Posted inAmbulations

StokerCon 2019 Recap

The Horror Writers Association now runs the dominant convention for writers on the dark side, StokerCon -- named after Bram Stoker (author of Dracula) and the trophy of the award the association gives to the top books in the horror genre each year. StokerCon convenes annually for serious horror professionals who want to learn and reconnect with the horror genre through topical panel discussions, excellent author readings, significant writing workshops, a mass booksigning and varied presentations… climaxing in a formal Bram Stoker Awards banquet, which celebrates the genre’s top practitioners with what I think remains the coolest trophy in the…
May 16, 2019Posted inAmbulations
Posted inAmbulations

Snapshots of StokerCon 2017

Although there are about 30 Bram Stoker Award banquets in the history books, this season's StokerCon 2017 was only the second time the Horror Writers Association has run a full-fledged convention, highlighting the genre with panel discussions, author readings, writing workshops, booksignings and varied presentations… culminating in the Award banquet, awarding the genre’s top practitioners with what I think remains the coolest trophy in the world: a creepy "house of usher" statuette.  And this year's conference, held aboard the famous ship moored in the docks of Long Beach, CA -- the Queen Mary -- was majestic and creepy as all…
May 1, 2017Posted inAmbulations2 Comments
Posted inAmbulations

Snapshots from DogCon 5 at the Broadkill Writer’s Resort

DogCon is the annual gathering of writers, readers and fans of Raw Dog Screaming Press. This year's DogCon5, held in the new RDSP-owned beach house -- the Broadkill Writer's Resort -- focused on writers who wanted to relax, learn, practice, and mingle together in a kind of bizarro sci-fi literary retreat. While the programming was professional, it was relaxed, and the whole experience had the vibe of a 48-hour con suite at a genre convention, with occasional excursions to the beach and many spontaneous acts of chatting, gaming and writing. At the event, I ran a "Live Instigation" activity, which…
October 5, 2016Posted inAmbulations
Posted inAmbulations

Snapshots of StokerCon 2016

StokerCon 2016 was the inaugural convention sponsored by the Horror Writers Association, highlighting the genre with panel discussions, readings, writing workshops, booksignings and presentations... culminating in the Bram Stoker Award banquet, awarding the genre's top practitioners with the coolest trophy in the world. It was a blast. Lots of great writers were up for and won the trophy, including some of my closest friends in the business from Raw Dog Screaming Press and Seton Hill U's MFA in Writing Popular Fiction. My workshop on "Making the Reader Squirm" went very well, engendering plenty of squirmy moments and good writing by…
May 18, 2016Posted inAmbulations2 Comments
Posted inAmbulations

Snapshots from the 2016 World Horror Con

Just back from a "Provo-cative" weekend in Provo, Utah, where I attended the 2016 World Horror Convention as a special guest. It was a very intimate con, mistimed in the grand scheme of genre events this year (i.e., the first StokerCon is in Vegas next weekend -- I'm going to that too), but having a smaller event led to tighter bonds as we all got to know each other better as professionals and people. They kept me VERY busy (I was on three-to-five programming events per day), so I didn't take as many photos as usual, but I did manage…
May 3, 2016Posted inAmbulations1 Comment