Women in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Megan Hart

    What inspired you to start writing? I’ve been a writer since childhood. Once I knew how to write, I started writing stories. I was about 12 when I realized that people actually wrote stories for a living, and I decided that was what I wanted to do. What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? I have no idea, since in real life, I truly, honestly, genuinely, and sincerely do not ever want to see a ghost. Ever. I love watching and reading horror despite this. All I can say is that I’ve always…

Women In Horror Month 2024 : An Interview with Linda Watkins

What inspired you to start writing? I’ve been writing in some fashion or other ever since I was a kid. My older sister and I used to write scripts (mostly parodies) for some of the more popular TV shows of the day. When I got older, I wrote poems or songs for my family or myself. In my work for the Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford, I used my writing talent to write “long forms.” These were documents that were used for appointments and promotions in the professoriate. My boss hated writing them, so I would draft…

Women in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Jeani Rector

      What inspired you to start writing? In fifth grade, I loved both art and writing. My teacher told my mother, “Encourage her writing over her art.” Which meant I was no good at art, LOL. Also, fifth grade was when I began devouring books. But it wasn’t until I read Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot that I began to focus on the horror genre. I would be willing to bet that most writers today began loving the craft as far back as elementary school. Once they began writing in earnest, it became almost compulsive. Most writers today feel…

Women In Horror Month 2024 : An Interview with J.L. Delozier

What inspired you to start writing?  Burnout and boredom. Seriously, though, I always loved to write – submitted my first sci-fi short story to Asimov’s Magazine when I was in elementary school! (It was kindly rejected.) Then I got busy with my medical training and career, and only after I was nearing middle age and retirement did I decide I’d damn well get that book written – I wasn’t getting any younger!   What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?  I cut my teeth on sci-fi and Stephen King, so I naturally gravitate to horror.…

Women in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Holly Rae Garcia

    What inspired you to start writing? I’ve been a reader for as long as I can remember. During one particular book club meeting, I found myself criticizing a book and then saying, “But they wrote a book and I didn’t, so what do I know?”. So, in 2019, I wrote a book to see if I could. Readers don’t always comprehend how hard it is to actually write a book. And it is hard. I can almost hear the lifelong authors laughing at me for not realizing this. But it’s also immensely gratifying and addicting. I was hooked.…

Women In Horror Month 2024 : An Interview with Gwendolyn N Nix

What inspired you to start writing? It’s difficult to pinpoint that definitive moment when the lightbulb went on, I picked up the quill, and I decided I was going to become a writer. But I do remember being very, very young, enamored with books, and was devoted to certain literary characters. There was a lot of inspiration building in the background, some of which seem quite obvious when I look back on it. Dragonlance books where the evil mage became my favorite; watching the film 13 Ghosts and loving what I perceived to be the tarot-esque identities of the ghosts;…

Women in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Elana Gomel

    What inspired you to start writing? I have been a storyteller since I remember myself. I was an only child and I spent most of my time immersed in books, making up my own stories to share with my toys. I always wanted to be a writer. However, once I left my birth country (Ukraine) and realized I needed to have a professional job, I decided to study English literature to improve my knowledge of the language. It worked out well for me as I became a Professor of English literature and wrote a number of academic books…

Women In Horror Month 2024 : An Interview with Eda Easter

What inspired you to start writing? Growing up an only child on an isolated horse farm in Texas, I amused myself reading and wandering in nature. The farm animals and barn cats became my captive audience, I’d either read stories to them or tell them stories I made up. Writing the stories down became the next step for me. What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? Horror for me was about the thrill of the jump scare, or the dread of creeping terror. But my love of horror has evolved. I don’t believe in true…

Women in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Catherine Cavendish

    What inspired you to start writing? I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil so I think it must be in my genes. My late Mum used to write short stories so that may have been an influencer. What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? I love the delicious scares and the fact that these are scares you know are all right. They’re not going to harm you, even though you daren’t raise your head from under the duvet when you’ve switched the light out. I love the compulsive storytelling, complex characters,…

Women In Horror Month 2024 : An Interview with Kate Maruyama

What inspired you to start writing? I was telling stories, and acting out plays with friends before I could write. Then when I could write, my mom started paying me $2 a page to egg me on. I haven’t been paid so well since! Once I got to about four pages, she stopped paying. I never stopped writing.   What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? I guess I always had a dark sensibility—I’d say the first horror I consumed was L. Frank Baum’s Oz Books (grislier than you remember) and The Blue, Red, and…

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.”

Women In Horror Month 2024 : An Introduction by Kathryn Ptacek

    The Journey is Never Done. Kind of Like Housework. Kathryn Ptacek We’ve come a long way, baby. Well, if you were alive many decades ago, you'd recognize that as the advertising jingle—somewhat altered—by a tobacco company for a cigarette that it geared toward women. That was back in the late ’60s and early ’70s when everything was bright and fresh and we could do anything. Except apply for credit cards and buy our own cars. But I digress. Yes, we—that is, women horror writers—have come a long way, but there’s no reason to sit back on our celebratory…

The 2023 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot — CORRECTED

  IMPORTANT NOTE—BALLOT CORRECTION The Bram Stoker Awards Committee must note a correction to the previously announced Final Ballot. It was recognized unfortunately late in the Awards process that CAMP DAMASCUS by Chuck Tingle, included in the Young Adult Novel category on the Preliminary Ballot, is not a young adult work. After careful discussion and review of the Preliminary Ballot voting, the Awards Committee has moved CAMP DAMASCUS to the Novel category, where it should have originally been included, resulting in six finalists in NOVEL. In the Young Adult Novel category, YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE TONIGHT by Kalynn Bayron…

The Seers’ Table March 2024

Kate Maruyama, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community March is blooming with all kinds of marvelous reading! Here’s a delectable array of spooky stories for you to choose from! Linda Addison Recommends: From Carmen Baca: “A locked wooden box which held the secrets to the Brotherhood known as los Hermanos Penitentes inspired my debut novel, El Hermano. It published in 2017, and I haven’t stopped writing. Today, I have six books and over 80 short works published from poetry to prose in a variety of genres. I’m proud to say some are award winners. I’ve been recognized by a…

2024 SUMMER SCARES READING LIST

In celebration of National Library Lover’s Day, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, Booklist, and NoveList®, a division of EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO), is delighted to announce the sixth annual Summer Scares reading list, which includes titles selected by a panel of authors and library workers and is designed to promote Horror as a great reading option for all ages, during any time of the year. This year, Summer Scares welcomes author Clay McLeod Chapman as the 2024 spokesperson. “Our bookshelves are getting haunted this summer!” exclaims Chapman. “Every last one of the…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview With Errick Nunnally

What inspired you to start writing? It was a short journey from comic books to science fiction novels. My mother used to read comics to me along with Dr. Seuss and all the rest. Spinner racks for comics at local drug stores eventually led to bookstores and the sci-fi/fantasy/horror sections. Crazy covers!   What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? I’ve always enjoyed monster stories. For folks my age, the gateway was probably Creature Double Feature, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and various late-night movie showings. I didn’t grow up in a neighborhood of readers which,…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Sylvester Barzey

What inspired you to start writing?  I’ve always been interested in telling stories, be it verbally or through poems, I even wanted to do comic books at one point. I wasn’t huge on reading outside of comics when I was growing up, so a lot of my horror and storytelling intake came from movies and TV shows. I never really thought of books as a medium for me to tell my stories, until like 2010, I was kind of overwriting poems and I thought about writing a book, but that intimidated me so I just told myself I’d treat each…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview With P. Djèlí Clark

What inspired you to start writing? Reading. I read a lot. And eventually, I started wondering if I could recreate the things I loved so much about reading. My earliest writing was just for fun—meant for myself, friends, and family. I didn’t start thinking about writing for a broader audience until well after college. Turns out, I had things to say.   What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? I find that horror speaks to something primal in us.   Do you make a conscious effort to include African diaspora characters and themes in your…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Ness Brown

  What inspired you to start writing?  I started writing as a kid. While there was no single catalyst, I was largely inspired by online writers posting their stories to personal blogs (all the way back in the Angelfire era). I was a voracious reader but only gained the courage to try writing after seeing other passionate story-lovers sharing theirs without expectation of money or exposure. I subjected my parents to my first terrible attempts and with their encouragement have spent the last two decades honing my craft and trying to remember to write without expectation. What was it about…

The 2023 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

  The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2023 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA is the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with more than 2,000 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987. Works appearing on this Ballot are Bram Stoker Award® Nominees for Superior Achievement in their Category, e.g., Novel, and everyone may refer to them as such immediately after the announcement. The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Final Ballot. Notes about the…