As summer draws to a close, we at Lit Hub celebrate milestones and plunge into new ventures. What’s bringing us joy? Climbing peaks. We square up to autumn and declare: bring it on.
Molly Odintz, for one, is moving in with her partner. The happy couple is laying plans for a fire pit, and last week Drew Broussard cracked a particularly thorny stretch in his ongoing novel, much to everyone’s delight. A section that has stumped our podcasts editor for no joke, over two years. You might say growth is indeed in the air.
Also riding that back-to-school energy is staffer James Folta, who fell for a new bookstore during a wedding trip to Hudson. A Tiny Literature Shop is exactly what it sounds like. The gimmick is everything is a little book, James notes. (Italics mine.)
This shop specializes in mini-lit—essays, novellas, etc. (“And almost every selection had a note,” James adds, “so browsing felt like getting a curated look at a cool friend’s bookshelf.”) The new shop also offers personalized gifts, perfect for Virgos. A tiny book box and a tiny tote are nearly irresistible.
Editor Jonny Diamond was also inspired by a fresh bookstore. He and his family recently visited Better Days Bookshop in Cairo, NY. At this hub, you can stock up on new titles and sip, on the back porch, “a beer, an NA beer, a Coke, and an apple juice.” I’m told this was another delightful way to welcome autumn.
I, Brittany Allen, have also had paper on the brain as Virgo season approaches. This week, I was excited to discover a zine library in Texas that seems to be the largest of its kind.
The Sherwood Forest Zine Library lives in an Austin living room, housing dozens upon dozens of printed missives on topics ranging from capitalism to magick. If you’re in the mood for analog inspiration, check out their virtual library.
Speaking of old media, Oliver Scialdone has been amassing OVAs (Original Video Animations) on VHS as part of a long-running archiving project. (Spreadsheets are involved.) Our community editor recently added a few volumes of Record of Lodoss War, a Japanese fantasy saga that unfolds like an RPG.
“The visual style of 90s fantasy anime scratches a very particular aesthetic itch, and VHS is 100% the most correct format to watch it in,” says Oliver. “Most of the companies that distributed these movies and series in the US are defunct, and it’s such an interesting era in the history of the medium, so it feels kind of special to find copies in the wild.” The greatest joy seems to lie in the hunt.
One more note from me, Brittany. Because there’s no renewal without letting go of the old, I’ve been closing out summer with a touch of nostalgia for indie sleaze.
It all began last week when I asked a friend for a binge-worthy book recommendation. They pointed me toward Holly Brickley’s Deep Cuts, a novel about a music-driven romance spanning from the Y2K era into the mid-2000s.
Infused with fan energy and a discography that will ring familiar to anyone who got swept up by LCD Soundsystem’s “last” show, this work feels like a successor to High Fidelity, a book it even nods to. And my friend was right: it’s thrilling to read, especially with a playlist in tandem. Brickley captures the intoxication of falling in love—enjoying that perfect track at first, along with that first, uncertain musician.
My own digression ends, happily, in a serendipitous Hell Gate profile of the Williamsburg tailor who kept Interpol sharp in their threads. The past isn’t truly past, you know. That’s the takeaway. Autumn reminds us that you clear out the old before inviting the new in.
Here’s to a weekend filled with fresh pages, warm fires, and the joys of analog.
