Fantasy fans gather for Capital Books’ first-ever Masquerade Ball

Warlocks, high lords, fairies and tieflings. These four creatures typically only exist in the pages of fantasy novels, but on Saturday night they came alive inside the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria in Downtown Sacramento. 

Roughly 150 guests attended the first-ever Legends & Libraries Fantasy Masquerade Ball, an event created by Capital Books in partnership with the Sacramento Public Library. 

Ross Rojek, who co-owns Capital Books with his wife, Heidi Rojek, explained that the inspiration for the event came from the growth in popularity of “Romantasy,” or romantic fantasy books. 

“[It’s] not just your standard romance, but now you add the element of fairies, monsters and whatever else,” Rojek said. “As that grows, people are getting more and more into dress up, cosplay and everything else. So this was just kind of the way to take those two things and put it together.” 

He said the event was an opportunity to reach more people in the community than they typically could, noting that “there’s only so many books you can sell.” 

“This is one of those sorts of events that makes money that is outside of your normal cash flow, and is also creating a level of community that you don’t get just transactioning books,” he added. 

Rojek also emphasized the importance of the partnership with the public library, which he said didn’t charge his business for using the Galleria. 

“If we had to pay for the Galleria, we couldn’t afford it,” he said. “They need us, we need them, and together, we do a lot more than either one of us could do individually.” 

Todd Deck, Community Engagement Services Manager for the library, oversees adult programming and adult literacy, among other things. Deck said the bookstore has been “incredibly helpful over the years” as a book sale partner for all of the library’s events. 

“They came up with this idea for Legends & Libraries and [the event is sold out], so it’s pretty amazing to see,” he said. “Sacramento is a community of readers and they love actually getting their book signed and all of those things.” 

Four authors famous for writing fantasy novels attended the event to do book signings. Andrea Stewart, bestselling author of “The Drowning Empire” series and “The Gods Below,” said coming to the event was “one of those things that [she] immediately said yes to.”

“It’s just one of those things where you can connect with other people that enjoy the same things that you do and you can dress up without looking like a weirdo,” she said. “One of the reasons I was so excited is because there are not a lot of fantasy balls in the area. Having something close by that I could go to and dress like a maniac — absolutely.” 

Stewart said she also noticed the event was being held only days after the General Election.

“I thought I was either going to be feeling OK or I’m going to be feeling quite depressed, and it’ll be a good chance for a distraction,” she said. “A chance to connect with people who enjoy the same things that I do in a time when things are uncertain, I think that means a lot to a lot of people.” 

Anastasia Fraser and Maegan Chow came to the event together dressed in outfits inspired by their favorite fantasy novels. Although Fraser said reading is an individual activity, she appreciated being able to find a “like-minded community” she feels a “sort of fellowship” with. 

“You read the books, you dress up as a character, you come out and you have a group of people that enjoy the same thing that you do,” the 25-year-old said.

Chow, also 25, runs the Capital Books Newsletter and is in a book club with Fraser. She highlighted the irony of the event given the notion that “people like [them] have a hard time finding friends because they’re always inside” reading. 

She also argued that the partnership between the bookstore and the library is important to ensuring success.

“If local businesses and organizations can support each other, they can build each other up and hopefully keep going for as long as they can,” she stressed. 

Capital Books

Capital Books opened five years ago and has since become very involved in Sacramento’s Downtown community. Rojek said that a big part of that was the COVID-19 pandemic when customers were stuck at home but still eager to read. 

“Our regular customers that we had who were now home were calling up going, ‘Can you bring me a book?’ Or ‘Can I come down and get a book but you don’t talk to me and just throw it through my car window?’” Rojek recounted.

Eventually, they started holding private “Feast and Fiction” events where people could rent the store at night to have a private date night — an event he believes eventually led to the masquerade ball.

The popularity of romance novels has also led to the creation of “Knotty Novels,” which is a romance-only floor at Capital Books. The store is divided into three floors; the main store, which Rojek said he likes to call the “airport store” because it has a little bit for everyone; a sci-fi and fantasy-focused section downstairs called Another Universe; and Knotty Novels upstairs. 

There and Back Cafe 

Rojek also owned There and Back Cafe, a Lord of the Rings-themed cafe in Downtown Sacramento that closed Monday. He said he had to close the business because “it just never got to the point where it was making enough money to survive.” 

“Eventually, the landlord gets tired of working on partial payments and things like that,” he said. “I don’t know that we’re going to give up on that idea, it just isn’t going to work out in that space.”

Rojek said Capital Books will host some Dungeons and Dragons games and Empress Tavern, a subterranean restaurant he owns located under Crest Theatre, will host themed dinners on nights they’re closed.

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