What is Horror Fiction?

That's a difficult question. In recent years the very term has become misleading. If you tell people you write horror fiction, the image that immediately pops into their minds is one of Freddy Krueger or maybe Michael Myers, while you were hoping for Shelley's Frankenstein or Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The popularity of the modern horror film, with its endless scenes of blood and gore, has eclipsed the reality of horror fiction. When you add to that a comprehension of how horror evolved as both a marketing category and a publishing niche during the late eighties -- horror's…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Rin Chupeco

Rin Chupeco wrote obscure manuals for complicated computer programs, talked people out of their money at event shows, and did many other terrible things. They now write about ghosts and fairy tales but is still sometimes mistaken for a revenant. They were born and raised in the Philippines and, or so the legend goes, still haunts that place to this very day. They are the author of The Girl from the Well duology, The Bone Witch trilogy, The Never Tilting World duology, and the Hundred Names For Magic series, starting with Wicked As You Wish . Their short stories have…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Craig Laurance Gidney

Craig Laurance Gidney writes both contemporary and genre fiction. He is the author of the collections Sea, Swallow Me & Other Stories (Lethe Press, 2008), Skin Deep Magic (Rebel Satori Press, 2014), Bereft (Tiny Satchel Press, 2013) and A Spectral Hue (Word Horde, 2019). He is a 3-time finalist for the Lamdba Literary Award and a finalist for the Carl Brandon Parallax Award. His website is craiglaurancegidney.com. Instagram and Twitter: ethereallad. What inspired you to start writing? I’ve wanted to be a writer ever since I was a child. I remember looking at all of the Newberry Award books (particularly…

Juneteenth: An Emancipation Holiday

Video Transcript: Hi, I’m Linda Addison, the Horror Writers Association Diversity Grant Chair. Hi, I’m Michelle Renee Lane and I write horror. Hi, I’m Steven Van Patten. I write scary stuff. Hi, I’m L Marie Wood. I’m Marc Abbott. I’m Sumiko Saulson, on the Social Media Team for the Horror Writers Association. Linda Addison: On behalf of the Horror Writers Association we’d like to congratulate all African Americans on the progress recently made towards making Juneteenth a federally recognized Black Liberation Holiday. Nikki Woolfolk: On Tuesday, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution establishing June 19 as Juneteenth, a National Black…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Eve Harms

Eve Harms is a writer of freaky, fun, dark fiction who currently resides in Los Angeles with her children’s book illustrator wife and two cats. Her work has appeared in publications such as Vastarien Literary Journal, under Rayna Waxhead, and Creepy Catalog, under Kendra Temples. Her forthcoming transsexual body horror novella Transmuted is coming out July 15th, 2021 as a part of Unnerving's Rewind or Die series. She blogs regularly about occult and esoteric topics on her website at https://eveharms.com What inspired you to start writing? I’ve dabbled in just about every artistic medium you can think of throughout the…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Christina Delia

Christina Delia is a horror writer from New Jersey, and an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA). Her stories are included in the anthologies What Monsters Do for Love: Volume 3, Shadowy Natures, and most recently in Dark Dispatch and the LGBTQ+ dark fiction anthology Unburied. Christina has a story forthcoming in Planet Scumm. What inspired you to start writing? I was a very quiet child and I learned how to read late, but I always enjoyed hearing my mother read stories aloud to me. So when I learned how to write as a kid, the desire to…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Hailey Piper

Hailey Piper is the author of novellas The Worm and His Kings, winner of the 2020 Lesfic Award for Best Horror; Benny Rose, the Cannibal King, and her collection Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy. Her debut novel, Queen of Teeth, releases from Strangehouse Books in summer 2021. She's an active member of the HWA, with short stories appearing in Year's Best Hardcore Horror, Daily Science Fiction, Flash Fiction Online, The Arcanist, and elsewhere. A trans woman hailing from New York's haunted woods, she now lives with her wife in Maryland. Find her on Twitter via @HaileyPiperSays or at www.haileypiper.com. What…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Polly Schattel

Polly Schattel has been a film writer/director, a teacher, a journalist and a videographer. She is proudly and passionately transgender. Her first novel, The Occultists, was published by JournalStone in July 2020. Her next book, Shadowdays, will be released in January, 2022. She loves the American South and doesn’t want to hear your complaints about it. She can be found at www.pollyschattel.com. What inspired you to start writing? I’m not sure I can determine what got me started. It just always seemed to be. My first “book” was a story I wrote and drew (and bound together with yarn) in…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Robert P. Ottone

Robert P. Ottone is an author, teacher, and cigar enthusiast from East Islip, NY. He delights in the creepy. He can be found online at SpookyHousePress.com , or on Instagram / Twitter (@RobertOttone). His collections Her Infernal Name & Other Nightmares and People: A Horror Anthology about Love, Loss, Life & Things That Go Bump in the Night are available now wherever books are sold. What inspired you to start writing? Heartache. Writing was one of the few things that has helped me deal with losing my dad two years back. Trying to process and deal with loss and the…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Jewelle Gomez

Jewelle Gomez, (Cape Verdean/Wampanoag/Ioway) is a novelist, essayist, poet, and playwright. Her eight books include the first Black Lesbian vampire novel, The Gilda Stories (in print more than 30 years); which was recently optioned by Cheryl Dunye for a TV mini-series. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies including: Luminescent Threads: Tribute to Octavia Butler, Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, No Police Know Police, and Red Indian Road West. Her plays about James Baldwin and Alberta Hunter have been produced in San Francisco and New York. Her new collection of poetry, Still Water, will…

The Seers’ Table June 2021

  Linda D. Addison, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community You can see any of The Seers’ Table posts since inception (March 2016) from the menu item “Diverse Works’ on the top of the HWA main page.   Jan Holden introduces: Erin A. Craig and her latest book Small Favors. New York Times-bestselling author Erin A. Craig has always loved telling stories. After getting her B.F.A. from the University of Michigan in Theatre Design and Production, she stage managed tragic operas with hunchbacks, séances, and murderous clowns, then decided she wanted to write books that were just as spooky. An avid reader, a decent…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Greg Herren

Greg Herren is an award winning author and editor who lives in New Orleans. He has published over thirty novels and about fifty short stories, give or take, and edited over twenty anthologies. His next novel, Bury Me in Shadows, will be released in October 2021. He is also working on a short story collection about things that go bump in the night--both human and otherwise-- tentatively titled Monsters of Louisiana which he hopes to finish before he is buried in shadows. What inspired you to start writing? I used to joke that I became a writer because I was…
The HWA Celebrates Pride Month

The HWA Celebrates Pride Month

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), the premier organization of writers and publishers of horror and dark fantasy, announces that they will be celebrating PRIDE in memory of the Stonewall riots and all of our LGBTQ+ creators and allies across the globe. “We are so excited to celebrate Pride this year,” said John Palisano, HWA President. “Although we can’t have a real parade and party, we’ll do so online.” With a remake of the HWA logo done up in Pride colors by Gabrielle Faust, the HWA will celebrate PRIDE with a series of short, fun and insightful interviews by Elis Aaron,…

Final Frame Film Festival Winners

The Horror Writers Association is proud to announce the winners of our Final Frame Film Festival that took place during our first virtual StokerCon. The Final Frame Film Festival is chaired by Jonathan Lees, Final Frame Director and our Director of Film Programming, StokerCon. This year our judges were ALEJANDRO BRUGUES, GRADY HENDRIX, BECK KITSIS, CARLEN MAY-MANN, LISA MORTON, and ED POLGARDY. The GRAND PRIZE goes to Tony Morales for Abracitos. 1st Runner-Up to Brian Sacca for Joanne Is Dead. 2nd Runner-Up is to Trish Harnetiaux for You Wouldn't Understand. Best Writing in a Short Film is a tie! Brian…

Update – #DisneyMustPlay Task Force

BOOM! Studios Begins Work with #DisneyMustPay Task Force The HWA is a part of the #DisneyMustPay Task Force and offers the following update. LOS ANGELES (May 25) – The #DisneyMustPay Joint Task Force is pleased to announce that BOOM! Studios have begun to work with them to achieve the Task Force’s goals to ensure that all writers who are owed royalties and/or statements for their media-tie in work are identified and that Disney and other companies honor their contractual obligations to those writers after acquiring the companies that originally hired the writers. “BOOM! Studios strongly support all creators receiving any…

2020 Bram Stoker Awards® Winners Announced

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA is the premier writers' organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with more than 1,700 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987. The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate the winners and all the nominees. To see the recipients of the other awards presented at the ceremony, visit The Bram Stoker Awards®.

The Seers’ Table May 2021

Kate Maruyama, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community Linda Addison recommends: Jean Nicole Rivers is a National Black Book Festival award-winner and author of three psychological horror novels, Black Water Tales: To the Moon and Back, Black Water Tales: The Unwanted, and Black Water Tales: The Secret Keepers. All books in the series stand alone. She has also garnered awards for her screenplay, If I Die, from multiple film festivals, including the Shivers International Film Festival (Canada). She is the owner of a novel-writing software, Simply Stylus, and she teaches an online beginner writing course titled, “Simply Writing: An…

Horror University Online

HORROR UNIVERSITY is one of the most successful and popular aspects of StokerCon™. We are proud to now offer Horror University online for anyone who wishes to attend. Horror University furthers the Horror Writers Association’s focus on education with a curriculum run by some of the best and brightest in the horror field. HORROR UNIVERSITY ONLINE offers a series of 90-minute to two-hour workshops. They are not your typical workshop experiences—they are hands-on, intensive classes that include interactive activities and exercises. Workshops will initially be live events, but many will be offered as recordings year-round for students who register after the live session. To see…