05/09/2026 Uncomfortably Dark Horror Happenings
- Candace Nola
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
Check our top sellers for the last month, two new gamer reviews from Besu Tadesse, a new vintage horror paperback review from Donna Latham, and our newest releases!!
Let's get to the updates & good news!
Uncomfortably Dark Top Orders & Page Reads
*Amazon stats only
TOP ORDERS FOR LAST 30 DAYS
THINGS ARE AS THEY SHOULD BE... - THE RESURRECTION GIRL - BISHOP - MOLTING
TOP PAGE READS AS PER AMAZON KDP LAST 30 DAYS
THE RESURRECTION GIRL - BISHOP - AT MIDNIGHT, THEY FEAST- BADLANDS
Uncomfortably Dark Review Team Stats for March & April 2026
Books Read:
March - 30
April - 46
Pages Read:
March - 4,877
April - 7,728
YTD
Books - 144
Pages - 26,654
VINTAGE PAPERBACK REVIEW OF THE MONTH
The Circus of Dr. Lao
by Charles G. Finney
Reviewed by Donna Latham
While not traditional horror, this book still fits within that genre. Written in 1935, the story would likely have been seen as scandalous and blasphemous. The descriptions of some of the creatures in the circus were truly horrific. The smell of the satyr and the diseased like condition of the Chimera were just some examples.
Scenes of witches being beaten, although not overly graphic, it still got the point across.
A scene of calling forth Satan Mekratrig where he chooses the witch Demisera as his. The fight in which the unicorn impales the Chimera. And the final scene of a pagan ritual to the god Yottle. All of this and more throughout the book make this a dark disturbing read.
One thing that annoyed me was the way Dr. Lao alternately spoke eloquently while lecturing on the creatures and then spoke in a broken stereotypical way people thought Chinese people spoke English when he was having conversations with the circus attendees. I don't know, it just annoyed me.
Another thing that got under my skin was the racist terms used (yes that word included). Although it was maybe a handful of times derogatory terms for Black and Chinese people were used, it still gave me the ick. Reading something from the 30's I anticipated the use of that language though, so I wasn't really shocked.
GET IT HERE:
INDIE HORROR NEWS FROM AROUND THE INDUSTRY!
UPCOMING EVENTS
JUNE 4-7 STOKERCON 2026 PITTSBURGH, PA
JUNE 12 - 14, 2026 LIVING DEAD WEEKEND MONROEVILLE MALL, PITTSBURGH, PA
JUNE 27 - 28, 2026 TEXAS HORROR LIT WEEKEND, IRVING, TX
JUNE 27, 2026. BEERS & FEARS: Horror Book Festival. NEWTON, NJ
Join us at Angry Erik's Brewing in Newton, NJ this coming June for a Horror Book Festival!
Check out the flyer below and add this FREE event to your calendar!
OCTOBER 1 -4, 2026 HORROR READER WEEKEND IN NOLA!
Check out the flyer below for guest info and more details!
NOV. 6 - 8, 2026 KILLERCON AUSTIN, TEXAS
Join us in Austin, Tx for Killercon and the Splatterpunk Awards!
*Is there an event happening soon that we need to know about? Send me an email at editor@uncomfortablydark.com
UNCOMFORTABLY DARK NEW RELEASES
AVAILABLE NOW
THINGS ARE AS THEY SHOULD BE And Other Words To Die For by P.M. Raymond
Amazon.com: THINGS ARE AS THEY SHOULD BE And Other Words To Die For eBook : Raymond, P.M. , Nola, Candace: Kindle Store
THE RESURRECTION GIRL by Nathan Ludwig
NO LAUGHING MATTER by M Ennenbach
A Cyberpunk Novella
Amazon.com: No Laughing Matter: A Cyberpunk Novella eBook : Ennenbach, M, Nola, Candace: Kindle Store
DISTILLED CHAOS by M Ennenbach
A New Collection
WE PAINT OUR FACES WITH THE ASHES OF THE DEAD by Nikolas P. Robinson
We Paint Our Faces With The Ashes Of Our Dead - Kindle edition by Robinson, Nikolas P. , Nola, Candace. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
THE BARISTA by Candace Nola
GAMER REVIEWS OF THE MONTH!
LILY'S WELL
Reviewed by Besu Tadesse
Contains Spoilers
Released in January 2022, Lily’s Well is an indie adventure horror game developed and published by PureIceBlue. You play as Lily, a young girl who goes on a quest to investigate and save a person presumably trapped in a well outside her home. You are tasked with collecting several items that Lily can combine to enter the well and save the voice from certain doom.
Lily traverses the local landscape, finding various items that can be used to access secret locations and collect makeshift rope items, such as bedsheets and chains, that can send her down into the well to find the source of the voice calling out. The gameplay is rather simple: walk to an item, decide if you will take it on your adventure, and find the correct combination of items that will be successful (some materials are inadequate and will break, ending your journey). Since you cannot discard items once you have found them, you are also given access to a trash can for discarding the pieces that you do not want to use. Other items called “Files” can be collected to provide Lily more information on what materials work best. As with more modern pixel-art games, the gameplay mechanics are fairly straightforward.
The narrative, however, becomes the central focus as you get more comfortable playing. Lily dies frequently, and how she dies matters. With each death, she gains more information on the true nature of herself and a broader conspiracy that is tied to her, her father, and other characters implied in the environmental elements. Eventually, you are directed to the “True Ending”, implied in several death screens that require you to play the game multiple times over.
Fortunately, many elements that you complete in earlier runs allow you to bypass some of the tedium, and each successful ending uncovers more and more shocking discoveries. In some instances, playing the game after a defeat using the same solution unlocks a similar but fundamentally different ending experience. You can only truly complete the game after multiple playthroughs (by design), leading to major revelations and a satisfying conclusion.
With a rich story behind the retro graphics, I can’t speak highly enough about Lily’s Well. This game is available on PC. Highly recommend it!
GET IT HERE:
*Requires age check
LOVE ETERNAL
Reviewed by Besu Tadesse
Contains Spoilers
Released in February 2026, Love Eternal is a precision-platforming psychological horror game developed by brlka and published by Ysbryd Games. You play Maya, a teenage girl pulled into a world of terror as she attempts to escape a labyrinth of platforms, spikes, lasers, and gravity-bending puzzles. During your escape, you uncover the secret of what’s going on to find your way out, as well as learn more about yourself and the world around you.
The game takes its inspiration from other precision platformers – think Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV, and Celeste. The primary mechanic is based on three actions: running, jumping, and inverting gravity. These basic controls create a wide variety of puzzles, teaching you how to move past spikes and around lasers. Later, you are introduced to floating red stones that allow you to reset gravity inversion, allowing for more complicated designs to conquer. While some of the puzzles can be a bit frustrating as you try to gauge the inertia, conquering each section is satisfying. The game also gives a generous number of save points, allowing you to jump in and out of action without too much headache.
The special sauce is in the story, which moves you from the platforming parts to the first-person psychological horror portions. The story of how you came to this new world unfolds as characters begin to morph and, at times, replace themselves in your life. You later learn that a very lonely deity brought you into the puzzle world to replace you while she searches for love. She promises a life of bliss for those who are replaced, but they only find pain from her misguided attempts at community. This genre flip really brings out more of the themes that are reinforced in the gameplay – solitude is painful, and people will do whatever it takes to escape the pain, even if it means that you will sometimes put others through that very pain. There’s a lot of narrative depth for the type of game mechanics involved, and one that surprised me when it happened.
Overall, this is a solid game both in gameplay and story. It has some genuinely terrifying or mind-bending moments that had me thinking about the very relationship I had with games and game characters. It does require a certain amount of fluid motion to really nail some of the harder puzzles, so for those who have difficulties with hand mobility, this one may not be for you. But for those who have the skill and patience, it’s a great addition to your library.
This game is available on PC. I highly recommend it. Check it out!
GET IT HERE:
OTHER WAYS TO SHOP AND SUPPORT UNCOMFORTABLY DARK!
SHOP OUR STORE AND GET FREE SWAG!
Most books will come signed or with a bookplate!
Need Uncomfortably Dark Merch? We got that too!
DON'T WANT TO MISS A SINGLE RELEASE? PATREON HAS YOU COVERED!
Join our Patreon at the top tier to receive every single release all year long, in eBook and Physical form, as well merch, free flash fiction and short stories from our authors and more!
JUST GETTING STARTED ON YOUR HORROR JOURNEY?
Get our 2025 - 2026 Author Sampler Anthology, DARK ASYLUMS, for free by subscribing to our newsletter!
DO YOU PREFER SUBSTACK? WE ARE ON THERE TOO!
Comments