HWA Scholarship from Hell

The submission window for The Scholarship from Hell is now open! The SFH puts the recipient right into the intensive, hands-on workshop environment of Horror University that takes place during HWA’s annual StokerCon. Deadline: January 31, 2023 More information here: http://horrorscholarships.com/the-scholarship-from-hell/

Nuts and Bolts Interview with John Gray

Brooklyn-born John Gray is an award-winning writer-director-producer of films and television, and the creator of the long-running TV series, GHOST WHISPERER. He has written and directed many feature films and movies for television, including WHITE IRISH DRINKERS, starring Stephen Lang and Karen Allen; MARTIN AND LEWIS, starring Sean Hayes and Jeremy Northam; the Emmy® nominated A PLACE FOR ANNIE, with Sissy Spacek; the Emmy® nominated mini-series Haven with Natasha Richardson and Anne Bancroft; HELTER SKELTER, and many others. Gray has directed numerous episodes of broadcast and cable series, including multiple episodes of the NBC series GRIMM and was also the…

Veterans of Horror: Interview with 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 short fiction has appeared in Nature, Daily Science Fiction and Cosmic Horror Monthly. His artwork and poetry are usually kept locked away. Will lives with his wife, children and assorted ghostlike enigmas in an old farmhouse turned backwards to the road. Tell us…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Jay Whales

Jay grew up in small town, southeast Missouri, battling sasquatches, rednecks, witches, booger eating bastards, drinking Spine Likker fresh from the spigot and just having fun.  Jay rode in the back of pickup trucks, never heard of a seat belt until he started working and he and his best friend watched shitty horror movies every chance they got, before Jay up and ran off to the US Army. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I joined the US Army in 1983 and spent the next 25 years as a Military Policeman and then a federal…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Richard Wall

About Richard Wall: Born in England in 1962, Richard grew up in a small market town in rural Herefordshire before joining the Royal Navy. After 22 years in the submarine service and having travelled extensively, Richard now lives and writes in rural Worcestershire. His first short story, “Evel Knievel and The Fat Elvis Diner” (available on Kindle), was soon followed by “Five Pairs of Shorts” a collection of ten short stories, and another short story called ‘Hank Williams’ Cadillac’. Richard's latest venture is a collaboration with UK musician, 'Half Deaf Clatch', in which Richard wrote a short story to accompany…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Richard Schiver

Richard is the author of eight novels, three novellas, and a collection of short stories. His most recent work is a paranormal ghost story titled Cursed. He is a member in good standing of the Horror Writers Association, and the Maryland Writers Association. Married with four children and eight grandchildren he and his wife provide a secure home for a yellow lab named Max, who spends his days napping. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I served in the U.S Army from 1976 to 1981 as an armor crewman manning the M-60 Main Battle Tank.…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with David Rose

David Rose is the author of Amden Bog, The Scrolls of Sin, and Lovecraft's Iraq. That last one was included in the 2022 HWA Bram Stoker Award® Reading List. He lives in Orlando, Florida. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I was in the Marine Corps from 2002 to 2006 (plus a little volunteer service back in 2009, but it was so brief I hardly count it). I'd started in artillery but kicked and screamed until I was finally allowed to try out for Marine Recon. Upon passing its hellacious vetting I became a Recon…

TDOR: Transphobia is a Horror Story, and It Kills

By Sumiko Saulson CW: hate crimes, murder, transphobia, suicide, child suicide, sexual assault, racism, bullying I had to think long and hard before putting together a series for Transgender Awareness Week, a week of celebration leading up to the somber occasion of Transgender Day of Remembrance the day upon which the Trangender community gathers alone or with our allies to remember those we have lost over the past year. 2021 was a record year in terms of legislative attacks on the LGBTQ community, making it simultaneously important and dangerous for those of us who are able to be out and…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Chris Reichard

Chris ~Cliff~ Reichard has always been a creator of dark works, but their writing has been stripped raw and refined over and again through hardships experienced in war, activism & the discrimination that intersectional queer punks face. They live a life of semi-seclusion in this increasingly chaotic world, while still taking time to enjoy life's little pleasure. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I served as a Signal Support Systems Specialist in the U.S. Army from 2004-2012. In that time, I spent nearly three years deployed to Iraq.   What role, if any, did reading…

Sumiko Saulson Reads as a Showcase 8 Alumni

Sumiko Saulson joins us today with a reading of their poem, "On Darkest Night of Faerie Bright" as a Poetry Showcase Alumni. If you haven't purchased your copy yet of the newest Poetry Showcase, it's just one click away. Better yet, collect the whole series! Reviews and shares are always welcome. https://youtu.be/DWiCbRwv90g Sumiko Saulson is 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),…

Transgender Awareness Week: “Pronouns” by Pretty Frankenstein

Catching Up With Grey Star of Pretty Frankenstein Pretty Frankenstein is a Queer alternative group from the San Francisco Bay Area/East Bay, fronted by trans activist/performer Grey Starr. Over the years they’ve performed many iconic venues like The Fillmore SF, Bottom of the Hill, Uptown, etc, and they’ve been featured on various radio stations and in publications like EBX and Spooky Little Halloween magazine! They love all things horror and bring Halloween to every show they play. You can find them online at @prettyfrankenstein3176 on Youtube, @prettyfrankensteinband on Tik-Tok, @prettyfrankensteinband on Instagram, and at their website www.prettyfrankenstein.com   What are…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Weston Ochse

The American Library Association calls Weston Ochse “one of the major horror authors of the 21st Century.” His work has won the Bram Stoker Award, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and won four New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. A writer of more than forty books in multiple genres, his Burning Sky Duology has been hailed as the best military horror of the generation. His military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson and his military sci-fi trilogy, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at…

Ai Jang reads from POETRY SHOWCASE IX

Ai Jang joins us today with a reading of her poem, "A Barrening Mother" from Poetry Showcase IX. If you haven't purchased your copy yet, it's just one click away. Better yet, collect the whole series! Reviews and shares are always welcome. https://youtu.be/TLvrj75_HIg Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer and an immigrant from Fujian. She is a member of HWA, SFWA, and Codex. Her work can be found in F&SF, The Dark, Uncanny, The Puritan, Prairie Fire, The Masters Review. Her debut novella Linghun (April 2023) is forthcoming with Dark Matter INK. Find her on Twitter (@AiJiang_) and online (http://aijiang.ca).

Transgender Awareness: My Gender is a Chainsaw by Jef Rouner

My Gender is a Chainsaw By Jef Rouner Gender is a construct. You know, like those killer robots in Chopping Mall. And just like them, it has sharp edges. It took me forty years to figure out what gender I was, and frankly the question is still far from answered. I recently settled simply on “not cis,” and when people ask me my pronouns I answer “he/him will do.” It’s not me being a melodramatic pain in the ass… well, not JUST that. The mystery and ambiguity of that label brings me back to the gender heroes of my adolescence:…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Deke Moulton

Deke Moulton (she/they) (rhymes with geek, short for Diklah) has had some incredible journeys in her life - from being a punk rock hitchhiker living on top of buildings to an ancient book conservator apprentice at the Adler Planetarium to living in a college learning Arabic to even being a drill sergeant with the US Army. Originally from Chicago, they have traveled all over the United States and the world -living for three years in Italy! as well as in Monterey, California and Columbia, South Carolina - before finally settling in the Pacific Northwest with their spouse and two children.…

Leigh Hennig reads from POETRY SHOWCASE IX

Leigh Hennig joins us today with a reading of his poem, "The Interview" from Poetry Showcase IX. If you haven't purchased your copy yet, it's just one click away. Better yet, collect the whole series! Reviews and shares are always welcome. https://youtu.be/NmBVpTHxD58 R. Leigh Hennig is a writer, editor, and horror enthusiast living with his beautiful wife and three awesome kids in coastal New England. Previously he taught a series of classes on horror in literature with the King County Library System in Seattle, has written numerous essays on disability in speculative fiction (along with the usual slew of science…

Transgender Awareness Week: Catching up with Larissa Glasser

Catching Up With Larissa Glasser Larissa Glasser is a librarian-archivist from New England. She writes dark fiction centered on the lives of trans women, library science, and heavy metal. Her work is available in Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology (William Morrow), Tragedy Queens: stories inspired by Lana Del Rey and Sylvia Plath (Clash Books), and Transcendent 3: The Year's Best Transgender Themed Speculative Fiction (Lethe Press). Her debut novella F4 is available from Eraserhead Press. She is on Twitter @larissaeglasser What is the latest in your world as a writer? Do you have any new writing news, upcoming projects, or…
Transgender Awareness Week: Catching up with Britney Everlong

Transgender Awareness Week: Catching up with Britney Everlong

Copyright 2022 The House of Everlong Britney Everlong began writing at an early age, her first book being “The Whatchamacallit”, written at the age of nine. It would be some time before her first published work, “Pegasus Bay”, would come to pass, at the age of eighteen. Now, Britney is a writer, mother, free thinker, occasional actress, lover of music, and all-around weird lady who enjoys writing horror and sci-fi stories in her spare time. What is the latest in your world as a writer? Do you have any new writing news, upcoming projects, or other exciting professional news you'd…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Sirrah Medeiros

Sirrah Medeiros is a dark fantasy, horror, and thriller writer. Over the past decade, several anthologies published her horror short stories and poems. She also published a poetry collection in 2014. Most recently, Sirrah has published two books in her dark urban fantasy series, The Emerald Curse and Secrets of Mother. Having grown up in Ohio, Sirrah is the youngest of seven children and the only daughter. After living in a house full of brothers, joining the Marine Corps didn’t sound so difficult, and it offered an opportunity to explore the globe. Since then, she raised a family, completed a…

Denise Dumars reads from POETRY SHOWCASE IX

Denise Dumars joins us today with a reading of her poem, "Cusp of Conjure" from Poetry Showcase IX. If you haven't purchased your copy yet, it's just one click away. Better yet, collect the whole series! Reviews and shares are always welcome. https://youtu.be/J0uYDTyL9bQ Denise Dumars is a widely published, award-winning poet, short fiction, and nonfiction writer. Her poetry collection Paranormal Romance: Poems Romancing the Paranormal, was nominated for the Elgin Award. Each October she participates in a vampire poetry performance troupe called Casketeria, with appearances in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Her column "Stealth SF: Finding Speculative Poetry in Non-Genre…