WHAT WE FEAR IN THE DARK CAN BE TERRIBLE. WHAT WE SEE IN THE LIGHT CAN BE WORSE…. This world is full of places that seem empty, but hide awful secrets. A cinematic ghost escapes from an experimental art project, infiltrating first the internet, then the “real” world; an exterminator debugging a dilapidated building discovers it’s inhabited by both insects and angels; an intergalactic invasion begins with a single word; an all-female cult rediscovers an ancient, extremely bloody method of communion. Crammed to the brim with cosmic horror and dreadful invention, Dark Is Better (Trepidatio)—Gemma Files’ sixth short fiction collection—acts as both a rough overview of her career thus far and a fitting chaser to her 2021 Bram Stoker Award-winning collection In That Endlessness, Our End (Grimscribe). This cabinet of liminal and sidelong curiosities is the universe horror icon Files’ stories inhabit…one full of fractures and secrets, of darkness both cosmic and personal. Bringing together stories published over a period of nearly twenty years, this book includes some of Files’ best-known works as well as many not widely distributed until now, encompassing the history of her development as a leading voice in the dark and the weird. As the ghastly light of revelation illuminates awfulness after awfulness, we invite you to learn exactly why DARK IS BETTER