Bids Being Accepted for the World Horror Convention 2017
The World Horror Society Board is now accepting bids for the World Horror Convention 2017. For Bidding Rules and additional information, please visit the Bidding Rules Page. Still have questions? Contact Mike Willmoth.
Bob Eggleton Announced as Artist Guest of Honor
The World Horror Convention 2015 is very pleased to announce that Bob Eggleton will be attending as the Artist Guest of Honor.
Bob Eggleton is a multi-Hugo Award winning artist in the genres of SF, Fantasy and Horror. He grew to prominence in Horror with the covers to Brian Lumley’s Necroscope Series, an association with an author he continues to this day. He also illustrates H. P. Lovecraft, Clive Barker, Stephen King, and many more. His work is also associated with Godzilla, having done art for several generations of Godzilla books, comics and most recently working with IDW comics and Famous Monsters of Filmland. He has also worked as an concept artist on several movies. Upcoming for him will be a heavily illustrated book, Tortured Souls, by Clive Barker, and an illustration in a Centipede Press artist edition of At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft.
For more information, please visit the WHC2015 website.
Programming “Vision Statement and Themes” announced
Vision Statement and Themes
Programming, World Horror Convention 2015
Then: As co-programming chair of the Fifth World Horror Convention in Atlanta in 1995, our mandate was to push the envelope to develop panel topics that reflected the cutting edge of horror then and into the future. Even in the case of historic issues or classic monsters, our mission was to challenge attendees to think more broadly, unsettle expectations and inspire. In other words, no cookie-cutter generic vampire panel. Also in the tradition of past World Horror and World Fantasy conventions, we sought ways to explore the ties between horror and Southern gothic literature.
Now: My assistant programming chair Derek Tatum and I would like to assemble a dynamic program worthy of the 25th annual World Horror Convention. We’ve put together seven themes, and we invite all attending professionals to offer your suggestions.
The Seven Themes of WHC 2015
- The Weird South: Let’s dig deep into horror’s heritage in Southern Gothic literature, Southern writers today and Southern settings. Why does the South provide such a rich playground for authors and filmmakers exploring the darker side of humanity? As a side note, many of the top recent horror/dark-themed TV series are set in the South, including The Walking Dead and Vampire Diaries (filmed in Atlanta), True Blood, Seasons 3 and 4 of American Horror Story and True Detective.
- Pushing the Diaspora Darkly: Befitting the city that was the center of the Civil Rights Movement, we’ll take on diversity and an emerging global view of horror as it moves into the 21st century with a new generation of writers from different cultural backgrounds. How are these writers redefining what we consider horror both on American soil and abroad? How can the lens of a global perspective inform and push us to reassess our interpretation of works that have come before, and should it?
- Terrifying Tropes and Deadly Definitions: Classic monsters will still get their due, but we’ll be looking for new angles to challenge and inspire, as well as exploring sub-genre definitions and cross-pollination with other genres. What’s the ongoing appeal of classic tropes such as vampires, werewolves, zombies and the Cthulhu Mythos and how are they being reimagined today? What about the Weird Renaissance and what should we call it (New Weird? Cosmic Horror?)? Noir-Horror Fusion? Paranormal? Neogothic? In this theme/track, we really want to scratch under the surface and unsettle your expectations.
- YA Rocks: YA is rocking right now. Possible panel topics will focus on the latest trends, classic books and authors that are influenced today’s writers, fiction for different age groups, why horror is so popular in YA right now, film and TV tie-ins, etc.
- The State of Horror, 1991. We’ll go back in time to 1991, the year that WHC was founded and remember an exciting time in horror fiction. How did WHC get started? What were the first WHCs like? Who were the top authors, books, editors, publishers? And what were the hot horror topics?
- The Art of Fear: Latest trends in horror art, comics, artist spotlights, the business of art, and other media-related programming.
- The Business of Horror: Everything to do with submissions, getting an agent, editing, eBooks, social networking, self-publishing, new technologies, why join HWA and more. Panels will target a wide range of levels from beginning writers to seasoned professionals wanting the lowdown on how to maximize the latest developments in marketing and publishing.
We welcome input from registered attendees! Please click here to drop us a line with your suggestions. Thank you.
JournalStone Announced as Supporting Sponsor
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce JournalStone Publishing as Supporting Sponsor for the 2013 Bram Stoker Awards® Banquet. The Banquet is part World Horror Convention 2014 in Portland, Oregon and will be held on 10 May 2014, honoring works published during the calendar year 2013. Full details are at the dedicated website: http://www.stokers2014.org/ .
Christopher C. Payne, President of JournalStone (http://journalstone.com/) said, “It is both an honor and a pleasure to support the HWA. The members and Board have been instrumental in supporting JournalStone‘s fledging endeavor as a new publishing company. I can only hope that we as a publisher continue to live up to the expectations of the HWA and all of its members.”
HWA President Rocky Wood welcomed JournalStone’s support: “This renewed sponsorship from genre publisher Journal Stone is greatly appreciated by HWA and I am sure by all our members. Journal Stone has proven to be a highly professional and innovative genre publisher, with a strong horror line. We look forward to welcoming them in Portland.”
There are limited sponsorship opportunities available – for more details contact president@horror.org .
The Horror Writers Association (www.horror.org), the peak group for horror writers, is a worldwide organization promoting dark literature and its creators. Started in 1985, it has over 1100 members writing professionally in fiction, nonfiction, videogames, film, poetry, comics, and other media.
Just announced: Special Presentation by Dacre Stoker
We are very pleased to announce a special presentation from Dacre Stoker!
For the past three years Dacre has been working with Hans de Roos creating a specialized travel guide, focusing on Bram Stoker’s life and the locations mentioned in his most famous novel, Dracula. Dacre and Hans have focused on Bram’s life in Dublin and London, as well as his holidays in Whitby and Cruden Bay, Scotland, and also on the actual locations of the novel in Romania and England and backgrounds of the characters. What is new and different from Dacre’s past presentations is that he offers up compelling new theories pieced together from Bram’s notes, Austrian war maps and Romanian history. These theories involve the actual site of Castle Dracula, and the identity of another historical character that Bram modeled his Count after.
In the process, and much to the delight of the Romanian Tourist Authorities, Dacre and Hans demystified the connections between Bram’s Count Dracula and the real historical Vlad Dracula lll. This Travel Guide will direct tourists to visit the sites associated with both the novel and to sites associated with the life and times of Vlad the Impaler.
Dacre’s one-hour PowerPoint presentation includes stunning photos of sites associated with Bram’s life in Dublin, his holidays in Whitby, Cruden Bay Scotland, Count Dracula and Vlad Dracula sites in Romania.
Dacre Stoker is the great-grand nephew of Bram Stoker; together with his wife Jenne he represents the interests of the Bram Stoker Estate and is actively engaged in research, writing and publishing on topics related to his great-granduncle. Dacre has appeared in numerous TV shows and documentaries in Ireland, England, Canada, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany; he has lectured at numerous locations worldwide: in 2008, Vampire-Con (Hollywood, CA), The Dracula Festival, Rosenbach Museum (Philadelphia, PA), Ottawa International Writers Festival, (Ottawa, ON, Canada), Scrittorincitta, the Literary Festival (Cuneo, Italy), Comic-Con International, (San Diego, CA), National Library of Ireland (Dublin, Ireland); in 2009, Anne Rice Vampire Lestat Fan Club (New Orleans, LA), San Paulo International Book Fair, (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Rotary District Conference, (Greenville, SC), Spoleto Festival USA, (Charleston, SC); in 2011, Comic-Con New York, MENSA Regional Gathering (Greenville, SC), Horror Writers Association, Stoker Weekends in Long Island, NY and Salt Lake City in 2012.
Together with Prof. Elizabeth Miller, he has edited The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker – The Dublin Years, (The Robson Press 2012) and has contributed to John Edgar Browning’s Bram Stoker’s Forgotten Writings (Palgrave MacMillan 2012). He co-authored a sequel to the novel Dracula, named Dracula The Un-dead (Dutton 2010), which was translated into 22 languages and sold approximately a million copies worldwide. Next to his activities as an author, he works as a teacher of CPR and First Aid and a Court Tennis teaching professional; he was coach of the Canadian Olympic Team in Modern Pentathlon for the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Guest of Honor Selfies
We’ve instituted a fun new feature: Selfies from our Guests of Honor! First up: Lisa Tuttle.
Dark Regions Press announced as Supporting Sponsor of the Bram Stoker Awards® Banquet in May 2015
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce Dark Regions Press as Supporting Sponsor for the Bram Stoker Awards® Banquet, which is part of the Bram Stoker Awards Weekend and 25th Anniversary World Horror Convention 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia and will be held on May 9, 2015. Full details are at the dedicated website: www.whc2015.org.
Chris Morey, Dark Regions Press’s Publisher (http://www.darkregions.com) said, “Dark Regions Press has been active in the industry since 1985, and we are honored to once again sponsor the HWA Bram Stoker Awards. As the leading association for horror writers and literature, the HWA has shown us a great amount of support and kindness over the years, including honoring us with a total of seven Bram Stoker Awards. As always, we plan to continue our support for the HWA and look forward to seeing everyone in Atlanta in 2015 where we plan on premiering one of our biggest titles of the year.”
HWA President Rocky Wood welcomed Dark Region Press’s support: “This sponsorship from long time and respected horror publisher is greatly appreciated by HWA and I am sure by all our members. Dark Regions Press goes from strength to strength at a time when the whole publishing industry is re-aligning. We look forward to welcoming them in Atlanta.”
There are limited sponsorship opportunities available – for more details contact president@horror.org .
The Horror Writers Association (www.horror.org), the peak group for horror writers, is a worldwide organization promoting dark literature and its creators. Started in 1985, it has over 1100 members writing professionally in fiction, nonfiction, videogames, film, poetry, comics, and other media.
Dealers’ Room Info added
We are now accepting payments and applications for our Dealers’ Room. Please click here for more information.
Charlaine Harris announced as Guest of Honor
CHARLAINE HARRIS TO BE GUEST OF HONOR AT
BRAM STOKER AWARDS® WEEKEND & 25TH ANNIVERSARY WORLD HORROR CONVENTION 2015
The Horror Writers Association is proud to announce Charlaine Harris Guest of Honor for the Bram Stoker Awards® Weekend and 25th Anniversary World Horror Convention 2015. In 2015 the HWA is again hosting WHC in conjunction with the Bram Stoker Awards Weekend, which be held in Atlanta from May 7-10, 2015.
Charlaine is the author ofThe Southern Vampire Mysteries series about telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse, which is the basis for the highly successful True Blood on HBO. 2005 marked the debut of Harris’s new series The Harper Connelly Mysteries, with the release of Grave Sight. The series is told by a young woman named Harper Connelly, who after being struck by lightning, is able to locate dead bodies and to see their last moments through the eyes of the deceased. 2014 marked the debut of the Cemetery Girl series, a graphic novelseries co-written with fellow WHC 2015 Guest of Honor Christopher Golden.
Charlaine Harris is a true daughter of the South. She was born in Mississippi and has lived in Tennessee, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Texas. After years of writing poetry and plays and essays, her career as a novelist began when her husband told her to stay home and write. Her first book, Sweet and Deadly, appeared in 1981. When Charlaine’s career as a mystery writer began to falter, she decided to write a cross-genre book that would appeal to fans of mystery, science fiction, romance, and suspense. She could not have anticipated the huge surge of reader interest in the adventures of a barmaid in Louisiana, or the fact that Alan Ball would come knocking at her door. Charlaine is a voracious reader. She has one husband, three children, two grandchildren, and four rescue dogs. She leads a busy life.
HWA President Rocky Wood said, “We are excited that Charlaine can join us. Sookie Stackhouse and the cast of characters from Charlaine’s books and True Blood have entered popular culture. It will be fascinating to learn more from their creator about that and the other series she has created over a long and successful career. Fans will be delighted to know Charlaine will be part of a public signing on Friday evening, May 8.”
The Convention will take place at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis Hotel, with the iconic Bram Stoker Awards ceremony on Saturday evening, May 9. The website is at www.whc2015.org. Media enquiries to vp@horror.org.
The Horror Writers Association (www.horror.org), the peak group for horror writers, is a worldwide organization promoting dark literature and its creators. Started in 1985, it has over 1200 members writing professionally in fiction, nonfiction, videogames, film, poetry, comics, and other media.
Click here to download this announcement as a PDF press release.
Art Show info added
Information on how to apply to be considered by the Art Show jury has now been added to the Art Show page.