President Announces Stoker Weekend 2009

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While attending WHC 2008, we had the opportunity to meet with the World Horror Society group and express our concerns about the chosen location (Winnipeg) for WHC 2009. Some of the concerns noted were the remoteness of the location and expense to travel there—the inherent problems with customs for dealers and/or authors wanting to bring books over the border—and the fact that the date scheduled for WHC 2009 fell on the same weekend as the Edgar Awards Banquet. Although the Edgar banquet has nothing to do with HWA, quite a few of our members are also active members of MWA, and the Edgar awards is something they won’t miss. Along with these issues came an even bigger concern—I didn’t want to commit our Stoker event in ’09 to WHS nor to the folks coordinating that year’s World Horror Convention, then have very few of our members show up. Without question, that would spell financial disaster for our organization and theirs.

To get past all these challenges, HWA’s board has decided to do a stand-alone event in Los Angeles in 2009. John Little, HWA’s Stoker Coordinator, has offered to spearhead this project, along with Lisa Morton. They’re currently in negotiations with the Burbank Airport Marriott (formerly the Hilton) and are considering a date in either May or June of 2009. This will be a weekend event, which will include workshops, panels, signings, and, of course, the Stoker Banquet.

Although HWA will not be tied to a World Horror Convention in 2009, that doesn’t mean we aren’t committed to making an alliance between the organizations work whenever possible. We have our fingers crossed that WHC 2010 will be in a location mutually beneficial to both orgs.

I’d like to thank John and Lisa for their willingness to help in this venture, and I hope all of you will come out to L.A. next year and show your support!

--Deborah LeBlanc