HWA Poetry Showcase Volume XII Now Open for Submissions

The HWA is proud to announce that it will call for submissions from its members for the HWA Poetry Showcase Volume XII beginning April 1, 2025. Maxwell I. Gold will be the editor for the volume. This year’s judges, along with Maxwell, will include Jewelle Gomez, Jonathan Maberry, Cynthia Pelayo, and Bryan Thao Worra. Maxwell I. Gold has agreed to take over as the editor for the next two volumes to follow HWA Poetry Showcase volumes XIII and XIV. The cover for Showcase Volume XII will be designed and illustrated by Dan V. Sauer. Only HWA members (of any status)…

Asian Heritage in Horror: Interview with Bryan Thao Worra

Bryan Thao Worra is the author of 10+ books. One of the first Lao Americans to arrive in the US in 1973, and the first Lao American to hold a professional membership in the Horror Writers Association. He holds over 20 national and international awards for his writing and community leadership. He served as the president of the International Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association from 2016-2022. He has presented at the Smithsonian and the 2012 London Summer Games on the role of the imagination and memory in creative writing as a poet and prose writer, focusing on the creative…

Halloween Haunts: A Slice of the Southeast Asian Underworld and Spirits of Laos by Bryan Thao Worra

“When the water rises, the fish eat the ants; when the water falls, the ants eat the fish.”- Traditional Lao Proverb Laos isn’t the first place people think of when it comes to international fear and horror.  But whether your tastes are for the supernatural or otherwise, Laos has many surprises for those willing to look, from secret wars to eerie ghosts and weretigers. Laos is a country of 6 million people, the size of Great Britain and a little bigger than Minnesota. But from a literary standpoint it is still largely terra incognita. Many readers became familiar with Laos…