Inside the Vortex - 13

Chaos at Vortex Books & Comics

Hello from inside the Vortex. Brian was at the Bram Stoker Awards in California last weekend (he lost to Jordan Peele but got to give a speech anyway) and Mary and John were busy keeping the store from burning down while he was gone, so there was no newsletter. But we’re back in business now, and here with a dire warning.

***WARNING COMMENCES***

This coming Saturday, June 8th, bestselling indie duo Aron Beauregard and Kristopher Triana descend upon the store for a signing. These guys are TikTok sensations and responsible for some of the most controversial books of the last decade. If you like your crime or horror extra violent and extra bloody and extra ruthless, then these are the authors for you. But beware — their stuff is NOT for those with weak hearts or weak stomachs. Seriously.

We’ve got a ton of their books in the warehouse, but we expect to sell that same ton, so if you want a signed copy, we recommend you be here Saturday. We cannot guarantee there will be signed stock left over, and we are expecting a steady crowd of customers. You are also welcome to bring books from home to be signed. If you do that, all we ask is that you also make a purchase from the store while you’re here.

Aron and Kristopher will sign from 1pm to 4pm. Then, they will depart, leaving a swath of destruction in their wake. Don’t miss it!

***END OF WARNING***

Right now, regular weekly customer Ray is saying “You know I work on Saturdays! I have no choice but to miss it!” And regular weekly customer Heaven, who is a super Aaron Beauregard and Kristopher Triana fan, is saying, “You know I have a family event to attend that day! Why must you rub it in?”

Well, that’s okay. Because we have an event going on the night before all hell breaks loose, as well. That’s right — this coming Friday night, Splatterpunk Award winning author Wesley Southard hosts another FREE MOVIE NIGHT. What mystery movie will he be showing? We don’t know until it begins. The film starts sharply at 7pm, so we ask that you get here a little early.

And Sunday, of course, is casual Magic the Gathering from noon to 4pm. Traditional or Commander — all cards and play styles are welcome. We also have cards for sale (as well as Pokemon and other card games).

And not this weekend, but next weekend, we’ve got our monthly Writer’s Group meeting on Friday June 14 from 6pm to 8pm. And horror legend John R. Little will be here all the way from Canada on Saturday June 15th signing his new memoir from 2pm to 4pm.

As always, for a complete list of upcoming events, click here.

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Above, we mentioned signed stock. Here’s a little bit of background information on bookstores and signings. Let’s say an author signs books at Barnes & Noble. Let’s say the store ordered 24 copies and the author sold 12 of them while they were there. What Barnes & Noble does after the author leaves is return those unsold books to the distributor, who then eventually returns them to the publisher. This sucks, because the author doesn’t get paid for them.

Here at Vortex, we do things differently. That’s because we are also authors. Our rule is that WE NEVER RETURN BOOKS. Once we order and receive them, we keep them. So, the follow along with the above example, let’s say we order 24 copies of an author’s book, and the author sells 12 copies while they are here. At the end of the signing, we have the author sign the remaining stock. We then sell those copies online and here in the store as signed copies.

Currently, we have all of those signed books at cover price and on a nice display as soon as you walk in the door.

Why are we bringing this up? Because some of those signed copies are almost gone. For example, we only have 3 copies each left of Richard Chizmar’s The Girl on the Porch and Cynthia Pelayo’s Loteria. Once they are gone, they’re gone (until the next time Richard or Cynthia are on a cross-country book signing tour and stop here at the store again). So, if you’re local, stop in and snag some signed books at cover price before they are gone. And if you aren’t local, use our online store to do the same.

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A reminder John Urbancik has a new novel coming out on Tuesday, June 25th. There is only one place in the entire world where you can preorder a signed copy, and that place is Vortex Books & Comics. If you are a local, you don’t need to do anything. We’ll have John signing copies here in store on Wednesday, June 26th. If, however, you live far away and would like to preorder a signed copy, you can do so right now via our online store.

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VORTEX BESTSELLER LIST

Our Top Ten Best-Selling Books For Week Of 5/26/2024

1. You Like It Darker by Stephen King
2. Give Unto Us by Justin Lutz
3. Survivor by J. F. Gonzalez
4. A Fresh Start by Somer Canon
5. The Last Dragon King by Leia Stone
6. Ghosts of West Baltimore by David Simmons
7. Ghosts of East Baltimore by David Simmons
8. Gone To Seed by Justin Lutz
9. All The White Spaces by Ally Wilkes
10. The Secret History of the Palace Theater (preorders) by John Urbancik

Our Top Ten Best-Selling Comics For Week Of 5/26/2024

1. X-Men 97
2. Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin
3. Batman Dark Age
4. Spectacular Spider-Men
5. The Principles of Necromancy
6. Barbaric
7. Batman Dylan Dog
8. Rook Exodus
9. Get Fury
10. Feral

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And that does it for this week! Hope to see you soon!

— Brian and Mary