My friend and fellow author, Sean Chercover, has been out promoting his second novel, TRIGGER CITY. While on the road, he's discovered an alarming trend...

From an e-mail I received:

Hey, Gang...

So I've been on tour and seeing a lot of empty bookstores and frightened bookstore owners. This economic downturn thing is hitting them very hard. People are not buying books. I've talked with folks in sales, editorial and publicity at two publishing houses (one huge, one indie), and all say that this is very serious - layoffs are coming in the new year.

Doom and gloom, I know. Anyway, I mentioned to one of these publishing people that I was gonna blog about this - basically encouraging people to buy books this holiday season. Not that it will make any difference. Her response was, "Please! And please ask any other authors who blog to do the same! We're desperate."

So that's what I'm doing. You can see my blog post here.

If, sometime between now and Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa, you feel like encouraging book buying on your blog, that would be awesome.



Now, I’m doing my part to help the booksellers out there stay afloat. If you need gift ideas, check out my selections below:

Babies - soft cover books made of cloth, a great introduction to the world of books and doubles for a burp rag in an emergency. Also nice are the waterproof books that can be looked at in the tub.

Toddlers - board books, Curious George, Thomas the Tank Engine, Little Einstein were my kids favorites.

Beginning Readers: Biscuit Series, Little Critter, Clifford the Big Red Dog

Independent Readers: Ramona Quimby Series for girls, Fudge Series for either boys or girls, Captain Underpants for boys

Tweens: Little House on the Prairie series, Narnia Series, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew

Teens: Lord of the Rings Series, Twilight Series, Harry Potter Series

Great books for teens and adults to discuss: Generation Dead by Dan Waters. It's a book about a zombie teenagers that attend high school and the struggles they faced with the being integrated with the living. Great conversation starter to discuss racism, stereotypes.

Adults:

Horror fans - HWA Blood Lite Anthology, humorous horror from the best in the horror biz. Unspeakable Horror from Dark Scribe Press - Gay/lesbian/transgendered horror stories.

Another great gift from a related industry is fiction magazine subscriptions...they are struggling too.

Horror - Doorways, Shroud, Postcripts

Mystery - The Strand, EQMM, Alfred Hitchcock

Sci-fi/Fanatasy - Asimov's, F&SF, Weird Tales

Kids - Cricket, Highlights, Ranger Rick

Kids love getting things in the mail. It's a way to keep them reading year-round. And most kids magazines have lines by age group (babies to teens.)

I'll be posting more of my favorites soon.

My short story, "Better Left Unsaid," is available now in the TRAPS! anthology edited by Scott T. Goudsward from DarkHart Press.

I read the piece the other night at Top Shelf Books in Palatine, IL and was pleased to received the following commentary:

"That story is really nasty," said Lawrence Santoro, author of JUST NORTH OF NOWHERE. Considering the source, that's a compliment I'll gladly take.

TRAPS! features stories from a nice mix of authors, some new and some long-time favorites in the horror genre. To view the complete TOC or to order a copy, click here.