Welcome to the Ink & Ether September '26 Dispatch

What's been on my mind

I don't know about you but I am so ready for the -Ber months! This time of year is like the Super Bowl for booksellers. There's just something about the Fall and Winter season that feel like you should always be curled up with a good book. Maybe books and hibernation just go together.

I've been reading ARC's like nobodies business and there's a lot. So buckle up because the book releases over the next few months are a marathon, not a sprint.

Sidenote* it's my birthday month! That's right, Virgo crew where you at! So get it together and don't skim, read all the way through, preferably while taking notes.

What's new on the shelves

The hot Summer months brought a bit of a slow down for business so I'm sure there are plenty of new titles you haven't seen yet.

Flowers For The Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn - A Shirley Jackson Award winning novella. Set on a ship of survivors after the world has flooded, one woman carries a pregnancy that might not be entirely human, along with a rage that's been building long before the water rose. Gothic, visceral, and reads in a single sitting.

Buy from Ink & Ether | Buy from Bookshop.org

Assistant and The Villain Series by Hannah Nicole Maehrer - Evie takes a job as assistant to a genuinely evil villain, expecting paperwork and mayhem — she gets both, plus an entirely unplanned romance. Think Once Upon a Time meets The Office. Four books deep now with Adversary to the Villain, the newest installment, and it only gets more chaotic from here.

Buy it From Ink & Ether | Buy it From Bookshop.org

Verity Guild by Mai Corland - A Rome-inspired slow burn where a priestess hiding a dangerous secret and the investigator sworn to expose her end up snowed in with an actual murderer. Political, tense, and ends on a cliffhanger that will have you counting down to book two.

Buy it From Ink & Ether | Buy it From Bookshop.org

The Library at Hellebore by - A school for the dangerously magical, where graduation day doubles as feeding time. Dark academia if dark academia meant the faculty might actually eat you. Gory, sharp, and not for the faint of heart.

Buy it From Ink & Ether | Buy it From Bookshop.org

Witch Season by Julia Bianco - Magic that costs blood and pain to wield, an enforcer bound to the very coven she's sworn to police, and a rival determined to make her life so much harder. Dark, tense, and deeply atmospheric.

Buy it From Ink & Ether | Buy it From Bookshop.org

From the grimoire

Well you won't believe the card I pulled this month but I 100% did, I promise. This month's card pull is Death. Hand to heart, the Death card came up so let's get to it.

The Death card is probably the most misunderstood but that's what makes it fun. I see Death to represent the inevitable end of a cycle. That cycle might be easy or it might be messy, but be assured it will come to an end one way or another. There is no escaping death. But with the end of the old, comes the birth of something new. So we can read this as a transformation and letting go of an old version to make way for new possibilities.

Two titles that come to mind for this reading examine Death in different ways.

She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

A girl who assumes the identity of her deceased brother and, in doing so, has to let every version of herself that came before quietly die. This is Death in its purest and most devastating form, not interrupted, not resisted, just fully accepted, because the fate on the other side of it is too enormous to turn away from.

Buy it From Ink & Ether | Buy it From Bookshop.org

She's a Doll by Barbara Truelove, out September 8th. Lucy McQuinn is murdered and refuses to accept it. She pours what's left of herself into an antique porcelain doll and goes looking for the man who killed her. This is Death interrupted. A transformation that was supposed to happen quietly instead gets redirected into rage, revenge, and eighteen inches of lacy, furious porcelain. Campy, sharp, and a genuinely fun read if you want your Death card with a little bite.

Buy it From Bookshop.org

There you go! Two very different takes on Death. One girl who refuses to let go. Another who let's go of everything.

The card poses the same question to you: what do you need to end so something new can begin?

Find Ink & Ether this month

Sep. 20th - Silent Reading Group at Communitea Coffee

Sep. 26th - Pop up at Rekindle Coffee

Oct. 2nd - Halloween Night Market at Communitea Coffee

Oct. 7th - Silent Reading Group at Communitea Coffee

Oct. 10-11 - Dragons and Dreams at Autry Museum

The Letter Corner

The Letter Corner is a hit! Thank you to everyone who has already stopped by and left a letter. We've seen letters come in from Singapore, England, and The Netherlands. We are definitely hoping for more Intro Letters to come in. Here's a quick recap of how things work:

1. Visit The Sunday Letter Project website and pick a shop participating in the Letter Keepers network.

2. Write your Introduction Letter and post it to the shop of your choosing. Be sure to include Ink & Ether in the return address.

3. Alternative option, you can find an Introduction Letter at Communitea Coffee to write to.

4. Take a picture of the letter and address, then go home and write.

Leaving the Intro Letters at the Letter Corner allows friends to find multiple penpals. The more the merrier right!

Need a writing suggestion? Why don't you share the best vacation you went on. Or share about something fun you did over the summer.

Before you go

If you made it this far, you have my gratitude! Hope Virgo season treats you well.