The Seers’ Table December 2023

Ace Antonio-Hall recommends: Lisa Springer is a writer from Barbados currently living in New York with her family. She loves creating worlds readers can get lost in. Lisa is passionate about writing thriller and horror fiction for young people.

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Ray Zacek

Ray Zacek is a retired federal officer living in Tampa, Florida, with his wife, artist Theresa Beck. A flaneur and inveterate scribbler, Ray writes horror, dark fiction, and crime/noir. His work has been published by Critical Blast, Denver Horror Collective, Tule Fog, Allegory Online, All Due Respect, Shotgun Honey, among other venues. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association.

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: William R. D. Wood

William R.D. Wood traces his love of science fiction and horror back to a childhood filled with Space: 1999 reruns, frequent visits to the Night Gallery, and a worn-out copy of Dune. A good writing day finds him at any of several overlooks on Virginia's Blue Ridge Parkway deeply immersed in new works of cosmic horror. His work has appeared in Nature, Daily Science Fiction, and Cosmic Horror Monthly. Will lives in Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah Valley with his wife, children, and assorted scientific enigmas in an old farmhouse turned backward to the road.

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Charles Wood

Charles Wood is a recent addition to the writing scene and writes horror, dark fantasy, and other light-hearted fabrications. Charles served in the Marine Corps 1988-1996. He also served in the Army Reserve and Air Force National Guard.

Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Nick Medina

Born in Chicago, Illinois, and a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, Nick Medina appreciates local and Native folklore, which, along with research into the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) epidemic, inspired his debut novel, Sisters of the Lost Nation. 

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: C.C. Winchester

C.C. Winchester Biography C.C. Winchester’s love of horror began at the tender age of five, when she started sneaking into the living room late at night to watch zombie movies with her parents. Her mother said that though her infiltration was discovered, and she was promptly removed, she would return in what she thought was stealth mode, only to be removed again. She currently writes in Dallas, Texas. Book Recommendation: Don’t Break the Oath, the fourth Women of Horror anthology published by Kandisha Press The following is part of a blog post I did about my first officially published story:…

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Jay Whales

Jay Whales Biography Jay Whales is a US Army Veteran with 25 years of active duty and nine years as a Department of Defense contractor. Jay was a Military Policeman, a CID Special Agent, and an anti-terrorism crime analyst. He owns a small business in Middle Tennessee while submitting his works. Jay grew up in Missouri. Book Recommendation: Marquand Tales Marquand Tales: A Non-Politically Correct Novel of Horror by Jay Whales is the no holds barred, non “woke” novel of horror about growing up in a small town infected with more than its fair share of things that go bump in the…

Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Mathilda Zeller

Mathilda Zeller is a horror and fantasy writer of Inuit descent. She has inhabited 2 continents, 3 countries, 11 of the United States, and 18 towns. Don't ask her where she's from; it's complicated. She endeavors to make you lose sleep with her stories and currently makes her home in the Midwest with her husband, six children, and two cats. What inspired you to start writing? I've never had a specific catalyst moment when I wanted to be a writer. I've been writing stories for as long as I've known how to write, and I've always wanted a career as…

Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Richard Van Camp

A recipient of the Order of the Northwest Territories, Richard Van Camp is a proud Tłı̨chǫ Dene from Fort Smith, NWT. He is the author of 28 books in 28 years. Richard is from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He is best known for his 1996 novel The Lesser Blessed, which was adapted into a film by director Anita Doron in 2012. You are welcome to visit Richard on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Soundcloud and YouTube.  What inspired you to start writing? Growing up in Fort Smith, NWT, Canada, I was always a reader but I started to realize that I wasn't…

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Ashon Ruffins

Ashon Ruffins Biography Ashon Ruffins is a native New Orleanian and a Veteran of the Louisiana Army National Guard. He holds a Master’s in Business Adminstration, while holding certifications for several other professions. He loves the art of story telling in all generes and believes the best lessons in life can be told through fiction. Ashon is a huge mental health advocate. Book Recommendation: The Uncovered Darkness As a service member I understand what it means to take care of your mental health. It was journaling that turned me into the writer I have become today. Mental health is an…

NUTS & BOLTS: INTERVIEW WITH JOEL HODGSON, CREATOR OF MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000

By Tom Joyce Like his friend Jerry Seinfeld, Joel Hodgson was a rising comedy star in the 1980s, with appearances on Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman. Then he realized he wasn’t having any fun, and walked away from Hollywood to start a low-budget puppet show in Minneapolis. Mystery Science Theater 3000 began as a local TV oddity, distributed fan-to-fan via mailed VHS tapes. Its fan base has grown steadily over the decades, as the show picked up a Peabody Award, two Emmy nominations, and a place on Time Magazine’s list of “100 Best TV Shows of…

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: David Rose

David Rose Biography David Rose served in the United States Marine Corps from 2002 to 2006, during which deploying to Iraq to participate in the second battle of Fallujah. Since trading the sword for the almighty pen, he’s crafted multiple collections and composite novels: Forsaken Fantastic and Amden Bog being fine examples. A forthcoming work is Monsters in the Bush, a collection of Lovecraftian military tales, soon brought to the world by Screaming Banshee Press. He lives in Orlando, Florida. He is a founder and co-chair of the HWA committee Veterans in Horror. Book Recommendation: The Scrolls of Sin I…

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: James Pack

James Pack Biography James Pack served in the Arizona Army National Guard. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association and has published several collections of poetry and short fiction. Learn more about James and his collected works on his personal blog. He lives in Tucson, AZ. Book Recommendation: The Hook I want more people to read my book, The Hook, not just because I wrote it, but because the main character served in the Navy and is still dealing with some of the things he experienced during the Vietnam War. The story is about him dealing with his…

Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Tiffany Morris

Tiffany Morris is an L’nu’skw (Mi’kmaw) writer from Nova Scotia. She is the author of the swampcore horror novella Green Fuse Burning (Stelliform Books, 2023) and the Elgin Award-winning horror poetry collection Elegies of Rotting Stars (Nictitating Books, 2022). Her work has appeared in the Indigenous horror anthology Never Whistle At Night, as well as in Nightmare Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, and Apex Magazine, among others. What inspired you to start writing? It’s always been easier for me to articulate my thoughts and feelings in metaphorical language, rather than directly. I think that’s why story is so important to people; why…

Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Alicia Elliott

Alicia Elliott is an award-winning Mohawk writer and editor living in Brantford, Ontario. Her bestselling first book, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, was nominated for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction. And Then She Fell is her first novel. What inspired you to start writing? This isn’t a particularly unique writing origin story, but it started with loving reading. Books were a break from the difficulties of my everyday life, which as a child was full of things I didn’t understand. But I understood the emotions of the protagonists I read about – I loved them,…
Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Scott Middlemist

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Scott Middlemist

Scott Middlemist Biography My name is Scott Middlemist, and I am a U.S. Army veteran. My family once owned Burma-Shave, a company known for its memorable roadside jingles, so love for language is in my blood. JIGSAW SOUL is my self-published novel that I'd like to share. To create this story, I leaned on my experience as a former infantry officer and 30 years as an English teacher. Book Recommendation: Jigsaw Soul Jigsaw Soul follows a soldier's terrifying quest to recover the lost pieces of his soul in an epic that echoes Apocalypse Now and The Odyssey. In a special operations unit, Arthur…

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Luciano Marano

Luciano Marano Biography Luciano Marano is an award-winning writer, journalist, and photographer, the author of a trilogy of werewolf novellas, The Ambush Moon Cycle, and many short stories which have appeared in anthologies such as Year’s Best Hardcore Horror, The Best New Weird Horror, Monsters, Movies & Mayhem, and Crash Code, as well as Nightscript, PseudoPod, and Chilling Tales for Dark Nights. His written and photographic reporting has earned a number of industry accolades, and he was twice named a Feature Writer of the Year by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. A U.S. Navy veteran originally from rural western Pennsylvania,…

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Lori R. Lopez

Lori R. Lopez Biography Author-Illustrator-Poet Lori R. Lopez haunted graveyards as a child.  Entering the U.S. Navy to serve as a Journalist, Lori was nominated for the American Spirit Honor Medal. She has since received honors for books including The Dark Mister Snark, An Ill Wind Blows, The Fairy Fly, and Darkverse:  The Shadow Hours (an Elgin Award Nominee and Kindle Book Awards Finalist). Two poems garnered Editor’s Choice Awards; seven have been nominated for Rhysling Awards. Verse and stories appear in numerous publications, among them HWA Poetry Showcases and California Screamin’ (the Foreword Poem). She co-owns Fairy Fly Entertainment with two talented sons.  Book Recommendation: The Room at…

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Michael Knost

Michael Knost Biography Michael Knost is a two-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award® and served in the United States Marine Corps during the mid-1980s. He was the recipient of the Horror Writers Association’s Silver Hammer Award in 2015 for his work as the organization’s mentorship chair. A former HWA trustee, Michael currently serves as the organization’s treasurer and was recognized as the 2021 Mentor of the Year. He also received the prestigious J.U.G. (Just Uncommonly Good) Award from West Virginia Writer’s Inc. His novel Return of the Mothman has recently been filmed as a movie adaption. Michael has taught…