NUTS & BOLTS: INTERVIEW WITH NOVELIST AND HAUNTED TOUR OWNER JAN-ANDREW HENDERSON

By Tom Joyce While working as a ghost tour guide in Edinburgh, Jan-Andrew Henderson found a spot with all the makings of a real-life horror story – an eerie graveyard, a long-buried (literally) human tragedy on a grand scale, and a vicious supernatural entity called “the Mackenzie Poltergeist.” That served as the inspiration for City of the Dead Tours, which he now owns and has turned into one of the UK’s most popular haunted tours, renowned among tourists and travel writers for its mix of entertainment and historical fact. Jan-Andrew, a multiple-award-winning author and HWA member, did the research and…

Submissions will open next month for the newest HWA members-only anthology!

Submissions will open next month for the newest HWA members-only anthology! SCARING AND DARING ADVENTURES will be an anthology of original fiction stories that draw from the rich tradition of classic works of children's literature and puts a “scaring” spin on the “daring adventures.” These stories will be intended for middle-grade readers and will reference characters, situations, or settings from famous works of literature that are in the public domain (generally pre-1923). The anthology will be edited by Eric J. Guignard and published by HarperCollins in 2025. Examples of stories this anthology could contain include ideas such as: The March…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Ashley Dioses

Ashley Dioses is a writer of dark poetry and fiction from southern California.  She is the author of Diary of a Sorceress, a collection of dark fantasy and horror poetry, and The Withering, a collection of psychological horror and supernatural horror poetry.  Her third and latest collection, Darkest Days and Haunted Ways was just released from Jackanapes Press.  Her poetry has appeared in Weird Fiction Review, Cemetery Dance Publications, Weirdbook, Black Wings VI: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, and others.  Her poem “Cobwebs,” was mentioned in Ellen Datlow’s recommended Best Horror of the Year Volume Twelve list. She has also appeared in the…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Leticia Urieta

Leticia Urieta (she/her/hers) is a Tejana writer from Austin, TX. She is a teaching artist in the greater Austin community and the Program Director of Austin Bat Cave, a literary community serving students in the Austin area, as well as the co-director of Barrio Writers Austin and Pflugerville, a free creative writing program for youth. Leticia is also a freelance writer. She is a graduate of Agnes Scott College and holds an MFA in Fiction writing from Texas State University. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Chicon Street Poets, Lumina, The Offing, Kweli Journal, Medium, Electric Lit and others.…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Pedro Iniguez

Pedro Iniguez is a Mexican-American horror and science-fiction writer from Los Angeles, California. He is a Rhysling Award finalist and has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Award for his speculative poetry. His fiction and poetry has appeared in Nightmare Magazine, Never Wake: An Anthology of Dream Horror, Shadows Over Main Street 3, A Night of Screams: Latino Horror Stories, Worlds of Possibility, Tiny Nightmares, Star*Line, Speculative Fiction for Dreamers, and Infinite Constellations, among others. He can be found online at www.pedroiniguezauthor.com What inspired you to start writing? Growing up sheltered and overprotected as…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Michael Paul Gonzalez

Michael Paul Gonzalez is the author of the novels BENEATH THE SALTON SEA, ANGEL FALLS, and MISS MASSACRE'S GUIDE TO MURDER AND VENGEANCE and creator of the serial horror audio drama podcast LARKSPUR UNDERGROUND.  An Active Member of the Horror Writers Association, his short stories have appeared in print and online, including the Chiral Mad 5, Qualia Nous vol. 2, Flame Tree Press Anthologies Endless Apocalypse and Gothic Fantasy: Chilling Horror Stories. He has also appeared in Tales from the Crust: A Pizza Horror Anthology, Where Nightmares Come From, Lost Signals, HeavyMetal.com, and Fantastic Tales of Terror. He resides in…

HWA Election Results 2023

HWA Election Results 2023 Los Angeles CA September 29, 2023 The Horror Writers Association (HWA) held its annual election in September. We had a number of amazing candidates for the four open positions of Trustee. Offices of Vice President and Treasurer ran unopposed. Our members have voted, and we are pleased to share the results. Please welcome our new Vice President, Lisa Wood, and our new Treasurer, Michael Knost. Congratulations to Lisa Kröger, Brian Matthews, and Angela Yuriko Smith on being re-elected as Trustees; and welcome to new Trustee, Brian Keene. The elected officers shall hold their respective offices for…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Fernanda Castro

Fernanda Castro is a Brazilian writer from Recife, also a freelance translator and copyeditor. Her work has appeared before in Strange Horizons and The Dark Magazine. You can find her on social media as @fernandaversa. What inspired you to start writing? I read a lot as a child, especially fantasy, under the influence of my older sister. Being always immersed in stories, writing was a natural development for me. I made fanfics where my school friends and I lived adventures in fictional worlds (Legolas, sorry to break your heart, sweetie, but I've grown up). However, the idea of writing professionally…

VETERANS IN HORROR SPOTLIGHT: THIS NOVEMBER

The time has come again. The HWA is going to be running the month-long Veterans in Horror Spotlight this November, coordinated by David Rose and Chance Fortune. We’re talking books this year. If you are an HWA member and a military veteran (defined as a former service member of any uniformed, national military), we invite you to join us. Please send us an email message to veterans@horror.org by October 20, 2023. In this message, please include: Your name Headshot (we didn’t keep the ones from last year) Bio (under 100 words) A write-up (under 250 words) on a horror book…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Carlos E. Rivera

Carlos E. Rivera is a Costa Rican queer writer and former English teacher. His debut novel The Local Truth: White Harbor Book 1, peaked at #4 in Amazon's new releases in horror by LGBTQ+ authors. As an anxious, introverted kid growing up in Costa Rica during the 80s and 90s, he always felt like something of an outsider. His refuge was escaping into and devouring sci-fi, fantasy, drama, crime thrillers, and above all things, HORROR. For years, these books, movies, comics, and even video games became his life. He plunged into the horror-next-door of Stephen King, the ineffable cosmic abominations…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Lisa M. Bradley

  Originally from South Texas, Lisa M. Bradley now lives in Iowa, the traditional homeland of the Iowa, Meskwaki, and Sauk Nations, among others. Her work has been featured on the LeVar Burton Reads podcast and in venues such as Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Uncanny, and The Moment of Change: An Anthology of Feminist Speculative Poetry. She has poetry forthcoming in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Her short fiction and poetry collection is The Haunted Girl (Aqueduct Press). Her debut novel is Exile (Rosarium Publishing). Learn more at her website or follow her on Bluesky @cafenowhere.bsky.social. What inspired…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with John C. Mannone

John C. Mannone has poems in Windhover, North Dakota Quarterly, Poetry South, Baltimore Review, and others. He won the SFPA Dwarf Stars Award (2020), was awarded an HWA Scholarship (2017) and a Jean Ritchie Fellowship (2017) in Appalachian literature, and served as celebrity judge for the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (2018). His full-length collections are Disabled Monsters (Linnet’s Wings Press, 2015), Flux Lines (Linnet’s Wings Press, 2022), Sacred Flute (Iris Press, 2023), and Song of the Mountains (Middle Creek Publishing, 2023). He edits poetry for Abyss & Apex and other journals. He’s a college professor of physics &…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Luisa Colón

Born and raised in New York City, Luisa began her career as a journalist in the late 90s; her work has appeared in numerous print and online publications such as New York, Latina, USA Today, The New York Times, and many more. Her other creative work includes illustration and two murals currently displayed at the World Trade Center. Inspired by her fascination with the cinema, Luisa also made a brief but successful foray into acting, starring in the award-winning 2006 indie film Day Night Day Night as well as the titular role in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 2007 short film Anna.…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Javier Loustaunau

  Javier Loustaunau (1979, Los Mochis, Mexico) is an author and game designer whose work has been featured in several anthologies and programs, most notably The Nosleep Podcast which is the #1 ranked horror podcast.  What inspired you to start writing? I grew up in a house surrounded by books so there was never a moment where I did not think I was going to write, it felt like everyone must write for there to be this many books. Really, I was just impatient to grow up a little and become a better writer, somebody who did not have to…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Jonathan Reddoch

Jonathan Reddoch is co-owner of Collective Tales Publishing. He is a father, writer, editor, and publisher. He writes sci-fi, fantasy, romance, and especially horror. He has been working on his enormous sci-fi novel for over a decade and would like to finish it in this lifetime if possible. Find him on Instagram: @Allusions_of_Grandeur_ What inspired you to start writing? I have always been a writer; ever since I learned how to write I was making stories and inventing crazy aliens and monsters. What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? The funny thing is growing up…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Samaire Wynne

  Samaire Wynne is a Puerto Rican author of over 20 novels in various genres, including horror and urban fantasy. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Black Raven Books. A longtime Californian, you can find her skulking about in southern Virginia. If you were to visit her at twilight, she might serve you flower tea or butter whiskey on her back deck. If she excused herself and strolled into the forest, you might be tempted to wander after her. Past a stream, you’d see a stone well at the edge of her property, and you might hear voices coming from deep…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Luis Paredes

Luis Paredes is the author of the horror / urban fantasy novella, Out On a Limb. Other work includes the mob-inspired short story, Forgive Us Our Debts in Tangled Web’s latest issue and The Ammuntadore on Tall Tale TV.  Luis lives in Westchester, New York where you can find him training for marathons or chatting up strangers about a platypus’s life cycle.  Find Luis on Instagram @luisparedeswrites or on Twitter @Luis_Writes Q. What inspired you to start writing? A. I’ve joked that my writing career started when I was seven. That’s when I plagiarized Mark Twain's The Celebrated Jumping Frog…

Nuts & Bolts: Interview With Indie Horror Director Chris LaMartina

By Tom Joyce True to the throwback aesthetic of his 2013 indie film, WNUF Halloween Special, writer, director, and producer Chris LaMartina took a low-tech approach to promoting it. He used atypical tactics, such as leaving VHS copies lying around at conventions, in the hopes that curious attendees would take them home and pop them into their VCRs. And the approach seemingly worked for his horror-comedy–a pitch-perfect reproduction of a bootlegged VHS recording from the ’80s, complete with commercials, which depicts a local news station’s disastrous Halloween broadcast from a haunted house. WNUF gained rave reviews and a cult following…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Vincent Tirado

Vincent Tirado is a non-binary Afro-Latine Bronx native. They ventured out to Pennsylvania and Ohio to get their Bachelor’s degree in biology and Master’s degree in bioethics. Their first novel, Burn Down, Rise Up (2022) was recognized with the Pura Belpré Award, and nominated for both the Bram Stoker and Lambda Literary Award. We Don’t Swim Here (2023) is their newest novel. When they're not writing, you can catch them playing video games or making digital art. Find them on Twitter @v_e_tirado or visit them on their website www.v-e-tirado.com for more information. What inspired you to start writing? I feel…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Henry Bedwell

  Henry Bedwell is a well-known director, writer, and producer in Mexico, who has dedicated most of his work to Horror and Fantasy movies and novels.  He started his career as a TV producer back in the early 2000s. Henry was in charge of writing and directing a new version of the Mexican horror classic film Darker than Night. Wrote and directed Forward, a multi-awarded Horror extravaganza made entirely in one shot. Wrote and directed Karem The Possession released in 2021. As a writer, has published and contributed to several novels and anthologies such as Regreso a Aztlan, Ars Mortis,…