Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview With P. Djèlí Clark

What inspired you to start writing? Reading. I read a lot. And eventually, I started wondering if I could recreate the things I loved so much about reading. My earliest writing was just for fun—meant for myself, friends, and family. I didn’t start thinking about writing for a broader audience until well after college. Turns out, I had things to say.   What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? I find that horror speaks to something primal in us.   Do you make a conscious effort to include African diaspora characters and themes in your…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Ness Brown

  What inspired you to start writing?  I started writing as a kid. While there was no single catalyst, I was largely inspired by online writers posting their stories to personal blogs (all the way back in the Angelfire era). I was a voracious reader but only gained the courage to try writing after seeing other passionate story-lovers sharing theirs without expectation of money or exposure. I subjected my parents to my first terrible attempts and with their encouragement have spent the last two decades honing my craft and trying to remember to write without expectation. What was it about…

The 2023 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

  The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Final Ballot for the 2023 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA is the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with more than 2,000 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987. Works appearing on this Ballot are Bram Stoker Award® Nominees for Superior Achievement in their Category, e.g., Novel, and everyone may refer to them as such immediately after the announcement. The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Final Ballot. Notes about the…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview With Lamar Giles

What inspired you to start writing? It was simply fun. I was young when I first started making up stories, maybe 7 or 8 years old and when I won a writing contest in 4th grade and was encouraged to keep going. It just felt like something I could do well the same way other kids might be good at shooting a basketball or science. I loved stories and consistently oscillated between reading them and trying to make up ones that were as good as what I was reading. What was it about the horror genre that drew you to…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Justina Ireland

    What inspired you to start writing?  When I was pregnant with my kiddo I was terrified of losing my identity as a person and being reduced to little more than an incubator for the next generation. So I decided to do something I was afraid of trying to do: writing a book. What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?  To be honest, for a long time, I resisted the title of being a horror writer, mostly because the genre classification tends to be a little reductive. Also, I’m not a straight white guy.…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview With Johnny Compton

  What inspired you to start writing? I got started in fourth or fifth grade and had some teachers encourage me as I got older, letting me know in one way or another that I was good enough to get better at it and that I just wasn’t trying hard enough. I didn’t pursue it in earnest until my largely fruitless first year of college when I spent more time in the computer lab working on a fantasy script idea than studying.   What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? When I was five-years-old my…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Eden Royce

  What inspired you to start writing? I’m from a storytelling family and culture. Exchanging stories at family gatherings, as we go about our chores, as we’re spending time together at the end of the day. We’ve always shared stories this way, and it’s a deep part of me. Also, I’ve always loved reading. It’s been one of my favorite pastimes for as long as I can remember. The desire to write my own stories grew naturally out of that. Sometimes it was because I wanted a different ending for a book I otherwise loved, and other times because I…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Jeff Carroll

  What inspired you to start writing?  I was inspired to start writing by seeing the 1999 movie The Mummy. I had made two horror movies but, they were low-budget and nowhere near the scope of the story in The Mummy. I decided that I could only afford to tell a story that big in a book. So, I wrote my first book Thug Angel Rebirth of a Gargoyle.   What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?  I love campy films like Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I liked the simple aggression. I…

NUTS & BOLTS: Interview with JG Faherty, Author and HWA Mentorship Program Manager

By Tom Joyce Horror authors are fond of setting their stories amid dark, twisty hallways full of potential perils lurking around every corner. Maybe it’s a matter of “write what you know,” because that’s how the business can feel when you’re starting out. HWA Mentorship Program manager JG Faherty understands how daunting it can be. As a prolific novelist, short-story writer, and poet, he also knows the importance of a good beta read. That’s why he volunteers to help pair beginners with more experienced authors. In this month’s edition of Nuts & Bolts, JG gives advice on topics including self-editing,…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview With Kenya Moss-Dyme

What inspired you to start writing?  Probably my love for reading! I’ve always loved books and learned to read at age four. I was one of the kids who read every book in the classroom library and got special permission to read at advanced levels. So, when my elementary school held a writing contest, I was eager to enter a story that I’d handwritten about a cricket astronaut who wanted to go to the moon (I’ll never forget that!). I won the contest and went on to enter each year – usually winning at least 1st or 2nd place throughout…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Tish Jackson

What inspired you to start writing? —Many many moons ago, I entered a contest in elementary school on why an amusement park should relocate to our town and won! I won the essay contest and our town won the amusement park. It made me feel like my words had power. I started writing short stories right after that and finished a murder mystery in junior high and showed it to everyone I could get to read it. I was hooked and wrote everything! But scary stories reminiscent of the movies I watched with my Mom as a child came bubbling…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Nicole D. Sconiers

What inspired you to start writing? When I was a kid, I used to sit at the feet of my great-grandmother, Sallie, and listen to her tell stories. She had a way of captivating the listener with her tales of growing up down South, protecting her property from the Klan with a nine-shooter Winchester rifle she called Ole Betsy. I developed a love for storytelling by osmosis, just absorbing the colorful language and the joys and horrors of everyday life she shared with me. What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?  I’ve always been drawn…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Chanel Harry

What inspired you to start writing?  I have drawn inspiration from many facets of my life. I have always been reading horror novels and watching horror movies since I was about four years old thanks to my mom. She used to read a lot of Stephen King and Anne Rice books which, of course, I picked up and read. So, I would say that my mother was the main inspiration, and I thank her every day for instilling literature in my life.   What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?  One thing that drew me…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Kai Leakes

What inspired you to start writing? My inspiration to write came from just growing up and aching to see myself reflected in the stories that I loved. I used to have to do a cognitive dissonance as a child where I’d replace the white characters with BIPOC and myself because I became over-saturated with being given stories about children who did not look like me. It also didn’t help that I loved books so much that I was reading out of my grade level. This led to me developing my own stories In my mind. As I grew up, I…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview With Erin E. Adams

What inspired you to start writing? I’ve been writing since my childhood. There are still boxes of my old notebooks in my mother’s house. So writing has been a part of my life at nearly every step of the way. I think it started out of a need to make things and to engage with my imagination. I’ve also been a lifelong reader and for as long as I can remember, I always wanted to write stories of my own.   What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? I love all things dark and hidden.…

Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Introduction by Dr. Lisa Wood

by Dr. Lisa Wood I’m often asked about being an African American writer in the horror genre. The question is fair; I am an African American writer who has been a psychological horror author for a long time, so it would follow that I have witnessed trends and patterns over the years and might have a comment toward it. But the question, in and of itself, is one that I wish never had to be asked again. It implies that there is a difference between African American people versus other racial groups in the genre. It implies that today a…

Horror Writers Association Releases the 2023 Bram Stoker Awards® Preliminary Ballot

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce the Preliminary Ballot for the 2023 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA is the premier writers organization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with more than 2,000 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards in various categories since 1987. Works on this ballot are not referred to as “nominees” or “finalists.” Only works appearing on the Final Ballot may be referred to as “nominated works” and their authors as “finalists.” The HWA Board and the Bram Stoker Awards® Committee congratulate all those appearing on the Preliminary Ballot.

NUTS & BOLTS: Interview with Nebula-Winner J.H. Williams III

In this month’s edition of Nuts & Bolts, J.H. Williams III shares insights for HWA members on topics including how to successfully collaborate with other creators, and creating works for an existing franchise. J.H. Williams III’s beautifully detailed art has won him multiple awards, including a Nebula, and graced the stories of antiheroes (Jonah Hex), mainstream heroes (Batwoman), and decidedly non-mainstream heroes (Alan Moore’s Promethea.) Over a long career, he’s created significant works for DC Comics, Image Comics, Amazon, and Marvel. He’s also illustrated album covers for The Sword and Blondie. His current project, the mind-bending, multi-genre adventure Echolands, is drawing critical acclaim.

NUTS & BOLTS: Interview With Bitter Karella, Creator of The Midnight Pals

In this month’s edition of Nuts & Bolts, Bitter Karella discusses topics including personal branding, dialogue as a story-telling technique, and using humor to address serious issues. The Midnight Pals microfiction series started as a simple but inspired running gag on Twitter. Storytellers gather around a campfire a la Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark?, except they’re real-life horror authors past and present — Stephen King, Clive Barker, Mary Shelley, etc. Its author, Bitter Karella, has managed to find surprising depths in that premise, delivered almost entirely in dialogue. Midnight Pals features complex, interweaving storylines, recurring characters, and trenchant social commentary, all while remaining consistently hilarious. Since 2019, Midnight Pals has picked up nearly 50,000 followers on various social media platforms, attracting fans including Brian Keene, Nick Mamatas, and Neil Gaiman. Bitter Karella has picked up two Hugo Award nominations, and successfully crowd-funded three collections of the series, which is being adapted as an audio podcast.

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Ray Zacek

Ray Zacek is a retired federal officer living in Tampa, Florida, with his wife, artist Theresa Beck. A flaneur and inveterate scribbler, Ray writes horror, dark fiction, and crime/noir. His work has been published by Critical Blast, Denver Horror Collective, Tule Fog, Allegory Online, All Due Respect, Shotgun Honey, among other venues. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association.