{"id":798859,"date":"2026-05-15T19:24:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/798859\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T19:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:24:23","slug":"mysterious-galaxy-bookstore-snags-big-names-dedicated-readers-with-genre-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/798859\/","title":{"rendered":"Mysterious Galaxy bookstore snags big names, dedicated readers with genre fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cygnet Theatr<\/a>e had a packed house on Friday \u2014 but not for a play or a musical.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, a sold-out crowd streamed into the Liberty Station venue for a book signing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Martha Wells\u2019 popularity has outgrown nearby Mysterious Galaxy<\/a>, so the signing had to occur off-site, bookstore owner Matt Berger explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"two<\/a>Award-winning author Martha Wells holds her new novel \u201cPlatform Decay\u201d alongside Mysterious Galaxy owner Matt Berger. (Photo courtesy Mysterious Galaxy) <\/p>\n

The packed house was there to hear about the eighth installment of Murderbot Diaries, \u201cPlatform Decay.\u201d The indie genre bookstore, one of only two genre bookstores<\/a> in San Diego, sells thousands of copies of the series each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe collected series is absolutely one of our top selling books,\u201d Berger said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wells has visited Mysterious Galaxy in the past, but getting her to visit this year was a coup. The author\u2019s profile grew after the release of an Apple TV+ series adaptation<\/a> starring Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd and John Cho. Even before that, the Murderbot Diaries series won multiple science fiction awards, including the Hugo, Nebula and Locus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, her travel is limited. The \u201cPlatform Decay\u201d tour had four stops total. Before San Diego, she was at Powell\u2019s in Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was afraid that I would be too tired to actually be funny or anything,\u201d Wells said when she took the stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

San Diego was her only California stop. Two fans flew down from Fresno for the event. It was also the only event to occur in a pineapple under the sea, thanks to the set for the upcoming \u201cThe Spongebob Musical\u201d at Cygnet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Wells is not the only highly-popular but niche author brought to San Diego by Mysterious Galaxy. A week before, Joe Abercrombie visited with his new book \u201cThe Devils,\u201d with a fresh endorsement from director James Cameron who bought the rights to adapt it for the screen.<\/p>\n

And then later in May, the bookstore will host Veronica Roth<\/a>, author of young adult dystopian series \u201cDivergent,\u201d which was also made into a movie trilogy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Berger credits the local literary scene and San Diego\u2019s weather with enticing the authors to add it as a stop on their tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe readers here are just really into attending events,\u201d he said. \u201cThey love being able to meet the authors, and for the most part, everyone\u2019s really chill and it\u2019s always good weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reading can often be a solo hobby. But that doesn\u2019t mean readers don\u2019t want to connect with each other and build community. Recently, readers have held read-in events on North Park streets, public parks and wineries. And potential cuts to libraries show how beloved those institutions are as people rally around them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"rows<\/a>An exuberant crowd listens to bookstore owner Matt Berger, left, and author Martha Wells. (Photo courtesy Mysterious Galaxy) <\/p>\n

New indie bookstores continue to open despite rising rents<\/a>, with author events and book clubs frequently being the force that\u00a0sustains them \u2014 as well as the annual \u201cSuper Bowl of books<\/a>,\u201d San Diego\u2019s Book Crawl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Cygnet Theatre, ushers more used to staid theatergoers appeared to be stunned by the devotion and exuberance of the crowd. Instead of the spectacle on stage, suited staff turned to watch the audience.<\/p>\n

As too much screen time and loneliness become increasingly fraught topics in modern culture, this joyfully raucous audience chatted with each other about their shared love of reading and other interests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some didn\u2019t talk at all, but they didn\u2019t seem lonely. A few \u2014 one even wearing a punny shirt about introversion \u2014 sat quietly and read signed copies of the book. Some knitted and did needlework while waiting for Wells to take the stage. One of the few people actually on their phone used it to show cat pictures to their neighbors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much that happens online, but these events are really what make bookstores such pillars of the community,\u201d Berger said. \u201cIt brings people together just to share in the love of art. And that is not something that Amazon will give readers, ever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cygnet Theatre had a packed house on Friday \u2014 but not for a play or a musical.\u00a0 Instead,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":798860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1022,39438,1582,276,108219,42025,325623,40770,325624,6215,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-798859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-books","tag-bookstores","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-cygnet-theatre","tag-liberty-station","tag-martha-wells","tag-murderbot","tag-mysterious-galaxy","tag-reading","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116580232003811497","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}