The Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association wrapped up its annual FallCon on October 9 in Denver, reporting a strong showing of 234 booksellers plus an additional 24 librarians and others. “Overall attendance of both booksellers and library personnel was up, even with the sad loss of the Tattered Cover,” MPIBA executive director Heather Duncan told PW, referencing the acquisition of the Denver indie by Barnes & Noble earlier this year.
Duncan credited the increase in attendance to new stores and first time visitors. Among those participants was Elizabeth Mattson, who opened Henry’s Books in Spearfish, S.D., in June. She and her husband Dylan crowdfunded to open the sole indie in their town of Black Hills, where the store invites community members to “sponsor a book” they’d like to see in stock, and hosts readings from local, often self-published authors.
Another first-time MPIBA attendee, Laura Sharp, opened children’s store Literally a Bookshop in Chandler, Ariz., in July. Sharp ran Literally as a pop-up for two years before installing it more permanently in a coffee shop. BookTok support from local author Rebecca Thorne (Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea) increased Literally’s metro-Phoenix visibility. The store offers a middle-grade reading club, book fairs, and programming for all ages.
At MPIBA, professional development took place throughout the show, including an “ask an expert” table outside the exhibit hall. The drop-in format allowed booksellers "to get specific questions answered, and the ‘experts’ love it, since there is no prep work for them,” Duncan said.
Among the program highlights, Jeanne Costello of Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, Co., and Allie Cesmat of Changing Hands Bookstore in Phoenix—who touted her current favorite YA dystopia, Moira Buffini’s Songlight (HarperCollins)—conducted a discussion on book buying. Julia Atwood of the Boulder Bookstore and Elizabeth Barnhill of Fabled Bookshop & Café in Waco, Texas, answered questions about merchandising and displays for all business models. The audience talked about seasonal décor and how to create a portable, easy-to-stow display for a pop-up shop that doesn’t stay in one place for long. Atwood said she enjoyed the “informal” give-and-take, with the audience listening and contributing.
Duncan agreed that “networking and sharing ideas is basically the best part of shows like this.” She checked in with publisher reps and exhibitors too: “We do not want to cross-program things that would steal their audience," she said, "and they had no concerns.”
Mountains and Plains booksellers also raised $1,500 in donations and t-shirt sales for the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, extra busy right now due to hurricane relief efforts. All who contributed got to play Binc’s game of Heads or Tails, with the winner taking home a $250 gift card.
Rebecca Leber-Gottberg, co-owner of Rediscovered Books in Boise, Idaho, purchased a chance to play, and she gave that chance—in the form of a bandana—to Dara Landry, co-owner of Class Bookstore in Houston. As luck would have it, Landry won the loot. This good fortune was “so nice!” said Kathy Bartson, Binc development director. “Booksellers are the best people.”
For Landry, the prize put a cherry on top of “a good and productive time” with MPIBA peers.
“When I say the third quarter was rough and I’m really hoping for a strong holiday push, I’m with folks who completely understand me,” Landry said. “The education this year was phenomenal. I have so much I can’t wait to take back to our store and test out.”
Authors in the High Desert
Authors provided some of FallCon’s most memorable moments, whether featured speakers or on the show floor. “One of my favorite jobs as we plan the show is receiving author pitches and creating event line-ups,” Duncan said.
Mealtimes at MPIBA meant author presentations and hefty stacks of fresh ARCs. On October 7, booksellers arrived to a Young Readers’ Fest keynote breakfast with Jorge Cham, Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, Thyra Heder, Rex Ogle, and Brian Selznick. Michael Sampson, author of the forthcoming Rainbow Bear (Brown Books Kids, Oct.), also spoke to the crowd via prerecorded video, unable to attend due to helping a family member affected by Hurricane Helene.
Later that day, a baker’s dozen of authors came to lunch, with emcee Carter Wilson (Tell Me What You Did, Poisoned Pen Press, Jan.). Ariel Courage talked about her novel Bad Nature (Henry Holt and Co., Apr.), about a terminally ill woman who goes on a revenge-fueled road trip, only to become involved with an environmentalist on a mission of his own. Kevin Anderson said he wrote his horror-in-space novel Nether Station (Blackstone/Weird Tales, Oct.) entirely by dictation, recording himself during long hikes on Colorado trails—an impressive multitasking feat.
Cori Cusker, buyer at Bright Side Books in Flagstaff, Ariz., moderated mini-lectures by six popular creators at breakfast on October 8. Nnedi Okorafor, who visited several trade shows this fall, revealed the personal story behind her Death of the Author (William Morrow, Jan.), while firmly cautioning audiences that the speculative novel’s disabled Nigerian American heroine “is not me.” Johnny Compton, discussing his vampire novel Devils Kill Devils (Tor Nightfire, out now), said he asks himself a guiding question while writing about monsters and humans: “Who is the real villain?”
Jonathan Evison delivered an emotional talk about his now-90-year-old mother, who inspired his novel of a 70-year marriage, The Heart of Winter (Dutton, Jan.). “I decided to write my mom the love story she deserved,” Evison said, thinking back on his father, who deserted the family, and a stepfather who added to the damage. To his surprise, she liked it. “You can sell this book to anybody,” Evison later joked to booksellers, contrasting it with his book Lawn Boy, which has become one the ALA's top 10 most challenged books.
Karen Russell, up next to introduce her Dust Bowl novel The Antidote (Knopf, Mar.), complimented her fellow authors’ presentations that day and, a week earlier, at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association.
“Last time, Jonathan and Nnedi made me cry, but this time I turned my heart to stone because I put mascara on,” she said. She also praised booksellers’ early reviews for giving her insight into her own work. “This one person at Watermark Books [in Wichita, Kan.]—I want to drive through the night and give them a bouquet,” she said, acknowledging the often invisible connections among writers and readers.
Nickolas Butler described the startling, overheard barroom interaction that sparked his novel A Forty Year Kiss (Sourcebooks Landmark, Feb., 2025). And Latvian American author Michael Idov noted that espionage thrillers tend to start out realistically and swerve into superhuman “spy-fi.” Because Idov wanted The Collaborators (Scribner, Nov.) to stay within the realm of possibility, every scene takes place in an international city where he has lived, and his characters are not fluent in every language: “If I speak it badly, so will they,” he promised.
More than 30 additional authors participated in afternoon sessions on October 8, plus an October 9 breakfast focused on creators of nonfiction. Pam Houston told PW she has 23 book events scheduled between now and November 5, Election Day, for her slim manifesto Without Exception: Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood, and Freedom (Torrey House).
Among the other nonfiction presenters were historian Rick Atkinson, with volume two of his Revolutionary War trilogy, The Fate of the Day (Crown, Apr. 2025); Zak Podmore, whose Life After Dead Pool (Torrey House, out now) examines the drought-diminished Lake Powell “and the rebirth of the Colorado River”; and—for readers curious about the supernatural—former law enforcement officer Stanley Milford Jr.’s The Paranormal Ranger: A Navajo Investigator’s Search for the Unexplained (William Morrow, out now).
As FallCon concluded, Duncan said she appreciated the time with MPIBA members, “especially people I hadn’t met in person yet, on a bookstore visit or at another show.”
FallCon returns to Denver next year, October 5–8, 2025.
