Cygnet Theatre had a packed house on Friday — but not for a play or a musical.
Instead, a sold-out crowd streamed into the Liberty Station venue for a book signing.
Martha Wells’ popularity has outgrown nearby Mysterious Galaxy, so the signing had to occur off-site, bookstore owner Matt Berger explained.
The packed house was there to hear about the eighth installment of Murderbot Diaries, “Platform Decay.” The indie genre bookstore, one of only two genre bookstores in San Diego, sells thousands of copies of the series each year.
“The collected series is absolutely one of our top selling books,” Berger said.
Wells has visited Mysterious Galaxy in the past, but getting her to visit this year was a coup. The author’s profile grew after the release of an Apple TV+ series adaptation starring Alexander Skarsgård and John Cho. Even before that, the Murderbot Diaries series won multiple science fiction awards, including the Hugo, Nebula and Locus.
Since being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, her travel is limited. The “Platform Decay” tour had four stops total. Before San Diego, she was at Powell’s in Portland, Oregon.
“I was afraid that I would be too tired to actually be funny or anything,” Wells said when she took the stage.
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 “The Spongebob Musical” at Cygnet.
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 “The Devils,” with a fresh endorsement from director James Cameron who bought the rights to adapt it for the screen.
And then later in May, the bookstore will host Veronica Roth, author of young adult dystopian series “Divergent,” which was also made into a movie trilogy.
Berger credits the local literary scene and San Diego’s weather with enticing the authors to add it as a stop on their tour.
“The readers here are just really into attending events,” he said. “They love being able to meet the authors, and for the most part, everyone’s really chill and it’s always good weather.”
Reading can often be a solo hobby. But that doesn’t mean readers don’t 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.
New indie bookstores continue to open despite rising rents, with author events and book clubs frequently being the force that sustains them — as well as the annual “Super Bowl of books,” San Diego’s Book Crawl.
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.
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.
Some didn’t talk at all, but they didn’t seem lonely. A few — one even wearing a punny shirt about introversion — 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.
“There is so much that happens online, but these events are really what make bookstores such pillars of the community,” Berger said. “It brings people together just to share in the love of art. And that is not something that Amazon will give readers, ever.”
