“One Cool Way to Get Yourself Out There” By Tom Leveen

“The day Joe Pipkin was born all the Orange Crush and Nehi soda bottles in the world fizzed over…”~ Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree This is one of those sentences I wish I’d written. It says it all, so effortlessly and completely. We know in an instant the kind of boy Bradbury is talking about. For as purple as Bradbury got once in awhile, his poetic take on language was not easily matched by any other author, then or now. While Bradbury was known to the outside world principally as a science fiction writer—most folks probably know his name from reading Fahrenheit 451 in high school—those…

“Kids Can be Monsters” By Dave Jeffery

Kids can be monsters. It’s an adage we hear all too often, the cry of desperate, sleep-deprived parents run ragged by their ‘little darlings’.  As observers, we tend to sit in two camps: those who have been there, nodding our heads, sympathising through a haze of figurative nostalgia, or those who wonder why the hell any self-respecting couple would put themselves through what appears to be some kind of perpetual state of sadomasochism. Of course, all of this is relative, and the focus always softened by the unconditional love of a parent. On Halloween, however, I find this abstract concept…

“This Small Window of Acceptance” By Joseph VanBuren

The Halloween season is the time of the year when the rest of the world accepts us. I mean that in two different ways. Growing up, my mom was not only a super hero single mother raising three boys, she was also Wiccan. My brothers and I were raised with the sense that Halloween was “our” New Year’s. Yes, we went trick-or-treating like all the normal kids, but we also celebrated the dead. I have fond memories of setting a place for the spirits at Samhain dinner. While my brothers and I were running around the house on a sugar…

“A Little Halloween Chat” By Lisa Morton and Ellen Datlow

HWA’s next anthology, the Halloween-themed Haunted Nights, debuts on October 3rd. Including sixteen brand new stories about every horror writer’s favorite holiday, the anthology – published by Anchor Books and Blumhouse Books – recently received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Below, editors Ellen Datlow and Lisa Morton talk about their editing processes, the thrill of finding a great story, and how they’re celebrating Halloween this year. Lisa: When I first approached you about co-editing a Halloween-themed anthology, did you ever think, "Wow, is there really anything left to say about that holiday?" Because I know that thought has crossed…

BAD GIRLS, BAD GIRLS, WHAT YOU GONNA DO?

An Intimate interview with Marge Simon, Mary Turzillo and Weasel Press about their new book Satan's Sweethearts. by David E. Cowen. Author of The Madness of Empty Spaces (Weasel Press 2014) and The Seven Yards of Sorrow (Weasel Press September 2016); Editor HWA Horror Poetry Showcase Volumes III (2016) and IV (2017) Hurricane Harvey is now here in Houston a memory though the gifts it brought still blossom with the mold growing on so many walls. Now poor Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are in the process of having to pick up and dry off. If you ever…

“The Hearse” By Robert Stava

Halloween, of course, evokes all sorts of childhood memories, including – in my case – my very first haunted house at the age of six, which was in an abandoned Victorian mansion in Rochester in the late 1960s. That one scared the living hell out of me, and invoked a lifelong passion for being spooked at haunted houses that wasn’t matched again until I was an adult and started attending “Horseman’s Hollow’ down the road here in Sleepy Hollow, New York. But one of the most iconic events in my memories of October hails back to my junior HS year…

“Welcome to Halloween Haunts 2017” By Michele Brittany

The leaves are beginning to turn golden oranges, yellows, and reds, and there is a subtle change to cooler weather as I write, sitting here in Southern California. Appearing in my neighborhood and local stores are banners announcing the arrival of autumn and Halloween decorations. Soon bowls of sweets will sit near front doors and at the end of the month, little ghosts, goblins, superheroes, and such will appear on doorsteps singing out “Trick or Treat!” For aficionados of the horror genre, October is a fantastic month in which to catch broadcasts of classic and contemporary horror films, while for…

HWA’s HAUNTED NIGHTS released October 3rd!

ABOUT HAUNTED NIGHTS Sixteen never-before-published chilling tales that explore every aspect of our darkest holiday, Halloween, co-edited by Ellen Datlow, one of the most successful and respected genre editors, and Lisa Morton, a leading authority on Halloween. In addition to stories about scheming jack-o’-lanterns, vengeful ghosts, otherworldly changelings, disturbingly realistic haunted attractions, masks that cover terrifying faces, murderous urban legends, parties gone bad, cult Halloween movies, and trick or treating in the future, Haunted Nights also offers terrifying and mind-bending explorations of related holidays like All Souls’ Day, Dia de los Muertos, and Devil’s Night. “With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane…

The Seers’ Table – September 2017

Linda Addison, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community September is Self-Improvement Month, why not add new creative work to your life by exploring the following authors! Janet Holden recommends: Sandra Kasturi is a poet, writer, and editor, and the co-publisher of the World Fantasy and British Fantasy Award-winning press, ChiZine Publications. Born in Estonia to an Estonian mother and Sri Lankan father, she now lives in Canada. She is the co-founder (with Helen Marshall) of the Toronto SpecFic Colloquium and the national Chiaroscuro Reading Series. Sandra’s work has appeared in various venues, including ON SPEC, Prairie Fire, several Tesseracts…

An Interview with Poet/Author Peter Adam Salomon

An Interview with Poet/Author Peter Adam Salomon by David E. Cowen, Author of The Madness of Empty Rooms and The Seven Yards of Sorrow By the graces of the HWA (Lisa Morton asking nicely – what I’m supposed to say ‘no’ to her? I think not) and a plea from the prior guardian of this blog I am taking over the task of bringing this blog to the members of the Horror Writer’s Association on a regular monthly basis. Aha, you are likely saying to yourself, this blog entry is late. Yes it is. I reside in Houston and an…

The Seers Table August 2017

The Seers Table Janet Holden, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community We're heading for the dog days of summer! Time to relax with a good book. Here are our suggestions for this month: Janet Holden recommends: Angela Slatter is the author of the urban fantasy novels Vigil (2016) and Corpselight (2017), as well as eight short story collections, including The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales, Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, and A Feast of Sorrows: Stories. She has won a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, a Ditmar, and six Aurealis…

An Interview with Angela Yuriko Smith

A former news journalist, Angela Yuriko Smith retired to write fiction. Her prose and poetry have been widely published in both print and online publications. She has nearly 20 books which include dark and speculative fiction for YA and adults, books for children and two collections of poetry. Her first collection of poetry, In Favor of Pain, has been nominated for a 2017 Elgin Award. When not writing, she teaches creative writing at Northwest Florida State College. HWA: What can you share about the inspiration and writing of In Favor Of Pain? In Favor of Pain was an accidental birth.…

The Seers’ Table July 2017

The Seers Table! Linda Addison, Member of the Diverse Works Inclusion Community July is National Anti-Boredom month. How better to add excitement than to check out work by the following creators! Ace Antonio-Hall recommends: Award-winning gospel singer Evie Rhodes is the author of the psychological horror novels Expired, Criss Cross, Out "A" Order. Ms. Rhodes is the recipient of The Esther Award bestowed upon her for her Outstanding Contribution to Literature from the organization Purpose Driven Sisters in New York City, founded by a reporter of the historic Amsterdam Newspaper. Her novel, Expired, is recognized as an important work in…

HWA Mentors

A Letter about the HWA Mentor Program Starting out as a writer can be difficult. You may feel that you’re alone, that no one understands the issues you are going through, and that fulfilling your writing dreams is beyond you. However, none of this is true, and help is just around the corner. Enter the HWA Mentorship Program. For new writers, the Program offers mentees a personal, one-on-one experience with a professional writer, tailor-made to help them grow in their writing and teach them how to better market their work. For experienced writers, the Program allows mentors a chance to…

2017 HWA Poetry Showcase Featured Poems

The Horror Writers Association is pleased to present the three featured poems from the 2017 HWA Poetry Showcase. After four years, the HWA Poetry Showcase has become a vibrant, global poetry competition featuring the best poetry, and the best poets, of the membership of the Horror Writers Association. This year was the second, and final, year of David E. Cowen being Editor for the Showcase. As such, I asked him to write an introduction to this HWA Poetry Page post about his experiences with the Showcase and dark/horror poetry: Poetry is dead. Long live the poetry of the undead! It…

HWA History

The HWA was formed in the 1980’s with the help of Joe and Karen Lansdale and saw a period of professionalization and growth under the leadership of some of the horror genre’s luminaries including Dean Koontz, Robert McCammon, and Joe Lansdale. Today we have over 2,400 members in countries such as Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Germany, Honduras, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Russia, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad, United Kingdom and the United States. The HWA is the oldest and most respected professional organization for the much-loved writers who have…

HWA Here and Now 2014

by Rocky Wood (Rocky Wood is HWA's fifteenth President. He took office in 2010. He passed away in office in 2014.) The last few years have been a particularly challenging and interesting period for the publishing industry, for the horror genre and for our members, and have seen the opening of doors that lead to as yet undiscovered countries. The explosion of the eBook has apparently freed authors from the previously limited range of publishing choices—mainstream publishing, small press and magazines—and allowed an almost infinite series of publishing models. Which of these will prove to be a success in terms…

HWA in the 21st Century

by Lisa Morton (Lisa Morton took the mantle of President in 2014. She also served over a decade as HWA's Treasurer through October 2011, and then Vice President until 2014.) To paraphrase (appropriately, perhaps!) the Grateful Dead, the 21st century thus far has been a long, strange trip for HWA, but one which overall has seen the organization continue to grow in size and reputation. Certainly no development has had such an impact on the organization as the growth of the internet and e-mail. At the turn of the millennium, most of HWA's communications with its members—whether it was monthly…

The Quarter-Life Crisis

by Kelly Laymon (Richard Laymon served as HWA's tenth President, from 2000 to 2001. He tragically passed away during his term. His daughter, Kelly, kindly provided this piece.) Unfortunately, I can't say very much about my father's time as President of the HWA. His term ended up being unusually short. Who's to say what would have been. People can complain about the politics and the system for the awards to no end. God knows, I've done it once or twice. But when I think about the HWA, I usually try to focus on the great things. About the people who…