Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with Becky Spratford

Becky Spratford [MLIS] is a Readers' Advisor in Illinois specializing in serving 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. She is under contract to provide content for EBSCO’s NoveList database and writes reviews for Booklist and a horror review column for Library Journal. Known for her work with horror readers, Becky is the author of The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror, Third Edition [ALA Editions, 2021]. You can follow Becky on…

Asian Heritage in Horror: Interview with Priya Sharma

Priya Sharma’s fiction has appeared venues such as Interzone, Black Static, Nightmare, The Dark and Tor. “Fabulous Beasts” was a Shirley Jackson Award finalist and won a British Fantasy Award for Short Fiction. Priya is a Shirley Jackson Award and British Fantasy Award winner,  and Locus Award finalist,  for “All the Fabulous Beasts”, a collection of her some of her work, available from Undertow Publications. “Ormeshadow”, her first novella (available from Tor), won a Shirley Jackson Award and a British Fantasy Award. Her stories have been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, Czech, and Polish. She has a novella out later this year from PS Publishing called "Pomegranates". More…

Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with John Palisano

John Palisano’s novels include DUST OF THE DEAD, GHOST HEART, NERVES, and NIGHT OF 1,000 BEASTS. His novellas include GLASS HOUSE and STARLIGHT DRIVE: FOUR HALLOWEEN TALES. His first short fiction collection ALL THAT WITHERS celebrates over a decade of short story highlights. He won the Bram Stoker Award© in short fiction for “Happy Joe’s Rest Stop” and Colorado’s Yog Soggoth award in 2018. More short stories have appeared in anthologies from Weird Tales, Cemetery Dance, PS Publishing, Independent Legions, Space & Time, Dim Shores, DarkFuse, Crystal Lake, Terror Tales, Lovecraft eZine, Horror Library, Bizarro Pulp, Written Backwards, Dark Continents,…

Asian Heritage in Horror: Interview with Ai Jiang

Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, an immigrant from Fujian, and an active member of HWA. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in F&SF, The Dark, PseudoPod, Jellyfish Review, Hobart Pulp, The Masters Review—among others. Find her on Twitter (@AiJiang_) and online (http://aijiang.ca). What inspired you to start writing? When I was younger, I was drawn to the fantastical romances I could never live, and so I started writing what I had imagined love and relationships would be like during earlier years in high school and found myself on Wattpad. But I left writing aside when I discovered love wasn't…

Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with Brenda S. Tolian

Brenda S. Tolian, MFA ~ is a Gothic/ Horror writer from Southern Colorado. She is a member of the Denver Horror Collective, Horror Writers Association, Horror Writers Guild, AWP, and the Angela Carter Society. She is a graduate of Adams State University, Regis University, and a Doctoral Student of English Pedagogy- Literature at Murray State University. She collaborates with Alchemy Writers Workshop and is an instructor at Ouroboros Screaming. Her work has appeared in Haunted Mtl.com, the anthology 101 Proof Horror, the Denver Horror Collective’s anthology Consumed Tales Inspired by The Wendigo, The Jewish Book Of Horror, Twisted Pulp Magazine…

Asian Heritage in Horror: Interview with Vanessa Fogg

Vanessa Fogg is an American writer of Thai and Chinese descent, born and raised in the American Midwest. After years as a research scientist in molecular cell biology, she now works as a freelance scientific/medical writer and editor. She writes fantasy and science fiction as well as horror, and stories that bleed across genres. Her short fiction has appeared in Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, GigaNotoSaurus, The Future Fire, Translunar Travelers Lounge, and The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 4. Her fantasy novelette, The Lilies of Dawn, is available in print and ebook from Annorlunda Books. For a complete…

Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with Aden Polydoros

Aden Polydoros is an author of YA dark fantasy and gothic horror novels, and has a bachelor's degree in English from Northern Arizona University. His most recent novel, The City Beautiful, was declared a Best YA Book of 2021 by New York Public Library, BookPage, Buzzfeed, and Tor.com, and was the winner of the 2022 Sydney Taylor Book Award for Young Adult fiction. His forthcoming gothic fantasy novel, Bone Weaver, comes out in September 2022 from Inkyard Press/HarperCollins. What inspired you to start writing? I’ve always been interested in writing and reading, but it wasn't until ninth grade or so…

Asian Heritage in Horror: Interview with Geneve Flynn

Geneve Flynn is an award-winning speculative fiction editor and author. She co-edited Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women with celebrated New Zealand author and editor Lee Murray. The anthology won the 2020 Bram Stoker Award® and 2020 Shirley Jackson Award. It also shortlisted for the British Fantasy, Aurealis, and Australian Shadows awards. Black Cranes is listed on Tor Nightfire’s Works of Feminist Horror and Locus magazine’s 2020 Recommended Reading List. Geneve was assistant editor for Relics, Wrecks, and Ruins, a speculative fiction anthology which is the legacy of Australian fantasy author Aiki Flinthart, and is in support of the Flinthart…

Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with Maxwell Bauman

Maxwell Bauman is owner/ Editor-In-Chief of Door Is A Jar Literary Magazine. Maxwell Bauman earned his BA in English with a focus in Creative Writing from the University of Hartford (2011), and his MA in Fiction and MFA in Publishing from Wilkes University (2014/2015). Maxwell is a contributor to Chicken Soup for the Soul. He has written several horror books including The Anarchist Kosher Cookbook (Clash Books, 2017), The Mummy of Canaan (Clash Books, 2019), and House of Blood and Teeth (Nictitating Books, 2021). His Jewish sci-fi/ fantasy novella, The Giant Robots of Babel (Aggadah Try It Books) and YA…

Looking for Interviewees for the 2022 Pride Series

A Point of Pride Interview Series 2022 The Horror Writers Association Social Media Team is proud to announce that we are once again, planning a Point of Pride interview series for 2022! Coming back for the second year, this series debuted in June 2021. This year, we’re asking for help from you! We would like to interview an entirely new series of horror writers who are members of the LGBTQ+ community, to showcase an even broader slice of the diversity of horror writers. For that reason, no one who was interviewed last year will be interviewed in this series. Are…

Asian Heritage in Horror: Interview with Yvette Tan

Yvette Tan is one of the Philippines’ most celebrated horror writers. She’s written two collections, one in English and one in Tagalog, a feature film, and a ballet libretto, among others. Waking the Dead, her English collection, has just been reissued with a new cover and an extra story. Her story “The Last Moon” was part of the Philippine pavilion’s design in the 2021 Frankfurt Book Fair. She is currently a creative consultant to a game that highlights Filipino mythological creatures. Her works have been translated into Spanish, Czech, and Hungarian. What inspired you to start writing? I love reading,…

Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with John Baltisberger

The author of War of Dictates, Abhorrent Faith, and Stabberger, John Baltisberger is a Splatterpunk nominee who writes speculative and genre fiction that often focuses on Jewish elements. Through his writing, he has explored themes of mysticism, faith, sin, and personal responsibility. He lives in Austin, TX with his wife and his daughter. Though mostly known for his bizarre blend of Jewish mysticism and splatter, John defies being labeled under any one genre. His work has spanned extreme horror, urban fantasy, science fiction, cosmic horror, epic verse, and he has even written a guide for mindful meditation. You can see…

Asian Heritage in Horror: Interview with Rin Chupeco

Rin Chupeco is a nonbinary Chinese-Filipino writer born and raised in the Philippines. They are the author of several speculative young adult series, including The Bone Witch, The Girl from the Well, The Never-Tilting World, Wicked as You Wish, and the adult vampire fantasy series Silver Under Nightfall. Formerly a 9-to-5 grunt, they now write fiction full-time and live with their partner and two children in Manila. Find them and their upcoming works at rinchupeco.com. What inspired you to start writing? I have always wanted ever since I was seven years old and it’s been a lifelong dream since. I…

Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with Elana Gomel

Elana Gomel was born in a country that no longer exists, and since then has lived in several others, including Israel, Hong Kong, Italy, and the US. She currently resides in California. She is an academic with a long list of books and articles, specializing in science fiction, Victorian literature, and serial killers. She is also a fiction writer and the author of more than a hundred short stories, several novellas, and four novels. Her story “Where the Streets Have No Name” was the winner of the 2020 Gravity Award, and her story “Mine Seven” is included in The Best…

Asian Heritage in Horror: Introduction by Lee Murray

Lee Murray is an author, editor, screenwriter, and poet from Aotearoa-New Zealand. A USA Today Bestselling author, double Bram Stoker, and Shirley Jackson Award winner, her work includes military thrillers, the Taine McKenna Adventures, supernatural crime-noir series The Path of Ra (with Dan Rabarts), and short fiction collection, Grotesque: Monster Stories. Lee is the curator-editor of eighteen volumes of dark fiction, among them Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (with Geneve Flynn). Lee’s first poetry collection, Tortured Willows, a collaboration with Angela Yuriko Smith, Christina Sng and Geneve Flynn was released in October 2021. Read more at https://www.leemurray.info/ Introduction The…

Jewish Heritage in Horror: An Interview with Nicholas Kaufmann

Nicholas Kaufmann is the author of seven novels, including the bestsellers 100 Fathoms Below (with Steven L. Kent) and The Hungry Earth. His work has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Thriller Award, and the Dragon Award. His short fiction has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Black Static, Nightmare Magazine, Interzone, and others. In addition to his own original work, he has written for such properties as Zombies vs. Robots, The Rocketeer, and Warhammer. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. What inspired you to start writing? I was always a creative child, preferring imaginative play and…

Jewish Heritage in Horror Introduction by Maxwell I. Gold

Maxwell I. Gold is a multiple award nominated author who writes prose poetry and short stories in weird and cosmic fiction. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines including Weirdbook Magazine, Space and Time Magazine, Startling Stories, Strange Horizons, Tales from OmniPArk Anthology, Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas and more. He’s the author of Oblivion in Flux: A Collection of Cyber Prose from Crystal Lake Publishing. He's a proud Columbus, Ohio native and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Horror Writers Association as the organization's Treasurer. My Kehilla, My Community Not everyone has…

Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Horror: Interview with Kris Ringman

Kris Ringman (she/they) is a deaf queer author, artist, and wanderer. Her multicultural, lyrical fiction plays along the boundaries of magical realism, fantasy, and horror. She is the author of two Lambda Literary finalist books: I Stole You: Stories from the Fae (Handtype Press, 2017) and Makara: a novel (Handtype Press, 2012), and the upcoming Sail Skin: poems (Handtype Press, 2022). They received their MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. http://krisringman.com What attracted you to the horror genre, and what do you think the genre has taught you about yourself and the world? My fascination with horror started probably too young, but has never abated. At…