Females of Fright:
Rena Mason and Kathy Ptacek

By Naching T. Kassa It’s Women in Horror month and, as we appreciate all ladies in the genre, I’d like to extend my thanks to two of them. These ladies have influenced my writing and helped me along the way. They are Rena Mason and Kathy Ptacek. When I joined the HWA, I signed up for the mentorship program hoping to acquire a mentor who would help me with my writing, the submission process, and formatting. I was fortunate enough to be assigned the wonderful Rena Mason. Rena was honest and no-nonsense from the start. For a year, she advised…

Females of Fright: Deborah LeBlanc

by JG Faherty Back in 2006, I was still a rather neophyte writer. Although I had a dozen or so short stories under my belt, I certainly wasn't lighting the world on fire. I'd joined the HWA a couple of years earlier, and I decided that it was time to sign up for their mentoring program. I had a novel I'd been trying to sell for 3 years and I knew it needed help. Well, Fate was looking out for me that day, because I got partnered with Deborah LeBlanc as my mentor. For those of you who don't know,…

Females of Fright: Ellen Datlow

As part of our month-long celebration of Women in Horror Month, the HWA reached out to our members who have something special to share about a Woman in Horror from the organization who made a difference in their career or life. We also have conducted short interviews with some of the top women in the horror field. Please check back often, as these will be posted periodically. When did you join the HWA? I have no idea. Is there any place I can look it up? I could trackback to 1996 when I paid dues of $55 but I'm sure…

Females of Fright: Marge Simon

As part of our month-long celebration of Women in Horror Month, the HWA reached out to our members who have something special to share about a Woman in Horror from the organization who made a difference in their career or life. We also have conducted short interviews with some of the top women in the horror field. Please check back often, as these will be posted periodically. When did you join the HWA? 1998 – way long ago. What is your role in the HWA, and for how long have you been in that role? I ran for Trustee Board…

Females of Fright: Lisa Morton

As part of our month-long celebration of Women in Horror Month, the HWA reached out to our members who have something special to share about a Woman in Horror from the organization who made a difference in their career or life. We also have conducted short interviews with some of the top women in the horror field. Please check back often, as these will be posted periodically. When did you join the HWA? How did you serve the HWA and for how long? I'm actually not 100% sure when I joined, but I think it must've been 1992, because Dennis…

Females of Fright: Angel Leigh McCoy

As part of our month-long celebration of Women in Horror Month, the HWA reached out to our members who have something special to share about a Woman in Horror from the organization who made a difference in their career or life. We also have conducted short interviews with some of the top women in the horror field. Please check back often, as these will be posted periodically. When did you join the HWA? Somewhere in the mid-90s, a time that's a blur for me. I was a young writer, just starting out in my career, having published several professional table-top…

2019 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

The HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION is delighted to announce the recipients of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Awards, presented in alphabetical order: Owl Goingback and Thomas Ligotti. The award will be given during this year’s Bram Stoker Awards ceremony, taking place at Stokercon in Scarborough U.K. from April 16 through April 19, 2020. HWA, the premier organization of writers and publishers of horror and dark fantasy and home of the iconic Bram Stoker Awards®, presents the Lifetime Achievement Award annually to individuals whose work has substantially influenced the horror and dark fantasy genres. While the award is often presented to a writer,…

Grievance Committee

“Where members have a grievance over issues such as plagiarism, with a publisher over a contractual issue, or a similar matter; and that grievance has not been resolved after the member has made reasonable endeavors, the member may approach the HWA Grievance Committee. The Committee will consider the facts and endeavor to assist the Member in getting a satisfactory resolution.” - HWA Member Handbook Function HWA Grievance Committee is established to provide an avenue within the organization where members may freely and openly inform the association of events that may negatively affect the organization or its members. The Chairman of…

Open Submission Calls

All Horror Writer Association open submissions calls are closed at this time. Watch our social media for new opportunities. Be sure to check out our past HWA publications. HWA’s literary projects are represented by Alec Shane (ashane@writershouse.com) at Writers House.

How to Recommend a Work

Any member of HWA may recommend works for the Bram Stoker Award®. If you’re uncertain about the work’s eligibility, please check the rules first. You may not recommend your own work to the membership at large. You may only recommend someone else’s that you enjoyed. Sign in to the Members-Only area of the site and look in the right column for the red button to submit a recommendation. You must be logged in.

The Seers’ Table February 2020

The Seers Table January 31, 2020 by HWAWeb Linda D. Addison, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community February is a great time to show some love for creators.   Ace Antonio-Hall introduces: Mike Robinson is the author of nine books: eight novels and one collection of short stories, all touching on the realms of the psychological, the metaphysical, the strange. A native of Los Angeles, he is also an editor of the magazine Literary Landscapes for the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society, or GLAWS. Recommended work from: The Green Eyed Monster. Martin Smith and John Becker: bestselling authors with ordinary names and extraordinary minds. Rivals…

2019 Bram Stoker Awards® Preliminary Ballot Announced

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to release the Preliminary Ballot for the 2019 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (see https://horror.org/) is the premiere writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with over 1,600 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards®in various categories since 1987 (see http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/). Works on this ballot are not referred to as “nominees” or “finalists”. Only works appearing on the Final Ballot may be referred to as “nominated works” and their authors as “finalists”. The HWA Board of Trustees and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Preliminary Ballot. Notes about the…

Moanaria’s Fright Club Launch

In 2017, Moaner T. Lawrence, former Assistant Editor at Pseudopod, proposed an online writing group for horror writers to the HWA. To date, the workshop’s thirty members, nicknamed Fright Club, continue to produce work and have had eighteen publications. Immense demand for the workshop has necessitated that Moaner re-organize into a private company, Moanaria. Moanaria’s Fright Club is now open to applications from the general public. Public applications cost $300 plus a $20 deposit to ensure that members complete their work on time. HWA members will pay $85 plus a $20 deposit. Visit Moanaria's here to learn more about the…

The Seers’ Table January 2020

The Seers Table December 29, 2019 by HWAWeb Kate Maruyama, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community I have a number of friends who give themselves reading challenges every year. One friend decided she would read at least 52 books in a year. When the next year came along she added ten more. Another, Alexander Chee, realized he had read mostly men in the past year, so he dedicated the year to reading women. He wrote about it here. Another still said he would only read writers of color. What will you do in your new year? Linda Addison Recommends…

The Seers’ Table – December 2019

The Seers Table! November 30, 2019 by HWAWeb Linda D. Addison, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community December contains National Cocoa Day. Curl up with a cup and discover the following authors!   Linda D. Addison introduces: Maxwell I. Gold is an emerging author of weird fiction and dark fantasy, writing short stories and prose that primarily center around his cosmic and profane Cyber Gods Mythos. His works have been accepted into various publications including the prestigious literary journal for weird poetry Spectral Realms, The Audient Void: A Journal for Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy, Weirdbook Magazine, and many…

A Portrait of the Halloween Expert as a Young Woman By Lisa Morton

  Happy Halloween! Today's Best Of Halloween Haunts was originally published last year..... When my father passed away in 2015, I received an unexpected and lovely inheritance: thousands of color slides, many of which featured me as a baby, a toddler, and a child. One of the reasons this was remarkable was because I really thought there weren’t many photos around of me as a kid. My mom only had a handful, and for some reason – even though I remained close to my dad after my parents split up – I hadn’t realized he had so many photos. I…

“Why Do We Love Halloween?” By JG Faherty

  Welcome back to Halloween Haunt's! Today's Best Of was originally published in 2017.... As a horror writer, it’s kind of expected of me that I’ll be enamored of the Halloween season. And it’s no secret that I am! But I loved Halloween long before I became a writer. Even as a little kid I looked forward to Halloween as much as I did Christmas. The question is, why? For a child, the reasons are pretty easy to figure out. Lots of candy. Lots and lots of candy! The chance to dress up in a costume and run around the neighborhood…

HAPPY HALLOWEEN DARK POETS

HAPPY HALLOWEEN POETS – 2019 IS A VERY GOOD YEAR FOR DARK POETRY By David E. Cowen, Bram Stoker Nominated Author of Bleeding Saffron If you are thinking of what to read this Halloween, consider unwrapping a richly sweet volume of dark verse. Dark and speculative poetry has been flourishing over the past few years and 2019 is nothing different. If you need a guide to appreciating dark verse take a look at these books currently on the Bram Stoker reading list as a starting point. These are presented in no particular order with no endorsement other than to READ…

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…