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…

Women in Horror: Interview with Meg Hafdahl

Bram Stoker Award nominated Meg Hafdahl is the creator of numerous stories and books. Her fiction has appeared in anthologies such as Eve’s Requiem: Tales of Women, Mystery and Horror and Eclectically Criminal. The Wicked Library and The Lift produced her work into audio, and she is the author of three popular short story collections, including Twisted Reveries: Thirteen Tales of the Macabre. Meg is also the author of the three novels; The Darkest Hunger, Daughters of Darkness, and Her Dark Inheritance called “an intricate tale of betrayal, murder, and small town intrigue” by Horror Addicts and “every bit as…

Women in Horror: Interview with Tonia Ransom

Tonia Ransom is the World Fantasy Award-winning creator and executive producer of NIGHTLIGHT, an IGNYTE Best Fiction Podcast featuring creepy tales written by Black writers, and Afflicted, a horror thriller best described as Lovecraft Country meets True Blood. Tonia has been scaring people since the second grade, when she wrote her first story based on Michael Myers. She lives in Austin, Texas. You can follow Tonia @missdefying on all the socials. Risen is her debut book. What inspired you to write? As a child, I told myself stories at night to help me fall asleep. I don’t really remember when…

Women in Horror: Interview with Christa Carmen

Christa Carmen lives in Rhode Island, and is the author of the short story collection, Something Borrowed, Something Blood-Soaked. Her debut novel, The Daughters of Block Island, is forthcoming from Thomas & Mercer in Fall 2023, and her second novel with the mystery, thriller, and true crime imprint will be out in Fall 2024. Christa studied English and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and has an MA from Boston College and an MFA from the University of Southern Maine. When she’s not writing, she keeps chickens, uses a Ouija board to ghost-hug her dear departed beagle, and sets out…

Women in Horror: Interview with Sadie Hartmann

Sadie Hartmann, a.k.a. Mother Horror, is the co-owner of the horror fiction subscription company Night Worms and the editor-in-chief of her own horror fiction imprint, Dark Hart. Her non-fiction book 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered is coming from Page Street Books in August 2023. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of more than 20 years, where they stare at Mt Rainier, eat street tacos, and hang out with their three kids. They have a Frenchie named Owen. What inspired you to start writing?  My mom told me about Goodreads ten years ago and encouraged…

Women in Horror: Interview with Jill Girardi

Jill Girardi is the internationally best-selling, award-nominated author of Hantu Macabre, a novel which was optioned for a film starring MMA Fighter Ann Osman and directed by Aaron Cowan (a senior member of the Visual Effects team that won four Oscars for Avatar and Lord of the Rings.) Jill is also the founder of Kandisha Press, a company dedicated to women horror authors from around the world. She loves writing darkly humorous stories and still believes in twist endings. Find her on Instagram or Twitter @jill_girardi. What inspired you to start writing? I've dreamed of being a writer since I…

Women in Horror: Interview with V. Castro

V. Castro is a two-time Bram Stoker Award–nominated Mexican American writer from San Antonio, Texas now residing in the UK. As a full-time mother she dedicates her time to her family and writing Latinx narratives in horror, erotic horror, and science fiction. Her most recent releases include Aliens: Vasquez from Titan Books, Mestiza Blood and The Queen of the Cicadas from Flame Tree Press, and Goddess of Filth from Creature Publishing. Her forthcoming novel is The Haunting of Alejandra from Del Rey. Connect with Violet via Instagram and Twitter @vlatinalondon or www.vcastrostories.com. She can also be found on Goodreads, Amazon,…

Women in Horror: Interview with Rebecca Rowland

Rebecca Rowland is the dark fiction author of two fiction collections, one novel, a handful of novellas, and too many short stories. She is the curator of seven horror anthologies, including the best-seller Unburied: A Collection of Queer Dark Fiction and 2023’s American Cannibal. Her speculative fiction, critical essays, and book reviews regularly appear in a variety of online and print venues, and her most recent releases include the satirical horror novelette Shagging the Boss. The former acquisitions and anthology editor at AM Ink Publishing, Rebecca manages the small, independent publishing house Maenad Press and is an Active member of…

Women in Horror: Interview with Carol Gyzander

Carol Gyzander writes and edits horror and science fiction. She focuses on strong women with twisted tales that touch your heart. She brought a female focus to her Bram Stoker Award®-nominated story, “The Yellow Crown,” inspired by Robert W. Chambers’ world of the twin suns. Her cryptid novella, Forget Me Not, occurs near Niagara Falls in 1969/1939; she co-edited the Even in the Grave ghost story anthology with James Chambers. The reversal of Roe v. Wade inspired the horror anthology she co-edited with Rachel A. Brune, A Woman Unbecoming; it presents stories of women's rage, power, and vengeance, and benefits reproductive healthcare services. Carol…

HOLISTIC HORRORS: An interview with Dave Jeffery

Trigger Warning: This article addresses mental health. An interview with Dave Jeffery Today on Holistic Horrors I have the privilege to interview my HWA Wellness Committee co-chair, Dave Jeffery, about his short story, “A Latent Lament for Heather Menzies”, which appears in Strange Tales of Terror (editor Eugene Johnson from Independent Legions). In the story the protagonist suffers from late-stage dementia, including aphasia and immobility. It’s a tough topic, and one Dave treats with sensitivity and poignancy. Thanks for joining us, Dave.  

Women in Horror: Interview with Kelsea Yu

Kelsea Yu is a Taiwanese Chinese American writer and mother living in the Pacific Northwest. She’s eternally enthusiastic about sharks and appreciates a good ghost story. Kelsea’s novella, Bound Feet, is published by Cemetery Gates Media, and her upcoming novella, The Bones Beneath Paris, will be published by Dark Matter Ink. Her debut novel, It’s Only a Game, will be released by Bloomsbury Children’s in 2024. Kelsea’s short stories are forthcoming or published in magazines such as Fantasy, PseudoPod, and Reckoning, and in various anthologies. Find Kelsea on Instagram or Twitter as @anovelescape or visit her website, kelseayu.com. What inspired…