A Letter about the HWA Mentor Program

Starting out as a writer can be difficult. You may feel that you’re alone, that no one understands the issues you are going through, and that fulfilling your writing dreams are beyond you. However, none of this is true, and help is just around the corner. Enter the HWA Mentorship Program.

For new writers, the Program offers mentees a personal, one-on-one experience with a professional writer, tailor-made to help them grow in their writing and teach them how to better market their work. For experienced writers, the Program allows mentors a chance to …

The following are a series of articles that loosely describe the History of the Horror Writers Association.

• “HWA—Here and Now” by Rocky Wood
• “HWA in the 21st Century” by Lisa Morton
• “The Quarter-Life Crisis” by Kelly Laymon
• From Lawrence Watt-Evans
• “Horror In Ancient Times” by Craig Shaw Gardner
• “Some Recollections,” by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• “A Shockingly Brief and Informal History of the Horror Writers Association”by Stanley Wiater

HWA’S PRESIDENTS:

Lisa Morton: 2014-present
Rocky Wood: 2010-2014
Deborah LeBlanc: 2006-2010
Gary Braunbeck: 2005-2006
Joseph Nassise: 2002-2005
David Niall Wilson: 2001-2002
Richard Laymon: 2000-2001
S.P. Somtow: 1998-2000
Janet Berliner: 1997-1998
Brian Lumley: 1996-1997

by Rocky Wood

(Rocky Wood is HWA’s fifteenth President. He took office in 2010. He passed away in office in 2014.)

The last few years have been a particularly challenging and interesting period for the publishing industry, for the horror genre and for our members, and have seen the opening of doors that lead to as yet undiscovered countries.

The explosion of the eBook has apparently freed authors from the previously limited range of publishing choices—mainstream publishing, small press and magazines—and allowed an almost infinite series of publishing models. Which of these will prove to be a success in terms …

by Lisa Morton

(Lisa Morton took the mantle of President in 2014. She also served over a decade as HWA’s Treasurer through October 2011, and then Vice President until 2014.)

To paraphrase (appropriately, perhaps!) the Grateful Dead, the 21st century thus far has been a long, strange trip for HWA, but one which overall has seen the organization continue to grow in size and reputation.

Certainly no development has had such an impact on the organization as the growth of the internet and e-mail. At the turn of the millennium, most of HWA’s communications with its members—whether it was monthly …

by Kelly Laymon

(Richard Laymon served as HWA’s tenth President, from 2000 to 2001. He tragically passed away during his term. His daughter, Kelly, kindly provided this piece.)

Unfortunately, I can’t say very much about my father’s time as President of the HWA. His term ended up being unusually short. Who’s to say what would have been.

People can complain about the politics and the system for the awards to no end. God knows, I’ve done it once or twice. But when I think about the HWA, I usually try to focus on the great things. About the people who …

(Lawrence Watt-Evans, HWA’s sixth President, served from 1994 to 1996)

I don’t know what effect I had on HWA, in the long run. It had fallen into a somewhat disorganized state when I was elected president, and I did my best to remedy that. I’m proud of creating the Internet Mailer and the first HWA website; some of my other attempts at innovation, though, were less successful, and many ideas that I held dear have been discarded by subsequent administrations.

I do know what effect it had on me, though, at least in part. It showed me that yes, I …

by Craig Shaw Gardner, HWA’s fourth President, served from 1990 to 1992

I spent two years each as president of HWA and president of the HWA board of trustees. Twenty-plus years later, some of these events tend to run together, but I thought I’d give a brief rundown of what we did, and were trying to do, way back then.

HWA had been the brainchild of a number of big name horror writers, who then turned the reigns over to Charlie Grant, who really got the organization up and running. The next president was Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and the folks …

The following articles appeared in ’25: Celebrating A Quarter-Century Of HWA’, edited by Lisa Morton published upon the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of HWA’s incorporation and the Bram Stoker Awards®. It was released at the Celebrate HWA Day component of World Horror Convention 2012 held in Salt Lake City, Utah in March 2012. All material is copyright by the individual author.

“Some Recollections” by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

(Chelsea Quinn Yarbro was HWA’s third President, and served from 1988 to 1990)

Charlie Grant talked me into it, knowing just how to go about it. “We’ve discussed what kind of organization …

By Stanley Wiater

As with most great ideas, the concept for a horror writers association originated in the fevered imagination of one individual — in this instance, one Robert R. McCammon. In an interview with Publisher’s Weekly in 1984, the author (who had already published six horror novels) first publicly expressed his desire for a professional organization specifically geared to the needs of fellow writers of fear. At that point, however, his decidedly colorful name for the then nonexistent organization was “HOWL” (Horror/Occult Writers League.) Even so, reasoned McCammon, mystery writers had their professional organizations, as did science fiction writers. …