McCORDSVILLE — More than a dozen horror writers and book publishers will gather this weekend at Scarlet Lane Brewing in McCordsville for a horror-themed book fair.
The free event runs from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, when publishers and authors will be on site selling and signing books.
The McCordsville brewery — which deems its locally-made brews as “the official beer of horror” — seems to be the perfect place for a horror-themed book fair.
Looming statues of scary figures take up residence in the open-concept brewery where vintage horror movies are always playing, and the house-made beers have names like Helter Seltzer, Slasher Ale and Sammy Terry Kolsch, named for the iconic late-night horror film host.
Josh Hull, the brewery’s vice-president of operations, is an accomplished horror writer himself, having had a screenplay he wrote in 2017 turned into a film featuring two marquee Hollywood players — Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons and Ryan Kwanten, who won fame on the hit television show “True Blood.”
The film — released in 2021 — racked up an 86% “Fresh” rating among critics on RottenTomatoes.com, a popular website for ranking films.
In December, the Indiana Film Journalists Association presented Hull with the Edward Johnson-Ott Hoosier Award, which is awarded to a film or filmmaker with Indiana ties each year.
Hull counts himself lucky to be among the types of authors who will gather at this weekend’s book fair, an event he organized to bring fans and authors together under one roof.
“Basically what I wanted to do was throw a horror book fair that was a love letter to the classic Scholastic book fairs you’d go to in elementary school,” said Hull, who remembers gravitating toward spooky stories even as a kid.
“It was always a thrill to go down to the book fair and pick up the latest ‘Goosebumps’ and that sort of thing,” he said, “so I wanted to bring that kind of event here for adults.”
Hull hopes the free book fair will be a big draw for horror fans who want to skip the drive to similar fairs in cities like Chicago and Cincinnati.
“You can just come here instead and peruse books from 25-plus authors and talk with them,” he said.
He thinks the book fair is the perfect accompaniment to the horror-themed book club that meets at the McCordsville brewery every couple of months, where fans of the genre gather over glasses of beer to discuss various books.
Hull hopes those attending the book fair this weekend will feel right at home in the horror-themed brewery, which has a 12-foot-tall skeleton peering down over the tap room and a hearse for delivering beer parked outside.
He admits the fearsome premise might not be for everyone, but the brewery has drawn legions of fans since opening in McCordsville in 2014.
The company has since opened four more locations, with two tap rooms in Indianapolis, one in Beech Grove and a fifth which will open in the former Black Acre Brewing space in Irvington.
Hull is having a blast working for a company where he can pursue both his passions — horror writing and brewing — in the community he calls home.
Both his work and home offices are filled with horror movie memorabilia, including some from his all-time favorite horror film — John Carpenter’s “Halloween.”
“Everybody who knows me knows I have a massive Michael Myers ‘Halloween’ collection,” said Hull, who made a few films with friends as a student at Pendleton Heights High School and credits his high school theater teacher for encouraging him to pursue his passion for screenwriting.
He credits his mom with instilling him with a love of the horror genre from a young age.
“My mom introduced me to ‘Jaws’ and ‘Halloween’ at probably earlier ages than she should have,” Hull recalled with a laugh.
“She was always a big fan of horror movies and really had a lot of fun sharing that with me and my siblings. She always encouraged my imagination, no matter how horrific,” he said.
