My Cassadaga Halloween

by Anne C. Petty Years ago, I spent one memorable Halloween along with three friends at Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp, the famous enclave of mediums in central Florida. We stayed with friends in nearby Deland, who were openly wary of the place and suggested we should just go trick or treating with them around their safe little neighborhood. But we’d made advance appointments with several famous mediums living in Cassadaga and were, ahem, stoked. On Halloween morning, we drove out to Cassadaga, which was appropriately spooky looking, with very old wooden two-storey houses slouching under ancient thick-limbed, moss-draped oaks. We strolled…

ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK edited by HWA Member Alex Scully

Full Title: Enter at Your Own Risk: Old Masters, New Voices Editor: Alex Scully Old Masters, New Voices: Looking into the dark past, Enter At Your Own Risk resurrects the Gothic masters and for the first time, they meet their modern counterparts. Poe, de Maupassant, Bierce, Lovecraft, Yeats, Stoker and more walk the haunted literary halls with B.E. Scully, Carole Gill, Joshua Skye, Mari Adkins, Edward Medina, John A. Karr, E.P. Berglund, A.A. Garrison, Robbie Anderson, David Thomas, Alex McDermott, Nicky Peacock, Drew Keaton, and Benjamin Sperduto. Enter... at your own risk... Publisher: AS Publications Release Date: 10/5/2011 ISBN_10=1466280565 ISBN_13=978-1466280564

Stoker Spotlight: 13 Questions with Nick Mamatas, editor of Haunted Legends

Nick Mamatas is is the recipient of the 2010 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology . He is the author of three and a half novels, including Sensation (PM Press) and with Brian Keene The Damned Highway (Dark Horse). His short fiction has appeared or soon will in Asimov's Science Fiction, Tor.com, Long Island Noir, Shocklines, Black Wings II, Dark Discoveries, and other magazines and anthologies. In addition to co-editing the Bram Stoker Award-winning Haunted Legends with Ellen Datlow, Nick edits Haikasoru, an imprint of Japanese science fiction, fantasy, and horror in translation. How would you describe…

Halloween All Year Long

by Don D’Auria Halloween was always a very special holiday for me when I was a kid. Yeah, I liked the trick or treating and the candy, but that wasn’t what made it special. That was just the icing on the cake. For me, Halloween wasn’t about being able to do something I couldn’t do the rest of the year. I grew up in the 1960s and ‘70s, in the middle of the monster craze. So that meant, even without Halloween, I spent my time watching horror movies, sitcoms, anthology shows and even cartoons on TV, reading horror stories, magazines…

The Quiet One

by Ann K. Schwader I’m delighted that HWA continues to support and honor poetry as one of the Dark Arts of horror. It was a thrill to watch the live webcast of the Stokers this yearand see the enthusiasm generated by the Poetry Collection award. The Quiet One Her neighbors rarely notice her at all. She tends her garden, keeps her cottage neat, & regularly occupies a seat At Sunday services, so there’s no call For them to venture past that soft gray wall Of silence. Past her prime, though vaguely sweet, She blends into the bustle of their streets…

Stoker Spotlight: 13 Questions with Ellen Datlow, editor of Haunted Legends and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award

Ellen Datlow is the recipient of the 2010 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology as well as the recipient of the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award. She has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for over twenty-five years. She was fiction editor of Omni Magazine and Scifiction and has edited more than fifty anthologies, including The Best Horror of the Year, Inferno, Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror, Lovecraft Unbound, Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy, Blood and Other Cravings, Supernatural Noir, the Mythic series of…

Helpful Devils III—Commentary on the HWA

by Jeffrey Wilson

A couple of years ago, I had a couple of completed manuscripts and not a clue what to do next. I had a (sort of) agent and a contract for an eBook release and no knowledge or resources from which to evaluate the decisions I made. Shortly after, I joined HWA. A lot has happened since then that got me to a pending release of my current novel The Traiteur’s Ring, a contract for two additional novels to be released in 2012 and 2013 (all at professional rates) and a couple of short story sales to boot. Most of what happened is because of my affiliation with HWA.

Membership in HWA affords access to a mass of information that helps the novice and the seasoned writer learn about the markets, about how to successfully complete, edit, query, and market their work, and how to improve their writing. From the boards where you can interact with other writers, to the lists of publishing markets, book reviewers, and agents, to the resources for conflict resolution (all of which I have personally benefited from) the HWA offers something at every step of the process.

What HWA is really about to me, though, is a fellowship with other writers. I have made friends and colleagues that not only enriched my career, but enriched me personally. It is just as satisfying to help a fellow writer get a good review or promote their work on your website as it is to get the help you need. I have no doubt that my current success is in great part due to my affiliation with HWA.

Jeffrey Wilson has worked as an actor, a firefighter, a paramedic, a jet pilot, a diving instructor, a Naval Officer, and a Vascular and Trauma Surgeon. He also served two tours in Iraq as a combat surgeon with both the Marines and with a Joint Special Operations Task Force. He has written dozens of short stories, won a few fiction competitions, and participated in the National Endowment for the Arts “Operation Homecoming” collection. The Traiteur’s Ringis his first published novel. Jeff and his wife, Wendy, are Virginia natives who, with children Emma, Jack, and Connor, call Tampa, Florida home. When not working as a surgeon or chasing his three kids, Jeff is hard at work on his next novel.

TODAY’S GIVEAWAY:

Jeffrey Wilson is giving away one signed hardcover edition of The Traiteur’s Ring. Enter now by posting in the comments section below or e-mailing memoutreach@horror.org.

About The Traiteur’s Ring

A man who has spent his life defending his country discovers that fate has presented him with an even higher calling. Ben Morvant is not what you would call ordinary and as a Navy SEAL, he never expected an ordinary life. But when a routine mission to protect a local village in a war-torn region of Africa goes terribly wrong, Ben is presented with truths beyond what his military training and experience have prepared him to accept. With his dying breath, a village elder passes to Ben a gift—a simple ring, unremarkable except for its ever changing color and the feeling of power emanating from within.

Soon after accepting the ring dark visions begin to haunt Ben’s dreams. Images of pain and death, of evil and destruction. But some of the visions are hauntingly familiar. Soon Ben must return to his childhood home in Louisiana to face a dark secret from his past, one that may explain why he has the power to heal with a touch of the hand . . . or kill with a single thought. After discovering the truth about his family and himself, he comes to realize that he is a soldier in a greater battle than he could ever have imagined. And if he cannot find a way to wield the power concealed within him, the forces that prey on mankind’s anger and fear will destroy not only him, but everything he holds dear.

Excerpt from The Traiteur’s Ring

Ben jumped to his feet and moved swiftly into the clearing, his rifle up and aimed and sweeping back and forth as he moved, his shoulders hunched forward, just as he had done a hundred times. The good and bad guys would be easy to distinguish and he moved swiftly through the orange smoke as he heard the angry screams of the Al Qaeda fighters, the older men hollering orders no doubt to the panicky teenagers they led. Ben heard a few sporadic rifle shots as the enemy fired blindly into the jungle. Then he heard the more familiar crack of the SEAL’s M-4’s and screams, this time not from women or children.

Helpful Devils II—Commentary on the HWA

by Carl Alves Being a member of the HWA has been a very rewarding experience. I was fortunate enough to be linked with Deborah Leblanc as my writing mentor. Deb has always been there for me to provide advice, editing material for me, doing what she can to help my writing get better and help advance in my publishing career. Everyone I've met associated with the HWA has been so nice and helpful from the beginning writers to best-selling veterans. I haven't met a single HWA writer who wasn't approachable and willing to give advice or have some kind words.…

Halloween Story

by Mike Hultquist My wife and I are both in love with Halloween. It is by far our favorite holiday. We spend more on Halloween decor than most people spend on Christmas. We have a huge bar in our basement and usually by mid September it is loaded with pumpkins, full sized zombies and other assorted nastiness. No cute Halloween decor allowed down there! Our favorite decorations, though, are the enormous pumpkins we purchase each year. We look for the largest pumpkins we can move into our pumpkin-colored Xterra (Yes, it's true, our only vehicle is the wonderful color of…

Stoker Spotlight: 13 Questions with Benjamin Kane Ethridge, author of Black and Orange

Benjamin Kane Ethridge won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in First Novel for Black & Orange (Bad Moon Books 2010). Beyond that he's written several collaborations with Michael Louis Calvillo, one of which is a novella called Ugly Spirit, available in 2011. He also wrote a master’s thesis entitled, “Causes of Unease: The Rhetoric of Horror Fiction and Film." Available in an ivory tower near you. Benjamin lives in Southern California with his wife and daughter, both lovely and both worthy of better. When he isn’t writing, reading, videogaming, he’s defending California’s waterways and sewers from pollution. How…

ISIS UNBOUND by HWA Member Allyson Bird

Author: Allyson Bird Inspired in part by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Percy Bysshe Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, and the works of Rider Haggard and R. E. Howard, Isis Unbound is set in an alternate history, steampunk version of 1890's Manceastre, Britanniae, ruled by a new governor general related to a descendant of Anthony and Cleopatra, who won the battle of Actium two thousand years ago, and where the ancient Egyptian gods are real. Only a god can kill a god. Nepythys has killed her sister, Isis, and therefore the dead cannot pass over to the underworld--their ranks are rapidly swelling and they…

October is All About the Creepy

by Matthew Warner As we near Halloween, I'm reminded of all the creepy children's artwork my local newspaper has run on the back of the "A" section over the weather report. I've been collecting them in my own Field Guide to Creepy Art for some time now, and I'd like to share with you some of my favorites.     A family of spirits floats in a netherworld of blue nothingness. Who were they in life, and more importantly, why are they smiling?     Beware the shade of the headless penguin, standing vigil at the void of chaos.  …

Unearthly Delights

by Marge Simon Hi, folks! Marge Simon here. I’m your current Chair of the Board of Trustees, and I have edited a column on Dark Poetry for the HWA NL since the late 90’s. My interest in HWA started when I began attending the World Horror Cons. I loved the folks I met and was thrilled with the panels, the guests of honor, and the displaying artists’ works. After about four eventful conventions, I decided to join. Soon enough, I volunteered to be Membership Chair and held that for about four years. My feelings about the good people in HWA…

WOLF’S EDGE by HWA Member W.D. Gagliani

Author: W.D. Gagliani A Nick Lupo Thriller -- Number 4: Can one werewolf stop a pack of super-wolves? Nick Lupo is a homicide cop with a difference. He’s a werewolf. He’s worked hard to control his condition, but it isn’t easy to contain the beast inside him. It also means he has some very powerful enemies. Wolfpaw Security Services is a mercenary organization that wants Lupo dead. They want to infiltrate the US military with their own werewolves and they can’t let anyone—especially a fellow-werewolf like Lupo—stand in their way. Wolfpaw’s genetic experiments have created a “super-wolf” nearly invulnerable to…

Stoker Spotlight: 13 Questions with Bruce Boston, author of Dark Matters

Bruce Boston is the recipient of the 2010 Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection. He is the author of forty-eight books and chapbooks, including the novels The Guardener's Tale and Stained Glass Rain. His poetry has received a record seven Rhysling Awards, a record six Asimov’s Readers Awards, a record four Bram Stoker Awards for poetry collection, along with the first Grandmaster Award of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. His fiction has received a Pushcart Prize and the Best of Soft SF Award. Boston’s work has appeared in hundreds of publications, most visibly in Asimov's SF Magazine,…

The Zombie Question

by Scott Baker Are zombies still relevant in today’s horror genre? It’s a legitimate question. Since the 1990s, a seemingly endless influx of zombie fiction, movies, and video games has flooded the market. Fans have been treated to some truly outstanding books (Patient Zero and World War Z), films (The Horde and Zombieland), and video games (Dead Island and Left 4 Dead). Unfortunately, we have also seen zombies placed in every scenario imaginable. The living dead have faced off against strippers, cheerleaders, and ninjas. A zombie apocalypse has been the focus of a commercial for Toshiba computers in which an…

Finding Funding with Kickstarter.com

by Scott Kenemore This summer, I used the internet funding tool Kickstarter.com to raise over $1,000 towards research for my new novel-in-process Zombie, Illinois. It was fast, easy, and allowed me to connect with my readers in a new, fun way. I thought other HWA members might enjoy hearing about this web tool, and might find it useful for raising funds for their own research. Kickstarter.com is a website that allows artists to propose an artistic project (for which they lack the means), and then invite visitors to pledge an amount of money toward making the project happen. It can…

BLOOD LITE II edited by HWA Member Kevin J. Anderson Hits Mass Market

BLOOD LITE II the HWA anthology edited by Kevin J. Anderson combines horror and humor for a quick and quirky read. It's now available in a Mass Market version, along with the previously available Paperback and Kindle editions. Can a killer's basement blood-feast be a tax write-off (under Entertainment)? Not if Vlad the IRS agent nails him first in Heather Graham's "Death and Taxes." What does a pack of hungry she-wolves do to solve their man troubles? Ladies Night Out takes a wicked turn in "Dog Tired (of the Drama!)" by L. A. Banks. How far will an elite call…

THAT WHICH SHOULD NOT BE by HWA Member Brett J. Talley

Author: Brett J. Talley Miskatonic University has a long-whispered reputation of being strongly connected to all things occult and supernatural. From the faculty to the students, the fascination with other-worldly legends and objects runs rampant. So, when Carter Weston’s professor Dr. Thayerson asks him to search a nearby village for a book that is believed to control the inhuman forces that rule the Earth, Incendium Maleficarum, The Inferno of the Witch, the student doesn’t hesitate to begin the quest. Weston’s journey takes an unexpected turn, however, when he ventures into a tavern in the small town of Anchorhead. Rather than…

Helpful Devils 1 — Commentary on the HWA

by Brett Talley When I signed a contract to publish my first novel, That Which Should Not Be, I was a complete neophyte in regards to the writing industry. Since I had submitted the book directly to the publisher, I did not have an agent who could give me advice, and I didn’t know a single soul who had ever published a short story, much less a novel. That’s why the Horror Writers Association has been such a godsend. Even though I have only been a part of the organization for a short time, the other members have been nothing…