There’s a lot of backstory to the indie bookstore Spineless Reads and its octopus logo.
Owner Lucas Marino opened the Williamsburg shop last September, after a stint in the Coast Guard; working as an engineering contractor for the Navy; teaching systems engineering part-time at ODU; creating his own business, an online engineering platform; and writing two books.
By his mid-40s, he was ready to start focusing more on himself. “I was at that point of discovery because while I’d been doing things I loved, that wasn’t who I’d been as a kid,” he says. “My mentor told me I was a writer, but the books I’d written had been non-fiction, which feels like teaching. I wanted to write fiction.”
Horror was his thing and writing it felt like refilling his cup. When fellow writers complained to him about questionable ethics in some smaller publishing houses, he was convinced to start a publishing company. It was then he realized he could earn a living selling books. After his wife vetoed that idea, he went on to test it for two years, working special events and selling books. “I had to figure out, did I enjoy it? Was it profitable? Was it sustainable?” he says. “All arrows were pointing to yes.”
Sera Petras Photography
“My teenage children work here, and I wanted this to be a place where local teens could come,” says Marino.
Early on, Marino considered becoming an e-book distributor with a plan to share the profits with bookstores. He came up with the name Spineless Reads, created a logo that referenced his naval past and developed a website. Unable to secure agreements with publishers to stock their books, by then he was attached to the name and logo, which appear on the store’s navy-blue t-shirts. “It might not make sense, but it’s still cool,” he says, chuckling. “People come in all the time and ask what’s up with the name and the octopus, so it’s created a lot of unique conversations.”
Ultimately, he decided to open a brick-and-mortar bookstore, testing the waters with a three-year lease on a space sized so that he wouldn’t need a lot of employees.
Sera Petras Photography
“My teenage children work here, and I wanted this to be a place where local teens could come,” he says, sounding very Dad-like.
His opinions on independent bookstores speak to all they do for the community, from employing a local HVAC company to using a local insurance agent to banking with Chesapeake Bank because of their local roots. “I hire local people, lease through a local realtor, bring in local authors,” says Marino, who also purchased materials locally to build out the space with his father. “Independent bookstores help support the local economy and not just from our profits. It’s tourism and culture, too, like when visitors Google ‘local bookstores’ and come check us out.”
Spineless Reads is a fiction bookstore with a decided preference for horror, Marino’s favorite genre. Readers will find science fiction, fantasy and romance, literary fiction, historical fiction, classics and young adult titles, but it’s clear what moves him.
The indie horror section is the largest in Virginia, stuffed with book covers showcasing blood, hollow-eyed children and skulls, among other gory details. A customer comes in, enthusiastically sharing that he’d stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish the horror story he’d purchased just yesterday and immediately grabbing two more from the series.
Sera Petras Photography
Owner Lucas Marino, a Coast Guard veteran, author, and founder of his own publishing company, has made books a treasured part of the Marino household. That love of literature carries into Spineless Reads, where his teenage children help at the shop and he hopes other teens will gather to connect over books.
The shop sits in a bustling shopping center, but inside, the vibe is serene with pale green walls, four big chairs, a sunny front window and plants. Octopuses reign supreme, sitting on shelves and tables between books. He jokes that any octopuses that come into the store aren’t permitted to leave. “So, when someone comes in with an octopus tattoo, I ask them: skin or limb?” he cracks. “People react by saying, you’re such a horror writer, but I want to be a little out there and evoke something dark and mysterious.”
Marino is aware that the right people will be the right customers for Spineless Reads and others will filter themselves out. Like the customer who returned in less than 24 hours for additional books, he says many of his regular readers are fully invested. “They read because they’re looking to feel something and I’m here to satisfy that need,” he says. “That’s why our slogan is, ‘we carry the fiction you feel.’”
Spineless Reads I 4640 Casey Boulevard, Suite 130, Williamsburg I 757-755-6978 I spinelessreads.com
