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,…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Carmen Baca

Carmen Baca taught high school and college English for thirty-six years before retiring in 2014. As a Chicana, a Norteña native to New Mexico, Carmen Baca keeps her culture’s traditions alive through regionalism to prevent them from dying completely. She is the author of six books and over 70 short publications in a variety of genres from prose to poetry. Q. What inspired you to start writing? A. When our rural community’s religious brotherhood disbanded in the mid-’80s, the brothers entrusted the relics from the prayer house, including a locked wooden box, into my care. The box revealed answers to…

Bisexual Awareness Week — B Stands for Bisexual by Angel Leigh McCoy

LGBTQ+ — B Stands for Bisexual 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. The diversity of our characters and their stories can attract a broader audience to our writing, add stronger storytelling to our works, and—dare I say it—open our readers’ minds to empathy and compassion. We learn to avoid stereotypes and clichés in our…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Interview with Sandra Becerril

Considered one of the most important writers of the horror genre in Latin America. Member of the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, Mexican writer and screenwriter, nominated for the Ariel 2015 and 2020 for Best Adapted Screenplay, Doctor Honoris Causa by the Ibero-American Congress of Education in Peru, member of the HBO scriptwriting team and the Horror Writers Association. 43 of her novels have been published in the most important international publishers and translated into ten languages, as well as adapted for feature films shown in various countries. She has to her credit 45 productions of scripts of…

Latinx Heritage in Horror: Introduction to Latinx Horror Month 2023 by Pedro Iniguez

  By Pedro Iniguez 2023 has been a monumental year in Latinx horror. As you may have noticed, recent Stoker Award® wins by Cynthia Pelayo and Gabino Iglesias, the first Latinx authors to do so, have shaken up the horror writing community in a positive and encouraging way. As the highest profile award in the genre, it was a validating win for the entire Latinx writing community. Along with nominations for other exceptional Latinx authors lately, we’ve also seen an upsurge in sales, reviews, and recognition. We’ve also been included in more anthologies, chapbooks, and magazines these last few years.…

HWA Scholarship Announcement

HWA Scholarship Announcement The Horror Writer’s Association would like to thank everyone who applied for scholarships in 2023. The initiative of applicants makes it possible to provide these invaluable opportunities to connect, learn, grow, and imagine what might be next for the genre.  Whether it’s a haunting novel or a groundbreaking thesis, a riveting collection of poetry or a jaw-dropping new script, the horror writers of the world have been busy. These scholarships provide more than just money; they provide the chance for the winners to learn from the best, mature as creators, and infuse our world with art like…

HWA Announces Maxwell I. Gold as Executive Director

HWA ANNOUNCES MAXWELL I. GOLD AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR For Immediate Release: Columbus, Ohio — The Board of Trustees of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce that Maxwell I. Gold has been installed as Executive Director, replacing Brad Hodson who served the HWA with distinction for ten years as Administrator. Gold brings a wealth of expertise and over a decade of combined experience in corporate banking, philanthropy and fundraising as well as project management. He’s worked with small to medium non-profits as well as large marketing enterprises, and he is excited to lead the HWA. As an accomplished…

World of Horror: Interview with Marko Hautala

Marko Hautala is a Finnish horror writer whose novels and short stories have appeared in eight different languages. In 2020, his novelette "Pale Toes" (in Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories Vol. 1) was nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award. Hautala’s novel The Dark Architect is currently being developed into a movie by Matila & Rohr Productions: https://matilarohr.com/en/ What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? I was seven or eight when I read a comic book version of Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Descent into the Maelström.” It gave me nightmares, yet I had to read…

World of Horror: Interview with Paolo Di Orazio

  Paolo Di Orazio has authored horror novels and comic books in Italian since 1987, and in English since 2015. He appeared in Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year 2015. What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? I was hopelessly fascinated by horror during my childhood. Movies on TV during the early ’70s captured my heart forever. I love monsters, I love drama since I can remember. I was just a little child, so I really didn’t know what has drew me inside of it and why. I only believed that monsters were real.…

World of Horror: Interview with Chinaza Eziaghighala

Chinaza Eziaghighala is a medical doctor and storyteller. She is a University of Iowa International Writing Program, Voodoonauts, and EbonyLife Creative Academy alum. Her works are in/forthcoming in British Science Fiction Association's (BSFA) Fission #2 Volume 1 anthology, Mythaxis, Planet Scumm, Metastellar, BrittlePaper, Afritondo, and BSFA's Focus. Chimera, her debut novella, is forthcoming in 2024 from Nosetouch Press. She is diversifying her writing by working as a screenwriter for TV and film and also moonlights as a budding film development executive. In her free time, she enjoys mobile photography, meditation, dancing, and spending time with loved ones, because she is…

World of Horror: Interview with Kev Harrison

Kev Harrison is a writer of dark fiction and English language teacher from the UK, living and working in Lisbon, Portugal where he resides with his partner in crime Ana and their two cat overlords. He’s previously lived in various cities in the United Kingdom, as well as Turkey and Poland. His subterranean horror novella, Below, is out now from Brigids Gate Press, while his debut novella, The Balance, is also available through Lycan Valley Press. His short fiction collection, Paths Best Left Untrodden is available through Northern Republic. His debut novel, Shadow of the Hidden, arrives in March 2024…

World of Horror: Interview with Johann Thorsson

Johann Thorsson is an Icelandic author whose short stories have appeared in publications both in Icelandic and English, such as Fireside Fiction and The Apex Book of World SF series.  His first novel, the crime-horror novel Whitesands, will be out from Canelo UK's new horror imprint in early 2024 and blends Nordic noir with the supernatural. He grew up partly in the Middle East and Eastern Europe but now lives in Reykjavik with his wife, two kids and ever-decreasing space on his bookshelves. What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it? I think maybe it was…

World of Horror: Interview with Marie O’Regan

Marie O’Regan is a multiple award-nominated author/editor based in Derbyshire. Her fiction has appeared in many genre magazines and anthologies, and she is the author of three collections (Mirror Mere, In Times of Want, and The Last Ghost and Other Stories), a novella (Bury Them Deep), and the internationally best-selling debut novel Celeste. Her genre journalism has appeared in magazines like The Dark Side, Rue Morgue, and Fortean Times, and she co-authored an interview book with prominent figures from the horror genre, Voices in the Dark. She is co-editor of the bestselling Hellbound Hearts, Mammoth Book of Body Horror, A…