I can totally understand why Aron Beauregard chose a horsefly to be the monster in his latest creature feature book. Not only are they big and ugly and gross, but the bite of a female horsefly really, really hurts—they’ll slice you open for a bloody meal. “I lived on a farm growing up and became a bit of a bug nerd,” said one character. “Bugs were my friends. Well, not the horseflies. They sucked.”

Now imagine a genetically modified horsefly the size of a pit bull. Its mandibles—like a pair of serrated mouth-swords, vibrating with the fury of jackhammers and capable of cutting a human in half “like a poop-knife through diarrhea.”

The giant horsefly was created in a laboratory and infected with Disease X. With a secret proprietary vaccine already in the bag, the pharmaceutical company wanted to start a pandemic that only they could cure. Too bad the bug went rogue and escaped into Connecticut’s Mount Archer Woods. 

Disease X gave the mutant horsefly a twisted kind of sentience. No longer was it simply concerned with survival and nourishment. It wanted to inflict pain on every other species it encountered. 

But more than that, it began to ponder the mysteries of its existence. God, it believed, had chosen it to bring about a new way of life—to be a soldier and advance its genus into the next phase of existence. As you’d expect, the horsefly carried forth the word of God in the most violent way imaginable. Nothing could stop it’s bloody crusade, according to the author. 

In short order, the monster attacked a family taking a vacation in the woods. Later, it descended upon a neighboring horse farm. Things got exponentially more complicated when the horsefly started harassing a cabin full of frisky swingers.

All these freewheelin’ libertines wanted to do was chill, get drunk and hook up. They never thought they’d be caught on the front lines of a horsefly invasion. 

One by one, the giant fly attacked the group. The ones it didn’t kill became infected apostles of God’s will. Without a doubt, the most fervent convert was Ruben Alto.

Even though he was a charismatic and good-looking fellow, Ruben had done lots of horrible things in his life. But now, after being infected with Disease X, he suddenly hungered to be worse than he’d ever been before. “He sensed the thirst for carnage rumbling in his heart,” said the author, “and he felt manic like a windup doll that had been fully cranked.”

Ruben’s behavior manifested itself in surprisingly psychosexual ways. Not only was he on a violent rampage, but he was horny as hell. For example, when he spotted the desecrated corpse of his cabin mate on the kitchen table, his red eyes glowed with lust and rage. What came next was both gooey and absurd. 

The scene ends when a park ranger stumbles upon Ruben’s rancid lovemaking. “Sick fuck,” he sputtered. “You didn’t even have the decency to use a rubber.”

[ Horsefly / By Aron Beauregard / First Printing May 2026 / ISBN: 9781961758957 ]