Scott Ross-Molyneux and his wife Allison Iriye embrace horror (the fictional kind, that is), and are now sharing their love of the genre through Nocturne Books, a new horror and dark fiction bookstore in Marda Loop.
Located on the lower level of The Shops at Avenue 34, Nocturne offers a curated selection of dark fiction books spanning genres such as sci-fi, thriller, fantasy, speculative fiction and more. Ross-Molyneux and Iriye define dark fiction as an “overarching category of literature that involves themes that may generally disturb, frighten, and/or unsettle.”
Ross-Molyneux says he and Iriye (who is an avid horror reader) were always disappointed in the selection of books at big box retailers. That, coupled with inspiration from Slow Burn Books, a successful romance bookstore just doors away from Nocturne’s storefront, convinced the pair to open their own genre-specific, brick-and-mortar store.
“In this day and age, it’s just really refreshing to walk in, buy a book and then it’s yours,” says Ross-Molyneux.
Since opening Nocturne at the end of November, Ross-Molyneux has been happily surprised by the reception from shoppers, which has echoed the pair’s thoughts about the lack of a one-stop shop for horror book readers.
“I was blown away on the opening weekend [by] just how many people came in and said the exact same thing, which is, ‘I go to a bunch of other stores, can never find the book I want, the horror section is so small,'” says Ross-Molyneux. “It’s been kind of like deja vu, hearing that over and over again.”
Nocturne Books also has a consignment program that will showcase local and lesser-known authors’ works on its shelves. Ross-Molyneux is still putting it together (literally, he is building the bookshelf for the consigned books).
Naturally, we asked Ross-Molyneux for some book recommendations. He recently read and recommends Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman, a haunted house story told from the perspective of an eight-year-old girl, and Root Rot by Saskia Nislow, a horror story told from the perspective of nine different children visiting their grandfather’s lake house.
Nocturne Books, 15, 1934 34 Ave. S.W., 587-443-3336, nocturnebooks.ca
