Moving the blog to our own servers buys us a great deal more flexibility in how we can make the blog work for HWA members and the public viewers who love them. The site is now live and has a new look. Check it out, and as always, feedback is encouraged.

http://www.horror.org/blog

The hwadarkwhispers.wordpress.com address will no longer be effective as of October 1, 2011.

 

SFPA Grandmaster Poet Bruce Boston brings together 29 poems surreal and about surrealism. Along with seven poems appearing here for the first time, Surrealities includes reprints from leading genre and literary publications such as Chiaroscuro, Dreams and Nightmares, Paper Crow, The Pedestal Magazine, and Strange Horizons. Also includes six original and striking Rorschach illustrations Boston has created specially for this collection.

“Here, the surreal beauty of a muscular mind, poems like evil flowers, cachinnating snow monkeys, blue-eyed chateaus, scarlet snails. Here, all the boats are drunk, all the architecture soft and hairy, all the nights lit by giraffe fire, butterfly blaze. Here, Bruce Boston – investigating an horizon first mapped by Celan and Eluard, Tanguy and Tanning – rummages through each tree’s drawer, behind perception’s door, to find disturbing but strangely familiar shapes for language, longing, and love.” –Bryan D. Dietrich, author of Universal Monsters

“At times furious in its assault on the senses. At times curious in its nonchalance. This vein of poetics suits Boston oh so well. Like when he takes flight from a straight narrative thread and employs his vocabulary to high and exigent purposes, as in ‘The Lateral Eclipse of Bound Sunsets.’ And when he makes the mystery melancholy, as in ‘Stray Acquisitions.’ A master class on the motive/emotive powers of language.” –-Robert Frazier, author of The Daily Chernobyl

“Boston utterly transcends convention, highlighting many aspects of human experience inaccessible through the use of more traditional methods. Reading these poems is like embarking upon a trek through ‘the depths of dreams,’ the ‘infrastructure’ of the soul itself! I celebrate the release of this work, a collection to which I shall, no doubt, frequently return.” –-John Amen, author of At the Threshold of Alchemy

Dark Regions Press
Release Date: August 2011
ISBN_10 1-937128-13-X
ISBN_13 978-1-937128-13-5

MEDIA QUERIES
Direct media queries to:

• Rocky Wood (President, HWA)

• Leslie S. Klinger (Jury Chair)

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is proud to announce it will present the Bram Stoker Vampire Novel of the Century Award at the Bram Stoker Awards Banquet in 2012. The Banquet will be held at World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City on 31 March next year.

The Award will mark the Centenary of Bram Stoker’s passing in 1912. Stoker was the author of the iconic novel, Dracula and HWA is giving this special Award in conjunction with the Bram Stoker Family Estate.

A Jury, chaired by Leslie S. Klinger, one of the world’s foremost authorities on Dracula, has been appointed, including Jo Fletcher, Ron Breznay, James Dorr, and Linda Addison. The Jury will shortly call for recommendations for possible nominees from members of the Horror Writers Association.

HWA President Rocky Wood said, “HWA is proud to present our iconic Award on the centenary of Bram Stoker’s passing and pleased to be doing so in conjunction with the Bram Stoker Family Estate. While Stoker’s novel is undoubtedly the most influential of all vampire fiction, we look forward to recognizing the vampire novel that has had the greatest impact since publication of Dracula.”

The Jury will determine six nominees for the Award and select the overall winner. The nominees will be announced in late January 2012. To qualify, a work must have been originally published in any language during the years 1912-2011, but must have been published in English as well. Although there are numerous excellent series of vampire fiction, the Jury will select a single book, not a body of work.

Works originally published in serialised form and later collected in book form will be considered as well as those published originally in periodicals or as books. There is no minimum word count for qualification, although short stories will not be considered.

JURY BIOS

Chair Leslie S. Klinger
Considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on Dracula, Klinger is the editor of The New Annotated Dracula, published by W. W. Norton in 2008 to critical acclaim. He has also edited In the Shadow of Dracula: Classic Vampire Tales, 1819-1910, an annotated collection to be published shortly by IDW Books, and wrote “Vampire Love” for Playboy Magazine. He teaches a course on Dracula at UCLA Extension and has lectured extensively on vampires and supernatural fiction. His introductions and essays have appeared in numerous books, graphic novels, academic journals, newspapers, and magazines; he also reviews books for the Los Angeles Times. He is Treasurer-Elect of the Horror Writers Association and a member of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula, the Vampire Empire, and the Dracula Society.

James Dorr
Mr. Dorr is a short story writer and poet with three to four hundred publications from ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE to XENOPHILIA. An active member of HWA and the Science Fiction Writers of America, Dorr’s latest book is a collection of vampire poetry, VAMPS (A RETROSPECTIVE), published in August 2011 by Sam’s Dot Publishing.

Linda Addison
Ms. Addison grew up in Philadelphia and moved to New York after college and has published over 200 poems, stories and articles in a variety of media. She has always loved the concept of the undead, subsisting off the blood of the living. Who wouldn’t want to transform into a bat or mist and be irresistible to others? Linda is an HWA Trustee, a Bram Stoker Award winner, and looks forward to (re)reading books about one of her favorite subjects.

Ron Breznay
Mr. Breznay is a writer from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., USA, and was introduced to the horror genre by reading a vampire novel. He’s read quite a few since and looks forward to reading even more now. Ron serves as HWA Trustee and has published dozens of articles in the genre. He has researched and written about many classic horror writers.

Jo Fletcher
Ms. Fletcher is publisher and director of Jo Fletcher Books, the sf/fantasy/horror imprint of Quercus Publishing Plc. She is also an award-winning poet and writer, and spent many years as a Fleet Street journalist. She was won both the World Fantasy Award and the British Fantasy Society’s Karl Edward Wagner Award. She lives and works in London.

Illustrations by HWA Member Marge B. Simon.

Meet the vampiress Annchuck who first saw night in 1990′s out-of-print chapbook TOWERS OF DARKNESS, Max Schreck (with a nod, too, to Bela Lugosi), “Guillemette” (née Mina Murray), Nadja, Nikki, a modern Medusa, a tourist who meets up with “Cape Man” in France (“… he had a tendency to change the subject when I asked him what he did. Eurotrash, I suppose”), a competitive runner who races the sun, a baseball fan who dotes on night games, a modern Carmilla who also likes jazz, a future version of Kipling’s vampire (“a rag and a bone and a hank of hair”), and many more in VAMPS (A RETROSPECTIVE), 75 poems, approximately a third of which are here for the first time, in an 84-page trade paperback with illustrations by Marge B. Simon for less than the price of a modest pizza.

For more information as well as a link to the publisher, see poet James S. Dorr’s website, http://jamesdorrwriter.wordpress.com.

Sam’s Dot Publishing
Release Date: August 2011

The first episode of Il Posto Nero‘s link collection is here. In the month of July, Alessandro Manzetti posted an awesome list of articles and interviews for our Italian HWA members and other horror fans in that country.

Some come with an English translation, but even if they don’t, remember that most browsers offer a “translate” feature. While it may not be perfect English, you’ll definitely be able to understand the great information in these articles.

• Horror Street: Interview with John Everson (in English, in Italian)
   
• Queen Anne’s Resurrection – Journey II – The Voice of Elsewhere with Lisa Morton, Rain Graves, Danilo Arona, Daniele Bonfanti (in Italian)
   
• Black Pills: Dark Surrealism of Alan M. Clark (in Italian)
   
• Autopsies: Review of Apocalypse Z by Manel Loureiro edited by Alessandro Vigliani (in Italian)
   
• The Raven – News From Hell: #1 Issue of HWA Italian Bulletin (in Italian
   
• Black Pills: The Art of Shinya Tsukamoto (in Italian)
   
• Preview: New Issue of H, The Almanac of Horror Magazine – Interview with Brian Keene (in Italian)
   
• Queen Anne’s Resurrection – Journey I – The Maps of the Wizard with Bruce Boston, Daniele Serra, Daniele Bonfanti (in Italian)
   
• Black Pills: The Hell of Francis Bacon (in Italian)
   
• Autopsies: Review of Apocalypse The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene edited by Barbara Baraldi (in Italian)
   
• Horror Street: Interview with Jonathan Maberry (in English; in Italian)
   
• Black Pills: The Skeleton of James Ensor (in Italian)
   

Aleric Toma Bimbai is a two-hundred-year old Gypsy who hunts monsters for bounty. His task this time, however, is to save a zombie rather than exterminate it. But Wasso Wonko is no ordinary zombie. He can still think. He can talk. Besides, Wasso is Gypsy.

In his search for answers Aleric uncovers a sinister plot that threatens the very existence of his people. He will have to go up against the self-proclaimed King of the Gypsies and test his reputation of being unkillable.

Gauthier Publications, Inc.
Release Date: 9/2/2011
ISBN_10 0983359318
ISBN_13 978-0983359319

Writers’ Bash: Benefit for Author L.A. Banks
Saturday, August 6
7-11:30 p.m.
Smokey Joe’s Bar
208 S. 40th St. (University City)
Philadelphia PA

Cost: $20, $10 for students with college I.D.

Join the Liars Club and tons of authors, editors and creative folk at Smokey Joe’s bar in University City on the University of Pennsylvania Campus at this Writers’ Bash, a networking party filled with fun, chances to win raffles, and to bid on red-hot stuff like top literary agent critiques!

Can’t come but still want to donate to Leslie’s medical needs? Go to http://liarsclubphilly.com/?p=1958 and scroll to the donation button.

At the Writers’ Bash, enjoy music and munchies, discounted drinks ($2 beers and $3 wines), and for the adventurous, the bar will be selling a special drink called “The Vamp,” dedicated to Banks and her popular Vampire Huntress novels.

You can also participate in a 50/50, in inexpensive basket raffles, and in our impressive silent auction. This will definitely be one red-hot meetup.

SILENT AUCTION ITEMS THAT WILL BE UP FOR BID: For most current list, visit http://liarsclubphilly.com/?page_id=1947.

• Two premium tickets to Jersey Boys on Broadway, plus a backstage tour and poster signed by the cast.

• Manuscript critiques by the following agents:
  • Jennifer DeChiara of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency: full ms. read, plus critique given by phone
  • Rebecca Strauss, McIntosh and Otis Literary Agency: 45-page manuscript critique
  • Jenny Bent, The Bent Agency
  • Celeste Fine, Folio
  • Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger
• Manuscript critiques by the following editors:
  • Rose Hilliard, Editor, St. Martin’s Press
  • Jennifer Heddle, Senior Editor, Pocket Books
  • Ginjer Buchanan, Editor in Chief, Ace/ROC
• Signed books by the following authors:
  • New York Times bestseller Charlaine Harris
  • New York Times bestseller Heather Graham
  • New York Times bestseller Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Writer’s Conference Scholarships:
  • Push to Publish Conference, offered by Philadelphia Stories, Rosemont College, October 15
• Self-publishing Services:
  • Convert your manuscript to e-book for Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords, and design your Print on Demand interior text, offered by 52 Novels ($650 value)
  • Manuscript layout for the internal book for someone who wants to do Print on Demand through Createspace, offered by Cheryl Perez ($200 value)

… and much, much more. So spread the word, bring your friends, and join the Liars Club to hoist a cold one for Leslie. It’ll be a blast. Honest!

Multiplex Fandango is subtitled “A Weston Ochse Reader” for good reason. This collection contains a comprehensive representation of short fiction and novellas by the Bram Stoker award winner and Pushcart Prize nominee, including his recent powerful Stoker finalist short story, “The Crossing Of Aldo Rey” and his brilliant Stoker finalist novella, Redemption Roadshow, as well as acclaimed favorites, “Catfish Gods” and “Big Rock Candy Mountain”.

Also included in this omnibus volume of sixteen short stories and novellas are six original new works of short fiction written especially for this collection including such future classics as “Tarzan Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”, “Low Men Weeping”, and the stunning, “City Of Joy”.

Table of Contents:
MULTIPLEX FANDANGO – a pop-culture, theatrical, book presentation of the works of Weston Ochse on Sixteen High-Definition literary screens.

Screen 1 — Tarzan Doesn’t Live Here Anymore*
Screen 2 — 22 Stains in the Jesus Pool
Screen 3 — Fugue on the Sea of Cortez*
Screen 4 — Big Rock Candy Mountain
Screen 5 — The Sad Last Love of Cary Grant
Screen 6 — Catfish Gods
Screen 7 — Forever Beneath the Scorpion Tree*
Screen 8 — High Desert Come to Jesus*
Screen 9 — Low Men Weeping*
Screen 10 – The Secret Lives of Heroes
Screen 11 – Hiroshima Falling
Screen 12 – The Crossing of Aldo Ray#
Screen 13 – The Smell of Leaves Burning in Winter
Screen 14 – A Day in the Life of a Dust Bunny
Screen 15 – City of Joy *
Screen 16 – Redemption Roadshow #

#-Denotes Bram Stoker Award Finalist
*-Denotes an original story

“This is a book that could almost have been written for me.” – Joe R. Lansdale

“Ochse builds a “multiplex” of 16 stories (six original to this volume) for his impressively diverse first collection. Horror fans will be drawn in by Ochse’s cool, collected writing style and then blown away when he peels back reality’s skin to uncover the supernatural terrors lurking just beneath the surface.” – Publisher’s Weekly

‘Weston Ochse is a mercurial writer, one of those depressingly talented people who are good at whatever they turn their hand to. Multiplex Fandango is as wild as the title suggests. It is at times infuriating, complex, moving and bananas. Above all, it is very, very good.’ -Conrad Williams, August Derleth and International Horror Guild Award Winner

Dark Regions
Release Date: August 2011
ISBN_10=1907992454
ISBN_13=978-1-937128-06-7

Revised for this special eBook edition, Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished is the most comprehensive review of the Stephen King works you’ve never read, including coverage of nearly one hundred unpublished and uncollected works of fiction — novels, short stories, screenplays, and poems!

Best of all, it features the first book publication of two lost works written by King, including an entire chapter from King’s unpublished 1970 novel Sword in the Darkness that has never been published anywhere in the world!

Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished also gives in-depth coverage to the nearly one hundred variations and versions of King’s published stories — edits, updates, and changes King made between reprintings of his work. This is a must-have for both collectors and casual readers of Stephen King!

Cemetery Dance
ISBN-10: 1-58767-130-1
Release Date: July 19, 2011

As popular and influential as Bram Stoker’s classic tale of nocturnal menace is, this 1897 novel did not invent vampire fiction, nor was it alone in feeding the Gothic fantasies of the Victorian period.

IDW Publishing presents an expertly selected menu of outstanding vampire stories that either informed or benefited from Bram Stoker’s hugely popular creation. These eerie tales of the undead – some 22 in all – form the core cannon of classic vampire literature. Chosen and introduced by celebrated literary scholar and author Leslie S. Klinger (The New Annotated Dracula), with illustrations by an array of noted horror artists, In the Shadow of Dracula brings to adventuresome readers stories of nocturnal terror that have lived in Stoker’s shadow for too long.

Authors include M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood, and Bram Stoker himself. Included are what’s considered the first true vampire story 1816, as well the classic novella Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, the first vampire tale with a lesbian theme (it’s been adapted to comics and film several times), and “The Family of the Vourdalak” by Aleksei Tolstoy (he’s the cousin of the famous one), which gave Boris Karloff one of his greatest roles.

IDW
Release Date: August 2011
ISBN_10=1600109578
ISBN_13=978-1600109577