by Nicole M. Wolverton

Hundreds of pairs of feet pounding on Millennium Bridge, the sound of it ricocheting off the River Liffey, was like being inside an enormous beating heart—the chaos and fury mirrored in my own chest. That we all blindly followed a massive puppet toward Wolftone Square to meet up with two other parades led by two different giant puppets didn’t seem strange at all. Neither did the wind rising eerily off the Liffey, nor the howls of Macnas’ street performers cavorting amongst us in the dark. The Summoning had begun.

That was the scene in Dublin, Ireland …

By Jo Kaplan

These are strange and terrifying times, my friends, but not the good kind. Not the kind of strange and terrifying when a full moon shines down on twenty-five hours of Halloween mayhem as the bars fill with grotesque creatures and the streets fill with hungry little monsters. Who knows what Halloween will bring us in this, our year of the pandemic? Perhaps the streets will be empty and hauntingly quiet; perhaps you would prefer to be safe in your home. Even so, let us not mourn the loss of this year’s Halloween, but find creative ways to …

by Tim Waggoner

Excerpt from WRITING IN THE DARK

Years ago, a student asked me why I write horror. “You seem like such a pleasant person,” she said.

I looked into her eyes and smiled a slightly wicked smile.

“Writing horror is what keeps me pleasant.”

We all have a dark side that whispers to us, a side that we struggle against and ultimately need to make peace with if we don’t want it to destroy us. In many ways, that’s probably the most primal story of humanity. Horror fiction gives us a safe way to explore and – hopefully …

Welcome! Come in!  Welcome, foolish mortals!

Is everyone sitting comfortably?  Good.  I’ll begin. {cue spooky music & creepy lighting}

It is my honor and pleasure to welcome you to HWA’s 2020 Halloween Haunts – a month of blog posts on all aspects of horror and Halloween for those of us who find this to be the most wonderful time of the year.  Be sure to check back daily as new posts from members of the Horror Writers Association will share Halloween memories, tips for making Halloween special in quarantine during a global pandemic, Halloween fiction, advice on writing scary, brief …