MHI: THE WOMAN WHO WOKE ME by Graham Masterton

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   THE WOMAN WHO WOKE ME Graham Masterton Her muted sobbing woke me, and I…

MHI: DEPRESSION IS A BITCH by Linda Kay Hardie

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   DEPRESSION IS A BITCH Linda Kay Hardie Because of her, my get-up-and-go got up…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam’s fiction has appeared in over 90 publications such as LeVar Burton Reads and Popular Science, as well as in six languages. By night, she has been a finalist for the Nebula Award. By day, she works as a Narrative Designer writing romance games. Her first horror novella and short story collection will be published in 2022. What inspired you to start writing? The strong emotions I got from hearing stories as a kid. I loved fairy tales, horror stories, sad endings, and awe-inspiring descriptions—and when I figured out that I could inspire emotions in other people, I…

MHI: TORN: A STORY OF OPPOSITE DISTRACTION by Jude S. Walko

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   TORN: A STORY OF OPPOSITE DISTRACTION Jude S. Walko His hand brushed across her…

MHI: ABERRATION by Eugen Bacon

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   ABERRATION Eugen Bacon lockouts lockins jag jag tereu pathless  fragments sifting  spaces absent  puddles…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Katrina Monroe

Katrina Monroe is the author of They Drown Our Daughters. She lives in Minneapolis with her wife, kids, and a ghost named Eddie who haunts their bedroom closets. Photo Credit to Bert Jones Photography What inspired you to start writing? I’ve always written—short stories when I was a kid and angsty poems when I was a teenager—but it wasn’t until I became a young mom that I decided to pursue it as something more than just an outlet for big feelings. I was in an unhealthy relationship and needed to prove to myself that I was intelligent and capable—things my…

MHI: PERSPECTIVE by TJ Kang

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members. PERSPECTIVE TJ Kang The old woman on the porch across the street is getting wet.…

MHI: NIGHT TERRORS by L. E. Daniels

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   NIGHT TERRORS L. E. Daniels Shadows stretch late-afternoon-long to deep-solid-dark— A mirror for your…

The Seers’ Table June 2022

Kate Maruyama, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community It’s time for Summer Reading, and we have some new authors for you to acquaint yourself with. What’s fun this month is there are links so that you can read pieces by Phoenix Alexander and K.M. Szpara directly. Save the links on your phone and read them wherever you’re traveling! Rob Costello introduces: Phoenix Alexander (he/him) is the Science Fiction Collections Librarian at the University of Liverpool, Special Collections and Archives. He manages the largest collection of catalogued science fiction in Europe, including the archive of the Science Fiction Foundation. He completed…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Marisca Pichette

Marisca Pichette is a bisexual author, writing about all kinds of monsters. Her work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Fireside Magazine, PseudoPod, Apparition Lit, Grimdark Magazine, Uncharted Magazine, The NoSleep Podcast, Fusion Fragment, and PodCastle, among others. She lives in Western Massachusetts, collecting fragments. What inspired you to start writing? My main inspiration when I began writing was the beauty of language. I loved creating lush imagery, drawing on the natural world and books I was reading by long-dead white men. I didn’t realize at first how limited these stories were. As my writing developed, I began searching for the…

MHI: PATIENTLY AWAITING THE DOOR by A.R. Clayton

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   PATIENTLY AWAITING THE DOOR A.R. Clayton I stand at the edge of the well,…

A Point of Pride: Interview with David Demchuk

I'm David Demchuk, author of The Bone Mother and RED X, and I would be happy to be interviewed as part of the HWA Pride Month LGBTQ+ author interviews. I live in Toronto, Canada and have been writing for print, stage, digital and other media for more than 40 years. My debut horror novel The Bone Mother, published in 2017, was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Amazon First Novel Award, the Toronto Book Award, the Kobzar Book Award and a Shirley Jackson Award in the Best Novel category. It won the 2018 Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian…

MHI: IN SPITE OF IT by Lucy A. Snyder

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members. IN SPITE OF IT Lucy A. Snyder A friend asked me how I can still…

MHI: UGLY SWEATER POEM by Jessica Drake-Thomas

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   UGLY SWEATER POEM Jessica Drake-Thomas Depression is a heavy wool sweater, drenched by spring rain—clinging,…
A Point of Pride Series

A Point of Pride Series

E.F. Schraeder is the author of the queer gothic novella Liar: Memoir of a Haunting (Omnium Gatherum, 2021), the queer monster tale As Fast as She Can (Sirens Call Publications, 2022), a story collection, and two poetry chapbooks. Recent work has appeared in Dancing in the Shadows: A Tribute to Anne Rice, What Remains, Lost Contact, Mystery Weekly Magazine, Strange Horizons, and other journals and anthologies. Schraeder’s nonfiction has appeared in Vastarien: A Literary Journal; Radical Teacher; the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom blog, and elsewhere. Current creative projects include a monster’s coming-of-age novella and a full-length manuscript of poems.…

HWA Mental Health Initiative

In June 2022, the Horror Writers Association launched its Mental Health Initiative, comprising, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organisation’s Wellness Committee, is an ongoing programme of work. In the initiative’s first year a dedicated webpage for resources was established on the HWA website, and Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members was published. Ongoing activities include “Holistic Horrors”, a monthly column in…

Mental Health Initiative Charter

From the HWA Wellness Committee The aim of the Horror Writers Association’s Mental Health Initiative is to bring hope and promote inclusion for those who endure mental illness. The initiative wants to challenge a climate within the horror genre that has traditionally focused on poor and ill-informed representations of mental illness, and this is known to be a vehicle to perpetuate stigma in wider society. The Wellness Committee will focus on the following core elements when designing and developing its promotions and activities: To promote a positive image of mental illness/health To challenge and reduce the stigma associated with mental…

HWA MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE RESOURCES

This listing is non-exhaustible and will be updated regularly so that members have access to the most current materials as we gain access to them. For the purposes of this initial list, the contents are established resources readily available on the internet but condensed here for the purpose of ease. There will be an ongoing process of review and there are planned future additions of lived-experience reflections from members and recommended reading materials. NATIONAL HELPLINES/INFORMATION WEBSITES National helplines in territories where the HWA has a membership of 5 people or more. Those sites that feature any kind of paid service…

MHI: POWERS OF FIRE by Mary Leoson

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   POWERS OF FIRE Mary Leoson When students learn that two areas I haunt are…