, 1-3pm… BOOK SIGNING: “Lowfield” by Mark Sampson

  • Join author Mark Sampson for the launch of his latest novel LOWFIELD! Be sure to arrive early so you don’t miss the reading followed by Q&A with LG’s own Daniel Perry! 

  • Riley Fuller, a police officer sidelined by the devastating loss of three colleagues in a tragic shooting, seeks solace in rural Prince Edward Island as he lays claim to his family's ancestral property—an ancient, dilapidated house known locally as Applegarth. Eager for a fresh start and relief from his traumatic past, Riley's hopes are soon dashed as he uncovers the dark secrets hidden within the very walls of the Victorian-era mansion. Soon, he realizes that Applegarth is merely a harbinger of something far more sinister—a malevolent force lurking within the nearby abandoned village of Lowfield, its ominous presence intricately entwined with the rich history of PEI itself.

Kristin’s Cozy Corner:

Greetings Little Ghosts readers! Can you feel the change in the air? Thinking about putting away your winter gear? Pulling those hoodies and sneakers back out of the closet? My coat rack is a riot of layers, and my Converse sit next to my winter boots, just waiting for that next day of temps above zero. The vernal equinox is pretty much upon us, and as the weather has slowly been shifting into spring mode, it’s been lovely seeing more people out and about on the street, and more of your beautiful faces in store! Everyone’s mood already feels lighter and brighter, the sun has been warming the store, and our conversations have felt more positive; even with everything going on around us. *gives out giant, squishy, metaphorical hugs to those who need/want*

Onto the books - that’s why you’re here, right? This month’s mood is a bit nebulous, I’ve been feeling a bit of folk horror, a bit earthy, books that make me look at the plants and trees and dirt with a different eye; do I want to hug that tree (I probably already did), or plunge my fingers in that soil and feel its potential...I love watching the waking up process of spring.

Here are a couple things I’ve read recently that I think you’ll love, and then some more that have me in that “go into the woods, look for faces in the trees and make sure I pay attention to that prickle at the back of neck feeling” kind of way. Because where better to read than among the trees; you can sit under one (shelter, somewhere to lean, potential friend to talk to), you can wander among them until you find a bench or a clearing, and then read your book. Go on, embrace those pagan roots, get some fresh air, and immerse yourself in another world.

Landlocked In Foreign Skin by Drew Huff: This sapphic, sci-fi novella is a delight! I tore through this book with a fair amount of reckless abandon. The tale of the Fisherman, trapped in human form because their skin has been stolen, sucked into a toxic relationship with the one that has trapped it; can they escape - do they want to? Sci-fi, dystopia, an uncaring god, (more than) a bit of spice and more, all wrapped into this excellent novella.

Lone Women by Victor Lavalle: Set in the American west at the turn of the last century, we follow Adeline Henry as she escapes to Montana to become a homesteader, except that she can’t escape the heavy trunk she takes with her. A sharp, sparing portrait of the desolation of the time, a strong woman with a hard burden, and a horror that can’t be escaped. Lavalle’s gift for taking Lovecraft tales and reinventing them in the best ways, continues in this horror filled history lesson.

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns: One last bit of woodsy fear to make you reconsider those wanders in the forest; this is one of my favourite books, as well as one of my favourite indigenous horror novels. This book is steeped in family drama and secrets, and spends much of its time split between the dreamworld and the woods, often both at the same time. An automatic recommend for me.

A few other folk, earthy, woodsy books for you to consider, now with more short story collections!

Great God Pan: A classic of the late 19th century that speaks to those that think they know better. Meet Dr. Raymond as he seeks to prove the existence of the supernatural, by way of controversial brain surgery upon a young woman named Mary, the purpose being for her to see, the great god Pan. Reluctantly aided/supporter by his friend Clarke, this is only the beginning of this macabre tale.

The Pump by Sydney Hegele: This wonderfully creepy, gothic set of interconnected stories (set in Ontario) is everything you want in a small town horror - where the land doesn’t care who lives or dies, and takes for its own amusement.

Damnable Tales: I love this creepy collection of folk horror, not only is it wonderfully curated with classics and masters of the genre, the woodcut illustrations by Richard Wells just add that extra layer of eerie delight. Sure to send chills down your spine.

Tales Accursed: A Folk Horror Anthology - The follow-up to Damnable Tales (yay for more folk horror), Wells gathers even more neck prickling tales, best read under a blanket with a flashlight and snacks. Or if you’re feeling daring, out in the woods and see who comes along to read with you…

What's next on my list? Casting covetous eyes at "The Buffalo Hunter Hunter" by Stephen Graham Jones, and "Victorian Psycho" by Virginia Feito, once I'm done with my reread of "Cabal" by Clive Barker that is. Until next month, happy, horror filled reading LG friends!

Reviews: Should I look at them? Should I write them? Should I care?
(An On Writing Segment with Jay!)

A day rarely goes by when I don’t check in on my work. How’s the public responding to a movie or book I’ve worked on? The same goes for books and films I’m interested in. How’s this material tracking that I may or may not be interested in? It’s a polarizing time for reviews. With social media, literally anyone can express their opinions in the written word, an audio podcast, or a YouTube video. And one of the crazier things about this is that you can be as brief or complex as you’d like. I’ve watched three-hour retrospectives on movies that are under two hours, and plenty of critics have hundreds of thousands of followers that release a sentence or two of material. They just paid off their mortgage, by the way.

It’s hard to gauge the value of a review. There are a lot of genres and tones in the world, and there’s not a single person who will enjoy the entire spectrum of any given medium. And exposure doesn’t necessarily endorse merit. Most of the popular reviews on Letterboxd and Goodreads are sarcastic one-sentence blurbs. Are those actual reviews or just a scathing distillation of an experience? I guess it can be both, but what is the critic's job, and should the average audience member do the same?

Roger Ebert once remarked on judging a movie by its intent “The star rating system is relative, not absolute. When you ask a friend if Hellboy is any good, you’re not asking if it’s any good compared to Mystic River, you’re asking if it’s any good compared to The Punisher. And my answer would be, on a scale of one to four, if Superman is four, then Hellboy is three, and The Punisher is two.” So, a good professional critic is there to identify the art’s ambitions and transpose if said art accomplished its goal. It's not the most straightforward job in the world as you’re not privy to the behind-the-scenes of producing the material. There could have been massive deadlines, a pedantic editor that diminished the message for certain manuscripts, or budgetary mishaps that shriveled the potential for any given movie. Are those potential setbacks supposed to be incorporated into the critique? Anyone who watched the theatrical Justice League would have to say yes, but when it’s all said and done, no. The thing was released to the world, and it is free to be judged fairly or cruelly without restraint.

When I read a review for one of my works, I’m haunted by a torrent of defense mechanisms. “If you had any idea about X,Y, or Z!” “That was explained earlier on! Pay attention!” “Well, maybe this just isn’t your thing!” Positive or negative, each review feels like a punch to the gut. Months to years of my life were devoted to this one thing, and someone reading or watching while intermittently checking their phone has the gall to have an opinion about my lifeblood. How dare they? BUT….I do the same and shouldn’t expect anyone to do differently.

Criticism is fun to write as well as to read. So, it’s less about the relation between you and the material but you and the critic. You and someone you don’t know shared a similar response. It’s a bridge of empathy or at least skepticism. Having the opposite reaction is just as impactful and vital as relating. It becomes a framework of thought and discussion. And all good art, whether you deem it wonderful or terrible, is a foundation for conversation. That may be the ultimate purpose behind a review.

If a work takes up so much mental bandwidth that it has to be shared, then that is a potent signifier to the art and the critic. It’s worth existing. It might even be worth understanding. Looking up the author’s other works, reading about a particular movie's production woes, or reading about similar projects that have been or will be made are all lessons taught by criticism. So, reading a review, no matter how deep or surface-level, is an opportunity to learn. And maybe we can all learn something about art, ourselves, and one another.

Review on fellow travelers.

Retail Therapy

iii. Spring Cleaning

That first hit of lighter jacket weather and full sunlight always gives me the zoomies.

Better than even the second coffee hot out of our little coffee station, some vitamin D from the sky not a pill bottle and snatching the battle vest out of the closet makes me feel like a real human (or in this case, a Good Little Retail Ghost). This comes with side effects- the staff are subjected to a boss who went from sullen to suddenly filled with Ideas.

It started this year with our front windows, which had become dusty and cluttered. In a fit of inspiration, I cleared them out, dusted, windex’d. Gave the window skeletons fresh new shirts, shook out and rinsed the poor little window ghosts. When you come by, you’ll see- new ARCs in the window, cute little rugs to adorn the living-room-like scenes. It is amazing what some freshening will do. We feel like a whole new space.
Of course, if the front windows are getting done, what of our shelves? After deciding to move just one section, it wasn’t long before one became two became the whole back room. It flows better, I promise (or was I personally just in a flow state, inspired suddenly by having seen the literal light).

The winter is long, but we used the hibernation period well to plan- now it is time to execute. We’ll be back to our Brewery Crawls and Conventions soon enough, and all this will give my new energy something to do. The birthday is the perfect first peek into the neighbourhood for what we’re hoping to be a good season. While this winter was our worst yet, perhaps this Spring could be our best? We certainly hope so! The space is looking spruced and as soon as the ice flow on our patio has thawed, we will be back to cold coffees under the watchful gaze of RL Spine the 12ft patio guardian. What outfit will I make him this year? Time will tell.

For now, it is time to enjoy some more daylight hours and reading sans use of my booklight.

Looking to boost your reading list?
Use the code NEWSLETTERGHOST for 10% off at
www.littleghostsbooks.com

Special Treats…

Last year, we did a limited run of multicolour Little Ghosts Bandanas.
This year… They’re back! Handprinted by Little Ghosts, these pieces of merch are perfect for you or your four-legged friend. We have Black, Rainbow, and a handful of solid colours. These will hit the shop on the Birthday Weekend and MIGHT make it online if supply lasts through- so if you are looking to get your hands on a hankie we do suggest stopping by or sending a representative from your coven.

We will be dropping another round of the Rainbow bandanas for Pride in June, and a special new hankie that corresponds with the Wet Screams Anthology.

Another merch announcement? Okay!
We’ll be teaming up with our pals at Transfigure Print Co. to release a collaborative riff on the popular Protect Trans Folks shirts. Chris is designing a brand new shirt to keep our partnership alive despite us not being able to get the originals across the border anymore. Related: Fuck the Trade War. It is more important than ever to support fellow LGBTQA+ makers, artists, writers, and just fellow humans so.. keep your eyes peeled for that! We’ll be dropping a pre-order in June for just the shirt, and then a special Pride Bundle for charity.

Thank you so much for reading the Little Ghosts Newsletter!
We hope it has been informative. Maybe even fun?!
As always, come visit us in person and remember…
A Good Story Will Haunt You.

Subscribe now

Upcoming Events

• March 7, 6pm-8:30pm: Work In Progress Night

  • Are you working on something? Want some feedback from the Little Ghosts Editing and Publishing Team? Join us for another Work in Progress Night!

  • All skill levels and experience welcome! 

  • All attendees MUST read something. You’ll have about 5mins to read and 5mins of feedback. 

  • Please RSVP via https://www.littleghostsbooks.com/events . A 5$ fee is required to reserve your place, but upon arrival you may put that towards a beverage of your choice OR 5$ off a book purchase!

• March 14 & 15: GHOULISH BOOK FESTIVAL

  • Little Ghosts Field Trip! BossMan Chris and Tall Dad Jay will be journeying to the wild and savage land of… Texas!

  • Ghoulish Book Festival was launched by Max and Lori Booth in the spring of 2022 as an annual celebration of everything spooky. It is a ghoulish weekend bursting with book vendors, panels, live readings, and other fun events.

• March 21, 6pm-8pm: Little Ghosts Book Club presents… CABAL by Clive Barker

  • This month we’re doing a classic! Join us for snacks and chats!

  • Cabal is the story of Boone, a tortured soul haunted by the conviction that he has committed atrocious crimes. In a necropolis in the wilds of Canada, he seeks refuge and finds the last great creatures of the world - the shape-shifters known as the Nightbreed. They are possessed of unearthly powers-and so is Boone. In the hunt for Boone, they too will be hunted. Now only the courage of this strange human can save them from extinction. And only the undying passion of a woman can save Boone from his own corrupting hell…

• March 28, 6pm-8pm: QUEER FEARS: A Little Gay Book Club presents… Elogona by Samantha Kolesnik!

  • Same Great Book Club vibes, but EVEN. MORE. GAY.

  • An evocative tale of sapphic love in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by religious zealots and supernatural monsters.Kolesnik’s Elogona transports readers to a time after the world’s end, when a long-dormant sea creature has awoken to stake its claim against one of the last human settlements.Verna must battle both man and monster to protect her family and her newfound love for Audrey, a refugee from the mainland.Meanwhile, the Elogona calls…

Kristin’s Cozy Corner:

Hello lovely little ghost readers! We made it through January, all 437 days of it - good job everyone, we deserve a treat! I suggest a new book, but you knew I was going to say that.

We’ve passed mid-winter and are now in the month that pop culture and Western media try to make us feel like a lower life form if we’re not happily coupled up - to that I say, what utter nonsense! You (yes you), are wonderful regardless of relationship status; have a partner (or more than one), situationship, recreationship, single - you’re wonderful I tells ya.

Regardless of all that, if you like some romance - or romance gone wrong - in your horror reading, here are some suggestions from moi.

Helpmeet: body horror, love, devotion, and the ending!
Carmilla: Dracula only wishes he was this hot, but is this love, obsession, possession?
It Looks Like Dad: Doppelgangers, alternate timelines, eldritch horrors, and a giant spider named Rudy - where’s the love you ask? At its core it’s about a man trying to save his family.
Mewing: Obsession. With fame, with praise and with that one person - when this goes wrong, it goes deliciously wrong.
Cicada: What do you do when the idiot you should have dumped gets you into a soon to be gore filled race to survive in the middle of nowhere? Oh and bugs, big ones.
Eynhallow: Trapped on an island, in a loveless marriage, when an intriguing stranger appears Agnes is not pleased to be hired out as help, but things take an electric turn. This dark and desolate take on the bride of Frankenstein is one of our favourite books.
So Thirsty: What if you’re suddenly forced to come to terms with your unsatisfying life, and a wild night out full of sex and blood changes all of that? Resizing the love between best friends, and staring into the abyss of the rest of your life (plus maybe you just met your soulmate?), you won’t want to put this down.
The Gilda Stories: Gorgeous, sumptuous tales of a black, lesbian vampire as they move through time. From her escape from slavery on a plantation, all the way to “the land of enchantment” in 2050. A must read.
The World Is Not Yours: Living on a hostile planet with your love and (both of) your best friend, what could possibly go wrong - or perhaps, right? An ending so fitting I had to just sit there and ponder.

And a few smut suggestions for our spicy folk:
The Monster Smash Agency books: Well worth your time. Read them all. Immediately. Preferably with a friend.
Entranced By The Basilisks: Sweet, sexy and snakes - trust me, this threesome will slither into your head and more.
The Demon's Bargain: A bargainer demon and a witch literally get more than they bargained for. Sarcastic, spicy fun with relatable relationship situations.
Blood On The Tide: Book two in the Crimson Sails series - sapphic vampire pirate and selkie searching for their stolen skin - what more could you ask for?

To close, remember how I wanted to be grabbed by the scruff of my neck and shaken about by my next read? Mission accomplished with "The Home" by Judith Sonnet. Her first full length novel (after several exceptional extreme horror novellas), had me firmly in its grip within the first few pages, and then it began scaring the daylights out of me. This book is one hell of a ride and I recommend reading it with the lights on! See you next month ghosts!

Jay’s On Writing:

I’ve read stories on how Stephen King conducts his day. To keep his productivity up, he treats writing like a job. He wakes up to an alarm, gets dressed, makes coffee, and then heads to his office. Despite being at home, he allocates that room to work. Nine to five. He clocks in, hangs up his hat, and proceeds with his day of writing and phone calls (I’m also assuming emails, but he’s been doing this since the '70s, which means he was probably figuring it out in the ’60s). If you’re reading this as an aspiring writer or even a seasoned professional, I’m sure Stephen King’s schedule sounds wondrous. A life that revolves around the literary craft at his own pace. Unfortunately, King’s circumstances are exceedingly rare, but paradoxically, they seem necessary for an author.

I’m not sure how I stumbled onto such a habit, but I’ve been writing most days since the third grade. Granted, the cathartic elements of writing are why I do it because the practical aspects are sparse. I’ve written somewhere north of thirty screenplays, and five have been produced. That’s a horrendous ratio, and the paydays are slim. Manuscripts take up even more creative bandwidth, and the submission process could be its own full-time job. It’s hard enough to make money with the printed word, let alone have people read it. So, as an adult who needs food AND shelter and has a husband and dog who also need food and shelter, how do you remain productive? How do you table ambition while maintaining consistent output?

I’m afraid I don’t have a cure-all for those particular writing woes, but I have enough experience to make some observations. One thing I want to get out of the way is that finishing a book or screenplay is enormously satisfying. Then, if people like it, that satisfaction reverberates for a little bit longer. So, there is an addictive element to the pleasure of writing. Second, no matter how busy you are, you can find the time. You may have to reluctantly write when you’re not particularly driven, but there is time in the day.

Now, I suggest not worrying about the details in the next part, but I want to throw out some arithmetic on a subject that scares many people—word count. I have a goal of five hundred words a day. That’s what I’ve deemed possible even on my busiest of days. I can write five hundred words in an hour and, if need be, break that up into 15-minute increments. Will those be five hundred quality words if I’m tired and distracted? No, not at all, but at least words exist that didn’t yesterday. Writing is mostly editing, re-writing, and deleting, so it provides me something to mold when I’m in a better position later.

Now, if you’re starting out or an exhausted journeyman, a little bit most days is a healthy and practical goal. From one hundred words to a thousand, anything is better than a blank page. Two hundred words a day is a thousand words a week, yielding a novella in six months. That. Ain’t. Bad. So, all in all, I try not to get caught up in output but consistency. Concentrating more on direction over speed helps maintain my focus while staving off artistic guilt. Working while inspired is one of the most invigorating feelings one can achieve, but abiding by the art's highs and lows is inspiring. And isn't that the ultimate goal of any author?

So, despite most of the writing community not having the luxury afforded to the likes of King, there is still a path where stories can be crafted. Weirder to pontificate, would we really prefer the king approach? Most certainly on a comfort level, but I don't know how good of a writer I'd be if I got to sit and write eight hours every day. My favorite works of mine stem from experience, so plain old living provides the most potent fuel for the creative fire. Constraints and adversity breed innovation, and there is no better outlet for the stressors of life than the written word.

Retail Therapy

ii. SHOVELLING

It’s that time of year, when the first thing you do when you get up or get into work if you have anything resembling a ground level dwelling or business in Canada, you shovel. It’s cold, the snow is heavy. If it’s wet, you have to trudge through the task- if it’s frozen, you have to crack the crust or the caked ice underneath.

Now I am going to say something that not everyone reading this will enjoy: I like shovelling. When faced with a relatively approachable task that requires manual labour, the little guy in me who likes to just pick things up and put them down smiles. This is something I can do cleanly, see that its done, and take pride in that little thing. So much of what I do as a business owner is multi-faceted, complex, precarious. Shovelling is shovelling. Completable. Equalizing. I go outside into the crisp clean air and scoop meditatively, often thinking nothing. Watching our neighbours shovel and blow small whisps of breathy clouds into the air. We nod at one another from across the snowbanks. The sun, when it comes through the dreary wintertime clouds, is bright and clear and reflects off the white stuff- It is so much cheerier than the drizzle of November, the endless grey upon grey that seems to last forever in Ontario. Inside the shop, the furnace is warm and the coffee is dripping- when I am done a nice hot cup awaits me. Ahhh. I did something, and it is done.

Remember when I said January is hard? February is harder. Folks cancel events due to bad weather, people hunker down and wait those 35-odd days until spring before making bigger plans or falling back into a pattern of walking their neighbourhood. I shovel, a sentry of the main street, eying the other local business owners who have their heads down outside. We have our heads down inside, too. The month is shorter but the rent remains the same. Now, tariffs loom on the economic horizon, and after a postal strike and during a recession and while there is an affordability crisis… it seems like the shortest month in the longest year after a rough and tumble pandemic lockdown era. We hang on to hang on to hang on.

We had our first little outing, a small festival for Ontario presses and authors called SHARP WORDS in Hamilton- a bright little blade of grass, a sign of festival season to come. Many folks cancelled as we got snowstormed, but we are ourselves- brave little Ghosts who love to shovel, love to see who’s about the neighborhood braving the weather. I love throwing down a table, displaying all of the hard work the press has done, the bits and bobs of merch I’ve designed, the spread of great books coming out from other indie horror pals. Kristin came along, and while it was quieter than expected due to weather, people were happy to meet us and chat, compare notes on publishing, offer advice. We sold many stickers and little things. We had beautiful strong porters from a local brewery. We met some of our Instagram followers in person, who seemed just as taken with us in the flesh as they are with our silly little social media presence. The weather outside was cold and dreadful, but the vibes inside were warm and immaculate.

Coming home to load the unsold books and merch into the store, I shovelled, our rental car struggling to make it across the city, sliding all the way. I looked around the street, a long weekend upon us, neighbours corralling kids with toboggans to the local park. Dogs pulling on leashes, little coats and boots on. We shovelled the walk at home and Bruce, our rottweiler mutt, dashed and hopped happily through the drifts. I made us a big pot of coffee, and we settled on our couch to cross things off from our respective TBRs. A completable task. The sun coming brightly through our windows, reflected off the snow.

Open Submissions for WET SCREAMS: A Monsterfucker Anthology

WET SCREAMS is a NSFW Anthology of Monsterfucking Stories. Submissions accepted by authors of all backgrounds, BIPOC & LGBTQA+ stories greatly encouraged.

We are looking for 2-6k word submissions of monstrous romance with high spice. Reprint stories will be considered, however priority will be given to original work. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Submissions with fade to black sex scenes will not be accepted. BDSM/CNC is permitted, but rape submissions will be rejected. No beastiality (creatures should be sentient and able to consent), no incest.
We encourage folks to explore the boundaries of creature feature intimacy! Vore, multiple appendages, suspenseful encounters, flying intercourse, prowling beasts… be creative. Blending horror & erotica is a plus. This anthology is intended to be risqué and fun. HEAs are not required, or can be redefined (a character could want to be devoured, for instance- dying happy could be a HEA/HFN).

Wet Screams Submission Call will be open from Feb. 14th- April 14th. FIRST DRAFTS MUST BE SUBMITTED IN FULL BY THE END OF THE SUBMISSION WINDOW. Due to the sensitive nature of this anthology, we will not be accepting stories on pitch alone. Acceptances or passes will be sent by May 1st, 2025. Wet Screams has a soft publication date of August 2025, with a preorder package being released in late June.

Submit your story HERE

No Gods, No Billionaires

Last year, we designed this shirt. Feeling spicy about J*ff B*zos’ cornering of the book distribution market, frustrated with the cost of shipping while folks’ ask if we can’t just offer it free, and a ton of other things… it seemed like a good time to make something a little special for us all to wear to vent those irritated vibes.

Turns out… this is more relevant than ever. Now, at a time when oligarchs seem determined to not only hoard wealth and gain power but make legislative changes that strip marginalized folks of fundamental human rights… well! Yes! No Gods, No Billionaires.

IRONICALLY.

This shirt got recently stolen by a large print on demand company. We have filed a copyright claim (bastards didn’t even bother to remove LITTLE GHOSTS BOOKS from the bottom of the back design). We are doing a reprint. All of our merch is designed in house by our trans Little Ghosts illustrator, then the files are made into screens that are hand printed by the lovely pals at PARANOID PRINT CO. We keep our money in our little small business community, support local, etc etc etc. If you see any of our merch on a POD shirt shop.. it is not us. Like the shirt suggests, we aren’t into giving money to billionaires.

If you would like to support us, the best way is to Pre-Order the shirt, set to arrive from our pals down the street at the screen print shop early March.

Preorder it now

Thank you so much for reading the Little Ghosts Newsletter! We hope it has been informative. Maybe even fun?! As always, come visit us in person and remember…
A Good Story Will Haunt You.

Events with Phi

• Feb 1 and Feb 2, 12-4pm: Spooky Vendor Market ! 

  • Looking for something for that special someone? Come take a look at these local artists and craftspeople and find the perfect Valentine’s Day Gift! 

• Feb 16, 1-5pm: POP-UP! Pinoy Monster Lover Anthology: After Dark. 

  • Join friend of the shop, Motzie Dupul, for the launch of their newest work! After Dark is their very first Adults Only anthology, with deliciously spicy stories from different Filipino artists, featuring all sorts of pairings between monster and human characters.

• Feb 18, 12-3pm: BOOK LAUNCH: Books and the City by Annabel Townsend

  • Join author and friend of the shop, Annabel Townsend for the launch of her new book, Books and the City: Psychogeographical Wanderings Around Toronto’s Independent Bookstores. A little less spooky than our usual fare, but we met Annabel in the fall at Word on the Street Fest while she was researching this book – in the pouring rain, I might add… and we’re stoked to see the finished product! Long Live Indie Bookstores! 

  • SYNOPSIS: Times are hard for independent bookstores. Facing a mountain of debt and an uncertain future with her own small business in Saskatchewan, Annabel Townsend sets out on a mission in the big city: to visit as many bookstores as she can, to find camaraderie amongst fellow booksellers, and hope for the future of the industry. Inspired by the accidental discovery of a book about wandering, Annabel gets lost in Toronto enthusiastically. She seeks out this one single book, uncovering the city’s weird and wonderful literary community along the way.

• Feb 21, 6-8pm: LITTLE GHOSTS BOOK CLUB! Tomie by Junji Ito

  • Join us for our monthly book club! This month we’ll be reading a manga from acclaimed horror author, Junji Ito.

  • SYNOPSIS: Tomie Kawakami is a femme fatale with long black hair and a beauty mark just under her left eye. She can seduce nearly any man, and drive them to murder as well, even though the victim is often Tomie herself. While one lover seeks to keep her for himself, another grows terrified of the immortal succubus. But soon they realize that no matter how many times they kill her, the world will never be free of Tomie.

• Feb 28, 6-8pm: QUEER FEARS: A Little Gay Book Club! Wax Figures by Aaron Weese

  • What’s this? A Second book club? You betcha! With the smashing success of our first Book Club, we’ve decided to create a second, even gayer book club. Indie Queer Horror Only! 

  • SYNOPSIS: Set in modern-day Niagara Falls, Wax Figures is the story of Neil Folley, a 35 year-old gay, aspiring-sculptor who feels trapped in his present job at a failing wax museum, not long after leaving his disappointed Hockey-loving parents behind. That would be until his break-out hit wax exhibit of the obscure local legend the Rainbow Slasher led him to cross-paths with a handsome young stranger, the mysterious Bartley. The two quickly connect, and the stranger not only becomes Neil’s first real muse, but gives him the chance to make a marble statue that will last forever. Unfortunately Neil is too caught-up in his own drive (and feelings beyond lust) to fully-realize the dangerous costs involved. That is until Bartley reveals his dark past, and Neil must decide where both of their futures lie.

  • Aaron Weese's debut novella is a tight and tense American Giallo that will have you feverishly turning pages until the emotional, bloody conclusion!

Looking back…

Last year Little Ghosts ran the whole gauntlet of events! 

• We hosted signings for some of our favorite authors, like Tim McGregor (Eynhallow), Sydney Hegele (Bird Suit) and J. Krawczyk (Reality Squall). 

• Bookstore Dads, Chris and Jay spent almost as much time on the road as in the shop last year! Between CanCon, Ghoulish Fest, WOTS, and all of our travelling Books n’ Brews events, the little ghosts at Little Ghosts are getting their steps in! 

• In partnership with the Ontario Chapter of the Horror Writers Association, we ran several Work-In-Progress and Publishing Workshops throughout the year.

• We hosted a pop-up for local tattoo artist, Shannon Leigh, who designed flash specifically for us ! 

• We hosted several private book clubs, in addition to our monthly book club ! 

• We even had a film crew use the store as a set for their feature film! (Stay tuned…)

Perhaps my favorite event was our launch for Demons & Death Drops all the way back in February 2024. Besides having the chance to read my own work, I really loved seeing all the other contributors perform and share their work! It was such a treasure to meet everyone face-to-face and see what sorts of other artistic endeavours they’d been working on, as well.

And this year, it could be you!

If you have any interest in hosting an event, whether that be a signing, or a book club, or a pop-up, or any other idea, get in touch! We’d love to have you! 

Small Ghost Reviews…

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls- Grady Hendrix

TW for pregnancy, sexual assault

A few notes on these reviews:
SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK. If you don’t want to know anything about this book, please skip this review. I keep it light for the first bit, but by the end, spoilerspoilerspoiler. I’m not a talented reviewer, I’m just a little guy who likes reading and wants to let you know when a book was really good.

If you are looking for another Grady Hendrix romp through horror tropes with supernatural scares and fun gore, please keep moving along. This book is not playful. This book is not filled with implausible scenarios. The horror in this book stems from real life. It is thoughtful, it is chilling, and it broke my heart and made me cry and I was glad for every supernatural element that gave me something to cling to when I felt I couldn’t carry the weight of the characters and their trauma any more. Yes, that was a big run on sentence. I don’t care. This book. What the fuck.

Set in 1970, we follow Fern, a 15 year old girl who is pregnant and sent away to a Home for Wayward Girls. Steeped in religious overtones and slut-shaming rhetoric, the Home is full of pregnant teens who are to wait out their terms in secret, give birth and give up the babies for adoption, and never speak of any of this again. They aren’t supposed to disclose their names, where they are from, or any details from their lives. Their chores, meals, and medical care are all picked for and dictated to them. Fern meets and befriends the other girls in her small room; Rose, Holly, and Zinnia. During a visit to the bookmobile parked outside the home, Fern is given a book of spells, and things begin to change- for better and worse(?).

Pregnancy:
This book is excruciating in its believability. These girls are dismissed, put down, poked, prodded, and deprived of comfort for the whole duration of the ride. My heart broke for these children to whom nothing is explained. They are lied to about childbirth on multiple occasions, ailments waved off as being hysterics- everything you would expect, and everything that haunts health care still to this day. That’s the horror. The pregnancy and birth scenes, while graphic (I GUESS) did not trouble me. They were well written and not gratuitous. Given the subject matter being discussed, it would be odd to leave them out. I have read some reviews that complain about the “body horror” but… have some really transparent conversations with the women in your life, I beg you, and you might find out how horrifically not exaggerated some of this was- particularly in the 70s. My counter, too, is how beautifully and intensely this book talks about birth. Seeing your baby, holding them for the first time, midwifery… the love, the care, the exhausted triumph of it. The badassery! So yes, intense depictions of birth. For sure. But also- I think and argue and yell- important ones in a culture so obsessed with shying away from women’s issues. So often horror leans on the evil baby of it all, and so rarely the isolation and dismissal of women during such a trying and vulnerable time.

Witches:
This book has way less witchcraft than the title card might suggest, and I think that may disappoint some readers. Do the girls form a makeshift coven, dance skyclad in the forest, perform spellcraft? Certainly, they do, and these scenes are the few where the girls are vulnerable and find community and are truly themselves, with the fears and desires and sorrows of grown women trapped in pregnant teenage bodies. I fell in love with them in those scenes, but it isn’t the bulk of the book or where the horror really comes from. Several spells are carried out over the course of the narrative (Zinnia inflicts her nausea upon the doctor who dismissed it, Rose condemns the house mother to become pregnant and birth a swirl of eels). Confusingly, this use of magic is supposed to be regarded as irresponsible and needlessly cruel on the part of the girls, which like- no, but whatever. About 2/3^rds through the narrative the characters lose faith in the coven, in each other, succumbing to their due dates and private horrors. I spent a lot of this time internally screaming into the book. The only power they find, the only power we ever have, is in community and believing in each other. For the most part, the coven is over before it really begins, and they go back to being scared pregnant kids. They try to aid Holly, whose pregnancy is the result of a sexual assault at the hands of the preacher/head of her community, but they struggle to maintain the focus and belief in themselves required. It’s heart wrenching and frustrating.
The book attempts to convince the reader that the elderly witch/librarian that the girls received the book from is evil. She is looking for an heir to hold the memories of her coven and share this knowledge through generations at all costs, and wants to take Fern for the role. Given the rest of the systemic violence against women in this book, it is very hard to get on a side that involves any sort of going back to the status quo. The villain falls flat against the backdrop of this book, the very real atrocity of the homes as they existed and the circumstances that befell these girls even before they arrive there. The sharing of knowledge would have helped most of the characters in the book, actually. Put me in the bookmobile. Subject me to the witch. Get me the fuck out of here.

The Ending:
(Please for the love of fuck don’t read this if you don’t want the whole ending spoiled for you. What are you doing? LOOK AWAY)
Grady gives us a classic epilogue designed to attack my feelings a la My Best Friend’s Exorcism- meeting the characters many years later, as older women. They found each other again. It tells us their experiences contacting their children after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, after the homes dissolved, after adoption records could be accessed, after after, after. Not every reunion is successful, every reunion is complicated, and that entire section of the book had me entirely in tears. They have grown, finally learned to take solace in each other and believe in themselves. Each of their wishes as girls in the coven more or less came true, even if it took a lifetime. They are seen, heard, understood. I don’t know how I read this at all because I was just crying the whole time.

Final Thoughts:
Buy this book for yourself, buy this book for a friend, read this book with your Mom. There are so many conversations to be had about this book. Unfortunately, terrifyingly, particularly now. Women’s rights and access to healthcare is under fire. We should remember what that looks like, we should take this empathy test and think about what that feels like even if we aren’t directly affected, we should be planning to protect each other. We should be finding our power, finding the spells to ward it off. We should be hanging tight to our covens. We should be fighting. This book was an example of how powerfully fiction can take real issues and feelings and fling them in your face and force you to examine them. It’s not what I usually read, and it wasn’t what I expected, and I question if it is really even a horror book (I mean, it is, but you know what I mean), but I haven’t felt so much while reading a book in a long time.
4.5/5 stars

A Personal Note:
This book comes at a weird time for me. For just under a year, I have been talking to a biological sibling that I didn’t know I had. When laws changed and she could access her adoption records, she tracked down her biological parents- she was born 10yrs before I was, and her Mom surrendered her for adoption. My Dad is her Dad. My parents died when I was 8, and we will never know how he would have felt about finding her or if anyone ever knew about this.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about one day meeting in person. I read this book, and I immediately reached out to plan to. What do we have, if not each other?

Kristin’s Cozy Corner

Happy new year, happy new newsletter to our lovely community of horror readers, and welcome to my ramblings. I’m Kristin, the resident elder ghost at Little Ghost (the one with the 80s/90s alternative playlists), and if we’ve met you know how much I love the books, and talking with you about them! Consider this us chatting, just in print.

I was pondering this first musing for our new newsletter (there has to be a better way to phrase that), and realized that I’ve been thinking about mood/ritual/seasonal reading a lot this past month. While I’m not a strict mood reader, I have been known to pair books with time of year and occasion, and it seems as though I just fell into that without fully realizing it.

That weird, vast, liminal time between Xmas and into January made me contemplative (as it often does); I still wanted to read horror but kept leaning towards something quieter, thoughtful; books that match the weird vibes and colder temps of those weeks that bridge the changing of the years.

By chance - or perhaps by subconscious choice - I was already reading “The Strange Bird” by Jeff Vandermeer. This achingly sad tale from the Borne universe, is soul searingly beautiful, and will have you thinking about the nature of being (what makes you, you?), the horror of not having control over your existence, and the limits of love. And then we received (a very few) copies of “A Short Stay In Hell” by Steven L. Peck, a book I’ve wanted to read for ages, but is difficult to get one's hands on. A personal hell with an out, a task - can it be finished or is it just another cruel game played by powerful beings? This philosophical horror has you questioning everything you thought about life and the afterlife, human existence and more.

Both of these books have had me peering inside myself, perhaps more than I needed in these dark weeks leading to mid-winter, certainly more than I’d intended! But that’s the odd fun of a mood read, sometimes you get more than you expect and yet it perfectly fits the frame of mind you were already inhabiting. These two books will stay with me for a long time, and have left my brain somewhat refreshed and ready for something silly, or scary or…ooh one of those big juicy books that pick you up by the scruff of the neck and shake you about. Yeah, that’s what I want next. What about you, do you love a mood or ritual read?

Retail Therapy

i. STOCKING

There is a zen to be had in restocking the store shelves, getting everything just right. I am never as content as I am after we have received 3-6 anticipated boxes of inventory (restock? New releases? I’m not picky!) and it has all been alphabetized, received, and organized. A few books faced out, the rest with their neat spines showing. I like to stand back and take a look at the tight neatness of the shelves, the variety of colours and titles and authors and subgenres, and sigh. Ah, yes. Visual confirmation that I did something, am doing something. A good, full collection, ready and beautiful and waiting for customers to rifle through- a diverse offering of horror where someone may find their next favourite thing. On other shelves, merch boasting our brand- our little business with a focus on indie authors and genre fiction. Totes, hats, pins with neat little ghosts. Shirts from Transfigure Print Co. with the slogan ‘Protect Trans Youth’ with knives and flails. Stickers displayed on the counter, proudly telling you to ‘Support Local Bookstores’ and ‘Haunt your Local Library.’ Everything is tidy, everything is aligned with our mission. It’s charming and warm and full without being overstuffed.
It's nice like this, the effort worth it.

I can take pride in this even when everything else is messy. It’s January. The slowest month, after a slow sales year. Bills get paid with a little extra wincing. The weather is frigid and the sun streams through our lovely tall windows much less than other times, there are less travellers and less pedestrians, just less all around. We have the small press and the slush reading keeps us busy even when the shop does not, but then I have to do the rejections and while I am CERTAIN the authors take it harder than I do… I am an embarrassingly soft man and I do take it rather hard. I do the acceptances last, so I can be truly present and celebrate with the authors who I will be working with closely in the coming months.
I sit in front of the 12 month whiteboard calendar above my desk in the basement and plan the year, all of the festivals and book fairs and extra projects, with a hopefulness it is hard to feel. As I type this, we have just yesterday secured another 12 months at our physical location, the stress of the end of our 3yr lease hanging over me like the cold January weather up to this point. I should celebrate, but I feel the responsibility of promising that time like a weight, too. I watch local businesses close their doors in an uncertain economy, due to rising rent, increasing cost of doing business and I nod sagely. It is hard to keep stock moving, to afford to keep the shelves full and pay the rent, pay the staff, pay the electrical bills. With all the other troubles in the world, it is hard to feel like this is capitol “I” important. The silly little horror bookstore on the block, with the admittedly beautiful shelves, bustlingly full and neatly stocked. Is it worth the fuss, the space, the pain, the struggle to keep the doors open? Sure, it has made me happy, but is that enough to keep going?

Last week we had Work in Progress Night. It is a reading night I run for authors, to share stories they are noodling on and get feedback not only from me but from each other. It was full despite the frigid night, despite my putting a $5 ticket on it for the first time this year to discourage folks from signing up and not showing up (you get it back on a drink or book purchase if you do indeed come). Authors were vulnerable, and the stories were nasty, they were funny, they were surprising. At the end of the night, it was the turn of the couple in the corner, who I recognized from attendance at other events. He read for her, and then revealed that while he isn’t an author, he wanted to support her and saw on the ticket that everyone in attendance had to share- then read a story he worked on, his first foray into writing. They both gave and received feedback. Everyone left in good spirits. Some bought books, and I finished the night by restocking the shelves. Late at night, climbing the ladder for overstock books and putting everything back in its place, then standing back to look at it all.
It feels nice like this, the effort worth it.

Enjoy 10% off www.littleghostsbooks.com with the code RETAILTHERAPY at checkout. Thanks for reading our first newsletter.

Subscribe now

Leave a comment