Board of Trustees & Senior Staff

Celebrated psychological horror author L. Marie Wood is the winner of multiple awards including the Bram Stoker Award®, the Golden Stake Award for Literature, and the International Impact Book Award. She is also a MICO Award-winning screenwriter, an Elgin Award finalist poet, an accomplished essayist, and a playwright. Wood is the President of the Horror Writers Association, the founder of the Speculative Fiction Academy, an English and Creative Writing professor, as well as a horror scholar. Learn more at www.lmariewood.com.

Becky Spratford is a Readers’ Advisory Librarian in Illinois specializing in serving leisure reading patrons ages 13 and up. She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All, and its evil twin, RA for All: Horror. She is on the Steering Committee of the Adult Reading Round Table and is under contract to provide content for EBSCO’s NoveList database, reviews for Booklist and articles and columns for Library Journal. Becky specializes in helping libraries work with horror books and readers as the author of The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror, Second Edition (ALA Editions, 2012). As the public library world’s most visible horror expert, Becky has been profiled in the Chicago Tribune, appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio, and recorded numerous podcasts all in an effort to make sure libraries don’t forget about horror as they develop their collections, craft displays, and work with patrons. Becky was invited as a special guest at StokerCon 2017 for her contribution to the genre, and has run the annual StokerCon Librarian’s Day of programming since 2018. You can interact with Becky on Twitter @RAforAll.

Treasurer – Patrick Barb

Patrick Barb is an author of weird, dark, and horrifying tales, currently living (and trying not to freeze to death) in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His published works include the sci-fi/horror novel Abducted, the dark fiction collections The Children’s Horror and Pre-Approved for Haunting, and the novellas The Big One, The Nut House, Night of the Witch-Hunter, and JK-LOL. He is the editor and publisher of the anthology And One Day We Will Die: Strange Stories Inspired by the Music of Neutral Milk Hotel and runs the monthly interview column “Your Favorite Author’s Favorite Author” in Shortwave Magazine. His 2023 short story “The Scare Groom” was selected for Best Horror of the Year, Volume 16. Having previously served as a Trustee on the HWA board, he began his term as Treasurer in November 2025. Visit him at patrickbarb.com.

Maxwell I. Gold is an acclaimed Jewish-American cosmic horror poet and editor, with an extensive body of work comprising over 300 poems since 2017. His writings have earned a place alongside many literary luminaries in the speculative fiction genre. His work has appeared in numerous literary journals, magazines, and anthologies such as Weird Tales Magazine, Startling Stories, Space and Time Magazine, Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology, Chiral Mad 5, and many more. Maxwell’s work has been recognized with multiple nominations for both the Rhysling Award and the Pushcart Prize. Find him and his work at www.thewellsoftheweird.com.