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.

HWA Winter 2024 Horror University Online Session

The Horror Writers Association is pleased to announce our Winter 2024 Horror University Online session! From January 22 to April 8, 2024, Horror University will present ten live workshops and a special presentation for horror writers everywhere interested in refining their writing, learning new skills and techniques, exploring new writing formats, or better understanding the genre. Full descriptions and registration information are available in the Horror University School on Teachable. REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW!

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.

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: William R. D. Wood

William R.D. Wood traces his love of science fiction and horror back to a childhood filled with Space: 1999 reruns, frequent visits to the Night Gallery, and a worn-out copy of Dune. A good writing day finds him at any of several overlooks on Virginia's Blue Ridge Parkway deeply immersed in new works of cosmic horror. His work has appeared in Nature, Daily Science Fiction, and Cosmic Horror Monthly. Will lives in Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah Valley with his wife, children, and assorted scientific enigmas in an old farmhouse turned backward to the road.

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Charles Wood

Charles Wood is a recent addition to the writing scene and writes horror, dark fantasy, and other light-hearted fabrications. Charles served in the Marine Corps 1988-1996. He also served in the Army Reserve and Air Force National Guard.

Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Nick Medina

Born in Chicago, Illinois, and a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, Nick Medina appreciates local and Native folklore, which, along with research into the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) epidemic, inspired his debut novel, Sisters of the Lost Nation. 

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: C.C. Winchester

C.C. Winchester Biography C.C. Winchester’s love of horror began at the tender age of five, when she started sneaking into the living room late at night to watch zombie movies with her parents. Her mother said that though her infiltration was discovered, and she was promptly removed, she would return in what she thought was stealth mode, only to be removed again. She currently writes in Dallas, Texas. Book Recommendation: Don’t Break the Oath, the fourth Women of Horror anthology published by Kandisha Press The following is part of a blog post I did about my first officially published story:…

Veterans in Horror Spotlight 2023: Jay Whales

Jay Whales Biography Jay Whales is a US Army Veteran with 25 years of active duty and nine years as a Department of Defense contractor. Jay was a Military Policeman, a CID Special Agent, and an anti-terrorism crime analyst. He owns a small business in Middle Tennessee while submitting his works. Jay grew up in Missouri. Book Recommendation: Marquand Tales Marquand Tales: A Non-Politically Correct Novel of Horror by Jay Whales is the no holds barred, non “woke” novel of horror about growing up in a small town infected with more than its fair share of things that go bump in the…

Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Mathilda Zeller

Mathilda Zeller is a horror and fantasy writer of Inuit descent. She has inhabited 2 continents, 3 countries, 11 of the United States, and 18 towns. Don't ask her where she's from; it's complicated. She endeavors to make you lose sleep with her stories and currently makes her home in the Midwest with her husband, six children, and two cats. What inspired you to start writing? I've never had a specific catalyst moment when I wanted to be a writer. I've been writing stories for as long as I've known how to write, and I've always wanted a career as…

Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Richard Van Camp

A recipient of the Order of the Northwest Territories, Richard Van Camp is a proud Tłı̨chǫ Dene from Fort Smith, NWT. He is the author of 28 books in 28 years. Richard is from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He is best known for his 1996 novel The Lesser Blessed, which was adapted into a film by director Anita Doron in 2012. You are welcome to visit Richard on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Soundcloud and YouTube.  What inspired you to start writing? Growing up in Fort Smith, NWT, Canada, I was always a reader but I started to realize that I wasn't…