In Providence, Rhode Islandand looking for a spectacular way to kick off your Halloween festivities? The Brown Bookstore is holding its 1^st Speculative Fiction Fest this Thursday through Saturday (Oct. 27-29), featuring readings by several popular speculative fiction authors, films, and panels.

Daniel Pearlman

Paul DiFilippo

The event kicks off at 4 p.m. Thursday with a showing of Val Lewton’s film classic, Cat People (I am assuming this is the Lewton film and not the 1980s remake, but I could be wrong) followed by readings from authors Daniel Pearlman (probably from his newest collection, A Giant in the House and Other Excesses) and Paul DiFilippo (Harsh Oases).

Brian Evenson

On Friday, author Brian Evenson (Fugue State) will read; at 6 p.m., there will be showing of the 2007 film Peur(s) du Noir (Fears of the Dark).

Paul Tremblay

John Langan

Laird Barron

Saturday’s offerings being at 2 p.m. with a talk on Graphic Fiction and the Comic Form; at 4 p.m., the writers will offer a panel discussion on the Speculative Fiction genre. At 5 p.m., authors Paul Tremblay (The Little Sleep, In the Mean Time), John Langan (Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters), and Laird Barron (The Imago Sequence and Occultation, both of which won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Collection) will read from their work.

For directions and more about Brown Bookstore, visit here: http://www.shopbrown.com/. For the event’s official flyer, visit here: http://bookstore.brown.edu/fictionfest.pdf