Constant Pandemonium

Tyler Stewart, owner of Pandemonium Books and Games in Cambridge, has won the latest battle to keep his science fiction specialty shop alive. His weapon of choice? T-shirts.

To raise money to pay his back taxes, Stewart last month set a goal of selling 1,000 T-shirts a month (the logo is above, top). He easily made his numbers, and now he's readying a new design (above, second from top). "It's a real Frank Capra moment," he said, comparing the outpouring of support to that of Bedford Falls for George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life."

Stewart opened the shop 18 years ago in Harvard Square. Recently he earned an MBA at Boston College to try to improve his profitability, but the store suffered from his absence and a move to Central Square that took longer than expected.

The larger quarters at 4 Pleasant St. are the centerpiece of his survival strategy. Now the store can carry collectible figures and other merchandise with a higher profit margin than books, and it can host gatherings for science fiction fans. On the calendar are game nights and a group effort to build a paper model of the Unseen University, a wizardry school in Terry Pratchett's novels.

In a refreshingly anti-parochial move, Grub Street, the 10-year-old nonprofit center for writers, has established three awards for writers living outside of New England.

The winner of the first Grub Street Book Prize in Fiction is Sheri Joseph, author of "Stray," a novel about a love triangle. Prizes for poetry and nonfiction will be announced later this year. Each prize comes with a $500 honorarium and a trip to Boston to teach a class at Grub Street and be feted at a book party. The center hopes the awards will promote Boston as an important stop for author tours. Joseph, who lives in Atlanta, is scheduled to visit in May.

Speaking of Grub Street, its Grub Gone Silly -- an evening of literature, live music, and beer -- will be held at 8 p.m. on March 16 at its headquarters, 160 Boylston St. Readers include Kris Frieswick, Leslie Talbot, and Jonathan Ames . The event is usually a sellout. Tickets are $8.

Paul Yoon is off to a fast start. Editor Ann Patchett selected his first published story, "Once the Shore," for the 2006 edition of "The Best American Short Stories." "Once the Shore" revolves around an American widow and a Korean waiter, each struggling to cope with the death of a loved one.

Yoon will read tomorrow at PEN New England's Discovery Evening, an annual tradition since 1979 in which four established writers introduce four emerging writers. The readings begin at 6:30 p.m. at Radcliffe Gym, 18 Mason St., Cambridge.

"A Far Country," by Daniel Mason (Knopf)

"The Invention of Hugo Cabret," by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)

"Broken Paradise," by Cecilia Samartin (Atria)

Elli Meeropol of Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley recommends "Like Trees, Walking" (Amistad): "This first novel by Ravi Howard about a lynching has unencumbered prose, believable characters, and it packs an emotional wallop."

Jan Gardner can be reached at JanLGardner@yahoo.com.