Sure, horror movies are scary. But there’s a special kind of spooky that comes along with reading a scary book, where your own imagination is helping to build the tension.
As Halloween approaches, Bobzbay and Red Raccoon Games in downtown Bloomington are teaming up for their first-ever horror fiction convention, called Tomes of Terror. It’s from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Red Raccoon.
One of the dozen Midwest authors and vendors on hand will be Sue Rovens, an indie writer from Normal who’s written five novels and two collections of short horror stories.
“I like to focus on the underbelly of society, the strangeness that comes into realistic settings, that deal with your average person getting into something unknown or the surreal,” Rovens said.
It takes about two years to write a book – from idea to finished work – for Rovens, who is retired from Illinois State University’s Milner Library. Rovens likes to use November’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) to write her first drafts. NaNoWriMo encourages people to write 50,000 words in 30 days.
But as an indie author, finding an audience is difficult, Rovens said. More established authors in the genre, like Stephen King, have entire teams responsible for publicizing and marketing a book, she said.
“And when you’re an indie author, you have to do that all by yourself. You’re looking for events, you’re trying to market, you’re pushing your stuff on Facebook or a blog, just trying to get the word out. And hopefully, somebody will connect with your book, and they’ll tell somebody, and they’ll tell somebody. It’s one person, one book at a time,” Rovens said.
Rovens praised Bobzbay, an indie book store in downtown Bloomington, which is co-hosting Tomes of Terror.
“They’ve been more than welcoming to indie authors,” Rovens said.
In a statement, Bobzbay said Tomes of Terror will be a “fun daytime event for anyone interested in getting into the spooky mood in the weeks leading up to Halloween.”
“This will be the first event in what we hope will become an annual occurrence that offers authors, readers, horror fans, and local businesses a space to come together to celebrate the darker side of literature,” the store said.
