Owners Max and Lori Booth began operating a publishing company—Ghoulish Books—out of their kitchen in 2012, before opening as a bookstore at 9330 Corporate Drive, Ste. 702, Selma in April 2023.

The details

The location was previously home to Cibolo Chicks Bookstore, which closed in February 2023. Max Booth said they had always wanted to open a book shop and that he knew one of the co-owners.

“Since this already had some reputation as a book shop, we just decided let’s just also do that as well,” Max Booth said.

What’s special about it?


Ghoulish Books is the only bookstore in the area that specializes exclusively in horror fiction, Lori Booth said.

“We stock the type of indie books that you won’t find in a typical Barnes & Noble,” Max Booth added.

Ghoulish Books—which also accepts used book donations—continues to operate as an indie publisher. Although they do not open for book submissions very often, Lori Booth's advice to writers who do want to publish something is to get familiar with what they do publish and then watch to see when they open for manuscripts.

What else?


The book shop attends San Antonio's annual Ghoulish Book Festival. On the last Saturday of every month, Ghoulish Books hosts a free, secret movie night, Max Booth said.

Lori and Max Booth said they would love to grow the bookshop and “get spookier.”