Women in Horror: Interview with Rebecca Rowland

Rebecca Rowland is the dark fiction author of two fiction collections, one novel, a handful of novellas, and too many short stories. She is the curator of seven horror anthologies, including the best-seller Unburied: A Collection of Queer Dark Fiction and 2023’s American Cannibal. Her speculative fiction, critical essays, and book reviews regularly appear in a variety of online and print venues, and her most recent releases include the satirical horror novelette Shagging the Boss. The former acquisitions and anthology editor at AM Ink Publishing, Rebecca manages the small, independent publishing house Maenad Press and is an Active member of…

Women in Horror: Interview with Carol Gyzander

Carol Gyzander writes and edits horror and science fiction. She focuses on strong women with twisted tales that touch your heart. She brought a female focus to her Bram Stoker Award®-nominated story, “The Yellow Crown,” inspired by Robert W. Chambers’ world of the twin suns. Her cryptid novella, Forget Me Not, occurs near Niagara Falls in 1969/1939; she co-edited the Even in the Grave ghost story anthology with James Chambers. The reversal of Roe v. Wade inspired the horror anthology she co-edited with Rachel A. Brune, A Woman Unbecoming; it presents stories of women's rage, power, and vengeance, and benefits reproductive healthcare services. Carol…

Women in Horror: Interview with Amy Grech

Amy Grech has sold over 100 stories to various anthologies and magazines including: A New York State of Fright, Apex Magazine, Even in the Grave, Gorefest, Hell’s Heart, Hell’s Highway, Hell’s Mall, Microverses, Punk Noir Magazine, Roi Fainéant Press, Tales from the Canyons of the Damned, The Five-Two, The One That Got Away, Under Her Skin, Yellow Mama, and many others. She is an Active Member of the Horror Writers Association and the International Thriller Writers who lives in Forest Hills, Queens. You can connect with Amy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/amy_grech, or visit her website, https://www.crimsonscreams.com.   What inspired you to…

Women in Horror: Interview with K.P. Kulski

K.P. KULSKI is a Hawaii-born Korean-American author, historian, and career vampire of patriarchal tears. Channeling a lifelong obsession with history and the morose she’s birthed the gothic horror novel, Fairest Flesh, and novella, House of Pungsu. She bartered nine years of her life to the U.S. Navy and Air Force for food and later taught college history for the captive audience. Trapped by a force field, she currently lives in the woods of Northeast Ohio where she (probably) brews potions and talks to ghosts. Follow her on Twitter @garnetonwinter or garnetonwinter.com. What inspired you to start writing? Growing up wasn’t…

Women in Horror: Interview with Lauren Elise Daniels

What inspired you to start writing? My parents said I could read anything I wanted, so long as we discussed it. That tactic had me reading collections like The Fourth Galaxy Reader edited by H. L. Gold, and the novels Dragon’s Egg by Robert L. Forward and Stephen King’s Firestarter—and trying to move things with my mind—before I was twelve. I also had a stutter but when I wrote, I was free. I could use any language I wanted without getting tangled in the briar of certain vowel and consonant combinations. Then, I found I could conjure justice in my…

Women in Horror: Interview with Kathryn Ptacek

Kathryn Ptacek has published numerous short stories, novels, and articles in many genres. She edited the landmark anthologies, Women of Darkness I and Women of Darkness II, which came out at a time when few anthologies had women contributors. She edits the HWA Newsletter, the monthly publication for the international organization. Interesting teapots and Gila monster stuff make up some of her many collections, and she likes to garden in her always-messy yard (she loves black flowers); she has four cats. Contact her at gilaqueen@att.net or through her Facebook page. What was it about the horror genre that drew you…

Women in Horror: Interview with Ai Jiang

Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer and an immigrant from Fujian. She is a member of HWA, SFWA, and Codex. Her work can be found in Fantasy & Science Fiction, The Dark, Uncanny, among others. She is the recipient of Odyssey Workshop's 2022 Fresh Voices Scholarship and the author of Linghun. Find her on Twitter (@AiJiang_) and online (http://aijiang.ca). What inspired you to start writing? Instead of speaking about what inspired me to start writing, I want to talk a little about what inspires me now to continue writing and the direction that my writing has now taken. I’ve been…

Women in Horror: Interview with Rachel Harrison

Rachel Harrison is the national bestselling author of Cackle, Such Sharp Teeth, and The Return, which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Her short fiction has appeared in Guernica, in Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, as an Audible Original, and in her debut story collection Bad Dolls. She lives in Western New York with her husband and their cat/overlord. Her fourth novel, Black Sheep, is out September 19th from Berkley. What inspired you to start writing? It’s something I’ve always done. I used to dictate stories to my mother before I could physically…

Women in Horror: Interview with L. Marie Wood

L Marie Wood is an award-winning dark fiction author, screenwriter, and poet with novels in the psychological horror, mystery, and dark romance genres. She won the Golden Stake Award for her novel The Promise Keeper. She is a recipient of the MICO Award and has won Best Horror, Best Action, Best Afrofuturism/Horror/Sci-Fi, and Best Short Screenplay awards in national and international film festivals. Wood, a Brand New Weird nominated author, has penned short fiction published in groundbreaking works, including the Bram Stoker Award Finalist anthology, Sycorax’s Daughters, and Slay: Stories of the Vampire Noire. She is also part of the…

Women in Horror: Interview with Stephanie M. Wytovich

Stephanie M. Wytovich is an award-winning poet, novelist, and essayist. She is the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press, and a recipient of the Elizabeth Matchett Stover Memorial Award, the 2021 Ladies of Horror Fiction Writers Grant, and the Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship for nonfiction writing. Follow her at http://stephaniewytovich.blogspot.com/ and on Twitter and Instagram @SWytovich​ and @thehauntedbookshelf. You can also find her essays, nonfiction, and class offerings on LitReactor. What inspired you to start writing? I could answer this question a million different ways—and I have—but I think the simplest way to explain it is that I just…

Women in Horror: Interview with Alma Katsu

Alma Katsu has been writing novels since 2011. Her work has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal, been featured in the NY Times and Washington Post, and won awards in the U.S. and internationally. THE HUNGER (2018) is probably her best-known novel, was named one of NPR’s 100 favorite horror stories, was on numerous Best Books of the Year lists. She also writes spy novels, with RED LONDON being the latest in the series. almakatsubooks.com What inspired you to start writing? I was one of those introverted kids who always had her nose in a book and I…

Women in Horror: Interview with Premee Mohamed

Premee Mohamed is a Nebula, World Fantasy, and Aurora award-winning Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based in Edmonton, Alberta. She is an Assistant Editor of the short fiction audio podcast Escape Pod and the author of the Beneath the Rising series of novels as well as several novellas. Her short fiction has appeared in many venues and she can be found on Twitter at @premeesaurus and on her website at www.premeemohamed.com. What inspired you to start writing? I’ve always loved telling stories—I think that’s a very clichéd thing to say but it’s often true of writers. We like seeing…

Women in Horror: Interview with Lisa Kroger

Lisa Kröger is the author of Monster, She Wrote and Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult, as well as co-host of the Know Fear and Monster, She Wrote podcasts. She’s won the Bram Stoker and the Locus Award for nonfiction. She sometimes uses her Ph.D. in Gothic literature to teach, but mostly she uses it to write horror, science fiction, and thrillers. She’s contributed fiction and nonfiction to numerous anthologies and essay collections.  Lisa is a core member of the NYX Horror Collective, a group focused on women-created genre content for film, television, and new media. With…

Beating a Dead Cliché: Women in Horror Month Series Intro by Meghan Arcuri

Meghan Arcuri is a Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author. Her work can be found in various anthologies, including Borderlands 7 (Borderlands Press), Madhouse (Dark Regions Press), Chiral Mad, and Chiral Mad 3 (Written Backwards). She is currently the Vice President of the Horror Writers Association. Prior to writing, she taught high school math, having earned her B.A. from Colgate University—with a double major in mathematics and English—and her masters from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She lives with her family in New York’s Hudson Valley. Please visit her at meghanarcuri.com, facebook.com/meg.arcuri, or on Twitter (@MeghanArcuri). Welcome to the HWA’s Women in Horror Month…

Celebrating National Haiku Writing Month: The Thrills of Horror Haiku

As February marks National Haiku Writing Month, it's time to explore the dark and eerie side of poetry. Horror haiku presents a unique opportunity to craft spine-tingling tales in just three lines often using a pattern of 5-7-5 syllables. These mini-stories can evoke fear and suspense, making them perfect for fans of horror and thriller genres. In this post, we'll go over tips and ideas for writing effective horror haiku that will send shivers down your reader's spines. First and foremost, horror haiku should have a strong visual element. Use vivid imagery to paint a picture in your reader's mind…
Transgender Awareness Week: Catching up with Britney Everlong

Transgender Awareness Week: Catching up with Britney Everlong

Copyright 2022 The House of Everlong Britney Everlong began writing at an early age, her first book being “The Whatchamacallit”, written at the age of nine. It would be some time before her first published work, “Pegasus Bay”, would come to pass, at the age of eighteen. Now, Britney is a writer, mother, free thinker, occasional actress, lover of music, and all-around weird lady who enjoys writing horror and sci-fi stories in her spare time. What is the latest in your world as a writer? Do you have any new writing news, upcoming projects, or other exciting professional news you'd…

Transgender Awareness Week: Catching up with Ridley Harker

Ridley Harker is a gay, transgender author and editor from St. Louis, Missouri. His debut queer body horror novel, Parasite, is available now from Ninestar Press and Amazon. Ridley lives in the Middle of Nowhere with his two dogs, a grumpy old snake, and a host of pet tarantulas. He is currently working on his MFA in Creative Writing. Visit his website at www.ridleyharker.com, and follow him on Twitter @RidleyHarker. What is the latest in your world as a writer? Do you have any new writing news, upcoming projects, or other exciting professional news you'd like to share with our audiences…
Transgender Awareness Week: Catching Up with Allison Church

Transgender Awareness Week: Catching Up with Allison Church

Catching Up With Allison Church Allison Church (a.k.a. DONALD ALLEN KIRCH) is a Transgender Author who lives in the Midwest of the United States. She is an avid lover of horror, science fiction, and fantasy and will challenge ANYONE on her knowledge of TV “pop” culture. A die-hard fan of “Star Trek,” “Babylon 5,” and “Doctor Who,” she does not believe in the “NO Win” scenario! She LOVES everything about the Paranormal! What is the latest in your world as a writer? Do you have any new writing news, upcoming projects, or other exciting professional news you'd like to share…

HWA Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Series

Tori Eldridge is the Honolulu-born national bestselling author of DANCE AMONG THE FLAMES and the Lily Wong mystery thriller series—THE NINJA DAUGHTER, THE NINJA’S BLADE, and THE NINJA BETRAYED—two-time Anthony Award finalist, nominated for the Lefty and Macavity Awards, and winner of the 2021 Crimson Scribe for Best Book of the Year. Her shorter works appear in the inaugural reboot of WEIRD TALES and numerous anthologies, including Missing on Kaua‘i in CRIME HITS HOME. Her screenplay THE GIFT was a semi-finalist for the Academy Nicholl Fellowship. Before writing, Tori performed as an actress, singer, dancer on Broadway, television, and film,…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Aaron Dries

Author, artist, and filmmaker, Aaron Dries was born and raised in New South Wales, Australia. His novels include the award-winning House of Sighs, The Fallen Boys, A Place for Sinners, Where the Dead Go to Die (with Mark Allan Gunnells), and the novellas The Sound of his Bones Breaking, And the Night Growled Back, and the highly acclaimed Dirty Heads. Cut to Care, released in 2022, is his first collection of short stories. Aaron Dries is one host of the popular podcast, Let the Cat In, also co-founded Elsewhere Productions, and is a member of both the Australasian Horror Writers…