Jef Blocker, a manager at Atlanta’s six-year-old Bound to be Read Books, fills us in on some spooky happenings among the stacks.
How’d your Halloween go?
We’re part of a neighborhood association event called EAV-o-ween (the EAV is for East Atlanta Village) where all the businesses participate in trick-or-treating, usually on a weekend night. This year it was on Saturday. Hundreds and hundreds of people came into the store. At 6:30 and 7:30, we have ghost stories for the kids, with a guest storyteller. The younger kids come earlier, to the 6:30 gathering, and then we have scarier stories for the older kids at 7:30.
[embeded attachment not found]There’s not a lot of sales that night, but it's a ton of fun. It is a holiday weekend, so sales aren’t going to be great, but it’s certainly a great way to get seen in the community, get kids and parents into the store. We here from lots of parents, “Oh, we didn't know there was a book store here.” It’s a great night for outreach to folks who may not know about us.
Selling anything scary lately?
We’ve put The Atlanta Ripper by Jeffrey Wells (The History Press, $19.99) in the window, that one’s been getting some interest. We tried to line up an event with the author, but the timing didn’t work out. We hope to get him in sooner or later. Our graphic novel section has taken off a bit. The Walking Dead series (ed: set in and around Atlanta) is part of that, we carry the whole series. And in fact the next one, number 15, is coming out in December, I think (ed: December 20, from Image, $14.99). We have folks kind of lined up for that one. We also recently got in an adaptation of Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Authorized Adaptation by Ron Wimberly, FSG, $30), we’ve got some good interest and feedback on that.
Visit Bound to Be Read Books online here, or in person at 481-B Flat Shoals Ave. SE, Atlanta, Ga.
