Saturday, October 4, 2008

Word on the Street 2008

Did I miss something? I went to The Word On The Street Book & Magazine Festival in Toronto last Sunday, and there was hardly any horror books or anything horror-related. Maybe I just missed it, but I was very disappointed. Burning Effigy Press was the only booth offering horror books. Not a single vendor had horror books for sale.

I know that horror isn't the most popular genre, but I think that there are enough fans out there to deserve more than one booth. The Sci Fi & Fantasy Writers of America had a booth with authors signing books. Why couldn't the Horror Writers Association have a booth? There was practically every magazine published in Toronto, but unfortunately Rue Morgue didn't have a booth.

Even when I went the used book sale at Victoria College, which was on at the same time, there were barely any horror novels. I bought the only two, one of which was Northern Frights, a collection of short stories by Canadian authors. There are tons of Canadian horror authors, why not have them do a reading, or have a signing. I love Edo van Belkom (Scream Queen and Blood Road are awesome) and Gord Rollo's novel The Jigsaw Man was released not long ago.

Maybe there aren't enough horror fans to make it worth their time. Maybe most people only read mainstream fiction. Well at least horror fans still have their conventions.

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