A Note from Rocky!

A Note from Rocky!

Hello and good news! HWA paid membership hit 1297 (a record) as of October 31! Members come from 27 countries including Norway and the Philippines (new this month). Five and a half years ago we had 240 members, and when I started my first term as President on Nov 1, 2010, we had 400. Congratulations and thanks go to all our volunteers (180 currently) over the last five years who've delivered the enhanced and new programs that are obviously satisfying new and renewing members, summarised here: https://horror.org/achievements.htm. Rocky Wood President
HWA now on Pinterest!

HWA now on Pinterest!

The HWA has established an exciting new vibrant presence on Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/horrorwriters/) with initial 'boards' for Halloween, the Bram Stoker Awards® and Horror Selfies, with more to come. We thank AJ Klein for the initial setup. Doug Draa has been appointed HWA's Pinterest Coordinator, with Janet J Holden as assistant coordinator. Doug Draa is an ex-pat Buckeye and Army veteran living in Nuremberg Germany with his wife and daughter. His (dis)formative years were spent in Newark Ohio, the real world counterpart to Gary Braunbeck's "Cedar Hill". Doug was On-line Editor for "Weird Tales Magazine" and editor of Weird Tales' sister…

New Horror Anthology for Teens from HWA

It’s scary out there. Especially if you're a teen. It’s a frightening world, and we live in troubling times. Globally, locally, even in the safety of our own bedrooms. It’s about to get a lot scarier. The Horror Writers Association and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers will launch "Scary Out There," an anthology of all-original horror stories for young adults, written by an incredible line-up of world-class bestsellers. New York Times bestseller and multiple Bram Stoker Award® winner Jonathan Maberry has gathered together a veritable who’s who of A-listers to tell stories that explore what horror means to…
Halloween Haunts: The Masque of the Red Horde by Gene O’Neill

Halloween Haunts: The Masque of the Red Horde by Gene O’Neill

Dim light spilling through a red-stained Gothic window cast a ghastly pall over a heavily shadowed long hall. At the center of the room, bathed in the bloody illumination, a naked woman lay down on a black velvet covered dais, her ritual complete except for the final oral incantation. As she finished murmuring the last of the ancient spell, a phantasm suddenly appeared from the shadows. The tall, gaunt figure, cloaked in a black shroud, features hidden by a corpse-like mask, moved effortlessly to her side, accompanied by a chilling draft. Without a word, the masked specter bent over the…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween Night by Keith Deininger

Halloween Haunts: Halloween Night by Keith Deininger

I grew up in a relatively safe neighborhood in Colorado Springs, which was why, when I went trick-or-treating in fourth grade, I was allowed to go with a small group of friends and no adult supervision, and how I ended up alone at the mouth of a dark tunnel, my friends no longer answering my pleas. I was a shy kid and didn’t like going up to people’s houses, even for candy, so as the night wore on and several of my friends went home and I was left with only my good friends Sam and Brad, I suggested we…
Halloween Haunts: The Phases of Halloween by Peter Adam Salomon

Halloween Haunts: The Phases of Halloween by Peter Adam Salomon

‘Baby’s First Halloween’ This entails adorable costumes, miniaturized, and usually pumpkin shaped. While there’s no need for candy, there’s an intense desire on the part of parents to show their little bundle of joy off. This particular phase is more pronounced with an only child. A second child will be shoved into the same pumpkin, a couple obligatory photos will be taken, and then the younger child will be buckled in a stroller while their older sibling collects all the candy. ‘Baby’s Second Halloween’ Baby no longer quite fits in the adorable pumpkin costume, plus it says ‘Baby’s First Halloween’…
Halloween Haunts: I’m Old Now and Halloween was Better Once… Really by John F.D. Taff

Halloween Haunts: I’m Old Now and Halloween was Better Once… Really by John F.D. Taff

Ok, you know, it's true what they say about growing old. Yes, about the aches and pains.  OK, yes, about the fossilfication of your music choices.  And, sigh, yes, also about the general jadedness about life and jaundiced viewpoints about…well, let's not stray too far, here, shall we? Also part of growing old is a distressing tendency to digress… No, what I'm talking about here is how those of us who are older—and at 50 years old I count myself amongst them—have a tendency to view our past as some sort of privileged golden age that was there only for…
Halloween Haunts: Tamlane and Alison Gross: Halloween Ballads by Lisa Morton

Halloween Haunts: Tamlane and Alison Gross: Halloween Ballads by Lisa Morton

Although magazines and books like to tell us that Halloween is an ancient festival with pagan roots, the truth is the holiday as we know it is really only a few centuries old, especially in terms of being a night that incorporates dark enchantments and spooky tales. Combining the Celtic Samhain with the Christian All Saints Day and All Souls Day (the latter wasn’t instituted in the Catholic Church until 998 A.D.), references to the holiday are basically nonexistent prior to the 16th century, and those few scarce mentions hardly sound at all like the holiday we love. For example,…
The Manufacturer of Sorrow by Michelle Scalise

In November: “Michelle Scalise and The Manufacturer of Sorrow”

☢ Michelle Scalise's poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. She was nominated for the 2010 Spectrum Award which honors outstanding works of fantasy and horror that include positive gay characters and the 2000 Rhysling Award for poetry. Her fiction has received honorable mention in Years Best Fantasy and Horror and her first collection, Intervals of Horrible Insanity, was listed as one of the top ten books of 2003 by SFSite. Her fiction collection, Collective Suicide, was published by Crossroad Press in 2012. Eldritch Press has just published a collection of her poetry, The Manufacturer of Sorrow, and Michelle was gracious enough…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween in Rockhampton by Greg Chapman

Halloween Haunts: Halloween in Rockhampton by Greg Chapman

Halloween is spreading like the branches of an ancient bay tree across my hometown of Rockhampton, Australia. Last year was the first time I decided to put up a Halloween display outside my house, because, much to my amazement, the fun of the season was finally starting to rear its (decapitated) head. People really came to my house – in costume! It was truly something I never thought possible in Australia. As my friend Lisa Morton will tell you, Australia is the only English-speaking nation that hasn’t completely embraced Halloween traditions. Well, Lisa, I’m happy to report that the times,…

Halloween Haunts: Trick-or-Treating of the Dead, A True Account by T. Fox Dunham

Few of you know that I am a real zombie. It’s true. I hide it. Now, I don’t eat brains or human flesh though. I generally dress well, though my suit jacket is a bit tattered and ruined; my Allison plans to fix all that. I do stumble when I walk at times without my cane, and I still get a glazed look in my eye now and again, mostly from medications or Long Islands. Oh. And I’ve been legally dead a few times and come back, not in a messiah-way but more in a—my-heart-didn’t-know-when-to-quit-to-kind-of-way. I feel nothing as a…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween – Derivations and Diversions by David Sakmyster

Halloween Haunts: Halloween – Derivations and Diversions by David Sakmyster

I have fond memories of my formative years playing Dungeons and Dragons and romping through some spooky forest only to come across that dreaded Will-o'-the-wisp—whatever that was. The Dungeon Master would go into the description of a bobbing spectral light, sometimes in which you could see a man’s face. Apart from these nasty critters being resistant to normal weapons and damn hard to kill, it just didn’t sound all that glamorous to say you leveled up by slaughtering some Will-o-something. But I went with it. We all did, little realizing that not only does the Will-o’-the-wisp have its origins rooted…
Halloween Haunts: It Takes A Writer: The Legacy of CJ Henderson by Patrick Thomas

Halloween Haunts: It Takes A Writer: The Legacy of CJ Henderson by Patrick Thomas

Halloween is a holiday steeped in tradition. The HWA is an organization with many traditions of its own. Arguably one of the most important is that writers should help other writers and that those with more experience should be able to help mentor writers who are just starting out or even those who are simply starting to aspire to one day be writers. No writer is born knowing everything about their craft. Each of us has to learn through trial and error what works, what doesn’t and most importantly – at least in order to continue writing – how to…
Halloween Haunts: The Betamax Horror by Tom Calen

Halloween Haunts: The Betamax Horror by Tom Calen

I got my first real taste of fear when I was four or five years old. It was the early 1980s in Brooklyn, New York, and the night, quite fittingly, was Halloween. My family had joined with three others for the annual door-to-door plea for candy, otherwise known as Trick-or-Treating[*]. All combined, there were eight children in our pack: a quartet of ten year-olds, a trio aged eight, and me--the youngest by four years and the only boy. I don’t remember much about the trick-or-treating itself, which likely means I ended the route with a healthy bag of soon-to-be cavities…
Halloween Haunts: Homemade Halloween By Doug Murano

Halloween Haunts: Homemade Halloween By Doug Murano

I always feel a mix of giddy excitement and sadness when grocery stores and department stores switch over their wares for the Halloween season. Rows of rubbery fright masks. Aisles of candy branded to sell the latest movies and toy lines. Mass-produced orange banners and black fuzzy spiders stuck to windows with Scotch tape and suction cups. Today’s rampant commercialization of Halloween (every holiday, really) was already underway by the time the mid-80’s rolled around. But I still remember the real goodies—the ones I think back upon most fondly from my childhood. Those things were always homemade. In the lead-up…
Halloween Haunts: Blood and Coffee by Alp Beck

Halloween Haunts: Blood and Coffee by Alp Beck

The dimness of the cave made it hard for the old man to see the thing’s details.  The small gelatinous mass was of indeterminate color and shape.  He squinted and poked it lightly with his cane.  Nothing happened.  He poked it again, a bit more vigorously.  Unexpectedly, the mass sprung up the length of the cane and wrapped itself around his hand, sealing it completely within its bulk as the man fell back and screamed. If that scene seems oddly familiar, it’s because it’s from the film, The Blob, the 1958 cult classic starring a teenage, Steve McQueen in his…
Halloween Haunts: What Your Costume Choices Say About You by Jennifer Brinkmeyer

Halloween Haunts: What Your Costume Choices Say About You by Jennifer Brinkmeyer

I don't know how many adults have a costume chest, but I have two. When spring cleaning rolls around, no clothes leave my house that have the potential to make a great costume someday. This is the only area in which I am a complete pack rat. Today I'll wave my freak flag, and analyze some typical costume choices through my past looks. 1. Traditional I have been a witch at least four times--for Halloween, that is (ha ha!). Choices like witch, skeleton, or vampire are traditional for a reason. What would Halloween in America be without these archetypes? People…
Halloween Haunts: Warm Regards from the Meatgrinder by Mark Onspaugh

Halloween Haunts: Warm Regards from the Meatgrinder by Mark Onspaugh

All good ghost storytellers know that, if you want to make your story truly effective, turn down the lights. But if you really want to crank up the gooseflesh, tell it by candlelight... or, better yet, firelight. When I was a kid, our Boy Scout troop would spend a week to ten days in the mountains at summer camp. The camp was in the woods, on the shores of a lake. It wasn't Crystal Lake, mind you, but I'll bet Jason Voorhees first stirred in the terror of a kid at summer camp. Halloween is one of those festivals or…
Halloween Haunts: Where Horror Lies by Loren Rhoads

Halloween Haunts: Where Horror Lies by Loren Rhoads

This time of year, when the veil is thin, is a great time to make a pilgrimage to thank our forefathers in horror. Ray Bradbury, Westwood Village Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California Seeing Stars says, “If you had to choose only one Hollywood cemetery to visit, Westwood Village Memorial Park would be your best bet.” In addition to all the movie stars, Westwood has its share of writers. Author of In Cold Blood  Truman Capote’s ashes are in a niche facing the cemetery entrance. The ashes of Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, are in the Room of Prayer columbarium beyond Marilyn Monroe. Billy Wilder,…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween Memories by K.R. Morrison

Halloween Haunts: Halloween Memories by K.R. Morrison

I’ve just come in from pulling the cornstalks and hanging them to dry. And next week, the high school will have its annual Homecoming Parade down our street. What, you ask, does this have to do with Halloween? These two activities signal, to me, the end of summer and the start of autumn. And they are the two branches of my mindset for this time of year. I have a friend who is a Halloween nut. A couple of years ago, I told him I had cornstalks for the taking, and ever since then, it’s been a tradition for him…