Veterans in Horror: Interview with John Lane

John Lane’s fiction has appeared in THE DISAPPOINTED HOUSEWIFE, PAGE & SPINE, VERSIFICATION, dyst LITERARY JOURNAL, 101 WORDS, BLACK HARE PRESS, THE BIRDSEED, THE DAILY DRUNK and many other venues. “The Visit” was published in 81 WORDS FLASH FICTION ANTHOLOGY, which won the Saboteur Award for Best Anthology. “The Monster Inside” was part of the Horror Writers Association’s Mental Health Initiative anthology, OF HOPE AND HORROR. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty?  I enlisted in the Army as a 39T Computer Technician between January 1988 to 1992. After basic training in Fort Jackson, SC and…

Transgender Awareness Week: Catching up with Ridley Harker

Ridley Harker is a gay, transgender author and editor from St. Louis, Missouri. His debut queer body horror novel, Parasite, is available now from Ninestar Press and Amazon. Ridley lives in the Middle of Nowhere with his two dogs, a grumpy old snake, and a host of pet tarantulas. He is currently working on his MFA in Creative Writing. Visit his website at www.ridleyharker.com, and follow him on Twitter @RidleyHarker. What is the latest in your world as a writer? Do you have any new writing news, upcoming projects, or other exciting professional news you'd like to share with our audiences…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with C.R. Langille

C.R. Langille spent many a Saturday afternoon watching monster movies with their mother. It wasn't long before they started crafting nightmares to share with their readers. They are a retired, disabled veteran with a deep love for weird and creepy tales. This prompted them to form Timber Ghost Press in January of 2021. They are an affiliate member of the Horror Writer's Association, a member of the League of Utah Writers, and they received their MFA: Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Follow them at: https://biolinks.heropost.io/CRLangille Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I spent…

Transgender Awareness Week: Catching Up with Hailey Piper

  Catching Up With Allison Church Catching Up with Hailey Piper Hailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth, The Worm and His Kings, No Gods for Drowning, Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, and other books of dark fiction. She is an active member of the HWA, with over ninety short stories appearing in Pseudopod, Vastarien, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and other publications. She lives with her wife in Maryland, where their mad science experiments are secret. Find Hailey at www.haileypiper.com or on Twitter via @HaileyPiperSays. What is the latest in your world as a writer? Do you have any new…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with K.P. Kulski

K.P. Kulski is a Korean-American author born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She’s embarked on many career adventures: the U.S. Navy and Air Force, video game design, and history professor. Her fiction is often inspired by stories of the past; most evident in her gothic horror novel, Fairest Flesh, from Strangehouse Books and novella, House of Pungsu, from Bizarro Pulp Press. She now resides in Northeast Ohio with her husband and children in a house in the woods. Find her online at garnetonwinter.com and on Twitter @garnetonwinter. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I served in two branches, active duty Air Force…
Transgender Awareness Week: Catching Up with Allison Church

Transgender Awareness Week: Catching Up with Allison Church

Catching Up With Allison Church Allison Church (a.k.a. DONALD ALLEN KIRCH) is a Transgender Author who lives in the Midwest of the United States. She is an avid lover of horror, science fiction, and fantasy and will challenge ANYONE on her knowledge of TV “pop” culture. A die-hard fan of “Star Trek,” “Babylon 5,” and “Doctor Who,” she does not believe in the “NO Win” scenario! She LOVES everything about the Paranormal! What is the latest in your world as a writer? Do you have any new writing news, upcoming projects, or other exciting professional news you'd like to share…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Brandon Ketchum

Brandon Ketchum is a speculative fiction writer from Pittsburgh, PA who enjoys putting a weird spin or strange vibe into every story, dark or light. He is a member of SFWA and the Horror Writers Association, and his work has been published with Air & Nothingness Press, Perihelion, Mad Scientist Journal, and many other publications, including the short story collection Legio Damnati. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I was officially in the military from December of 1994 through July of 2002. I signed up for the Army Reserves initially, went to Fort Lost in…
It’s Always Been Our Stories That Saved Us: An Introduction to Transgender Awareness Week by Emily Flummox

It’s Always Been Our Stories That Saved Us: An Introduction to Transgender Awareness Week by Emily Flummox

It’s Always Been Our Stories That Saved Us An Introduction to Transgender Awareness Week and Transgender Day of Remembrance  by Emily Flummox Twenty-four years later, we still do not know who it was who made Rita Hester an ancestor (other than the cops who took an hour to get her to the hospital, despite her back door being open) and thus made November a good month for trans horror.  A small group of Rita’s friends organized a vigil to remember her, to yell her name and her pronouns loud enough that hopefully the name the news used to kill her…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Verona Jones

V.L. Jones is a paranormal enthusiast and a horror writer. She grew up in a haunted house in Washington state, which fueled her passion for the supernatural and monsters. Verona now lives in Casa Grande, Arizona, which she uses as her home base to explore haunted sites with a history. Verona enlisted in the Navy out of high school, and her first duty station was in the highlands of Scotland. Talk about hitting paydirt. Scotland and England abound with urban legends and ghostly hauntings. Fascinated by the history of these places, she often writes about her spooky findings. Her explorations…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with LP Hernandez

LP Hernandez is an author of horror and speculative fiction. His stories have been featured in anthologies from Dark Matter Magazine, Cemetery Gates Media, and Sinister Smile Press among others. He is a regular contributor to The NoSleep Podcast and has released two short story collections. His novella, Stargazers, was published under the My Dark Library banner with Cemetery Gates Media. When not writing, LP serves as a medical administrator in the U.S. Air Force. He is a husband, father, and a dedicated metalhead. You can find links to LP’s work at his website: www.lphernandez.com He is most active on…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Bryn Grover

I grew up in an age when the Soviet Union and communism were generally conceived to be the enemy. "Bomb" drills were generally held as we ducked and hid under desks and learned to count 'flash to bang' times. Culturally, this was accented by B Movies of monsters resulting from 'atomic' problems and nuclear explosions. I grew to love those movies whether it was Gamera, Godzilla, & Mothra or giant Gila monsters, spiders, and other mutants. Combine that with a love of the work of such authors as H.P. Lovecraft, Arthur Machen, Clark Ashton Smith, Lord Dunsany, T.E.D. Klein and…

Veterans of Horror: Interview with Owl Goingback

Owl Goingback has been writing professionally for over thirty years, and is the author of numerous novels, children’s book, screenplays, magazine articles, short stories, and comics. He is a recipient of the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award, and has won the Bram Stoker Award for novel and first novel. He is also a Nebula Award Nominee, and a Storytelling World Awards Honor Recipient. His books include Crota, Darker Than Night, Evil Whispers, Breed, Shaman Moon, Coyote Rage, Eagle Feathers, The Gift, and Tribal Screams. In addition to writing under his own name, he has ghostwritten for Hollywood celebrities. Tell us a…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Jonathan Gensler

Jonathan Gensler writes dark slipstream and speculative fiction inspired by his decades of wildly varied life experiences as a combat veteran and clean tech entrepreneur.  After growing up in a haunted house in WV and living in several corners of the world, he now resides in Nashville with his wife and three children. You can find him on Twitter @jgensler. He may have stopped writing long enough to get his website working at jonathangensler.com, but maybe not. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I graduated from West Point in 2000 and served as an Army…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Chance Fortune

Chance Fortune is an American Dark Fantasy and Horror author based out of Eugene, Oregon. Chance graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in writing and a minor in media communication. He is the author of "In the Web of the Spider Queen" now available on Amazon and KDP. Chance served ten years with the Minnesota Army National Guard and is a veteran of the global war on terror. Chance is currently querying agents for his second novel. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I've spent the past ten years in the Army…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Solomon Forse

Solomon Forse is the founder of HOWL Society, the most active online horror book club on the web. He also plays guitar in the Lovecraftian metal band Crafteon and teaches high school English on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. Check out his latest fiction appearing in the Howls From Hell anthology, MYTHIC Issue 20, Boneyard Soup Magazine Vol. 1, Issue 4., and Into the Crypt of Rays: A Black Metal Horror Anthology. Follow him on Twitter @SolomonForse. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I served as an infantryman for the US Army from 2007-2010. I was stationed in Fort Wainwright, Alaska, and completed one…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with David Curfiss

David Curfiss is a veteran of the U.S. Navy. He served onboard the USS Kinkaid as a Gunners Mate before transferring to the Naval Special Warfare community as an armorer where he had the privilege to work with the elite Navy Seals and SWCC Operators. After eight years of honorable service, David transitioned to civilian life. Prior to his naval service, David had a passion for apocalyptic themed stories and adventures. He spent his youth living in fictional worlds, battling zombies, vampire nuns, hostile aliens from far-away planets, and other creatures of death. It was while he was in seventh…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Giles Clarke

Giles Clarke is the founder of Uncharted Wilderness Studios, a production company focused on comics and graphic novels. Uncharted Wilderness Studios was born out of a desire to publish engaging stories told well, and create a catalogue of memorable characters who can save the world from yet another reboot. Their premiere title, Rougarou, a horror / western is currently in stores nationwide. Giles served 9 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. as an infantry officer, with three tours to Iraq. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts graduate film production program. He has worked as a production…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Rachel A. Brune

As a military journalist, Rachel A. Brune wrote and photographed the Army and its soldiers for five years. When she moved on, she didn’t quit writing stories with soldiers in them, just added werewolves, sorcerers, a couple evil mad scientists, and a Fae or two. Now a full-time author and writing coach living in North Carolina, Rachel enjoys poking around former military installations and listening for the ghosts of old soldiers … or writing them into her latest short story. In addition to writing, she is the founder and chief editor of Crone Girls Press, an indie horror micro press…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Michael Arnzen

Michael Arnzen holds four Bram Stoker Awards and an International Horror Guild Award for his disturbing (and often funny) fiction, poetry and literary experiments. His books include Grave Markings, Play Dead, Proverbs for Monsters and 100 Jolts. He has been teaching as a Professor of English in the MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University since 1999. See what he's up to now at gorelets.com Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I joined the US Army shortly after high school, because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to afford college and the…

STEPHANIE M. WYTOVICH ON POETRY IN THE DARK

by Angela Yuriko Smith Today I'd like to welcome Stephanie M. Wytovich to the HWA Poetry Blog with an interview about her own work and Writing Poetry in the Dark, just released from Raw Dog Screaming Press. Writing Poetry in the Dark "brings together some of the most successful contemporary genre poets to discuss topics related to creating dark and fantastical poetry." Compiled specifically for and about speculative poetry, some of the best poets join forces to offer advice and insight in this guide. It's a pleasure to share this interview from one of the most respected names in dark…