Horror Roundtable 8 – Writing a Series

When: May 11, 2013 Time: 12 noon EST (use the Time Zone Converter to find your local time) Writing a Series What do writers owe their readers when they write books in series? Or do they not owe anything at all? The readers are the people who buy the books and “pay” the writer with eventual [we hope!] royalties. The people and situations in a book and a series are the writer’s creation and for themselves foremost ... but if a writer isn’t thinking of potential readers, then why bother sending the book to an agent or publisher? Why try to…

Interview with Bruce Boston at Darkeva’s Dark Delights

Darkeva interviews World Horror Convention’s Poet Guest of Honor, Bruce Boston. Darkeva: There’s definitely a strong contingent of poets among the sci-fi/fantasy/horror communities, and you’re certainly one of the most accomplished with publications in all the top magazines. Tell us a bit more about how you got your first few sales. BB: I was publishing poetry in literary magazines, mostly non-paying, some of it speculative, throughout the 1970s, though I didn’t yet have the label “speculative” for it. I’d also sold a few science fiction stories to commercial anthologies. In 1978 I saw a market report for a magazine titled…

Interview with John Joseph Adams at Darkeva’s Dark Delights

Darkeva interviews World Horror Convention’s Editor Guest of Honor, John Joseph Adams. Darkeva: You’re one of the most respected editors in the genre fiction community, and have edited many bestselling anthologies. Is there a particular favorite among them that you worked on? JJA: That’s a hard question to answer–kind of like asking a parent to name their favorite child. Of course every parent secretly has one, but never says which it is out of fear of hurting their other children’s feelings. In this case, the ones whose feelings could be hurt are, of course, not the anthologies themselves, but the…

Interview with Glenn Chadbourne at Darkeva’s Dark Delights

Darkeva interviews World Horror Convention’s Artist Guest of Honor, Glenn Chadbourne. Darkeva: You’re one of the most noted Stephen King artists, particularly for Secretary of Dreams, and your work has frequently appeared in Cemetery Dance. What do you find the most challenging or the most rewarding aspects about being an illustrator working in the horror genre? GC: As for challenges, every new gig is a challenge. I always try to nail down the atmosphere or flavor of a new story I’ve been asked to illustrate, and the challenge is conveying the right sort of mood or impact in the art…

Horror Roundtable 7 – The Future of Writing

When: March 18, 2013 Time: 3pm Pacific Daylight Time (use the Time Zone Convertor to find your local time) The Future of Writing Technology has surged ahead over the past few years and technological advances show no sign of slowing. We're living in the future. What does this mean for us writers? Does it open new pathways to success and unlimited options to explore our imaginations and present these worlds to our readers, or will it have an adverse effect? If there are always stories to tell, how will they be told in years to come? Will the written word…

2013 Bram Stoker Award Recommendations open for submissions!

HWA members may now SUBMIT RECOMMENDATIONS for the 2013 Bram Stoker Awards®. Members, please refresh your memory of the recommendation rules before submitting. Non-members are invited to browse the regularly updated Recommended Reading List for works published in 2013 (and previous years as well).

Interview with Caitlín R. Kiernan at Darkeva’s Dark Delights

Darkeva interviews World Horror Convention's Author Guest of Honor, Caitlín R. Kiernan. Darkeva: Although you’re mainly known for your powerful and dark novels such as The Drowning Girl, The Red Tree, Silk, and Low Red Moon among many others, you’re also a prolific comic book writer, most notably for Alabaster, but also with Vertigo for The Girl Who Would Be Death and The Dreaming, spin-offs of sorts from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels. Tell us a bit about how you came to write for these series, what you enjoy (or least enjoy) about writing for comics, and if you have…

Bruce Boston is Poet Guest of Honor at World Horror Con 2013

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is proud to announce Bruce Boston as Poet Guest of Honor for the Bram Stoker Awards™ Weekend 2013, to be held in New Orleans from 13-16 June 2013. Bruce Boston is the author of fifty books and chapbooks, including the novels The Guardener's Tale and Stained Glass Rain. His poetry and fiction have appeared in hundreds of publications, including Asimov's SF Magazine, Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, Strange Horizons, Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, and The Nebula Awards Showcase. One of the leading genre poets for more than a quarter century, Bruce has won a record…

Glenn Chadbourne is Artist Guest of Honor at 2013 World Horror Con

The Horror Writers Association is proud to announce Glenn Chadbourne as the Artist Guest of Honor for the World Horror Convention (WHC) 2013. In 2013 the HWA is hosting WHC as part of the Bram Stoker Awards™ Weekend in New Orleans from 13-16 June. Glenn Chadbourne is a freelance artist specialising in the horror/dark fantasy genres. His artwork has appeared in over fifty books and well as numerous magazines, comics, and computer games. His trademark pen and ink illustrations have accompanied the works of today’s best-selling horror writers, most notably Stephen King. He created the extensive artwork that appears in…

Free Samples of Bram Stoker Award Nominees

GalleyCat has gathered free samples of the scariest books of the year, those on the Bram Stoker Award® final ballot. Pick your next read from this list.

Interview with Amber Benson at Darkeva’s Dark Delights

Blogger Darkeva has posted a fascinating interview with World Horror Convention Guest of Honor Amber Benson. Darkeva: In addition to your acting career, you’re also an accomplished film director, producer, and writer, but most people know you for your role as Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As urban fantasy and horror readers already knew you, how did that affect your transition to becoming a novelist? AB: Well, I’d always written – mostly bad poetry and a few short stories and plays – but being on Buffy opened the door, as far as novel/prose is concerned, to a whole new…
HWA Library Partnership Committee

HWA Library Partnership Committee

As part of our ongoing commitment to promoting literacy, horror, and our members, the Horror Writers Association (HWA) has established a formal HWA Library Partnership Committee, which will focus on developing new readers in all age groups for the horror genre as well as working with libraries and library associations to support various literacy-related programs. The new committee will be chaired by JG Faherty, who has been serving as Library Liaison for the past few months while the committee was formalized. JG is proud to announce that the first two committee members, Hillary Dodge and Delia Remington, have signed on.…

The 2012 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2012 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (see www.horror.org ) is the premiere writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with nearly 1000 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987 (see https://horror.org/stokers.htm ). The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards Committee congratulate all these Bram Stoker Award Nominees. Notes about the voting process appear after the ballot listing. SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A NOVEL Ethridge, Benjamin Kane - Bottled Abyss (Redrum Horror) Everson, John - NightWhere (Samhain Publishing) Kiernan,…

Horror Roundtable 6 – Screenwriting

When: February 11-16, 2013 Time: 3pm Pacific Daylight Time Screenwriting (topic suggestion provided by Michaelbrent Collings). How to get involved in the industry, the pitfalls and problems, the success stories. Screenwriting is a natural extension of story writing, but it is also a completely different art form. Let’s look at how it differs, and how difficult it is to create visual scenes for filming. And the end result; is it always how you viewed it would be? Are there any tips or suggestions you can offer for those just starting out, things you’ve learned along the way? Special Guests: Michaelbrent…

HWA 2012 Specialty Press Award Goes to Centipede Press

Centipede Press, of Lakewood, Colorado, will receive the Horror Writers Association's Specialty Press Award for 2012. The Award will be presented during the Bram Stoker Awards® Banquet, to be held this year in New Orleans on June 15. 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 Writers Association (HWA) Board. Jerad Walters’…

The 6th HWA Roundtable preview V

Oscar-nominated Pen Densham is our final guest for the HWA Roundtable on Screenwriting, which kicks off at 3pm on the 11th of February (Pacific Daylight Time) on the HWA's blog, and he called by to answer a few questions before the Roundtable begins. Here's the Roundtable topic in full: Screenwriting: How to get involved in the industry, the pitfalls and problems, the success stories. Screenwriting is a natural extension of story writing, but it is also a completely different art form. Let’s look at how it differs, and how difficult it is to create visual scenes for filming. And the…

The 6th HWA Roundtable preview IV

Brad Hodson dropped by my virtual office today for a quick Q and A over some tea and scones. Brad will be one of our Special Guests for the HWA Roundtable on Screenwriting, which kicks off on the 11th of February right here on the HWA's blog. Here's the topic in full: Screenwriting: How to get involved in the industry, the pitfalls and problems, the success stories. Screenwriting is a natural extension of story writing, but it is also a completely different art form. Let’s look at how it differs, and how difficult it is to create visual scenes for…

Jonathan Maberry to be Guest of Honor at Bram Stoker Awards® Weekend

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is proud to announce Jonathan Maberry as a Guest of Honor for the Bram Stoker Awards™ Weekend 2013, to be held in New Orleans from 13-16 June 2013. Jonathan Maberry is a New York Times best-selling author, multiple Bram Stoker Award winner, and Marvel Comics writer. His novels include Assassin’s Code, Flesh & Bone, Ghost Road Blues, Rot & Ruin, Dust & Decay, Patient Zero, The Wolfman and many others. His non-fiction books include Ultimate Jujutsu, The Cryptopedia, Zombie CSU, Wanted Undead Or Alive and others. He’s the editor/co-author of V-Wars, a vampire-themed anthology, and…

BARKER & MCCAMMON win Lifetime Horror Award

The Horror Writers Association has chosen two long-time icons of the genre to receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award this year. The award, given in recognition of the recipient's overall body of work, will go to Clive Barker and to Robert McCammon. Clive Barker A visionary, fantasist, poet and painter, Clive Barker has expanded the reaches of human imagination as a novelist, director, screenwriter and dramatist. An inveterate seeker who traverses between myriad styles with ease, Barker has left his indelible artistic mark on a range of projects that reflect his creative grasp of contemporary media -- from familiar literary…