HWA 2013 Specialty Press Award Goes to Gray Friar Press

HWA 2013 Specialty Press Award Goes to Gray Friar Press

Gray Friar Press, of Whitby, U.K., will receive the Horror Writers Association's Specialty Press Award for 2013. The Award will be presented during the Bram Stoker Awards® Banquet, to be held this during the World Horror Convention in Portland, Oregon, on May 10, 2014. The annual Specialty Press Award recognizes a publisher outside the mainstream New York City publishing community that specializes in dark-themed fiction. Winners are typically "small presses" specializing in limited editions, small print runs, or the work of new and relatively unknown authors. The winner of the award is determined by a majority vote of the Horror…
Norman Rubenstein to receive the Hammer Award from HWA

Norman Rubenstein to receive the Hammer Award from HWA

The Horror Writers Association periodically gives the Hammer Award (also known as the Silver Hammer Award) to an HWA volunteer who has done a truly massive amount of work for our organization, often unsung and behind the scenes. It was instituted in 1996, and is decided by a vote of HWA's Board. The award is so named because it represents the careful, steady, continuous work of building HWA's "house" -- the many institutional systems that keep the organization functioning on a day-to-day basis. The award itself is a chrome-plated hammer with an engraved plaque on the handle. The chrome hammer…
JG Faherty to receive The Richard Laymon President’s Award from Horror Writers Association

JG Faherty to receive The Richard Laymon President’s Award from Horror Writers Association

The Richard Laymon President's Award for Service was instituted in 2000 and is named in honor of Richard Laymon, who died in 2000 while serving as the Horror Writer’s Association’s President. As its name implies, it is given by the HWA's sitting President. The Award is presented to a volunteer who has served HWA in an especially exemplary manner and has shown extraordinary dedication to the organization. HWA’s President Rocky Wood has chosen JG Faherty to receive the 2013 Award. Rocky said, “JG (Greg) is one of the hardest working volunteers the HWA has ever had. In the past two…

PHANTOM LIMB by Shane Montgomery

Author: Shane Montgomery PHANTOM LIMB An LAPD narcotics officer-turned-personal bodyguard, a troubled epileptic psychic and an enigmatic shaman~ trying to outrun their pasts... A paranormal scientist and cameraman, just trying to do their jobs: the cast of a reality show investigating hauntings and unsolved murders in Redemption, Arizona~ a ghost mining town. Together, they confront restless spirits, and manifest the tragic lives of Red Morrison and Rosie Rodriquez, star-crossed lovers connected to the town’s bloody past. A ghost dance in the desert, a Tarot reading and a burning chapel summon visions of vengeful shamans who called on demonic forces to…
2014 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients Announced

2014 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients Announced

Stephen Jones lives in London, England. He is the winner of three World Fantasy Awards, four Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Awards and three International Horror Guild Awards, as well as being a recipient of twenty-one British Fantasy Awards and a Hugo Award nominee. A former television producer/director and genre movie publicist and consultant (the first three Hellraiser movies, Night Life, Nightbreed, Split Second, Mind Ripper, Last Gasp etc.), he is the co-editor of Horror: 100 Best Books, Horror: Another 100 Best Books, The Best Horror from Fantasy Tales, Gaslight & Ghosts, Now We Are Sick, H.P. Lovecraft's Book of…

HORROR SOCIETY STORIES VOLUME 1 Edited by Michael DeFellipo

Editor: Michael DeFellipo HORROR SOCIETY STORIES VOLUME 1 Short stories in Horror Society Stories: Volume 1 include “Loaf Divine” by Canaan Frank, “Dead Ringers” by David Blackthorn, “A Vampire Walks Into A Bar” by Aaron Ray Ballard, “Jump $20” by Marc E. Fitch, “My Lover, My Garden” by Erik Gustafson, “The Invisible Enemy” by Bryan Cassiday, “The Lunch Pail” by W. B. Stickel, “The Specimen” by Angela Pritchett, “Hair and Teeth” by Katie Jones, and “Dogs Want To Eat You” by Ralph Robert Moore. A bonus story by the cover artist, Manny Serrano, is also featured in the book. Publisher: Shillow Productions Publication…

WOLF CREEK: DESOLATION GAME by Brett McBean & Greg McLean

Authors: Brett McBean & Greg McLean WOLF CREEK: DESOLATION GAME Mick's learning, and his schoolroom is a war. When sharpshooter and killer Mick Taylor searches for a place to keep a low profile, he finds somewhere where his peculiar talents are appreciated: a war. And in Vietnam an out-of-control sergeant takes the amateur murderer and turns him into a pro. Back home, Mick makes use of the sick lessons the army taught him, when hapless tour operators bring a Kombi-load of sightseers out his way into the Western Australian desert. Two suspicious flat tires deliver an engaged Japanese couple, a father…
Horror Roundtable 16: Horror History 101

Horror Roundtable 16: Horror History 101

You can follow the Roundtable discussion in the comments section of this post. Note: the page will not auto refresh, so please use the refresh option on your browser to keep up to date with the discussion. * * * * * When: 23 February, 2014 Time: 8pm EST (use the Time Zone Converter to find your local time) Horror History 101 Who are the founding fathers of the horror genre, and what is it about their work that allows it to stand the test of time? Let’s look at some of the iconic figures in the horror fiction genre,…
The 2013 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

The 2013 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2013 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (see WWW.HORROR.ORG ) is the premiere writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with over 1,200 members. HWA has presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see https://horror.org/AWARDS/STOKERS.HTM). "We are proud to present a particularly notable slate of nominees this year, showing the horror genre is strong and popular," Rocky Wood, the HWA's President, said. IMPORTANT: Voting begins on 2/28 and ends on 3/15. Only Active and Lifetime members can vote. The nominees are: Superior…
Women in Horror: Part Fifteen

Women in Horror: Part Fifteen

  Here we are again, still celebrating Women in Horror Month & going strong! Chantal Noordeloos, author of Deeply Twisted & Coyote-The Outlander, is here to talk about stereotypes & categorisation...     Every February we explore the world of ladies in the horror genre. We shine the limelight on female authors, directors, actresses, and perhaps even the female characters in their books. As a woman who writes horror I’m very grateful for this little bit of illumination. Most of us still struggle to make a name for ourselves, and a lot of women suffer from a stigma that’s been…
Women in Horror: Part Fourteen

Women in Horror: Part Fourteen

Welcome to our next installment of HWA's Women in Horror Month! Today we have the delectable Rena Mason joining us & she's talking about the writers who inspired her...         One of the first “horror” novels I remember reading in my pre-teen years, because it was popular, was Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. It left me wanting more, so as simple as it sounds, I chose my next book because the cover art had a similar “creepy girl” feel to it. Both books also had strong female protagonists. The second book just happened to be…

WOLF CREEK: ORIGIN by Aaron Sterns & Greg McLean

Authors: Aaron Sterns & Greg McLean WOLF CREEK: ORGIN Nature vs nurture turns out to be a bloodbath. The wide open outback offers plenty of space for someone to hide. Or to hide a body. When wiry youngster Mick Taylor starts as a jackaroo at a remote Western Australian sheep station, he tries to keep his head down among the rough company of the farmhands. But he can't keep the devils inside him hidden for long. It turns out he's not the only one with the killer impulse – and the other psychopaths don't appreciate competition. Is Cutter, the station's surly…

Women in Horror: Part Thirteen

Here we are at lucky number thirteen of WiHM!  Today we're joined by author Kami Garcia & she's telling all about the reactions she faced when she announced that she was going to write horror fiction...       Why would you ever want to write a horror novel?—that was the question people kept asking when my solo novel, Unbreakable, released last Fall. The same people who had never questioned my choice of genre when I was writing Southern Gothic were suddenly thrown by the word horror. They associated it with violence and gore, instead of the elements at the…
Women in Horror: Part Twelve

Women in Horror: Part Twelve

Today we are joined by Carol MacAllister, author of The BlackMoor Tales...     Toni Morrison, author, whose work won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 is generally categorized as most interested in presenting the human condition of African Americans through her work. Her characters are African Americans, but even though she addresses racism, it is curious to note that she easily crosses the borders of reality and dips into horror to paint her scenes.   BELOVED, her novel ranked as one of American’s best works, relies on the element of a ghostly main protagonist who follows all the…
Women in Horror: Part Eleven

Women in Horror: Part Eleven

Today we have something a little different, Leigh M Lane covers a few of the theories surrounding the whole role women have i  Horror Fiction... Women’s Roles in Horror—Playing the Victim?   I’ve been thinking a lot lately about roles versus expectations in horror writing. There are many who deny that there continues to exist gender bias in horror, and to those people I must ask: Then why is there a Women in Horror Month? If there were no problem, we’d also have a Men in Horror Month … or would we?   I don’t want to foster any false…
Women in Horror: Part Ten

Women in Horror: Part Ten

Welcome back to HWA's WiHM feature special! We're now at part ten & I'm proud to present to you a little piece by author & journalist, Natasha Ewendt! Embrace the weird   So, you’re a female horror writer? You write about blood and guts and torture and monsters and stuff? That’s a bit unsavoury for a lady, isn't it? Newsflash: A lot of us ladies aren't really ladies. Well, we may have the “lady gear”, but as for the cookie-baking, chick-flick-watching, blinking kind of lady stereotype, that’s a small set of the female population that’s just widely portrayed in the…

DESCENDING LINES by L. Andrew Cooper

Author: L. Andrew Cooper DESCENDING LINES When Megan met Carter Anderson at Harvard, their college romance took a mystical turn thanks to THE ALCHEMY OF WILL, a book by Dr. Allen Fincher that gave them the power to do almost anything, with disastrous results. Years later, they have a six-year-old daughter, Caitlin, dying a slow death from bone cancer. Dr. Fincher’s book offers them a cure: they can save the life of their first-born by sacrificing the life of their second. But Megan and Carter don’t have a second-born… yet. Only half-convinced, Megan, confined to their New York apartment, begins nine…
Women in Horror: Part Nine

Women in Horror: Part Nine

  Today we have something a little different, Michael Randolph takes us right back to our roots...   Ancient Roots Enough cannot be said of the impact that women have had on horror. For more than a millennium women have written stories that chill the heart, laying laid down roots well before the gothic period. If you look into the deep past…far back into the Middle Ages (12th century), you will find the one of the original werewolf stories or Lais written by Marie De France, a noble woman. Marie wrote a series a poems or Lais with the only…

Women in Horror: Part Eight

Hello & welcome to our next installment of our feature for Women in Horror Month! Today we have author Sèphera Girón  sharing her thoughts on one of her inspirational women, Mary Shelley, one of our great Femme Founders.   Mary Shelley and Me  Mary Shelley will be discussed a lot during Women in Horror month on blogs around the world. Of that, I have no doubt. Many of us consider her one of the Queen Bees of the genre. There is no doubt she is responsible for some of the most recognizable icons and slang in modern culture. Her legacy of the…

Women in Horror: Part Seven

Good day to you all! Today we have the delightful company of author Julianne Snow talking about the horrors that our female authors dream up...& she means business!      Women Write Horror? Damn Right They Do!    Ensconced in a community such as this, we’re often insulated from the disbelief some others hold that we (women) write horror. But take us out of that bubble and things change. At times I don’t feel I have the luxury of discussing what it is I do for a living because the people who inhabit my everyday life simply don’t, and won’t,…