A Point of Pride 2024: An Interview with Chad Stroup

What inspired you to start writing? 

I was a lover of horror at a very young age (we’re talking like two years old and I was already obsessed with monsters). I was reading by age three, and by about year seven or eight, I found Stephen King, which led to eventually discovering Cabal by Clive Barker at age 11 or 12 (a very queer book not only because of its author, and still my favorite novel to this day).

A Point of Pride 2024: Introduction by Angel Leigh McCoy

LGBTQ+ — B Stands for Bisexual

By Angel Leigh McCoy

Our job as fiction writers requires us to step into the hearts, minds, and bodies of other people. For this reason, writers are some of the most empathic beings I know. We’re skilled at using our imaginations. We use that tool to choose the actions, thoughts, and feelings experienced by our characters.

Asian Heritage in Horror Month: An Interview with Wen-yi Lee

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve been writing stories since I could write and never stopped, basically. I just got around to actually learning how to revise and submit things to publishing places eventually, but it’s one of those things I think I’d be doing all my life regardless. Just for me.

Asian Heritage in Horror Month: An Interview with Pauline Chow

What inspired you to start writing?

I started to write fiction in 2018. I had moved to a small town. My first drafts of the Nanowrimo novel experiment were cathartic and healing. I wrote my maternal grandmother back to life, and together we got through a hard part of life, a toxic work environment, and becoming a new mother. In 2022, I took an inspiring online writing class called The Art of Fiery Prose with Giulietta Nardone. One of the assignments was submitting short stories to online journals. And I did! And mags published things!

Asian Heritage in Horror Month: An Interview with Olivia Bing

What inspired you to start writing?

Drawing gives me carpal tunnel, so I must externalize my thoughts through other mediums. More importantly, I was first inspired by great stories that kept me reading till the sun came up. I wanted to write like those authors and create exciting worlds and loveable characters.

NUTS & BOLTS: Interview with Author, Songwriter, and Actor Kasey Lansdale

Think it’s difficult to self-edit, or to create characters? Try writing a satisfying narrative that clocks in at three minutes. Or standing in front of a roomful of strangers and convincing them you’re somebody else. Those are the kinds of challenges facing songwriters and actors.

2024 FINAL FRAME Finalists Announced

2024 FINALISTS (in alphabetical order)

13th Night

Director: Benjamin Percy Writer: Benjamin Percy UNITED STATES / 2024 / 14:32 A father will do anything to save his daughter. Anything.

Asian Heritage in Horror Month: An Interview with Mike Chen

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve always just loved creating stories. When I was a child, I would draw my own comics based on things I was a fan of – mostly science fiction shows and movies (shoutout to anyone who remembers the anime epic Robotech). As I got older, I learned to refine this skill in prose, and the creative writing class I took at UC Davis during my senior year was transformational.

Asian Heritage in Horror Month: An Interview with Addie Tsai

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve written poems since I was eight years old. In third grade, I won third place for a Mother’s Day contest. So, initially, I wrote poems for my mother and stepmother. But it wasn’t until I wrote a poem about childhood trauma for an English class assignment in high school that I connected to writing as a practice to make sense of the most troubling experiences I was facing.

Asian Heritage in Horror Month: An Interview with Scott J. Moses

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve written for as long as I can remember, but the instance that made me want to take it seriously was in middle school. We were assigned the task of writing a fictional short story. Any genre, theme, etc. I spent five hours on it and experienced “flow state” for the first time. I read somewhere that whatever gets you there, in that state where the task at hand is all you can think about, where all else melts away for a while, should be something you take seriously. Something to give you purpose and a way to make sense of the world for yourself.

Asian Heritage in Horror Month: An Introduction by Ai Jiang

What does it mean to be API/AANHPI?

I suppose I will take a more personal approach to this question, as it is definitely one that has persistently popped up throughout my life. For me, it has always been: what does it mean to be Asian, or more specifically in my case, Chinese? As a child, I was born and spent the early years of my life in China, and even after arriving in Canada,

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage in Horror Month: An Interview with Barb Jones

What inspired you to start writing?

Growing up in Hawaii as both a Hawaiian and Filipino, storytelling was a part of my life on my father’s side. Because I loved to tell stories that would scare my classmates, my teacher challenged me to put my stories on paper and to keep up with that challenge, she would submit my stories to different contests that the newspapers and other outlets would have. I haven’t stopped writing since.

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage in Horror Month: An Interview with Jason Tanamor

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve always occupied my time with stories through various mediums like television or books. It was escapism for me. It wasn’t until I started watching the cartoon Super Friends that I began to imagine “what if?” type episodes. Like, what if Superman was flying during a solar eclipse? When the moon passes between the earth and the sun, would Superman lose his ability to fly during the obscuration since the yellow sun gives him his powers? What would that story look like? The inspiration comes from stories or narratives that don’t already exist.

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage in Horror Month: An Interview with Sloane Leong

What inspired you to start writing?

I started writing stories before I started drawing. I remember the first time I wrote a story; I was 5 or 6 at a Sunday congregation meeting with my family. My mom told me to take notes on the sermon but I interpreted that as taking notes about whatever. I ended up writing a short story about dragons and angels having a picnic.

NUTS & BOLTS: Interview With Ellen Datlow, Editor and Shaper of Multiple Genres

Over her long and influential career, editor and anthologist Ellen Datlow has played a major role in shaping not just the genre of horror, but fantasy and science fiction as well. During her pioneering stint as fiction editor at Omni magazine in the 1980s, she acquired and edited stories from writers including William Gibson, Octavia Butler, William Burroughs, and George R.R. Martin. Her Best Horror of the Year, on which she’s currently wrapping up the sixteenth volume, remains essential reading for anyone with a personal or professional interest in the genre. In this month’s edition of Nuts & Bolts, Ellen shares advice about the craft and business of short-story writing, geared especially toward beginning writers.