Extended Request for Latinx Heritage Recommendations

Dear HWA Members and Horror Fans, Because we didn’t get as many suggestions as we would have liked for the 2024 Latinx Heritage interview series, we would like to extend our reach beyond nominations by HWA Members (who we always go to first for nominations). We are looking for authors to interview for the 2023 HWA Latinx Heritage in Horror interview series. We are interested in interviewing people who have not been interviewed in our past three annual series. Here is a list of the people who have already been interviewed: 2023 - Ashley Dioses, Leticia Urieta, Pedro Iniguez, Michael…

Nuts & Bolts: Author Todd Keisling on Self-Advocacy for Writers

Nobody becomes a writer because they had childhood dreams of negotiating contracts. Like it or not, according to author Todd Keisling, it’s part of the job for authors without an agent. In this month’s edition of Nuts & Bolts, Todd talks about what authors – particularly beginners – should know about self-advocacy.

Nuts & Bolts: Interview With Magic Historian Anthony Grafton

The great thinkers of the Renaissance get plenty of credit for their indelible mark on art, science, and architecture. But maybe they don’t get enough credit for another field to which they made an enormous contribution – horror tropes. Demon-summoning rituals? Deals with the devil? Spellbooks full of dark secrets that must not fall into the wrong hands? All part of the legend surrounding Renaissance-era “magi,” who straddled the line between scientist and sorcerer, and who inspired literary accounts of Faust and Prospero. Anthony Grafton, a Princeton University history professor, tells their fascinating story in Magus, his study of Renaissance-era magic and its practitioners, which should provide plenty of inspiration for horror or fantasy writers who want to add an element of historical accuracy to their fictional sorcerers.

2024 Horror Writers Association Elections for Officers and Trustees

2024 Horror Writers Association Elections for Officers and Trustees

The HWA’s annual elections will soon be upon us. Up this year are four Trustee positions, as well as the offices of President and Secretary. Please read the statements of the following candidates carefully. Links to the ballot will be sent out on or around August 19, 2024 to our Active and Lifetime members, with a due date of August 25, 2024. The elected officers shall hold their respective offices for terms of two years, beginning on November 1 and ending on October 31.

Member Handbook – Public

The HWA Member Handbook describes the benefits of membership and provides useful information for new members. Download your copy here. Many of the links in the handbook can only be used if you are a member of the HWA. Click the image at the right when you're interested in joining.

THE INTERSECTION OF MENTAL HEALTH AND HORROR, Panel Report, StokerCon 2024, Saturday 1 June

By Lee Murray Trigger Warning: This article addresses issues mental illness. Trauma. Anxiety. Depression. Psychosis—the Venn diagram where horror and mental illness meet at times seems a perfect circle. This panel will examine the role that horror can play, both in its consumption and creation, in providing a relief from mental health stressors and the implications for writers. Moderated by Mark Matthews, with panellists Justin C. Key, L.E. (Lauren Elise) Daniels, Mo Moshaty, and Mercedes Yardley.  Matthews introduced the topic stating that while the work of the HWA has concentrated on writing techniques for reducing stigma around mental illness, he…

SELF-CARE FOR HORROR WRITERS, 2024 StokerCon Virtual Panel Report

By Lee Murray Striking a sustainable work-life balance for the long-game in horror takes time and experience. Eric LaRocca, Christa Carmen, Ace Antonio-Hall (Nzondi), Pamela Jeffs, and EV Knight offer their insights in a panel moderated by L. E. Daniels on how to protect our bodies and minds as we navigate dark fiction. Recently, I had the pleasure to attend the Self-Care for Horror Writers panel offered in the virtual space at StokerCon 2024. Given the close alignment of the topic to the work of the HWA Wellness Committee and our Mental Health Initiative, this panel was a must-view for…

The Seers’ Table July 2024

Kate Maruyama, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community Linda D. Addison recommends: Bridget D. Brave hails from the dead center of the US of A. A lawyer by day, Bridget spends her remaining waking hours writing weird horror in short, long, and game formats and play-testing tabletop RPGs with the Wandering Monster Cast. I found her story, “Burlesque!” mesmerizing and chilling from the Shadows in the Stacks Anthology edited by Vincent V. Cava, James Sabata, and Jared Sage (Shortwave Publishing, 2024). This charity anthology benefits the Library Foundation SD. Recommended Reading: “Burlesque! Albanqua proudly presents Parsippany Phoenix and The…

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM GRIEF IN HORROR Panel Report, 2024 Virtual Stoker

By Lee Murray Trigger Warning: This article addresses issues of grief, loss, and mental health. Moderated with compassion by Mo Moshaty, an author-producer with experience working closely with death doulas, the panel commenced with a round-robin of introductions, including the panellists’ relevant work, and also their particular interest in the topic of grief horror.  Panellists included Mark Mathews, Clay McLeod Chapman, Nat Cassidy, Katherine (Kat) Silva, Ally Malinenko, and Laura Keating. From the opening comments, it was clear that this was going to be a confronting and also humbling session, with panellists sharing their own experiences of trauma and grief,…

A Point of Pride 2024: An Interview With J.P. Jackson

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve always been a big reader. When I was in my teens, in the 80s, and figuring out who I was and my orientation, there weren’t any books that reflected me or guys like me. If there were gay characters they were side stories, often made out to be broken individuals, or mentally unstable, the first to die, or worse, the villain or antagonist of the story – because their sexual orientation made them that way. I didn’t like that. In my 40s, I started to review my accomplished bucket list of items and realized that writing had always been on there, but I hadn’t done anything about it. I started writing. But more importantly, I created worlds where the main characters were part of the LGBTQ+ world. I wanted people within my community to see that we could be the heroes. More importantly, I wanted the rest of the world to see that queer folk could be the heroes.

A Point of Pride 2024: An Interview with John Linwood Grant

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve always written, mostly for my own amusement, since I was a small child. To me, it was something you just ‘did’ - invented stories and fancies – and I sometimes found it odd that others didn’t. My own breakthrough moment was when I stopped drafting endless convoluted novels and went directly into writing short stories, novelettes, and novellas, most of which sold immediately. So I kept doing that.

A Point of Pride 2024: An Interview With Zachariah Jones

What has writing horror taught you about the world and yourself?

My first published works are paranormal horror mysteries that delve into the world of the occult and various other things. It has been wonderful to learn even more about our world’s history and, though I had already assumed, how many things within the horror genre are based on old beliefs and myths that were once rooted in a true story. Every story has a root in some experience at one point in time.

A Point of Pride 2024: An Interview with Lindsay King-Miller

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve loved writing for so long I can’t remember starting! I was writing short stories at least as far back as second grade, maybe earlier. I’ve always been a voracious reader, and whenever I read something that I really love, I have to try to figure out how to do it myself.

A Point of Pride 2024: An Interview With Henry Corrigan

Who are some LGBTQ horror authors you recommend our audience check out?

I always recommend that people start with the classics. Oscar Wilde created one of the greatest psychological horror stories in The Picture of Dorian Gray. The gay subtext that is baked into Dorian’s relationships with the men of the book, their own self-hatred, and inability to admit their love, jealousy, and obsession for Dorian leads to terrible fates for the female characters. William J. Martin (formerly Poppy Z Brite) has written some of the best, most luscious stories I’ve ever read.

VIRTUAL: FLIPPING THE LID ON MENTAL ILLNESS IN HORROR StokerCon 2024 Panel Report

By Lee Murray Trigger Warning: This article addresses mental illness.  For this panel, held in the virtual space, I had the honour to be joined by panellists L.E. (Lauren Elise) Daniels, Lauren McMenemy, John Palisano, and Angela Yuriko Smith to discuss tools and techniques for addressing mental illness in horror, including fresh approaches for depictions that are authentic and affective. The discussion was guided by the tenets of the HWA Mental Health Initiative Charter. For information, the charter appears on the dedicated webpage on the HWA website, via a link at the end of this article, and is also printed…

A Point of Pride 2024: An Interview with Sofia Ajram

What inspired you to start writing?

My pre-teen years were limned to AOL chat room roleplays and Livejournal blogging. Role-playing has a kink connotation to it (unless you worked in retail, by which, it’s the hellish exercise you’re coached with to practice customer service scenarios), but before websites like FanFiction.net or AO3 were popularized, roleplaying was the sort of way you’d collaboratively generate stories.

A Point of Pride 2024: An Interview With Sirius

Who are some of your favorite LGBTQ characters in horror?

Most of my favorites are the ones I have written because they are the types of characters that I want to see and don’t really find anywhere else yet. Aside from my own though, it may be considered ‘typical’ of me, but I really like the characters from "The Vampire Chronicles" by Anne Rice. They are all so complex and morally gray, and all so damn charismatic.

A Point of Pride 2024: An Interview with Rory Michaelson

What inspired you to start writing?

Writing came to me in my teens because none of the mainstream media I had access to included people like me, so I started making up my own stories. That makes it sound like an inspiring turn of events but really it was section 28 in the UK (prohibition of “promotion of homosexuality”) which was a horror story in itself that did significant harm to many people, and one we’re currently seeing repeated.

A Point of Pride 2024: An Interview With Robert Stahl

What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?

It’s often about the beauty of the prose, but also It’s all about that adrenaline rush, yeah? I love that horror makes me feel something. You know, that “on the edge of your seat” feeling, with your heart pumping, the hair on your arm standing on end and your palms getting all clammy. Being scared is thrilling. It lets you know you’re alive.

A Point of Pride 2024: An Interview with Rob Costello

What inspired you to start writing?

I’m an only child. When I grew up, I spent a lot of time on my own making up stories. With my legos and stuffed animals, I would while away entire weekends in perfect bliss concocting elaborate dark fantasy worlds involving aliens, ghosts, and monsters. (Godzilla was a particular favorite.) Eventually, the toys disappeared, but the stories stuck around.