SELF-CARE FOR HORROR WRITERS, 2024 StokerCon Virtual Panel Report

By Lee Murray Striking a sustainable work-life balance for the long-game in horror takes time and experience. Eric LaRocca, Christa Carmen, Ace Antonio-Hall (Nzondi), Pamela Jeffs, and EV Knight offer their insights in a panel moderated by L. E. Daniels on how to protect our bodies and minds as we navigate dark fiction. Recently, I had the pleasure to attend the Self-Care for Horror Writers panel offered in the virtual space at StokerCon 2024. Given the close alignment of the topic to the work of the HWA Wellness Committee and our Mental Health Initiative, this panel was a must-view for…

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM GRIEF IN HORROR Panel Report, 2024 Virtual Stoker

By Lee Murray Trigger Warning: This article addresses issues of grief, loss, and mental health. Moderated with compassion by Mo Moshaty, an author-producer with experience working closely with death doulas, the panel commenced with a round-robin of introductions, including the panellists’ relevant work, and also their particular interest in the topic of grief horror.  Panellists included Mark Mathews, Clay McLeod Chapman, Nat Cassidy, Katherine (Kat) Silva, Ally Malinenko, and Laura Keating. From the opening comments, it was clear that this was going to be a confronting and also humbling session, with panellists sharing their own experiences of trauma and grief,…

VIRTUAL: FLIPPING THE LID ON MENTAL ILLNESS IN HORROR StokerCon 2024 Panel Report

By Lee Murray Trigger Warning: This article addresses mental illness.  For this panel, held in the virtual space, I had the honour to be joined by panellists L.E. (Lauren Elise) Daniels, Lauren McMenemy, John Palisano, and Angela Yuriko Smith to discuss tools and techniques for addressing mental illness in horror, including fresh approaches for depictions that are authentic and affective. The discussion was guided by the tenets of the HWA Mental Health Initiative Charter. For information, the charter appears on the dedicated webpage on the HWA website, via a link at the end of this article, and is also printed…

Six Places to Send Poems This Week

National Poetry Month may be done, but if you still have piles of verse flowing from your pen, here’s some places you can send it. Not all of these are speculative markets so read your submission guidelines and maybe hold your vampyre poems for a darker market… or ask and see if they will invite you across their threshold and onto the page.

Call for submissions for Poetry Showcase Volume XI: Poems Now $35!

The HWA is proud to announce that it will call for submissions from its members for the HWA Poetry Showcase Volume XI beginning April 1st, 2024. Maxwell I. Gold will be the editor for the volume. This year’s judges, along with Maxwell, will include L.E. Daniels, Sumiko Saulson, Pedro Iniguez, and Ngô Bình Anh Khoa. Maxwell I. Gold has agreed to take over as the editor for the next two volumes to follow, HWA Poetry Showcase volumes XI and XII. Only HWA members (of any status) may submit. Non-members may also submit, but if their poem is accepted, they must become members of the HWA (of any status) prior to publication.

Holistic Horrors: Poetry & Wellness

This month on Holistic Horrors we take a brief look at the role of poetry in promoting well-being and connectiveness. Numerous studies suggest that this is the case. For example, in their 2018 study examining the value of writing poetry as a “means to help people living with chronic pain to explore and express their narratives in their own unique way”, researchers Hovey, Khayat, and Feig concluded that “to write cathartic poetry means bringing into presence our inner reflective thinking, emotions, and self-empathy to help ourselves and others who suffer alongside us.”

New Year Resolutions

Happy New Year to all our colleagues for 2024!

As we head into 2024, and before the Wellness Committee gets stuck into its work for the coming year, it is appropriate to take a pause to thank everyone who has supported and engaged with the work of the committee over the past twelve months, to celebrate our collective achievements in raising awareness of the mental health initiative, and to reflect again on our mission to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. In the main, our work has involved development of programs such as NOTABLE WORKS, facilitating panel events and discussions, curating articles and blogs, providing sensitivity reading services to conferences and festivals, and awareness outreach to the wider horror community. We could not have carried out this work without the engagement and encouragement of HWA members and we are grateful for your enthusiastic support.

Trigger warning: This article discusses mental health.

PANEL INSIGHTS: REFLECTIONS ON THREE MHI PANELS

In this month’s column, Del Gibson and Lee Murray discuss the recent HWA Weird & Wonderful Panel, P.M. Raymond reflects on the StokerCon 2023 Self-Care for Horror Writers Panel, while Anton Cancre offers a heartfelt response to the StokerCon 2023 Everyone Must Get Stoned Panel on addiction.  WEIRD AND WONDERFUL: A CONVERSATION Del Gibson & Lee Murray TRIGGER WARNING: This article discusses mental illness In August 2023, as part of the HWA Halloween in July promotion, in support of the HWA scholarship programme, the Wellness Committee offered Weird & Wonderful, a panel discussion on their Mental Health Initiative. Moderated by…

HOLISTIC HORRORS PANEL REPORT: SENSE AND SENSITIVITY & ESSAY: PORTRAYALS OF DEMENTIA IN HORROR

(Trigger Warning: Articles in this column discuss mental health/illness) HOLISTIC HORRORS PANEL REPORT: SENSE AND SENSITIVITY & ESSAY: PORTRAYALS OF DEMENTIA IN HORROR By Lee Murray In this column, I’m pleased to offer a report of the inspirational virtual panel on sensitive treatments of mental illness in horror, a discussion moderated by HWA Wellness co-chair Dave Jeffery and including an expert panel of speakers, which was published in June 2023 at our annual StokerCon convention. Also in this column is a short personal essay incorporating my takeaways from that panel discussion as they relate to three short stories on the…

HOLISTIC HORRORS: PANEL REPORT: SENSE AND SENSITIVITY & ESSAY: PORTRAYALS OF DEMENTIA IN HORROR

Written by Lee Murray (Trigger Warning: Articles in this column discuss mental health/illness) In this column, I’m pleased to offer a report of the inspirational virtual panel on sensitive treatments of mental illness in horror, a discussion moderated by HWA Wellness co-chair Dave Jeffery and including an expert panel of speakers, which was published in June 2023 at our annual StokerCon convention. Also in this column is a short personal essay incorporating my takeaways from that panel discussion as they relate to three short stories on the subject of dementia and caregiving: Dave Jeffery’s “Once” which is published in its…

MHI: HOW HORROR CAN OFFER SOLACE

The following post contains this writer’s individual experiences and opinions.  This post should not be interpreted as mental health diagnosis or treatment. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact your nearest mental health center or local emergency services.  Written by Nicole Henning [Trigger Warning: This article addresses mental health/illness] Straining to see in the darkness, the slightest shift of light looks like movement in the perpetual gloom. Your ears are homing in on any sound for an indication of what direction the impending danger could come from. In this experience of veritable sensory deprivation, you may find…

Announcing HWA POETRY SHOWCASE X Selectees

Congratulations to all the poets and poems that made the HWA Poetry Showcase X, and thank you to everyone who submitted. There were nearly 300 poems submitted, all excellent. It was difficult to whittle down to just 50 poets. For everyone not on this list, you should feel proud. If we could include all 300 submissions we would. Each of these poems was worth it. Thank you to this year's judges: Eugen Bacon, Katherine Quevedo, Colleen Anderson and Timothy Flynn for all their hard work that went into creating this list. I appreciate everything you did. Next year Showcase 11…

MHI: WRITING HORROR WITH PTSD…AND THERAPY WITH STEPHEN KING’S IT

*The following post contains this writer’s individual experiences and opinions.  This post should not be interpreted as mental health diagnosis or treatment. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact your nearest mental health center or local emergency services.  Written by Brooklyn Ann Disclaimer: What I am sharing is my personal experience in what is working for me when it comes to my mental health issues. Everybody’s experiences and issues are different, and what works for me won’t necessarily work on everyone. I am not endorsing any specific methods or treatments. But I do hope that sharing my…

MHI: Mental Monsters by Senah Lloyd

*The following post contains this writer’s individual experiences and opinions.  This post should not be interpreted as mental health diagnosis or treatment. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact your nearest mental health center or local emergency services.  (You possibly guessed from that blurb that I am a mental health professional and you’d be correct. I’m also a horror fan and writer and am a person in recovery from a depressive episode that has been my worst one yet.) I’m glad to see efforts to encourage discussion about mental health and to break down stereotypes and stigma.…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Denise Dumars

Denise Dumars has published hundreds of poems in journals, magazines, and anthologies, as well as authoring several volumes of poetry. She has been nominated for the Rhysling Award for speculative poetry several times, the Dwarf Stars award for poems of under 10 lines, and her book, Paranormal Romance: Poems Romancing the Paranormal, was nominated for the Elgin award. She is currently nominated for the Pushcart Prize. A retired college English professor, Denise is a fulltime writer now, writing fiction and nonfiction as well as poetry. Denise speaks on poetry and reads poetry at various conferences and conventions, including the The…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Amanda Worthington

Amanda Worthington is a writer of the speculative whose work is alternately dark and whimsical. When she's not writing, she's probably enjoying the great outdoors, reading, working a crossword, or cuddling one of her 3 floofy cats. Her newest release is No Quarter: A Novella in Verse. What sparked your interest in horror poetry? Was there a particular event or work that inspired you to delve into the darker side of poetry? When I was about 12, I returned home from school one day and confessed that I hated reading because it was boring. My bibliophile mother would have none of…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Colleen Anderson

Colleen Anderson is a Canadian author writing fiction and poetry and has had two collections and over 300 poems published in such venues as Grievous Angel, Polu Texni, The Future Fire, HWA Poetry Showcase and many others. She is a member of HWA and SFPA and a Canada Council grant recipient for writing. She has performed her work before audiences in the US, UK and Canada and has placed in the Balticon, Rannu, Crucible and Wax poetry competitions. Colleen also enjoys editing and co-edited Canadian anthologies Playground of Lost Toys (Aurora nominated) and Tesseracts 17, and her solo anthology Alice…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Madison McSweeney

Madison McSweeney is the author of The Doom That Came to Mellonville (Filthy Loot), The Forest Dreams With Teeth (Demain Publishing), and the poetry chapbook Fringewood (Alien Buddha Press). Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies like Zombie Punks F*ck Off (Weirdpunk/CLASH), American Gothic Short Stories (Flame Tree), and Nightmare Sky (Death Knell Press). She lives in Ottawa, Canada, tweets from @MMcSw13 and blogs at www.madisonmcsweeney.com What sparked your interest in horror poetry? Was there a particular event or work that inspired you to delve into the darker side of poetry? The first poem I can remember writing back in primary school was super spooky, so I think I’ve always been this way. I was…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert

Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert is a Technical Services Librarian who writes short fiction and poetry in the horror, scifi, and dark fantasy genres. Her short stories have appeared in the anthologies Dastardly Damsels (forthcoming), Wicked Women, The Final Summons, and Killing It Softly (Vol.1). Read her poetry in the HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. VI, the anthologies Beneath Strange Stars and Wicked Witches, and in The Wayfarer: A Journal of Contemplative Literature. She published a short collection of poetry, Interview with the Faerie (Part One) and Other Poems of Darkness and Light in 2013. When not working, Suzanne can be found reading, exploring…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Austin Gragg

Austin Gragg is a queer writer, poet, and stay-at-home dad. He’s been a finalist and multi-honorable mention in the Writers of the Future Contest, and Publishers Weekly has praised Austin’s dark fantasy as “decadent”. Austin spent four years working on the venerable Space & Time Magazine (Est. 1966) and closed his time there with a two-issue run as editor-in-chief. Formerly, Austin has been a public librarian, digital literacy instructor, and IT guy of all stripes. He studied creative writing at UMKC and lives in his hometown of Independence, MO with his partner, daughter, and four lovely, obnoxious cats. What sparked…