"I can't go into a bookstore any more, and that used to be my favourite thing to do in the world. To go in and wander from stack to stack, take down some books, read a little, leave with a big stack of things I'd never heard of when I came in. Now when I go to a bookstore, I get recognised within 10 minutes and then there's a crowd around me. So you gain a lot but you also lose things."

Wordsmith Bookshoppe will host its grand opening this Saturday, August 24, at 235 E. Main Street in downtown Galesburg, Ill. Owner Teri Parks told the Register-Mail: "Our vision is to take care of the community, to reach out to the community as much as we can--to have events and programs happening in our store on almost a daily basis and to just service the community with their literary needs."

When plans for the new bookshop were announced earlier this summer, Parks--the former store manager for Book World Inc. in West Burlington, Iowa, which closed in 2018--said that she and co-owner John Parks were "so excited to bring our passion about books back to the West Central Illinois region. We look forward to supporting Galesburg and the surrounding communities through our services, building relationships, cross-business promotions, community involvement projects and humanitarian efforts."

Wordsmith Bookshoppe has 2,100 square feet of retail space, 85% of which will be devoted to books, the Register-Mail wrote, adding that business will not be stocking items that are not literary-related. Instead of carrying "touristy-type gifts" about Galesburg and the region, Parks wants to honor the shop's motto: "We Cater to Book Lovers."

"I think most people when they hear the concept of an indie bookstore, they think of walking into a small shop with a few bookshelves and then a lot of gifts to help supplement that," she observed. "And that really is not what our focus is; our focus is on book inventory and magazines, and then we'll have just a few literary-themed gifts."

She also noted that above all, she wants to engage with the community by building relationships with her customers: "With us, what I think is going to set us apart is our superior customer service. You know when you walk into a big chain store or a big-box store--like Walmart or Target or any place like that--you're not going to get the personalized customer service, and that's the one thing that we hope to really excel at.... Our goal is to be the largest independent bookstore in Midwest Illinois."

One More Page Books in Arlington, Va., which launched a silent auction earlier this month to raise money to help fend off a 30% jump in real estate taxes on its building, successfully reached its fundraising goal this weekend.

"THANK YOU for helping us meet our Silent Auction goal of $20K--those who donated those who [bid] and those who spread the word," wrote owner Eileen McGervey on Twitter. "We are overwhelmed and you are all awesome!"

Running from August 2 to August 18, the bookstore's silent auction brought in $20,338.32, or 101.7% of One More Page's goal. McGervey and her team conducted the auction online and at the store. Items included a 12-month bakery subscription, original artwork by comics illustrator Richard Thompson, a one-hour manuscript consultation with novelist Alma Katsu and much more.

Investigative journalist and author Dylan Howard has formed a new true-crime imprint for Skyhorse and Start called Front Page Detectives. Its first title will be Howard's Diana: Case Solved, which the publisher calls "the definitive account" of Princess Diana's death that "proves what really happened" and will "smash wide open the conspiracy of silence." The book will be published September 17. Howard is also creator and narrator of the recent podcast Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood. Start Publishing will publish e-book versions of Front Page Detectives books.

Among other titles to be published by Front Page Detectives are Aaron Hernandez's Killing Fields: Exposing Untold Murders, Violence, Cover-Ups, and the NFL's Shocking Code of Silence; The Last Charles Manson Tapes: 'Evil Lives Beyond the Grave'; Natalie Wood's Fatal Voyage: Was It Murder?; The Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist: The A-List Kingpin and the Poker Ring that Brought Down Tinseltown; Bad: An Unprecedented Investigation into the Michael Jackson Cover-Up; and Killing JonBenét Ramsey: Unprecedented, Extensive Evidence Uncovers New Suspects.

Paule Marshall

Paule Marshall, "an influential writer whose novels and short stories about ethnic identity, race and colonialism reflected her upbringing in Brooklyn as a daughter of poor immigrants from Barbados," died August 12, the New York Times reported. She was 90. Marshall "created strong female characters, evoked the linguistic rhythms of Barbadian speech, and forged an early link between the African-American and Caribbean literary canons."

Her first book, Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959), was "the novel that most black feminist critics consider to be the beginning of contemporary African-American women's writings," Cheryl Wall wrote in The Norton Anthology of African American Literature (2014), adding that it was "the novel that most black feminist critics consider to be the beginning of contemporary African-American women's writings."

In 1961, Marshall earned a Guggenheim Fellowship and published the novella collection Soul Clap Hands and Sing. Her books also include the novels The Chosen Place, The Timeless People (1969), Praisesong for the Widow (1983), Daughters (1991), The Fisher King (2000) and a memoir, Triangular Road (2009).

"She could see that what was happening to black people in Brooklyn and to black people in Barbados came out of the same structure of capitalism," Mary Helen Washington, Marshall's biographer, told the Washington Post. "I don't think that many black writers at that moment had such a large, transnational view of the world."

"This is a grieving season for Black literature," wrote Imani Perry, a Princeton University professor of African American studies, on Twitter, noting that Marshall's death occurred just a week after Toni Morrison's.

In the New Yorker tribute to Marshall and Morrison, author Edwidge Danticat observed: "I love both women and was blessed to have spent some time in each of their company. Before I ever saw them in the flesh, I was in awe of their words."

Author Jason Reynolds tweeted: "Tell your heroes you love them. Thank you, Ms. Marshall. Rest well. If you don't know her, read, Soul Clap Hands and Sing. Or anything she's written. As a matter of fact, just read Black women, past and present. Period."

Sunday evening, Eagle Eye Books, Decatur, Ga., experienced an act of vandalism: after the store had closed for the day, its outdoor "charity bookstore" was damaged (above left). People from the neighborhood worked to put everything back together (above right). Eagle Eye reported: "They did such a great job that the next morning we had no idea it had ever happened. We want to thank everyone who helped us put all the shelves back up and put the books back on the shelves. It warms our heart and we are so very proud of the community we live in. We extend our gratitude to everyone involved and our heart goes out to the other shops who were also vandalized. Thank you again for such a wonderful display of kindness!"

"On a lazy Sunday afternoon or a rare weekday off, little else beats the feeling of settling down in a cozy bookstore with a new book, while so many others stand by waiting to be read," the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted in showcasing "4 great independent bookstores in the Las Vegas Valley" that "might have what you're looking for, and certainly all sorts of items you didn't know you wanted."

Among the indies featured was the Writer's Block, "which has become a staple among local book lovers.... The store's self-proclaimed 'artificial bird sanctuary' atmosphere features birds perched on shelves and an artificial bird adoption service. Young writers also can participate in creative-writing workshops at the store, and a variety of book clubs are open to all."

"Feel the Breeze," Greedy Reads, Baltimore, Md., advised in posting a photo of its latest sidewalk chalkboard message: "Books = AC for your brain."

Rachel Sanders has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as director, field sales and events. She was previously marketing director at Readerlink.

She Can Really Lay It Down: 50 Rebels, Rockers, and Musical Revolutionaries (Who Happen to Be Women) by Rachel Frankel, foreword by Amanda Petrusich (Chronicle Books).

Today:
Fresh Air: Charles King, author of Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century (Doubleday, $30, 9780385542197).

Tomorrow:
The View repeat: E.L. James, author of The Mister (Vintage, $16.95, 9781984898326).

Sarah Chalke (Friends from College) will be the co-lead opposite Katherine Heigl in Netflix’s upcoming series Firefly Lane, based on the bestselling novel by Kristin Hannah. Maggie Friedman will write, executive produce and serve as showrunner for the project, Deadline reported. The cast also includes Ben Lawson.

Friedman executive produces with Stephanie Germain and Lee Rose. Hannah is co-executive producer. Peter O’Fallon will direct and executive produce the first episode.

---

Showtime has given a script-to-series order to the planned adaption of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast book series (Titus Groan, Gormenghast and Titus Alone) and will co-produce along with Fremantle, "with a writers room set to be opened soon," Variety reported. The BBC had previously adapted the first two books into a four-episode miniseries starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Christopher Lee in 2000.

Toby Whithouse (Being Human) will serve as showrunner and executive produce along with Neil Gaiman, Akiva Goldsman, Dante Di Loreto, Oliver Jones, Barry Spikings and David Stern.

"The joy of trying to describe Gormenghast to people is one where words will fail you and that's why there have been people who wanted to film Gormenghast ever since Peake wrote the first book," Gaiman said. "The BBC once tried but they were all making it in times when depicting the impossible on the screen was too difficult. The great thing now is that we can make it and actually show it and take you there. We are now in a world where you can put the impossible on screen and with Gormenghast, you're not just dealing with a castle the size of a city but dealing with these incredibly glorious and memorable people."

The 1944 Retrospective Hugo Awards, for works created in 1943, were presented last week at the opening ceremony of Dublin 2019--An Irish Worldcon, the 77th World Science Fiction Convention. The winners:

Best Novel: Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber, Jr. (Unknown Worlds, April 1943)
Best Novella: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Reynal & Hitchcock)
Best Novelette: "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett (C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner) (Astounding Science-Fiction, February 1943)
Best Short Story: "King of the Gray Spaces" ("R Is for Rocket") by Ray Bradbury (Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1943)
Best Graphic Story: "Wonder Woman #5: Battle for Womanhood" written by William Moulton Marsden, art by Harry G. Peter (DC Comics)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Heaven Can Wait, written by Samson Raphaelson, directed by Ernst Lubitsch (20th Century Fox)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, written by Curt Siodmak, directed by Roy William Neill (Universal Pictures)
Best Professional Editor, Short Form: John W. Campbell
Best Professional Artist: Virgil Finlay
Best Fanzine: Le Zombie, editor Wilson "Bob" Tucker
Best Fan Writer: Forrest J Ackerman

Meg Cabot has published scores of novels for adults and teens that deliver fast-paced fun, romance and comedy. With No Judgments, she begins a lively series for adults set in Little Bridge Island (pop. 4,700). This fictitious small town in the Florida Keys, 15 miles south of Miami, braces for Hurricane Marilyn, a Category Five storm.

The story is narrated by 25-year-old Sabrina "Bree" Beckham, a transplant from New York City. Following the death of her father, Bree dropped out of law school and suffered a harrowing assault by Kyle, the best friend of Bree's rich, jet-setting beau, Caleb. Caleb and even Bree's mother--Judge Justine, a famous lawyer with a popular call-in radio talk show--chalked up the actions of notorious alcoholic Kyle to his merely being "frisky."

Badly shaken and disappointed by her boyfriend and her mother discounting the magnitude of the event, Bree dyed her blonde hair pink, changed her name and set off for Little Bridge, once her family's favorite vacation spot. On the island, Bree works as a waitress at Mermaid's Cafe, a local hangout. She pursues her real passion, painting, while sharing an apartment with a friendly ER nurse and Gary, Bree's toothless, 20-pound, rescued tabby cat.

As the hurricane approaches, residents are urged to evacuate the island. However, when Lucy and Ed Hartwell, owners of the Mermaid, offer Bree and Gary refuge from the storm--their sturdy house has a generator--Bree jumps at the chance. This, despite the fact that Bree's constantly at odds with Drew Hartwell, Lucy and Ed's nephew. Sexy Drew, "with his lean six-foot frame, tousled dark hair, permanent deep-sea tan, and summer-sky blue eyes," was born and bred on Little Bridge. However, Bree is leery; he was very publicly dumped by his last girlfriend and seems as notorious a "player" as Caleb and his friends.

Still, Bree hunkers down with the Hartwells. As they ride out the raging, 170-mph winds, the attraction between Bree and Drew suddenly deepens. After the storm clears--leaving behind devastation, stranding those on the island and keeping out those who fled--Bree and Drew soon learn that many of the evacuees had no choice but to leave their pets behind. As they work together, Bree and Drew vow not to pass judgment on--or ask questions about--these pet owners. The couple devises a plan to seek out and care for abandoned pets starved for love, attention and food. In the process, romance blooms. Is Bree willing to risk her vulnerable heart all over again? And have the wrongs from the past really passed?

Cabot (The Boy Is Back) has a long, successful track record of writing entertaining stories that allow readers to escape from the realities of life by bringing levity, wit and a host of surprises and happy endings to the page. No Judgments is further testament to her appealing, winning style. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines

Shelf Talker: A heartbroken young woman hunkers down in the Florida Keys during a Category Five hurricane and goes on a quest to rescue stranded local pets.

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. Billionaire Unattainable: Mason by J.S. Scott
2. One Year Home by Marie Force
3. Summer of Suspense by Various
4. Dare Me Tonight (The Knight Brothers Book 4) by Carly Phillips
5. I'd Rather (Not KPD Motorcycle Patrol Book 3) by Lani Lynn Vale
6. Lost in You (Masters and Mercenaries: The Forgotten Book 3) by Lexi Blake
7. Sonata by Skye Warren
8. Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins
9. Desperate Creed by Alex Kava
10. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]