A Point of Pride: Interview with Holly Lyn Walrath

Holly Lyn Walrath is a writer, editor, and publisher. Her poetry and short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Fireside Fiction, Analog, and Flash Fiction Online. She is the author of several books of poetry including Glimmerglass Girl (2018), Numinose Lapidi (2020), and The Smallest of Bones (2021). She holds a B.A. in English from The University of Texas and a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Denver. In 2019, she launched Interstellar Flight Press, an indie SFF publisher dedicated to publishing underrepresented genres and voices. What inspired you to start writing? I started writing very much as…

MHI: A SKETCH OF HOPE by Ryan C. Countrymen

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   A SKETCH OF HOPE Ryan C. Countrymen From my imagination onto a sheet of…

MHI: APART—A PART by Ai Jiang

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   APART—A PART Ai Jiang Their fingers, long, lack like untied laced weaved into her…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Eva Roslin

Eva Roslin is a disabled horror writer from Canada with a penchant for Southern Gothic themes. She received the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship from the Horror Writers Association in 2017, a Ladies of Horror Fiction Grant in 2021, and is a Supporting HWA member. Her work has appeared in such publications as Love Bites (Mischief Publishing), Dark Heroes (Pill Hill Press), Murky Depths, Ghostlight Magazine and others. She is a librarian, instructor, and researcher with a focus on 19th century American history. My website: https://roslineva.wordpress.com What inspired you to start writing? I think like a lot of kids that didn’t…

MHI: EXPOSED by Jesse Rosenbaum

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   EXPOSED Jesse Rosenbaum The voice in my head returned as I frustratingly stared at…

MHI: WORDS TO FILL THE WELL by Jennifer Brozek

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   WORDS TO FILL THE WELL Jennifer Brozek It starts with bad news, a bad…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Ron Gabriel

Ron Gabriel is a magazine industry veteran and author of supernatural fiction. He grew up in northern New England where he loved exploring old graveyards and places rumored to be haunted. He has a BA in Journalism from the University of Maine, and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He is an active member of the Horror Writers Association. What inspired you to start writing? I’ve always loved when reality surrenders to fantasy and creation. And writing is such a satisfying challenge, a multi-layered puzzle with no shortcuts. Filtered thoughts and hard decisions turn…

MHI: OF MONSTERS AND MENTAL HEALTH by Sarah Sigfried

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   OF MONSTERS AND MENTAL HEALTH Sarah Sigfried Few things have been consistent in my…

MHI: EXORCIZING MY DEMONS by Samantha Arthurs

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   EXORCIZING MY DEMONS Samantha Arthurs Horror has given Me a way To escape the…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Jose Nateras

Jose Nateras is an L.A.-based Writer and Filmmaker from Chicago. An actor, screenwriter, playwright, journalist and more, Jose prides himself on his versatility as an artist. Jose is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago, has his MFA in Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), and is also a freelance journalist, a published novelist, and screenwriter/playwright. One of his feature-length screenplays, "Zero Feet Away" was recently a finalist in the screenwriting competitions of the NOLA Horror Film Festival, the Los Angeles Crime and Horror Film Festival, the Lit Scares International Horror Festival, and was included on…

MHI: THE STAIRS by Marge Simon

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   THE STAIRS Marge Simon You are the man ascending the stairs, hunched, contorted, hands…

MHI: UNSHAKABLE, IRRATIONAL FEAR by Lisa Lane

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   UNSHAKABLE, IRRATIONAL FEAR Lisa Lane Rarely do people justifiably portray agoraphobia in fiction. The…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Lee Allen Howard

Lee Allen Howard’s dark fiction spans the genres of horror, LGBTQ+ horror, supernatural crime, psychological thrillers, and dark mystery. He’s written six novels—The Sixth Seed, Death Perception, The Adamson Family, The Bedwetter: Journal of a Budding Psychopath, The Covenant Sacrifice, The Prosperity Society—and a collection of early short stories, Perpetual Nightmares. Howard earned a BA in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. He’s been a professional writer in the software industry since 1985. As a fiction editor, Howard is the founder and editor at Dark Cloud Press, publisher of…

MHI: PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF by Theresa Derwin

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF Theresa Derwin When I first became ill, I attended counselling. At…

MHI: HOPE IS THE BONE by Eugen Bacon

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   HOPE IS THE BONE Eugen Bacon of a dead animal music is the weather…

A Point of Pride: Interview with April A. Taylor

April A. Taylor is an award-winning, #1 best-selling multi-genre author. Her debut horror novel, The Haunting of Cabin Green, was featured on four "Best Horror Books of 2018" lists (PopSugar, Inquisitr, Bored Panda, and Ranker). She has written nine books to date. April lives in Michigan with her huge black cat, Riley. If her life was a cartoon, she'd be Lisa Simpson. What inspired you to start writing? I’d been writing since early childhood, but what inspired me to actually publish my stories was going through a housefire. What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? The…

MHI: A CANDLE IN THE DARK by Marge Simon

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   A CANDLE IN THE DARK Marge Simon You are alone in darkness. You’re afraid…

MHI: AN EXCERPT FROM TBI OR CTE: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME? by Mark Tullius

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.   An Excerpt from TBI or CTE: What the Hell is Wrong with Me? Mark…

MHI: MY WHY by Steve Stred

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members. MY WHY Steve Stred In 1996, I was at my lowest. I was in Grade…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Allison Church

Allison Church (a.k.a. DONALD ALLEN KIRCH) is a Transgender Author who lives in the Midwest of the United States. She is an avid lover of horror, science fiction, and fantasy and will challenge ANYONE on her knowledge of TV “pop” culture. A die-hard fan of “Star Trek,” “Babylon 5,” and “Doctor Who,” she does not believe in the “NO Win” scenario! She LOVES everything about the Paranormal! What inspired you to start writing? I have always LOVED the role of a Storyteller. The power to hold a person’s attention is a rare and wonderful thing in our times. However, with…