Book Exchange & Comic Shop Novels & Stories

“Oh, do tell.” I sigh, trying to think of the names I've seen from my mom's packages. “LeShop, Ibei, AriExpress, and the most famous one--” I pause and turn to look at him. “Your family owns the B-Emporium?” It’s the giant e-market that I often see in the newspapers or even the business magazines Gene reads.

We followed Amber into the shop, and I was immediately hit with that distinctive smell of new merchandise and plastic packaging. The place was impressive, well-organized sections for different genres, a wall of collectible figures, racks of manga in both English and Japanese, even a small café area in the back. Amber made a beeline for the shonen manga section, and Cynthia drifted after him. I was examining a display of vintage posters when I heard a familiar voice. "No way. Is that an original cel from the '98 series?" I turned slowly and found myself face to face with Bryan and Devian.

I mumbled with a full mouth. "There's extra in there. Let's keep moving." We turned the corner into another street lined with low brick buildings. One had a dusty window and a sun-faded sign that read Dog-Eared Pages. "This place is a little gem," Robbie said. "If you ever want to read up on modern stuff written for wolves from the old packs—this is where to do it. They even have books on magic you won't find in human shops." That piqued my interest immediately, but—

Which is to say, it has zero symmetry, no obvious organizational system, and an impressive number of random objects that shouldn’t belong together but somehow do. I pick up a book from the coffee table. It’s an architecture book. Of course. Underneath it? A Morbius comic. I squint. A man in his thirties, with a degree, a career, and an allegedly functional brain, is out here stacking academic texts on top of Marvel comics like that makes sense. I roll my eyes and toss the book back. But it gets worse. The bookshelf is a mystery zone. One side looks normal—novels, reference books, the standard intellectual nonsense. But then, shoved into the mix like some kind of psychological experiment, is:

Lev asks as the waiter leaves. “They own a bookstore,” I reply, grateful for the easy question. “They’ve been running it since before I was born. It’s a small place, but it’s pretty much the only place in town that sells the types of books people really want to read.” “I take it they’re not peddling textbooks,” he replies with a grin. “A lot of Romance. Holy shit, so much Romance. That, and Murder Mysteries, but people need some excitement. God knows they don’t get any in that little town otherwise.”

"Hi. I'm Kim... from the bookstore." Hearing the word "bookstore", Jake was finally able to recall who this girl was. She worked in the bookstore where he usually bought books to use as references for his writing process... Or painting... an artist gotta do what an artist gotta do to achieve perfection. The internet can't always be trusted. Besides... Jake loved the way this girl called Kim, who worked as a cashier in the bookstore, looked when he bought random books about grave digging, self-made poisons and explosions, guns, and even exorcism. Thinking about it, Jake wanted to laugh.

Lucas's voice rang in her ears. Coco instantly came back to her senses. Her face was red. “Uhh, nothing. If it’s okay with you, can we go to the bookstore that I always hang out at? By the way, do you read comics? We can go elsewhere if you’re not interested in it.” “Do you often go there?” “Yeah. It’s for my hobby and work purposes.” “Let’s go there, then. We’re going to get to know each other better, anyway.”

Ace jumped in to change the subject. “I have. I love that place.” Rowen responded excitedly. “Oh good. Danny, and my dad have been working together to expand Reader’s Haven into a comic book store like Danny has.” “You’re kidding?” “No. Danny said you gave him the number for Josh, but Josh shut his place down awhile back so Josh gave Danny my dad’s number.” “I hadn’t realized Josh shut down.” “Yeah. He was ready to retire, and his daughter had no interest in the place. I think dad may hire on Josh part time to take care of the comic book side of the store.”