Halloween Haunts: Stoker Spotlight Interview with Rocky Wood

Rocky Wood is the recipient of the 2011 Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Acheivement in Non-fiction for his book Stephen King: A Literary Companion. 1. How would you describe Stephen King: A Literary Companion? Stephen King: A Literary Companion is a comprehensive review of all Stephen King’s fiction....

Halloween Haunts: Why Horror? by Cher Green

I’ve wanted to be a writer for as far back as I can remember. Emily Dickinson led me into poetry, and V.C. Andrews opened me up to fiction. My reading habits include poetry, short stories, long fiction and everything in between – romance to horror, sci-fi to suspense. If the words grab me, the story shall...

Halloween Haunts: Why Horror Should Be Its Own Genre by Annie Neugebauer

“Horror is not a genre, like the mystery or science fiction or the western. It is not a kind of fiction meant to be confined to the ghetto of a special shelf in libraries or bookstores… Horror is an emotion.” –Douglas E. Winter If you write dark fiction, you’ve probably come across this quote often....

Halloween Haunts: A Halloween Primer for Horror Writers by Lisa Morton

As a Halloween expert, I’ve been asked to do a lot of interesting things. I’ve been interviewed by The Wall Street Journal about the proliferation of sexy Halloween costumes, I’ve jabbered away on the supplements for the Blu-ray release of the movie Trick ‘r Treat, and I’ve been asked by writer and editor...

Halloween Haunts: Specialty Press Award Spotlight–Roy Robbins and Bad Moon Books

Roy Robbins and Bad Moon Books received the 2011 HWA Specialty Press of the Year Award. 1. How would you describe Bad Moon Books? We are a bookseller and publisher who specialize in horror and dark fiction. 2. Tell us about how Bad Moon Books came into existence. I am a big fan of the genre. I started out...

Halloween Haunts: Making Halloween Mean Something by J.G. Faherty

Well, our favorite holiday of the year is fast approaching, and as always my writerly mind turns to thoughts of promotion. Or at least it did, back in August, when I started looking around for themed events in the local area where I could sign and sell books. I’ve done this before, appearing at fright...

Halloween Haunts: Fright Club by Kenneth W. Cain

Being the sort of person who never did care much for sweets, Halloween has always been about the surprise for myself. This is the one day when being weird is fully accepted, when wreaking havoc is only kids being kids. This is a day when shock and awe are the norm, and being socially acceptable falls to the...

Halloween Haunts: Halloween Dog by David B. Riley

Halloween was always a wonderful time when I was growing up. Though, as an adult, it really stopped being much of a holiday. As time went by, I sometimes was in Arizona, where my dad lives, and sometimes not around Halloween. One year I remember my dad wanted me to walk his dog because he wanted to stay...

Halloween Haunts: Stoker Spotlight Interview with Allyson Bird

Allyson Bird is the recipient of the Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a First Novel for her book Isis Unbound. 1. Tell us about what inspired you to write Isis Unbound? I’ve always been interested in Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire. So I combined the two in an alternate history. I...

Halloween Haunts: Celebrate the Bad Times by John F.D. Taff

Halloween.  It’s trite that this holiday would be the favorite of a horror writer, but there it is.  Halloween is my favorite holiday, better than that blissed-out full feeling at Thanksgiving.  Better than a pile of presents at Christmas or rockets red glare on an Independence Day evening. Why?  Well, it’s...

Halloween Haunts: Be Careful Who You Scare: A Halloween Cautionary Tale by Laura Benedict

We had a marvelously terrifying basement in our house in Western Virginia, a perfect setting for a Halloween party. The room at the bottom of the kitchen stairs was unsettling enough: a blocked-off fireplace, peeling vinyl flooring with a slick, unearthly sheen, flimsy paneling that hinted at having been...

Halloween Haunts: Diary of a Horror Writer–Entry 62 by Russell James

“What is that monstrosity in the driveway?” I knew those would be my wife’s first words when she got home.  I went to kiss her hello.  Her eyes burned through me. I paused at a safe distance. “It’s a hearse,” I said.  My enthusiastic grin bounced off her like rain on granite. “I know it’s a hearse.  Why the...