Just when you thought there can’t be a new and fresh location for a slasher tale, Brian McAuley comes out swinging. Following his healing retreat slasher, McAuley returns for a renaissance faire horror with Fairly Bad Ways to Die. Yes you read that correctly. His latest novel strikes an emotional chord as well as checks the box for bloody good kills in a unique setting.
For Chloe, the Southwest Renaissance Faire is home. It’s where she performs with her folk-punk band, Chloe and the Well Met, where she feels closest to her late mother, and where she imagines a life on the road, far from the rules of ordinary life.
Until a fateful final joust, when a staged fight turns real―and someone dies.
One year later, the Faire returns under new corporate ownership, bigger and more profitable than ever. Chloe’s band lands a coveted spot on the main stage, but the magic feels thinner, the stakes higher. Beloved performers have vanished and longtime traditions have been gutted. Then a masked figure begins stalking the grounds, turning spectacle into something far more dangerous. Weapons meant for show draw real blood, and no one can tell where performance ends and violence begins.
As fear spreads and her community begins to fracture, Chloe must confront what’s being lost―and what’s worth fighting for. Because this time, the Faire isn’t just an escape. It’s a trap.
McAuley is truly the king of slashers over the past few years. We have been immersed in stories featuring Christmas, movies, healing retreats, and now a ren faire. The author has been able to craft truly wonderful horror tales with unique settings that you possibly wouldn’t normally expect. This not only gives us a unique perspective, but freshens up the slasher sub-genre in ways that surprised me. Now, I keep wondering what McAuley will think of next.
Fairly Bad Ways to Die is not just another slasher, but with new clothing. It is also has an emotional core between family and friends who fight to survive this horrible story. The tale features all the makings for a traditional slasher novel, but with a twist and kills unique to the setting at hand. McAuley starts off somber, lifts us up with positivity, only to kick our legs out from under us with slashery goodness.
The ren faire is not just a unique place for a slasher story, but a unique place in general. These faires are special places for those attending, but a place where those considered outsiders have found a family. This goes for the attendees and those who put the show on each and every year. It’s like returning to camp and seeing those friends all over again, but putting on a show for those paying fans.
McAuley brings the slasher horrors to the pages, but also the horrors of the corporate takeover of something held precious to so many. The mainstreaming and greed seeping into the tents of the ren faire and attempting to profit from the fun that has been taking place for many years. He also blends in the horrors of growing up from your teen years to college and adulthood. Having to find your place in society as a grownup and the possibility of losing what you held precious as a kid, the ren faire and your closest friends.
Not surprising, McAuley weaves in his love for music in Fairly Bad Ways to Die. Our protagonist and her friends are part of a band that plays at the Southwest Renaissance Faire and hopes to take their show on the road. This passion for music spills onto the pages of his passion for slasher horror, proving McAuley’s love for the two can mix together in a fantastic tale.
Fairly Bad Ways to Die is another bloody good reminder of why Brian McAuley has become one of my favorite voices in slasher horror. He takes a setting that feels completely unexpected and somehow makes me wonder why no one has been slaughtering their way through a renaissance faire all along. Fairly Bad Ways to Die is a bloody, yet heartfelt slasher that proves McAuley can turn just about any setting into a slasher’s playground.
Fairly Bad Ways to Die hits bookstores everywhere on April 20, 2026 from Poisoned Pen Press. The audiobook is available via Libro.fm!
