Horror Writers Association

THE HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION (HWA) is a nonprofit organization of writers and publishing professionals around the world, dedicated to promoting dark literature and the interests of those who write it.


Bram Stoker Awards
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Summer Scares Reading Program 2024

New Anthology


HWA is proud to announce our next members-only anthology: Scaring and Daring Adventures edited by Eric J. Guignard and published by Harper Collins in 2025.

Submissions open on November 20. Guidelines here.


Newly Elected Board Members


Welcome to our newly elected trustees, VP, and Treasurer. They officially take their seats on November 1. Here's the list.


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Canadian members, click here.

Recent Posts

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Ray Zacek

Ray Zacek Biography

Ray Zacek is a retired federal officer living in Tampa, Florida, with his wife, artist Theresa Beck. A flaneur and inveterate scribbler, Ray writes horror, dark fiction, and crime/noir. His work has been published by Critical Blast, Denver Horror Collective, Tule Fog, Allegory Online, All Due Respect, Shotgun Honey, among other venues. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association.

Book Recommendation: Yankee Echo Tango India

Yankee Echo Tango India is a military horror/thriller in the vein of Dog Soldiers, set in a remote province of Afghanistan during the Late Unpleasantness in that country. The …

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: William R. D. Wood

William R.D. Wood Biography

William R.D. Wood traces his love of science fiction and horror back to a childhood filled with Space: 1999 reruns, frequent visits to the Night Gallery, and a worn-out copy of Dune. A good writing day finds him at any of several overlooks on Virginia’s Blue Ridge Parkway deeply immersed in new works of cosmic horror. His work has appeared in Nature, Daily Science Fiction, and Cosmic Horror Monthly. Will lives in Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley with his wife, children, and assorted scientific enigmas in an old farmhouse turned backward to …

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Charles Wood

Charles Wood Biography

Charles Wood is a recent addition to the writing scene and writes horror, dark fantasy, and other light-hearted fabrications. Charles served in the Marine Corps 1988-1996. He also served in the Army Reserve and Air Force National Guard.

Book Recommendation: Dark Corners of the Old Dominion: A Virginia Horror Anthology

His most recently published work is a flash fiction piece, “The Girl Who Sleeps in the Room Next to Me” in the Dark Corners of the Old Dominion anthology published by Death Knell Press. (from the back cover) “From Edgar Allan Poe’s Ragged Mountains to the shores …

Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Colin Medicine Horse

Colin Medicine Horse grew up In and around the Topeka and Lawrence, Kansas areas. He has worked at Haskell Indian Nations University as a food service worker for 18 years. The title of his collection of poetry is Broken Bones, published in 2017.

Do you make a conscious effort to include indigenous characters and themes in your writing and if so, what do you want to portray?

Do I intentionally put Indigenous things in my writing? This Is also a confusing question. It’s like asking someone If I still live In a Tee pee and If my great-granny was …

Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Nick Medina

Born in Chicago, Illinois, and a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, Nick Medina appreciates local and Native folklore, which, along with research into the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) epidemic, inspired his debut novel, Sisters of the Lost Nation. 

What inspired you to start writing?

I don’t really remember. It’s something I’ve done since I was a child, something I’ve always wanted to continue doing. Hearing from readers about how my work has impacted them definitely inspires me to keep going.

What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?

More …

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: C.C. Winchester

C.C. Winchester Biography

C.C. Winchester’s love of horror began at the tender age of five, when she started sneaking into the living room late at night to watch zombie movies with her parents. Her mother said that though her infiltration was discovered, and she was promptly removed, she would return in what she thought was stealth mode, only to be removed again. She currently writes in Dallas, Texas.

Book Recommendation: Don’t Break the Oath, the fourth Women of Horror anthology published by Kandisha Press

The following is part of a blog post I did about my first officially published …

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Jay Whales

Jay Whales Biography

Jay Whales is a US Army Veteran with 25 years of active duty and nine years as a Department of Defense contractor. Jay was a Military Policeman, a CID Special Agent, and an anti-terrorism crime analyst. He owns a small business in Middle Tennessee while submitting his works. Jay grew up in Missouri.

Book Recommendation: Marquand Tales

Marquand Tales: A Non-Politically Correct Novel of Horror by Jay Whales is the no holds barred, non “woke” novel of horror about growing up in a small town infected with more than its fair share of things that go …

Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Mathilda Zeller

Mathilda Zeller is a horror and fantasy writer of Inuit descent. She has inhabited 2 continents, 3 countries, 11 of the United States, and 18 towns. Don’t ask her where she’s from; it’s complicated. She endeavors to make you lose sleep with her stories and currently makes her home in the Midwest with her husband, six children, and two cats.

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve never had a specific catalyst moment when I wanted to be a writer. I’ve been writing stories for as long as I’ve known how to write, and I’ve always wanted a career as …

Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Richard Van Camp

A recipient of the Order of the Northwest Territories, Richard Van Camp is a proud Tłı̨chǫ Dene from Fort Smith, NWT. He is the author of 28 books in 28 years. Richard is from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He is best known for his 1996 novel The Lesser Blessed, which was adapted into a film by director Anita Doron in 2012. You are welcome to visit Richard on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Soundcloud and YouTube. 

What inspired you to start writing?

Growing up in Fort Smith, NWT, Canada, I was always a reader but I started to realize that I …

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Ashon Ruffins

Ashon Ruffins Biography

Ashon Ruffins is a native New Orleanian and a Veteran of the Louisiana Army National Guard. He holds a Master’s in Business Adminstration, while holding certifications for several other professions. He loves the art of story telling in all generes and believes the best lessons in life can be told through fiction. Ashon is a huge mental health advocate.

Book Recommendation: The Uncovered Darkness

As a service member I understand what it means to take care of your mental health. It was journaling that turned me into the writer I have become today. Mental health is an …

NUTS & BOLTS: INTERVIEW WITH JOEL HODGSON, CREATOR OF MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000

By Tom Joyce

Like his friend Jerry Seinfeld, Joel Hodgson was a rising comedy star in the 1980s, with appearances on Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman. Then he realized he wasn’t having any fun, and walked away from Hollywood to start a low-budget puppet show in Minneapolis.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 began as a local TV oddity, distributed fan-to-fan via mailed VHS tapes. Its fan base has grown steadily over the decades, as the show picked up a Peabody Award, two Emmy nominations, and a place on Time Magazine’s list of “100 Best TV Shows …

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: David Rose

David Rose Biography

David Rose served in the United States Marine Corps from 2002 to 2006, during which deploying to Iraq to participate in the second battle of Fallujah. Since trading the sword for the almighty pen, he’s crafted multiple collections and composite novels: Forsaken Fantastic and Amden Bog being fine examples. A forthcoming work is Monsters in the Bush, a collection of Lovecraftian military tales, soon brought to the world by Screaming Banshee Press. He lives in Orlando, Florida. He is a founder and co-chair of the HWA committee Veterans in Horror.

Book Recommendation: The Scrolls of Sin

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