Blog Posts

SKINS Published by Jack Bantry in Splatterpunk's Basement of Horror. This was quite a strange tale of terror, but more so, despair, sadness, and betrayal. It follows a young woman that was doing her best to fit in, to accommodate what she thought everyone else wanted her to be, and to deal with rejection by trying to be accepted. At the height of her despair, we see just how far she went and how far another went to try to save her from herself. It's told through a series of f

Family Ties is a short story that I wrote for the TUMBLE BLEED Anthology, edited by Merrill David in conjunction with the Texas Reader and AuthorCon. This short story takes a couple of unexpected twists and turns as a lonely young woman, Nash, is looking for any means of escape from an abusive foster home. Dealing with the loss of her mother, struggling with the fresh hell that her life has become, and desperately trying to find her place in the world, Nash flees from the tra

SAUUTI TERRORS Short Stories from the Unique Universe created by Contemporary African Writers. Edited by Eugen Bacon, Cheryl Ntumy, and Stephen Embleton. SAUUTI TERRORS, by its own description, is an anthology of short stories based on an entirely new universe created by some of today’s best contemporary African Writers and it does not disappoint. It’s intelligent and thought-provoking, with stories that weave tales of terrors, tied together with threads of magic, wonder, fai

THE HOME by Judith Sonnet is a delightfully twisted journey that combines small-town horror with cosmic horror in an almost perfect tale. A story that focuses on friends bound by tragedy, how grief and terror ties us, changes us, and can twist us into something else. But maybe it’s more than that too, maybe it forces us to take a look at who really are, who our friends are, how well do we know those that we would blindly follow into Dante’s Inferno without blinking an eye? TH

Transformation is another creature feature story, set in the Pacific Northwest, and most importantly, along the Pacific Northwest trail. This one is a bit different than my other stories though, as I feel like this one has a bit of a happier ending once all is said and done. Just in case you have not yet read this one, that's all I'll say about the ending. The story focuses on a young man named Garrison. A rather horrible young man, late teens when the story opens, that spent

THE HAAR by David Sondergren I waited far too long to check this one out! It’s been on my list forever, and I’ve got a couple more books by this author that just moved up my TBR pile! This was a fantastic read, gorier than I expected, much more chilling than I thought it might be, with characters so vividly written, I felt like I personally knew them. It’s a horror story but somehow much more than that, an interesting mix of crime and corruption, of grief horror, and oceanic

Safety First appears in Dead Girls and Dead Things 2, edited by RJ Roles. Safety First is a twisted short story that my younger daughter planted the seed for while we were out running errands one day. The rest of it seemed to just fall into place from there, almost a what if scenario meshed with worst ways to die. My daughter's comment that sparked the idea happened while we were driving past a runaway truck ramp, going down a steep hill that leads into the city. This particu

Just a short list below for my personal favorite reads, appearances, and events of 2025. First Read of 2025: This House Will Never Be Warm by Paul Avery Tindol Last Read/s of the year: Dead Children’s Playground by James Kaine Terrifier 3: The novelization by Tim Waggoner (edited by James Carlson). *Reviews coming soon. Most Beautiful Read/s of the year: Dark Cloud On Naked Creek by Cindy O’Quinn My Eyes Are Just Holograms by John Boden Most personal read/s of the year: Song

Zippers is one of my favorite stories and I've not done a note on it yet so here we go. I've mentioned a few times how some of my ideas come from my kids, and I'll be honest, most of my more bizarre stories come from their ideas, not all... but most, so far. LOL. Zippers is essentially a story based on the mannerisms, dark humor, and intrusive thoughts of my oldest daughter, whom most of you know as Katie, but in fact, her full name is Katrina. She is the Katrina in the story

This first appeared in the June 2022 issue of Cauldron of Chaos magazine published by Red Cape Publishing. Incidentally, this was also my first flash fiction piece! It is exactly 500 words, and it was quite challenging to keep it to that word count. Enjoy! Empty Eyes by Candace Nola “How long has she been here?” Father Brantley inquired as the nun ushered him along the basement corridor. “Seven days, Father. Mother Superior did not want her harmed, so we restrained her and

Today's note is on NUBS, another one of my bizarre novellas in which a young woman falls victim to her own intrusive thoughts about a rather unique phenomenon. NUBS, like so many of my short novellas came from an idea my daughter had. My oldest daughter has a professional interest and fascination, in an empathetic way, with the phantom limb pain that so many amputees speak of. The idea of it has always held some intrigue for her and has led to many conversations about how the

Did you know that I have quite a few titles on Audible with more on the way? There are also some Uncomfortably Dark Titles out there as well. Read on to see what is available on Audible today and be sure to add these to your TBR list! Thanks as always for being here, being a reader, and supporting this dream of mine. Audible Page for Candace Nola This link will take you to the audible page featuring all titles that I am a part of or have published. These titles include the fo

New on Godless! Coming to paperback in January 2026! THE BARISTA By Candace Nola Orphaned as a baby, Sunny was raised by her young uncles, Justin and Zeke. Barely in their twenties, the young men turned to the seedy underbelly of the city as a means of survival.   Now that Sunny is a young adult, she begins to learn just how her coffee shop began, and what goes on in the dark corners of the warehouse where they create their special blends from the finest beans and other fres

Out Now from Kandisha Press, owned by Jill Giradi and Erin Prime. PRETEND YOU DON'T SEE HER is their latest all female anthology. I was honored to write the introduction to what I believe is a very important anthology published by Kandisha Press, an anthology that could not be more relevant in today's world. Pretend You Don't See Her: The Invisible Woman: Kandisha Press 2025 Women of Horror Anthology: Prime, Erin Lydia, Girardi, Jill, Nola, Candace, Jagge, Ruthann, Cellura, A

Since we just passed the Thanksgiving holiday, I was reminded of this brutal little tale that I wrote just about two years ago, about another Thanksgiving holiday, long ago. Lisa Vasquez invited me to an anthology, VIXENS OF HORROR: VINTAGE EDITION, she was putting together of feminine rage, and I had this idea just pop into my head almost fully formed. Oddly enough, the only major thought I had to put into it was the array of kill scenes, because, well, I am known as an extr

GOOD FOR HER: An Anthology of Feminine Rage GOOD FOR HER: An Anthology of Feminine Rage, edited by Sarah Jules, Shauna McEleney, and TC Parker. If you're not angry - you should be. Good For Her: An Anthology of Women's Rage celebrates women's rights - and women's wrongs. Filled with rage, revenge and retribution and featuring stories from writers including Ai Jiang, RJ Joseph, Hailey Piper, Candace Nola, MJ Mars, Leigh Kenny and SH Cooper, Good For Her is not only pure cathar

There is no such thing as too much exposure! A small press needs all the help it can get so check below for ways you can help support my work here and on Uncomfortably Dark! OTHER WAYS TO SHOP AND SUPPORT UNCOMFORTABLY DARK! SHOP OUR STORE AND GET FREE SWAG! Most books will come signed or with a bookplate! Shop | Uncomfortably Dark Need Uncomfortably Dark Merch? We got that too! https://www.teepublic.com/stores/uncomfortably-dark-horror?ref_id=35156 DON'T WANT TO MISS A SINGL

It's been a few weeks since I've done an Authors Note for you all. Ironically enough, I had almost forgotten about this short story that I wrote for Jack Bantry's Splatterpunk Zine Issue 14, last year. It's short, brutal, and has, in my opinion, a rather well-deserved ending. This time, I went with the idea of elderly people getting revenge on those that choose to prey on them. When Jack approached me for a story, I remember seeing yet another horrible story on the news of

NOW AVAILABLE IN EBOOK AND PAPERBACK! HANK FLYNN: The Return In the early 1900s, in the mid-west of a young America, something evil is preying on small towns, leaving a trail of blood in its wake as it moves, unseen, searching for something older than the land itself. When tragedy strikes next, Sheriff Townsend has his hands full with townsfolk demanding answers, a young rookie as his only assistant, and a doctor that has more questions than answers. When a stranger arrives

We featured this Kickstarter project over on the Uncomfortably Dark Blog last week, but wanted to help spread the word even more so I'm reposting it here on my blog and I also shared it to my Patreon and all of my social media. This is a really awesome project from Ty Acierto, horror-themed graphic novel project, 100% created by human artists. We fully support human artists, so go on and check this out, grab a copy and some awesome perks! Pumpkinomicon: Handmade Horror You Ca