Where do you go first in a bookstore—and what’s your summer read?
Probably the sci-fi fantasy—I tend to enjoy the fantastic, and I like sci-fi for seeing what their ideas of the future might be. One graphic novel that I like particularly is a gothic sword-and-sorcery epic called Helen of Wyndhorn. It has a lot of Robert E. Howard pulp fiction influences. And the art is beautiful.
Trisha Wolfe, 38, operations manager, Atlantis Fantasyworld
I look for occult books and psychology—there’s an overlap. This summer I’ve been reading Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft. It’s about the minds of angry and controlling men by a counselor who studied their psychology as a career path.
Emma Devere, 26, tarot reader
Fantasies—especially ones with witches. My favorite stories are where the heroine becomes a mysterious woman—a witch—and overcomes her situation. I’m currently reading Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. A lavish party full of dignitaries is attacked and taken hostage by terrorists who were planning a kidnapping.
Ashley Ellenson, 36, flood modeling
I go to the sci-fi right away. I used to go to Logos every week for used game books and old bodybuilding magazines. Once I found a great copy of Pumping Iron signed by everyone but Arnold and Lou. I just reread The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe for the first time since I was a teenager. It’s a very complex sci-fantasy book.
Spike Murphy-Rose, 43, certified professional game master
My immediate go-to is used fiction and science fiction—sometimes the little spot that has murder mysteries, science fiction and fiction all together. Right now, I’m reading a book about the history of The Cramps. Lux Interior, Poison Ivy—I’m a huge fan.
Wes Pannell, 52, co-owner, GAME Santa Cruz
I look at Chinese or Eastern philosophy. At home I have stacks of books everywhere, but I constantly reread The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda. And I just started the audiobook of Chasing Evil, a true story about a skeptical FBI agent and John Edward, the psychic, working on an unsolved cold case.
Dave Cole, real estate attorney, filmmaker
