68 Years of Halloween by Steve Rasnic Tem

  From last year's Halloween Haunts, here is today's Best Of.... I believe I was seven years old the first time I went trick-or-treating. Before that I wasn’t much aware of the holiday, and I certainly didn’t connect it with anything scary. I remember kids coming to the door in costume and getting candy—not too many because we lived in a very small Appalachian town. I was in my PJs, peeking out of the bedroom I shared with my two younger brothers. But that’s what I did when anyone came to the door—I was a painfully shy kid, and outside…

StokerCon Anti-Harassment Policy

The Horror Writers Association and StokerCon are dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of convention attendees in any form. Attendees violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the convention without a refund at the discretion of the chairs. Reporting Harassment As evidenced by our anti-harassment policy, we at StokerCon take any type of harassment at conventions seriously. To that end, we would like to announce the process for reporting harassment. All of the…

“How We Made a Monster (and scared the bejeebers out of an entire high school)!” By Lloyd F. Ritchey

  Today's Best Of Halloween Haunts was originally published in 2017.... We watched with glee as a man scooped up a little girl and bolted for the door. The kid was kicking and screaming with fright. “Ah,” I thought. “Another successful show!” I was a high school junior, and my esteemed institution was holding a Halloween-themed open house. The classrooms were crammed with the usual flaccid haunted house stuff: “Come inside kiddies, feel the witch’s guts.” (Bowl of cold spaghetti). Her eyeballs—hard-boiled eggs. Yawn. My friends, Warren and Pete, and I had presented the school fathers with a proposal: we…

Which Witching of Which Witches? by Nancy Kilpatrick

From 2015, here is today's Halloween Haunts' Best Of.... When I was seven years old, I saw a witch. I mean a real witch, not one of the politically-correct Wiccans we have now, or the evil glam witches Hollywood offers up, or the (mainly poor, old, single-by-choice, physically impaired, deranged or feisty) women of history who were burned at the stake because they were outside the collective in some way. No, this was a real witch, not pretty, not pleasant, not a herbalist in a conical hat, and she appeared on Halloween! Halloween was always a fun time for me…

Interview Spotlight: Robert Payne Cabeen

  Today's Halloween Haunts was originally published last year... Happy Friday All! Today marks the last interview spotlight as Halloween Haunts welcomes writer, artist and poet Robert Payne Cabeen. At Stokercon this past spring, Robert was the recipient of the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel for Cold Cuts (2017, Omnium Gatherum Media). Halloween Haunts:  Welcome Robert! You have worn a number of career hats over the years, having become an accomplished artist, poet and writer. Of the three, which came first for you?   Robert Payne Cabeen:  Thanks for including me in Halloween Haunts, Michele.…

It’s Not a Season, It’s a Lifestyle by Greg Chapman

From 2016, here is today's Best Of Halloween Haunts... You all know my tale of woe. I am forced to live without the true spirit of Halloween because I live on the other side of the world. :( But instead of crawling into my coffin when October comes around and crying myself to sleep, I bring the Halloween alive through fiction and art – all year round. I may live in a town without any bonafide haunted houses, or urban legends (yeah pretty boring right?), but that doesn’t mean I can’t create my own. I paint and draw and write…

Four-Color Frights by James Chambers

Happy Halloween Haunts! Today's blog comes from 2016... Every Halloween I follow certain traditions. A handful of movies I dig out to watch, some music I like to play, favorite candies to pick up at the store. But my favorite is diving into some classic horror comics. There’s nothing quite like the experience of reading a well-written, beautifully drawn, scary story. And my favorites and perennial Halloween reads are EC Comics. There’s something special to those creepy, old tales from the 50s that makes them resonate as much today as they ever have, something beyond their tightly plotted stories and stunning…

The Killer Pumpkins by Naching T. Kassa.

Today's Best Of Halloween Haunts comes from 2016... When I was a girl, I loved the “B” horror films of the 1950’s. My dad introduced them to me and I enjoyed the terrible acting, cheap sets, and silly gimmicks. Even today, the letter B raises images of Vincent Price, The House on Haunted Hill, William Castle, and a myriad of other screen goodies. We always watched them on Halloween and they never failed to amuse me. Until I lived one. Did dramatic, spooky music run through your mind? Did a chill run up your spine? It didn’t? Humph! You’ve been…

How to Make a Monster By Janet Joyce Holden

  Welcome to a Best Of Halloween Haunts from 2018... I’ve always thought book-signing events should be cool and awesome, and with that in mind I always bring a few treats to give away. Buttons, flash fiction postcards, gift bags, and the occasional monster. Everyone, it turns out, loves monsters. They make people happy, so here’s how to make one (or a dozen) and if you haven’t done this before, it’s time to assemble a bunch of sharp, stabby objects and scare yourself silly (after all, what would October be without a few scares, eh?). Gather the following  – Half…

Gamers Guide to Halloween Video Games (That Actually Take Place on Halloween) By Nicholas Diak

  A Best Of Halloween Haunts from 2018.... Introduction Year after year, various online periodicals compile lists of the best video games to play during the month of October. Typically, these articles mostly adhere to listing universally renown survival horror titles from popular franchises such as Resident Evil, Fatal Frame, Silent Hill, Dead Space, Alone in the Dark, and Dead Rising. While these games are scary in their own right and are perfect to celebrate a month of frights, they all have one thing in common: none of them take place on Halloween. In reality, while there is an abundance…

Welcome to Halloween Haunts ‘Best Of’ Series!

Against the harvest moon plump ghoulishly carved pumpkin faces shine brightly in the night.  Squat guardians of both urban and rural stoops; their appearance marks the return of horror aficionados’ favorite time of year. Monsters of all sizes, makes, and models, real and otherwise, take form, be it bloody scary on a late-night movie or bloody yummy from the candy aisles of the florescent-lit supermarkets.  New stories and familiar classic tales entice, entertain, and leave a chill along the spine long after the silver screen dims and the last page is turned. The winds have swept in October and the turning…
Darren Shan Interviewed by Dave Jeffery

Darren Shan Interviewed by Dave Jeffery

One of the big questions often asked by writers wanting to dip their toes in the waters of YA horror fiction is, "How far can I go?" We know this because members frequently ask this question on various HWA forums. It was certainly one of the queries that rattled around my head when thinking about my own projects back in the 80’s. I wished back then I could access the insights and experiences of established, successful YA writers and explore their views on the market, and what should or shouldn’t feature in a YA horror book. These days, the internet…

The Seers’ Table – October 2019

The Seers Table! September 27, 2019 by HWAWeb Linda D. Addison, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community October has one of our favorite holidays in it—HALLOWEEN!!! Check out some folks creating cool, creepy stuff.   Kate Maruyama introduces: Lilliam Rivera is an award-winning writer and author of the young adult novels Dealing in Dreams (March 2019) and The Education of Margot Sanchez (February 2017), published by Simon & Schuster and available in bookstores everywhere. Dealing in Dreams has been featured in Teen Vogue, PBS Books, Los Angeles Times, and Bustle, among other outlets, and has received starred reviews by…

The Seers’ Table – September 2019

The Seers Table August 31, 2019 by HWAWeb Kate Maruyama, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community I always like to head into fall with a lot of spooky reading, and we have so many recommendations this month! Happy September, everyone; time get working on those Halloween costumes and those scary stories! Linda Addison recommends: Marc L. Abbott and Steven Van Patten created Hell at the Way Station, a collection of horror stories about two Brooklyn horror writers who meet up for drinks and a little adventure and end up in a lot more trouble than they bargained for. Armed…

HWA Announces 2019 Scholarship Winners

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the winners of its 2019 scholarships: HWA SCHOLARSHIP: Sara Adams was born and raised in Massachusetts and has been writing horror since the fourth grade, when she was given an assignment to finish a story about black cats and took it just a little too far. She grew up with a deep love of the genre, writing stories about everything from fluid minds to what lives in the shadows. Sara lives in Haverhill with her two roommates, crafting new nightmares every day. Her work has appeared in the anthology In Delirium…

How Podcasting Can Help Writers Learn and Network

By Matthew W. Quinn One of the great boons to my writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror has been the explosive growth of podcasting. The podcasts I listen to have provided me with many opportunities to learn and network and my life would be much poorer without them. Firstly, podcasts provide great opportunities to work with other writers. Thanks to The Science Fiction and Fantasy Marketing Podcast, I learned hostess Lindsay Buroker had opened up her Fallen Empire universe to other writers through Amazon’s Kindle Worlds program. From this one podcast episode came my short novellas “Ten Davids, Two Goliaths”…
Scary Out There with Sarah Rees Brennan

Scary Out There with Sarah Rees Brennan

It’s Scary Out There had a witchingly good time talking character, lore, and more with Sarah Rees Brennan, author of Season of the Witch, the tie-in novel for Netflix’s hit show, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. With books like How to Hang a Witch, The Price Guide to the Occult, and Conversion, witchcraft in YA seems to be more popular than ever. Why do you think that is? Witches are figures of female independence and social disobedience! I think whenever society is having a big conversation about how just our system actually is, how power can be achieved in different…