The Seers’ Table November 2022

October 30, 2022 by HWAWeb Linda D. 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 selection menu item “Our Blogs / Diverse Works.” Tish Booker recommends: A.P. Thayer is a master of the short form of writing. He is a queer Mexican-American writer out of Los Angeles who dabbles in different genres and is adept at all of them. Speculative fiction, magical realism, and outright horror are all genres attached to his writing and all can apply since he…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Jonathan Gensler

Jonathan Gensler writes dark slipstream and speculative fiction inspired by his decades of wildly varied life experiences as a combat veteran and clean tech entrepreneur.  After growing up in a haunted house in WV and living in several corners of the world, he now resides in Nashville with his wife and three children. You can find him on Twitter @jgensler. He may have stopped writing long enough to get his website working at jonathangensler.com, but maybe not. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I graduated from West Point in 2000 and served as an Army…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Chance Fortune

Chance Fortune is an American Dark Fantasy and Horror author based out of Eugene, Oregon. Chance graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in writing and a minor in media communication. He is the author of "In the Web of the Spider Queen" now available on Amazon and KDP. Chance served ten years with the Minnesota Army National Guard and is a veteran of the global war on terror. Chance is currently querying agents for his second novel. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I've spent the past ten years in the Army…

Naomi Simone Borwein reads from POETRY SHOWCASE XI

Naomi Simone Borwein joins us today with a reading of her poem, "The Koiy Factory" 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/aDsnx-_wps4 Naomi Simone Borwein holds a PhD in English literature from the University of Newcastle. She is a research associate at Western University and teaches at the University of Windsor. Naomi has published numerous chapters and articles on elements of h/Horror in literature, film, and culture. Her poetry appears or is forthcoming across a spectrum of presses:…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Solomon Forse

Solomon Forse is the founder of HOWL Society, the most active online horror book club on the web. He also plays guitar in the Lovecraftian metal band Crafteon and teaches high school English on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. Check out his latest fiction appearing in the Howls From Hell anthology, MYTHIC Issue 20, Boneyard Soup Magazine Vol. 1, Issue 4., and Into the Crypt of Rays: A Black Metal Horror Anthology. Follow him on Twitter @SolomonForse. Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I served as an infantryman for the US Army from 2007-2010. I was stationed in Fort Wainwright, Alaska, and completed one…

Sumiko Saulson Reads as a Showcase 7 Alumni

Sumiko Saulson joins us today with a reading of their poem, "Shades of Domesticity" 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. 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), HWA Diversity Grant (2020),…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with David Curfiss

David Curfiss is a veteran of the U.S. Navy. He served onboard the USS Kinkaid as a Gunners Mate before transferring to the Naval Special Warfare community as an armorer where he had the privilege to work with the elite Navy Seals and SWCC Operators. After eight years of honorable service, David transitioned to civilian life. Prior to his naval service, David had a passion for apocalyptic themed stories and adventures. He spent his youth living in fictional worlds, battling zombies, vampire nuns, hostile aliens from far-away planets, and other creatures of death. It was while he was in seventh…

Gary Robbe reads from Poetry Showcase IX

Gary Robbe joins us today with a reading of his poem, "Queen Rat in No Man's Land" 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/8vXPfCLq7Ys Gary Robbe is an educator and writer currently living in Colorado. He has had numerous stories published in e-zines, magazines and anthologies. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association, the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and a founding member of the Denver Horror Collective. Gary is also an associate editor with Bewildering Stories.…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Giles Clarke

Giles Clarke is the founder of Uncharted Wilderness Studios, a production company focused on comics and graphic novels. Uncharted Wilderness Studios was born out of a desire to publish engaging stories told well, and create a catalogue of memorable characters who can save the world from yet another reboot. Their premiere title, Rougarou, a horror / western is currently in stores nationwide. Giles served 9 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. as an infantry officer, with three tours to Iraq. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts graduate film production program. He has worked as a production…

MHI: MY SCARY VALENTINE

Trigger Warning: This article addresses mental health. MY SCARY VALENTINE By Maria Alexander February 14, 2005 That was the day it first happened. I only remember it because it was Valentine’s Day. I wasn’t dating anyone. I hadn’t yet met the man who would someday become my husband, but I would in a week. I hadn’t yet even met the Frenchman I would date for three years who would take me to France for a year. That would happen in a couple of weeks. No, something far more hellish happened first. I was driving to work that morning from my…

DONNA K. FITCH READS FROM POETRY SHOWCASE IX

Donna K. Fitch entertains with a reading of her poem, "Steps in a Cemetery" 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/EXDSYNNXJ6E Donna K. Fitch is the author of Second Death, The Source of Lightning, and The Color of Darkness and Other Stories. She holds a B.A. in art, a master’s in library service, a master’s in instructional design and technology, and a master’s certificate in web design and technology. She is employed as a content editor on the…

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Rachel A. Brune

As a military journalist, Rachel A. Brune wrote and photographed the Army and its soldiers for five years. When she moved on, she didn’t quit writing stories with soldiers in them, just added werewolves, sorcerers, a couple evil mad scientists, and a Fae or two. Now a full-time author and writing coach living in North Carolina, Rachel enjoys poking around former military installations and listening for the ghosts of old soldiers … or writing them into her latest short story. In addition to writing, she is the founder and chief editor of Crone Girls Press, an indie horror micro press…
RONI STINGER READS FROM POETRY SHOWCASE IX

RONI STINGER READS FROM POETRY SHOWCASE IX

Roni Stinger reads her chilling poem "Hide and Seek in Haunted Spaces," one of the poems in HWA Showcase volume 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vodP5LvCUpg Roni Stinger lives in the Pacific Northwest, USA with her husband and two cats.. Her poetry has been published in Under Her Skin, Hypnos Magazine, and HWA Poetry Showcase Volume VII, among others. She’s a member of the HWA, SFWA, and SFPA. You can find her online at www.ronistinger.com and on Twitter @roni_stinger.

Veterans in Horror: Interview with Michael Arnzen

Michael Arnzen holds four Bram Stoker Awards and an International Horror Guild Award for his disturbing (and often funny) fiction, poetry and literary experiments. His books include Grave Markings, Play Dead, Proverbs for Monsters and 100 Jolts. He has been teaching as a Professor of English in the MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University since 1999. See what he's up to now at gorelets.com Tell us a bit about your military service. Years? Branch? Specialty? I joined the US Army shortly after high school, because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to afford college and the…
CASSONDRA WINDWALKER READS FROM POETRY SHOWCASE IX

CASSONDRA WINDWALKER READS FROM POETRY SHOWCASE IX

Cassondra Windwalker reads a haunting poem "Conflagration," one of the featured poems in HWA Showcase volume 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCRTL-yza1E Cassondra Windwalker is the author of the gothic horror HOLD MY PLACE, as well as the upcoming work of dark magical realism LOVE LIKE A CEPHALOPOD. Presently writing full-time from the coast of southern Alaska, she pretends at the poetry of small things and the languages of birds, beasts, and things with roots. She enjoys connecting with generally…
HWA ANNOUNCES SUMMER SCARES READING PROGRAM 2023 Spokesperson and Timeline

HWA ANNOUNCES SUMMER SCARES READING PROGRAM 2023 Spokesperson and Timeline

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist, is proud to announce the fifth annual Summer Scares Reading Program. Summer Scares is a reading program that provides libraries and schools with an annual list of recommended horror titles for adult, young adult (teen), and middle grade readers. It introduces readers and librarians to new authors and helps start conversations extending beyond the books from each list and promote reading for years to come. Summer Scares is proud to announce the 2023 spokesperson as author Daniel Kraus: "Libraries were the space in which I…
M LOPES da SILVA READS FROM POETRY SHOWCASE IX

M LOPES da SILVA READS FROM POETRY SHOWCASE IX

M Lopes da Silva reads a frighteningly approriate poem "there’s a haunted pornographic magazine in the woods," one of the featured poems in HWA Showcase volume 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItTmiuF_OEw M Lopes da Silva (he/they/she) is a non-binary and bisexual author from Los Angeles. They write pulp and poetry, and sometimes the two get mixed up together. Their queer Californian horror fiction has been published or is forthcoming from In Somnio: A Collection of Modern Gothic Horror Fiction,…

Halloween Haunts: The Real Horror by Brian W. Matthews

In a few weeks, I will begin my sixtieth journey around the sun. Over those years, Halloween has changed for me. The meaning. How I enjoy it. With whom I enjoy it. But one thing hasn’t changed: I enjoy Halloween. All of it. The chill creeping into the night air. The rustle of leaves as the breeze sends them dancing across the cracked pavements. The movies—especially the old Hammer horror films—playing over the television (or streaming in today’s world). Pumpkins. Costumes. Candy. The change I experienced over the years may be best termed a maturing. As a child, I looked…
MEGHAN ARCURI READS FROM POETRY SHOWCASE IX

MEGHAN ARCURI READS FROM POETRY SHOWCASE IX

Meghan Arcuri reads her heartbreaking and poignant poem "How Do I Tell Her?," one of the featured poems in HWA Showcase volume 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmiHfbxWuOo Meghan Arcuri is a Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author. Her work can be found in various anthologies, including Borderlands 7 (Borderlands Press), Madhouse (Dark Regions Press), Chiral Mad, and Chiral Mad 3 (Written Backwards). She is currently the Vice President of the Horror Writers Association. Prior to writing, she taught high school math,…

Halloween Haunts: Do Ghosts Respect International Borders? by Geneve Flynn

To an Asian Australian, Halloween is a delightful, albeit slightly bewildering, phenomenon. It isn’t widely celebrated in Malaysia (where I spent my early childhood) and is really only just starting to take hold in Australia. I love seeing my American friends share their excitement that fall has arrived and the spooky season is on its way. However, Halloween seems more celebration than haunting, and the ghosts in the States feel somewhat unreal or distant, like they belong to someone else. Someplace else. Somewhere along the way, I’d come to believe that supernatural beings were endemic to specific locations, and you…