Poets of the Dark: Interview with Naomi Simone Borwein

Naomi Simone Borwein is a poet and academic. Her work appears or is forthcoming across a spectrum of publications: Space & Time Magazine, HWA Poetry Showcase IX (featured Poet), Beautiful Tragedies III, dancing girl press, Ghost City Review, Grim & Gilded, Ghostlight, Farside Review, Superpresent Magazine, Soliloquies Anthology, and elsewhere. Naomi is a past head poetry editor of Swamp Writing (2018-2022)—and a reader for Thanatos Review. Her academic writing spans from Horror and the Gothic into Experimental Mathematics education and mathematical philosophy. What sparked your interest in horror poetry? Was there a particular event or work that inspired you to…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with J.E. Erickson

J.E. Erickson is the author of Offerings to the Flower Moon: The Tale of the Abrams Witch (October 2022) and Dust Bunnies From Hell (October 2023). He currently writes horror and fantasy stories, and lives in an old house in the Midwestern United States with a nerdy soap maker, two spoiled dogs, and a (potentially) possessed vegetable garden. You can visit him at jeericksonwriting.com or on Twitter @maladjustined. What sparked your interest in horror poetry? Was there a particular event or work that inspired you to delve into the darker side of poetry? Poetry has always been difficult for me,…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Janine Cross

Janine Cross is the author of Touched by Venom, voted by Library Journal as one of the top five sci-fi/fantasy novels of 2005 and the first book in The Dragon Temple Trilogy. She's also the author of Shadowed by Wings, Forged by Fire, and a literary novel, The Footstop Cafe. As a private pilot, she occasionally writes articles for aviation magazines. She’s in a long-term relationship with the semi-colon but flirts outrageously with the comma splice. You can find her at: janinecross.ca Perfectly Reasonable Interview Questions That I Nonetheless Struggled to Answer. What sparked your interest in horror poetry?  The…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Brianna Malotke

Brianna Malotke is a member of the Horror Writers Association based in Washington. Her poetry is in The Spectre Review and The Nottingham Horror Collective. You can find more of her horror work in the anthologies Beautiful Tragedies 2, The Dire Circle, Under Her Skin, Their Ghoulish Reputation, Out of Time and HorrorScope. In fall of 2022 her debut poetry collection, Don’t Cry on Cashmere, was published by Ravens Quoth Press. Looking to 2023, she will be a "Writer in Residence" at the Chateau d’Orquevaux in France and her first horror poetry collection Fashion Trends, Deadly Ends will be released.…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Sumiko Saulson

Sumiko Saulson is a Bram Stoker Nominated poet for their 2022 collection The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry (Dooky Zines), and an award-winning author of Afrosurrealist and multicultural sci-fi and horror whose latest novel Happiness and Other Diseases is available on Mocha Memoirs Press. Winner of the HWA Scholarship from Hell (2016) BCC Voice "Reframing the Other" contest (2017), Mixy Award (2017),  Afrosurrealist Writer Award (2018), HWA Diversity Grant (2020),  HWA Richard Laymon Presidents Award (2021), Ladies of Horror Fiction Readers Choice Award (2021) Sumiko has an AA in English from Berkeley City College, writes a column called…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Saytchyn Maddux-Creech

Saytchyn Maddux-Creech survived the MFA program at Colorado State University with their love of all things creepy intact. Saytchyn’s stories and poems can be found in numerous journals, many under the name Sandra Maddux-Creech. They live in northern Colorado with their partner and several beloved familiars. What sparked your interest in horror poetry? Was there a particular event or work that inspired you to delve into the darker side of poetry? In kindergarten, I fell in love with a folk song our teacher taught us about a skeletal ghost. The song was called, “The Ghost of John.” I couldn’t write…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Teel James Glenn

Teel James Glenn has killed hundreds and been killed more times--on stage and screen, as he has traveled the world for forty-plus years as a stuntman, swordmaster, storyteller, bodyguard, actor, and haunted house barker. He is proud to have studied sword under Errol Flynn’s last Stunt double and been beaten up by Hawk on Spenser for Hire TV show. He did over two hundred episodic appearances on Soap operas, 70 feature films and 60 renaissance festivals all over the country. His poetry and short stories have been printed in over two hundred magazines including Weird Tales, Mystery Weekly, Pulp Adventures, Space…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Rook Riley

Rook Riley is the author of short stories in the following anthologies: Queens and Courtesans, A Lone Star in the Sky, Rebels and Revenants, Strange Afterlives, and Witches and Warriors. After the military and then the  Department of Defense took them to live on both coasts and smack in the Midwest, they moved back home to Texas. Currently, they are employed as a middle school teacher (Welcome to body horror at its finest!) and a freelance developmental editor. In addition, they also write horror novels, game in tabletop RPGs, practice Krav Maga, and spoon warfare. Hobbies include binge-watching streaming services and collecting tattoos. What sparked your…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Hillary Dodge

Hillary Dodge is an award-winning editor and author of several speculative short fictions and poetry, as well as three nonfiction books. She spends a good deal of time traveling, going places that are forbidden, and eating. She once had tea with a Roma in a cave in the mountains of Spain. Another time found her eight hours from civilization in the heart of the Atacama with a mad desert hermit. She has been published in online magazines, podcasts, and print anthologies, including Pseudopod, the HWA Poetry Showcase, Space Squid, Hellbound Books, D&T Publishing, & Hex Publishers. She is a co-editor…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with K. H. Vaughan

K. H. Vaughan is a refugee from academia with a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. In that life he taught and worked in a variety of settings, and was particularly interested in the methodology and philosophy of science, decision theory, forensic issues, mass violence, and psychopathology. He is a writer of dark fiction and poetry and Director of Programming for NecronomiCon - Providence. What sparked your interest in horror poetry? Was there a particular event or work that inspired you to delve into the darker side of poetry? I had little interest in poetry of any kind for a very long…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with Jacqueline West

Jacqueline West’s poetry has appeared in Mythic Delirium, Dreams & Nightmares, Liminality, Enchanted Living, and Star*Line. Her collection Candle and Pins: Poems on Superstitions was released in 2018. She is also the author of the New York Times-bestselling middle grade series The Books of Elsewhere, the YA horror novel Last Things, and several other dark and twisty books for young readers. A three-time nominee for both the Rhysling Award and the Pushcart Prize, Jacqueline lives with her family in Minnesota. Find her on Instagram @jacqueline.west.writes or at jacquelinewest.com.  What sparked your interest in horror poetry? Was there a particular event…

Poets of the Dark: Interview with R. Leigh Hennig

R. Leigh Hennig is an author, editor, and poet living amongst the memories of witches and other dark things in coastal New England. His work has appeared in anthologies that have been finalists for the Bram Stoker Award, and that have won the Saturday Visitor Award for works inspired by Poe (so named after the prize won by Poe himself). Find him at https://semioticstandard.com, Twitter, or Mastodon. What sparked your interest in horror poetry? Was there a particular event or work that inspired you to delve into the darker side of poetry? I never really understood poetry. I struggled with…

It’s National Poetry Month—How Incredibly Frightening!

by Denise Dumars Now that I’ve got your attention, April is National Poetry Month. Naming the month thusly implies that something of great value is being overlooked. Every poet in America knows what I’m talking about. Poetry has never had the huge following in the U.S. that it boasts in some other cultures; in fact, if you are an HWA member who lives in another country, I’d love to hear how poetry is viewed by the general public where you live. I know some countries where it is very much a part of the national conversation, and is not reserved…

The Seers’ Table April 2023

Linda Addison, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community You can see any of “The Seers’ Table” posts since inception (March 2016) by going to the HWA main page and selecting menu item “Our Blogs / Diverse Works.” Kate Maruyama recommends: Since Latoya Jordan’s sophomore English class in high school, she knew she wanted a career as a writer. However, she didn’t realize she’d be writing by day and by night: in addition to her fiction, poetry, and the occasional essay or reported piece, she works as a professional writer for a local government agency. Her writing has appeared in…

Women in Horror: Interview with Kaaron Warren

Shirley Jackson award-winner Kaaron Warren has published five novels and seven short story collections. She’s sold over 200 short stories to publications big and small around the world and has appeared in Ellen Datlow’s Year’s Best anthologies. Her novel The Grief Hole won all three Australian genre awards. She has lived in Melbourne, Sydney, Fiji and Canberra and her most recent novella is Bitters, from Cemetery Dance. She won the inaugural AsylumFest Ghost Story Telling Competition in 2022. What inspired you to start writing? I loved words from the moment I could read them. Any group of words formed stories…

Women in Horror: Interview with Pamela Jeffs

Pamela Jeffs is an Australian horror author with a love for writing short fiction. Pamela has published five short story collections, co-authored an anthology with Aiki Flinthart titled ‘The Zookeeper’s Takes of Interstellar Oddities’ and published 80+ short stories in various national and international magazines and anthologies including ‘SNAFU: Dead or Alive, by Cohesion Press and ‘Lawless Lands: Tales from the Weird Frontier’ by Falstaff Books. She has been shortlisted for multiple awards throughout her career including numerous Aurealis Awards, Ditmar Awards and has been noted in the Writers of the Future Competition. For more information, visit her at www.pamelajeffs.com. What inspired…

Women in Horror: Interview with Angel Leigh McCoy

Angel Leigh McCoy writes the Wyrdwood series of interconnected paranormal suspense and mystery novels. The Wyrdwood Welcome trilogy kicks it off with Stalking the Moon. She’s also the mastermind behind Wily Writers, a community of writers who come together for support and to share publishing knowledge. Wily Writers recently published the latest in the Wily Writers Presents series of Horror anthologies, including Tales of Dread, Tales of Nightmares, Tales of Evil, and Tales of Foreboding. Find out more at WilyWriters.net Previously, she worked as a senior narrative designer for AAA video games such as Guild Wars 2 and CONTROL. Some…

Women in Horror: Interview with Nadia Bulkin

Nadia Bulkin is the author of the short story collection She Said Destroy (Word Horde, 2017). She has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award five times. She grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia, with her Javanese father and American mother, before relocating to Lincoln, Nebraska. She has two political science degrees and lives in Washington, D.C. You can find her reviewing horror movies on Twitter and Instagram @nadiabulkin, or contact her through her website: nadiabulkin.com What inspired you to start writing? My brain uses narrative to process. I was retelling stories that my mother read to me before I could…

Women in Horror: Interview with Victoria Nations

Victoria Nations writes Gothic and weird horror, often about creatures with emotional baggage. Her fiction has appeared in IN SOMNIO: A Collection of Modern Gothic Horror, Blood & Bone: An Anthology of Body Horror by Women & Non-Binary Writers, and Dangerous Waters: Deadly Women of the Sea, among other publications. Her poetry has appeared in Magpie Messenger Literary Magazine, HWA Poetry Showcase, Volume IX, and the Bram Stoker Award-nominated anthology, MOTHER: Tales of Love and Terror. Victoria lives in Florida, U.S.A. with her wife and son, who indulge her love of monsters. Find her online at www.VictoriaNations.com and on Twitter…

Women in Horror: Interview with Gemma Files

Formerly a film critic, journalist, screenwriter and teacher, Gemma Files has been an award-winning horror author since 1999. She has published for collections of short work, three collections of speculative poetry, a Weird Western trilogy, a story-cycle and a stand-alone novel (Experimental Film, which won the 2015 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel and the 2016 Sunburst Award for Best Adult Novel). Her collection In This Endlessness, Our End (Grimscribe) won the 2021 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection. This year she has two fiction collections coming out — Dark Is Better (Trepidatio) and Blood From…