Why You Should be Excited for October

October is a month of so many good things in the world of books. I've been looking forward to it since July, I kid you not. Here's why:

1- Mark Z. Danielewski releases his third book, The Fifty Year Sword-- October 16th
Some of you may have seen the pictures Justin and I posted on Facebook when our ARCs of this book arrived in the store. While we may have gotten our hands on a copy before October, we're still excited because we're giving YOU the chance to win your copy of T50YS for FREE!!! All you have to do is pre-order your book with us, it's that easy, and we'll enter your name in a drawing for a free copy. And trust me, even if you're paying, this book will be one you want to own. Much like his previous masterpiece, House of Leaves, Danielewski toys with the format of a traditional story, this time experimenting with the style of a campfire ghost story told by five narrators. T50YS features the same unsettling and unnameable chill found in House of Leaves, along with beautiful and intricate pictures on half the pages. And although T50YS is only a novella, you'll want to own your copy so you can read it again and again, picking up new secrets along the way.

2- Sequel to The Passage by Justin Cronin is released!-- October 16th
The second reason I'm excited for October is the release of Justin Cronin's The Twelve, sequel to The Passage, for which I've been waiting for more than two years. Although I suppose this one isn't quite excitement for me, since I've already read it, but I'm excited for you because this book is incredible. I won't repeat my review since you can just follow that link to read it, but know that this book is about vampires, but they don't sparkle. In fact, they're awesome and terrifying and everything a good vampire should be. If you haven't read The Passage yet, start that now and you'll be right on time.

3- Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan-- October 2nd
This book comes out in early October, so if you read quickly you can get this one in before The Fifty Year Sword and The Twelve come out. If you like books about magic with modern twists, this one is for you. This is also the only book on this list that will have an even sort of happy ending, so there's that. The book's hero, Clay, begins our adventure by accepting a job at the mysterious and titular 24-Hour Bookstore and quickly finds that the store doesn't seem to make any money, but rather support a small cult of dearly devoted readers of strange and cryptic books. Read more here and stop by to reserve your copy today!

4- Another sequel! This Book is Full of Spiders-- Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It by David Wong-- October 2nd
Another sequel! And another book for October 2nd! Not until writing this did I realize that my big 4 book releases for 10/12 all occur on the same two days. Those will be awesome days. This Book is Full of Spiders is the long-awaited sequel to John Dies at the End, a novel of love, magic, horrible monsters, and terrible drugs by the hilarious and talented David Wong. This book is highly recommended to anyone with a dark sense of humor. Never before have I been so terrified and laughed so hard at the same time, especially while reading a book.

5- Hilary Jordan, author of When She Woke and Mudbound, is coming!!!- October 9th
This event is going to be so much fun. The book Jordan will be speaking about at length, When She Woke, is a fantastic dysptopian novel. Imagine The Scarlet Letter in a sci-fi world. Again, this is another book I've already blogged about so I don't feel the need to repeat everything here. This event should be loads of fun, though, especially since I'm pretty sure we're getting some beer.


So, to re-cap: Danielewski campfire stories, non-sparkly vampires, magical bookstores, hilarious horror novel, and awesome author event. And it all goes down at your very own Old Firehouse Books starting next week!