Officer Candidate Statements 2021
As Autumn approaches and we are all eager to celebrate the season, this also signals the time of year for the HWA’s annual elections. Up this year are four Trustee positions as well as the offices of Vice President and Treasurer. Please read the statements of the following candidates carefully.
Links to the ballot will be sent out on or around September 7, 2021 to our Active and Lifetime members, with a due date of September 15th, 2021.
The elected officers shall hold their respective offices for terms of two years, beginning on November 1 and ending on October 31.
VICE PRESIDENT
Meghan Arcuri
Meghan Arcuri
My name is Meghan Arcuri, and I am running for re-election for Vice President of the Horror Writers Association (HWA).
Working as an officer for the HWA has only reinforced something I already knew: horror writers are some of the kindest, most generous people on the planet. From the Executive Board to the Board of Trustees to our members and also non-members, I encounter this daily. My colleagues are intelligent and compassionate. Their passion and drive are infectious, their dedication admirable. I am lucky to know them.
As the Vice President, I interact with many of these people and, as such, wear many hats. I edit Quick Bites, our monthly iMailer; I work with our Chapter Managers and Volunteer Coordinator; I am on the StokerCon planning committee; I am the HWA’s liaison for the Disney Task Force; and I head the Publications Committee and have been involved with the HWA anthologies and the StokerCon2022 Souvenir book.
In the past two years, I have also helped coordinate the scholarship program, as well as our plans for Women in Horror Month; I assisted in the development of the Diversity Grants; I have researched platforms and aided in creating the look for our Horror University Online landing page; and I have also coordinated the social media platforms for both the HWA and StokerCon.
My responsibilities and interactions have given me a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the HWA and its members. I have learned a lot and grown a lot.
It has been an honor to serve as the Vice President and to collaborate with this amazing group of people. If re-elected, I look forward to continuing the work of the HWA, as well as spreading the good word of horror.
TREASURER
Maxwell Gold
Maxwell Gold
My name is Maxwell Gold and I’m a Rhysling-Award-nominated prose poet and short story writer. I’ve been published for a little over four years now with over 40 poems and stories in print and online which have appeared in Startling Stories, Weirdbook Magazine, Spectral Realms, Space and Time Magazine, and more.
Professionally, outside of my writing background I have worked in banking and finance, nonprofits, and business development. I’m running for Treasurer because my hope and purpose is to work with the HWA Board by expanding the HWA’s institutional footprint through developing stronger fundraising programs, grant research, and possibly establishing major gifts programs or looking into other donor opportunities. As a former major gifts coordinator and current manager of a corporate philanthropy program, one goal as Treasurer, would be to work to set up an organizational endowment for the purposes of financial security, and new opportunities for HWA members.
I’d also like to work with the current leadership to establish a grant and research committee to search for funding opportunities that will bolster institutional efforts such as: The HWA Diversity Grants, Horror U Scholarships, and others, as well as fund new opportunities.
I feel with my unique background I could bring a diverse viewpoint to the board.
TRUSTEES
Active and lifetime members will vote to fill 4 trustee seats.
Marc L. Abbott Marc L. Abbott I have been an active member of the HWA for 7 years. Since I joined the New York Chapter in 2014 and have been afforded opportunities to participate in many of the local chapter’s events such as readings, volunteering to help run the table at several local conventions including NY Comic Con. I also donated my work to The Empire State of Fright anthology which raised money for the organization Girls Write Now. I have been published in several anthologies including the most recent collection Under Twin Suns. I have moderated panels and volunteered at past Stokercons, and most recently, I took part in the HWA Mentorship Program as a mentor which was a rewarding experience. The reason I am running for Trustee is so that I can contribute to this organization on another tier. I believe in giving back through time and talent and I want to do that for the HWA. This organization has opened a lot of doors for me that I struggled to get through for a long time. Many of the writers I have come to know in this community have been supportive of my work, encouraged me to take many leaps of faith and offered their time to answer any questions I have. If I am chosen, I pledge to continue to make the Horror Writers Association a positive, influential and productive organization for writers in the horror genre. I’ll listen to and assess all business matters, as well as participate in decision-making processes, with an open mind. Working together with the other elected bodies on ways that will make the HWA better as time goes on and be an advocate to all those within the HWA community. Currently I am working with the Center for Fiction hosting a monthly workshop called Beyond the Tropes. In January 2021, I co-authored and released a new anthology entitled Hell at Brooklyn Tea, along with fellow HWA member Steven Van Patten. Our first anthology, Hell at the Way Station, won two African American Literary awards. You can read more about me and my work at www.whoismarclabbott.com. Gabino Iglesias  Gabino Iglesias I have been an active member of HWA for less than a year, but a fan of it for much longer. I believe in what the HWA has done and see what it is doing now. I see the HWA making changes and moving strongly and decisively in the right direction and being an agent of change. The main reason I am running for Trustee is to contribute back to an organization that has been helpful and open to me and many others as well as an institution that is at the forefront in terms of diversity and inclusivity in horror fiction. If I am chosen I pledge to participate in HWA business matters with an open, two open ears, and a thirst for knowledge. However, I also pledge to come into this with the battles I’ve waged since I decided to pursue a career as a writer: to diversify horror, to make sure Otherness is taken into account, to foster a deep understanding of the unique positionality of every single horror writer out there. I’ve been nominated to the Bram Stoker Award, the Locus Award, and won the Wonderland Book Award. I am also a member of MWA and the NBCC and was one of the recipients of the first HWA Diversity Grant. The knowledge I’ve gained as a writer and editor will be put to the service of all HWA members. Thank you. Eugene Johnson  Eugene Johnson I’ve been an member active of HWA for several years. Before that I was an associate member for many years where I volunteered in many roles at the HWA including on the HWA Membership Committee. I have decided to run for Trustee to try to make a difference in the community I care about deeply. To give back to the horror community by helping anyway I can to the organization. I’m a person with disabilities as well as a person that has once worked in the mental health field. I would like to support projects and activities devoted to spreading more awareness for how the HWA can benefit people with disabilities and mental health issues. Spending my time helping the organizing to continue to be inclusive as well as helpful to all people. My strengths are my compassion, creativity, and willing to try to help any way possible. You can read more about me in my small bio below. Bram Stoker Award®-winner Eugene Johnson is an author, editor, filmmaker and columnist. He has written as well as edited in various genres, and created anthologies such as the Fantastic Tales Of Terror, Drive In Creature Feature with Charles Day, the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated non-fiction anthology Where Nightmares Come From: The Art Of Storytelling In The Horror Genre, Dark Tides with John Questore, The Tales Of The Lost Series, and many more. He has a Masters from Marshall University in Mental Health Counseling and lives in Appalachia with his family. Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/eugene.johnson.14855 Lisa Kröger  Lisa Kroger With this statement, I am formally announcing that I am interested in a trustee position with the HWA. I’ve been an active member in good standing of the HWA since 2019, but I’ve been a member of the organization since 2016. While I’ve never held this trustee position before, I have been a judge for the Stoker Awards for a few years. I’ve edited two essay collections, written a women-in-horror compendium, and hosted two podcasts dedicated to the horror genre. Currently, I am writing my second book, a narrative nonfiction book about women and the occult. I also have a PhD in English Literature and Languages, with a focus on the Gothic novel. I taught at the university level for many years before I stepped away to write full time. The HWA has been an important part of my journey as a horror writer. I attended my first StokerCon as a new writer back in 2017 when the event was held on the Queen Mary. I was able to attend because of an HWA scholarship; without that support, I don’t think I would’ve been able to make that trip. The next year, following the success of the first StokerCon, I went again—this time to Providence. Because of the HWA (and the organized pitch sessions), I was able to pitch to an editor at Quirk Books. That is how I published my first book, Monster, She Wrote, which would go on to win a Bram Stoker Award and a Locus Award. Knowing what the HWA can do for writers, I am committed to creating opportunities for writers, as well as promoting the genre that I love. To that end, I am also committed to being a voice for greater parity for women, writers of color, and LGBTQ writers. The HWA has done much for writers of fiction, but I would also like to bring a larger focus to other modes of horror, including nonfiction and film. If I am elected, I will work hard to support the HWA in an inclusive way for all members. My strengths are organization, strong listening skills, and empathy, which I will use to the best of my ability as trustee. Brian W. Matthews  Brian Matthews I am an active member of the HWA and have served on the Lifetime Achievement Award committee and as a juror for the Bram Stoker Awards®. I help moderate the HWA’s StokerCon® Facebook page and currently serve as the Bram Stoker Awards Show Coordinator. I have organized and run the Pitch Sessions for the last several StokerCons. I have also served as Chair or Co-Chair for three StokerCon conventions. In 2021, I received the Silver Hammer Award for outstanding volunteer work in the HWA. I would consider it a privilege to serve as a trustee. My focus would be to further the HWA’s efforts at promoting inclusiveness among its members, improve its outreach to regional chapters, and strengthen the many programs that support the HWA’s members. As a Certified Financial Planning Professional™, I can also bring valuable knowledge and insights into the financial workings of an organization like the HWA. Angela Yuriko Smith  Angela Yuriko Smith Joining the HWA was a defining point in my career. While I had been a professional nonfiction writer and editor for the two decades prior, I was quickly realizing that fiction, especially horror fiction, was a whole new situation. Had I not joined up with the HWA I would still be struggling along in my closet, feeling very alone and clueless. HWA made the difference for me, and my story is just one of hundreds if not thousands. That empowerment comes from our culture of cooperation. I believe our diverse community is the strongest asset we have. The HWA family is all about sharing expertise, lifting each other up and boosting our genre. By helping the HWA, we are helping each other and ourselves. No matter what we give, it returns—a perpetual circle of winning. Currently I co-publish Space and Time magazine, serve on the Missouri Writers Guild board as the publicity director and am currently in the process of helping to create a virtual campus for writers of all levels and locations to access resources, network, hone their skills and promote their work. I hope to put my resources to work for the HWA as a Trustee, but whether that becomes a reality or not, I remain dedicated to an organization I consider vital. Fiction helps a society to evolve and preserve our humanity. Dark fiction shows us how to evolve without fear. There has never been a more important time for fearless evolution than now. In whatever position I find myself, I hope to be a positive asset toward that end. |
