Gautham: Bill Gauthier.com

Hello, friends.

The sun is out and it’s in the 60s outside. October is on the calendar and I write a little about that this week. I have yet to really settle into the “new” school year (it’s now more than a month old) and it’s been messing with me. But here I am, here you are, and we can hang out for a little bit today. And that’s good.

Welcome to the 193^rd installment of Gauthic Times, the newsletter about my writing, my life, and musings on October, horror, and book events. If you’re a reader who subscribes via Substack, my website, or Patreon, your encouragement helps motivate me. I’m thankful to have any audience.

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This has been another very busy week where exhaustion reigns supreme. My mind is firing on most of its pistons but my body…not so much. Even as I write this where the most physically strenuous thing I’ve done today is walk to my father’s apartment at one point and bring in Doordash at another, I feel like I can fall asleep in my office chair.

I added only about 1,300 words in Project: Memoir, writing about my earliest publishing and Bruce Springsteen. The book is almost done. I may take a short nap after I write this and then attempt to finish the book this weekend.

I also edited a little in Four Moons last weekend. Into some of the trickier parts of the book, barreling toward the ending.

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October has arrived and those of us who dabble in the Dark Arts, the Dark Side, practitioners of the dark, grotesque, and horrific, are invited outside of our caves to commune with the normal folks. As a writer whose work has mainly appeared in the horror genre, that means I’ve been invited to a few things for Halloween this year. It feels weird.

I’ve been publishing since 1999 when Greg F. Gifune accepted my story “Icarus Falling” for his magazine Burning Sky, Tales of Science Fiction Terror. I make that sound better than it is in that I had the one short story that came out in February 1999 and I didn’t have another story published until around 2001 or 2002. I’ve been around for 27 years but am still “new” to this. The last few years has seen a tiny bit more success with the reissues of some of my books that had come out along the way and the release of my novels. Oh, and actually putting myself out there.

Since I’ve somehow fooled people into not only reading my work but also thinking that I’m mildly entertaining, perhaps even charming, I’ve collected a tiny amount of booksellers who like to have me around, particularly around Halloween. It’s good for the ego, bad for the anxiety. But I’m there for it.

This year I have been invited to the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival, an event I’ve wanted to attend and/or be a part of for several years. This year I made the cut and I’m thrilled. To take part in this event with other writers I admire is a really cool thing. It’ll be taking place at the Lawrence Public Library in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on October 17^th. Lawrence is about two hours away from me, so it’ll be a long day. I’ll be going solo since the family won’t be able to come with me. It should be a fun time and I hope to meet many readers and writers.

The following Friday, October 23^rd, I’ll be taking part in a Cosmic Horror panel at Once Upon A Bookstore in Fall River, Massachusetts. I’ll be joining Ricardo D. Rebelo and Edward Guimont as we talk about horror and such. It was pitched to me as chatting about horror and some point became about cosmic horror, which I’m familiar with but no expert at. Still, I have enough opinions and knowledge to get through and be entertaining.

There may also be another event with other writers of the dark and scary on October 24^th at the Barnes & Noble in Smithfield, Rhode Island. I’ve been there twice already and have enjoyed meeting readers. My point person there, Luke, is the kind of bookseller you want on your side. If only corporate followed suit. Except for events, one would have an easier time finding AI crap books at Barnes & Noble than my books because of their print-on-demand/nonreturnable status. This event has not been confirmed as I write this but should happen, I believe.

With my social anxiety, it all feels daunting but I’m also quite excited. This is the sort of thing that I’ve been working toward since I was thirteen and October being the horror month (thanks to Halloween) means us horror writers get dusted off and brought out into public. I’m there for it.

I’m hoping to also partake in some grande Halloween movie viewing. There are a bunch of new horror films (meaning they were released in the last twenty years) I’m behind on but I also have the itch to visit classics, particularly spending time on Elm Street. I haven’t visited (aside from my own imagination) the Nightmare on Elm Street movies in quite some time.

I also have a bunch of books to read but since I’m a slow reader, and Stephen King and Peter Straub are putting out Other Worlds Than These at the beginning of the month, I’ll be spending time in the Territories/Mid-World.

With the weather getting cooler along with all of the above, I love October. I hope you enjoy your October as well.

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I’ll be taking part in the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival on October 17^th, 2026, at the Lawrence Public Library in Lawrence, Massachusetts. I’m excited because so many authors, editors, and people I admire will be there, as well as a few friends. Find out more here!

I will also be joining a panel about monsters and cosmic horror at Once Upon A Bookstore in Fall River, Massachusetts, about a week later!

There may also be another event in October, too. This one is in the works but it’s a place I’ve been to that’s always a favorite.

I’ll share more info on all of these events as we get closer.

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