01/01/2026 Personal Favorites of 2025
- Candace Nola
- 53 minutes ago
- 2 min read
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 Dogs by Brennan LaFaro
(Due to the honor of a character based on me, and the book being dedicated to me).
Dark Roads Traveled by Tony Tremblay
(Due to the honor of being asked to write the introduction)
Cabin Black by Dan Shrader
(Simply seeing my protege fully find his voice made me proud.)
Favorite Read/s of the Year:
There’s Something Wrong With Maddie by Taylor Z. Adams
Veil by Jonathan Janz
Senseless by Ronald Malfi
Most Haunting Read/s of the Year:
Eminence Front by Rebecca Rowland
(ARC read, coming Jan. 20, 2026 from Clash Books)
To Those Willing To Drown by Mark Matthews
Biggest honor/s of the year:
Editing UNWORTHY by L. Marie Wood Courtesy of Mocha Memoirs Press
(L. Marie Wood is a literary icon in this business and someone I deeply admire, along with Nicole Given Kurtz being one of the best in the industry with her award-winning press Mocha Memoirs Press)
Invited to speak as part of a multi-day virtual horror symposium, Meeting of the Morbid Minds, hosted by NightTide Magazine, my first paid speaking engagement, thanks to Mo Moshaty for this incredible opportunity.
Favorite events of the year:
Authorcon 5 -This will always be one of my favorite events of the year. Scares That Care is such an important organization and I’m glad to be a part of all the important things they do.
GenreBlast-Indie Films for three days… Need I say more? And hosted by Nathan Ludwig, and Chad Famer, two indie authors?! This was super fun, and I was able to meet so many awesome screenwriters, directors, and actors/actresses while taking part in seeing the incredible short and feature length films that they had created, not to mention I was able to finally meet the uber-talent that is Jamal Hodge.
See the full recap for 2025 here: