Like many foolhardy ideas, The Book Smugglers was born of a time of great adversity. Faced with threats concerning the overwhelming volume of books purchased on a daily basis, Ana Grilo and Thea James resorted to "smuggling" books home in huge handbags to avoid scrutiny. In 2008, the devious duo founded The Book Smugglers, a blog dedicated to speculative and genre fiction for all ages. In addition to being an outlet for Ana and Thea’s bottomless obsession with books, reviews, and assorted popgeekery, it is also the home of original SFF short fiction and nonfiction.
The Book Smugglers won the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine in 2020.