Dark Reads 2026

I've written about a few local expos before. They're usually solid choices since there's often a fair chance that I pick something up or, at the very least, can show off what's at the various tables—save for Applefest when a grouchy old woman told me to put my camera away lest someone pilfer her idea of crocheting gourds.

With so many happening throughout the months, I've begun to be a little more picky about the ones I attend. Time is a limiting factor, but the admission fees can add up once you have several people in tow. Some, like the Dark Arts Festival, allowed you to simply walk in, as did certain nights of MonstahMag. Many of them share the same organizers, and you see the same familiar faces over time.

When looking at the schedule printed out on a promo card given out at Retro Expo earlier in the Fall, one event stood out: an author-only expo—something right up my alley.

Now a competent person would have taken many photos of the event and the authors at each table, but expecting competency at this point is a fool's errand. Instead, we'll have to suffice with a wide shot and then some cover pictures taken weeks later when I finally stole a moment for myself.

-And unlike many of the events I frequent, I ensured that I used the months of leadup to try and hoard some cash so I could not only afford to grab a healthy selection of titles but also to help the vendors with some plausible deniability when it came to the tax man who was skulking about and trying to suck the 7% off the top of the starving artists.

But the taxes go to the roads…!

Have you seen our roads…?

Moving on.

The theme for most of the expo targeted the horror genre, more or less, as per the general vibe of the "Dark Reads" nomenclature. There was a scattering of sci-fi, romance, and incestuous royal dramas, but overall it was zombies and body horror. I did my best to get a sampling across the event, trying to visit each table and hear the pitch all while also trying to be cordial when I didn't think I was going to pick up a title.

I feel for the vendors; I do. It's a harsh landscape for indie authors in the best of times, and while the internet has opened up more opportunities, it's also created a vast glut of everyone else doing the same thing. Having someone standing in front of you is a huge help, but I couldn't buy everything. My upbringing has been one that's led to super awkward interactions when it comes to letting someone down. I can't even be rude to the telemarketers without a pang of guilt; I need to somehow explain why I don't need more solar panels on my house. The same goes for when I have to sidestep the story about Prince Herbert having feelings for his little brother, as it's a bit out of my realm of interest.

I'll add a final caveat that I haven't had the chance to crack open most of these, but let's see what I got, shall we?

Come Again Soon by J. Pare

Short-time readers will know that I'm a sucker for cemeteries. Does the book feature a cemetery? There's a non-zero chance, but much like renting a VHS in the 80s, you just have to trust your gut based on the cover art and the blurb on the back. Come Again Soon is a collection of short stories. It felt like a safe bet, even if I do prefer longer-form novels, especially if I get invested in the characters. On the other hand, I might have a chance at picking the book up and getting to a natural breaking point rather than wonder where I left off months prior when I had my last spare night to read.

Dr. Grinsaw by Laura Bilodeau

I had intended to ease our way into the graphic body horror sub-subgenre, but this list will prove that hope difficult given the bulk of the choices. I'm quite certain that teeth strike a nerve with anyone who's seen the Dentist II or that Ren & Stimpy episode. Not that the grotesque needs to travel far to push boundaries, but there's something primal about tooth pain that likely makes this a thoroughly uncomfortable experience.

Mabel Green and the Howling Woodlands by Elle Rose

I organized the list at random, so it's fortunate that we land on the one family-friendly offering on deck. WHile most of the authors here were fresh meetups, I ran across Elle at MonstaMag a few months ago. The location was unfortunate, as she was given a table near a room divider, which lessened the much-needed foot traffic to catch attention. I had run out of money since the event was free and I showed up on a whim. Feeling like I should at least do something, I wrote my name on the mailing list and went home with little more than a bottle of hot sauce, which is aging to imperfection on my counter at present.

Running across the books a second time, they looked familiar, and then I spotted the mailing list with my sole name still on it. Equiped with a wallet full of cash for the first time in recent memory, I grabbed the first of the two books, figuring it would be a refresher to have something that wasn't so demoralizing. Plus, she was there with her family, and I know the trials of keeping a young'un pacified for hours upon end in what, to their eyes, is both a sensory overload and deprivation scenario. It's not easy.

I heard from the event organizer that the book is solid, so I'll have to move it up the queue.

Vampire: A Soldier's Promise by Esko Mason

Esko, from what I've been told, is a newcomer in the local author scene. Whether that means with writing novels or just the expos, I'm unsure. But a vampire story was an outlier in its simplicity amoung the vast sea of extreme horror. The premise of military service experience being revived to fight the undead was worth grabbing. I'll turn a blind eye to the AI cover, since I'm fairly neutral when it comes to that divisive topic. I 100% understand the reasoning behind the boycott, which was very much overtly on display that day, but if it keeps a new author on budget, then it's hard to fault. Perhaps once there's some money to throw around to hire artists, it would be a different story, but until then, it's not a grave sin in my eyes.

The Street Between the Pines by J. J. Alo

I had a brief moment of panic as I looked over my haul on the way out. My brain decided to mix around a few of the vowels in Pines, and I thought I had accidentally bought something salacious. I still might have, but not with this book in particular, anyhow.

It's another story about a veteran who has to rekindle his trauma and use it against the supernatural. The author had quite the array of releases on the table, so I sort of had to pick one at random, but this appears to be a decent choice.

Thrills & Chills by Katrina Thornley

As you may have noticed, there's no shortage of locally inspired tales within these releases. There's a meme that contrasts the fairies and gnomes of the European forests with the skinwalkers and cryptids of ours. What can I say? We're just metal that way.

This is a collection of short stories covering the range from small towns to mansions to homestead farms. When you live in these parts, it hits home, so I look forward to getting through these when time allows.

Vanity Kills by Erica Summers

We're back to body horror, and we aren't likely to depart throughout the remainder of the list. It only gets more uncomfortable from here. I'm sort of mixing up the tables at this point since I spent a month's salary on literature that will stare at me from a shelf for far longer. I believe this table was chalk full to the point where certain titles were being cleared out at $5 a pop. I was tempted to grab several, but the bulk I was carrying was growing ever larger as it was.

Thie White Bishop by Brandon Perras Sanchez & Aron Beauregard

The next few books are from the same author. I met Brandon at a PVD horror expo a few months back and hit it off. He was super friendly despite the rather grim content material that each of the books appeared to portray. This one, co-authored by Aron Beauregard, certainly alluded to some extreme content. More on Aron in a bit, but those who know his work can easily surmise what may lie within.

Recessive Nature by Brandon Perras Sanchez

This book wins the award for most-read book, but by default, since it's the only one I've been able to finish so far. It focuses on a duo of cryptid hunters out to avenge their father's death, which resulted from the same line of work. There's a bit of extreme gore, but it does delve more into the supernatural and reminds me of a creature version of the plot from American Gothic.

To Break a Pale Yolk by Brandon Perras Sanchez

Brandon was more than happy to sign the pickups, as were most of the other authors there. It gives me some pause after seeing the four-letter description, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. He's also extended an offer on both occasions to help out with any new-author questions, whether it be publishing or writing. Hopefully I'll be able to reach out at some point for that reason.

Homewreckers by Aron Beauregard

Aron is someone I've bought a book from at each venue I've spotted him. At times, I question my decision-making skills, since the books after saunter up to the boundaries of good taste, then pave over them to the point where StilesProject might put their hands up and say, "Whoa, buddy." I kid, but if you ever want a glimpse into what the temperament of the old-web was in the late 90s when it wasn't animated .gifs and shrines, it's realistically more along the lines of what occurs within these pages.

I certainly have a strong stomache, but there were times even I had to wonder what I was reading. Perhaps I was saved a bit by not having the breadth of knowledge of half of the lurid descriptions, but there was enough to churn the guts of even the most scarred 90s kid who grew up on ogrish and sketchy IRC chat links.

The pleasant irony is that Aron is a completely normal down-to-earth person when you talk to him. Always appreciative when you pick up a title, he even wished me well in my new business venture when I explained my relative absence in recent expos as of late. From the testimonials of others, he's done much of the same with helping fledgling authors get some of the basics under their belt. It's with some trepidation that I crack open this next novel, but I know it surely won't be a dull experience.

I Will Find You by Brennan Lafaro

I was going to end on Aron, but Brennan, when he so graciously signed this book, took the time to sketch his most perfect archetypal haunted house on the cover after penning his name. It's straight out of Hugo's House of Horrors, which is the most ideal and befitting complement I can bestow. This is also the only time I had the forethought to take a picture during the event, so pardone my creepy subversion while signing. It's for the promo, honest.

This book gets the award for best value since he was able to wrap three of his related novels into one giant compilation yet still only asked for the usual going rate. It's a massive piece that should certainly keep me busy for a long while, outside the fact that I work 18 hours a day lately and forget what sunlight looks like.

I do like that each is part of a trilogy, so once I get invested in the characters, I can continue on that and follow them throughout the stories. Haunted house in a New England setting? Yes please. And as mentioned, I shy away from the short stories for that reason, so this has precisely the opposite effect. I have my work cut out for me for a long, long time, and it wouldn't be hyperbole to say that it might reach into a year or more before making a dent in the stack, but they will be read. And by then, I'll have another bunch, plus all the pre-War titles I buy up the street for a dollar. Maybe I should open a library.