We have been focused on building HAG and getting ideas and needs cemented so we can better serve our members. Everyone is ready for Haggies Awards, but we need a firm foundation before we begin. Due will start and be due in January for 222 and we will have Haggies Awards that year. $15 a year.
What we need from you: Book release news! Pictures, links, synopsis all sent to us!  We need anything you find interesting as far as jokes, videos, and anything horror related.  Let us know about open calls! We have the space and interest, but need the material to show you off!  We'd love to share horror blogs as well. What about writing tips? You could be in every HAG blog is you want! Just let us know. We also need people to coordinate peer reading/reviews/beta reading within the group.  If you see a job that needs doing, volunteer and go for it!
Let's GROW

25 Habits That Will Make You a Writer Shunta Grimes 1. Write every day.A daily writing habit is thing number one because it is THAT important. Move your story forward by even a few words every single day and you’ll be surprised by what happens.Or maybe not, since what will happen is this: you’ll write a book.                             2. Read like a writer.Stephen King says that if you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time or tools to write. You know he’s right. Make it a habit to carry a book with you. Keep one in your bathroom. Learn to read in sips instead of gulps — so that not having hours to indulge won’t keep you from reading at all.And read like a writer. Pay attention to what works and what doesn’t. Read craft books. Read fiction (for sure, read fiction) that does what you want your stories to do. What works? What doesn’t? (Most important) WHY? 3. Watch TV like writer.I’ve written before about my absolute belief that if you want to be a writer, you need to be watching television. I still believe it. Some of the best writing and story telling is happening on television.Just like with reading, watch like a writer. Pay attention to why you like a show, why you’re willing to invest hours of your life in it. And why you’re not, if you turn it off at the first commercial break and never come back.If You Want to be A Writer, You Should be Watching TV. Here’s Why.My daughter Ruby and I have this ritual. Twice a week, as we drive home from soccer practice, we listen to Delilah on…medium.com 4. Watch movies like a writer.Ray Bradbury advised people who want to be writers to watch a lot of movies. He advises old movies. I watch a movie in a theater at least once a week ($5 Tuesdays! I’m seeing Ghost in the Shell tonight. Last week was The Power Rangers.) A movie is a way to get an entire story in two hours. And writers should be story junkies. Pay attention to the structure of a movie, how its paced, which parts work for you and which don’t.                                         5. Set up your space.You need a place where your brain instantly knows it’s writing time. For me, it’s a corner of my den, right off the kitchen. I wish I had a whole room, but I don’t .I’ve lived in apartments so small and full of people that my writing place was a lap desk that I used while sitting in my bed. That’s okay, too. So is your kitchen table or Starbucks or the library or a cooperative work space or a straight up office. Where ever it is, train your brain to shift into writer mode when you are there. 6. Find your tribe. Seek out other writers. They’re your people. Find them online (​come be a Ninja Writer), at writer’s conferences, take classes, join an in-person writing group. Being around other writers will help you to internalize the idea that you’re one, too.                                7. Write for one reader. The inverse of finding your tribe is this: don’t try to write for them. Writing for a whole group of people is crazy-making. Writing and reading are too subjective for that. So pick a person — just one — and write for them.If they like what you’ve written, then that’s good enough. You’ve done your job. You can get other opinions then, use other beta readers, but contradictory advice can be filtered out.                             8. Set boundaries with your friends and family. Your writing is important. It’s your job, even if you’re months or years from any tangible proof that other people will understand. Set your writing schedule and then protect it like you’d protect any other work schedule. It’s okay to say NO to interruptions.                     9. Write like it’s your job. Let’s dive deeper into this one. If writing is your job, then you’ll do a few things: You’ll invest time in it. You’ll put effort into learning to do it well. You’ll finish what you start. You’ll expect other people to respect your work. Do all of that.                    10. Write with the door closed. I see this happen all the time. Writer’s often know what the beginning and the end of their stories are, but the middle (which is actually half of the whole book), gets murky. So they start asking opinions. They reach out to their tribes and say something like: I’m not sure where to go with this story, what do you think? Your tribe is important enough that it gets it’s own item on this list, but your story is YOURS until you’re ready for readers. And then it becomes theirs. Don’t let it be theirs until you’re done with it. You’ll thank me later.You know. When you actually finish writing a book.                 11. Learn to self-edit. Self-editing is as important as writing. You have to learn to do it. If you have this thought in your mind, banish it right now: I don’t need to have good spelling/grammar/comma usage . . . that’s what editors are for. Just. No. If you’re going the traditional route, you’ll never get close to an editor without a very clean manuscript. If you’re going indie, then YOU are going to have to pay someone to be your editor. You’ll save money and time and embarrassment if you turn in a clean copy to your editor. That you’re paying.Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King is an excellent place to start. It was like a master class is editing for me. 12. Save your pennies for a real edit and a professional cover, if you’re going indie.This is non-negotiable. If you wouldn’t be okay with Penguin releasing your novel with your best friend’s edit and your own homemade cover, then YOU can’t be okay with it either. If you’re planning to self-publish that means you’re a PUBLISHER. A professional publisher. And that means that you have to find and hire an editor and a cover designer for your book, and if you don’t know how to do it yourself, probably a book designer as well. Plan on spending about $1500 and start saving your pennies. The hope is that your first book will pay for your second.                                    13. Ship. A lot.It’s very rare for someone to write one book and have it be something that looks like a career. Don’t talk to me about Harper Lee or J.K. Rowling. They aren’t normal people. They’re unicorns. Maybe you’re a unicorn, too, but the chances are about 99.9999 percent that you’re a regular old donkey like the rest of us. And that means that you have to keep writing and keep shipping your book out to the world.    14. Give your career ten books.That brings us to how much you need to ship. Don’t ship one book and when it doesn’t hit the bestseller list, give up. Instead, write ten or twenty really good books. And keep writing. You’ll see the momentum pick up. This is one of my favorite writing advice posts. It’s from Hugh Howey. He says: Five years from now, these pros will have 10–20 works available. They only need to sell 250–500 books a month to earn a supplemental income. Ten books a day across twenty titles. That’s the longterm goal. 15. Read these books.On Writing by Stephen King The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury The Kick-Ass Writer by Chuck Wendig Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott Story Genius by Lisa Cron 16. Set teeny, tiny goals.I write about this a lot. Teeny tiny goals are life changers. You can get anywhere if you take one little step at a time. So set a goal that is so small it’s harder to skip it than it is to just do it. My go to is ten minutes. Write ten minutes a day. Read ten minutes a day. You’ll see. Here’s a whole framework I use: How to be a good writer with a good lifeThe WRITER Frameworkmedium.com 17. Give yourself gold stars.This is one of the most simple and simply effective things ever. It works for everyone, from Kindergarten up. Get yourself a calendar. Set your teeny, tiny goal. Meet your goal. Give yourself a gold star on your calendar. (Or, if you’re way too cool for stars, just get a Sharpie and give yourself a nice big X.)A visual representation of a string of successes will push you toward maintaining the streak. You’ll see. Here’s what I use. I call it FRED.How to Use a Notebook to Reach Your Writing GoalsFRED will help you finish your novelwritingcooperative.com                    18. Call yourself a writer.Just trust me. Say this out loud today: I am a writer. The next time someone asks you what you do, say: I am a writer. I don’t care what your day job is. Start identifying as a writer. It’ll be hard at first, if you’ve never done it before, but you’ll get used to it. If you’re writing every day, you’re a writer. You’re allowed to own that.                     19. FINISH  This one is all-caps important. There isn’t a whole lot you can do toward becoming a writer if you don’t finish a manuscript. your writer brain will throw up shiny new ideas when the going gets rough on your current work-in-progress. Write them down, but stay focused on your story. Remember when it was your shiny new idea and keep writing. Get all the way to the end.                  20. Make your day job serve your art. This is a shift in thinking that will change everything for you.Start thinking about your day job as something you do in service of writing. Your 9-to-5 pays the bills for your writing. It gives you the pennies to save for an editor and cover designer. 21. Build an email list.I wish, so much, that when my first books were picked up by a big publisher, they’d taken the time to tell me that I needed to build an audience and then teach me how to do it.  The fact is that I’m not sure they know how.  No one tells fiction writers how important an email list is. So I’m going to tell you: it’s very important. Start now. Even if you’ve never written a book. Start writing on Medium or on your own blog. Publish something once a week and put a form from upscri.be at the bottom. 22. Make a five year plan. Actually, break it down. Write goals for where you want your writing career to be in: 3 months/  6 months// 1 year/  3  years/   5 years These are stepping stones. It’ll be much easier to think about getting to “write three short stories and have 50 people on my email list in three months” than it is to think about some huge end goal. I’ve been a professional writer for 20 years. I have two books traditionally published and I’m at the bare beginnings of exploring being an indie (or maybe hybrid) author. Here’s what my five year plan looks like: 3 months: Get to 25,000 on my email list and launch WASTED (YA adventure.)  6 months: Get to 50,000 on my email list and launch 32-B (YA science fiction adventure.) 1 year: Get to 100,000 on my email list and launch THUNDERSTRUCK (romance.) Make a decision about whether or not to indie publish WONDER ROO (middle grade magical realism.)  3 years: Have 10 total titles indie published.  5 years: Earn enough money from fiction to support my family. ($5000 month.)                             23. Keep an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar is a simple tool that will help you stay on track as you move through your five year plan. I was a newspaper reporter when I was younger and an editorial calendar was absolutely essential to my job. I just never lost the taste for having one. I keep an analog editorial calendar, because I’m just an analog girl. You can keep one online, too. Just make deadlines for yourself. Keep track of your writing goals. I actually use my FRED to manage my novel writing. I keep track of my word count and also keep a daily log of my work. FRED is the most effective accountability partner I’ve ever had. I use a monthly planner for non-fiction writing, which is mainly blog posts and Medium posts. It looks like this: I write the home for the post in a circle and cross it when I’m done. I don’t personally need to write in the titles of my posts or plan which post I’m going to write ahead of time, so I don’t. I do keep track on the weekly pages of things like which posts I cross-posted to my blog or to Medium, so I’m less likely to accidentally duplicate. I also keep a running list of story ideas in my editorial calendar.                               24. Be Interesting. This is a mistake I see a lot of newbie fiction writers make, especially if they’ve just signed with an agent or sold a manuscript: they dive into social media with a hard focus on their fiction writing. If you’re not a unicorn, no one cares about your writing process. That goes for me, too. Instead of Tweeting #amwriting and blogging about your cover reveal, write about you. Let your readers know who you are outside of writing. Write about the most interesting parts of yourself. Are you a pilot? Do you love deep sea diving? Have you traveled all over Asia on foot? Whatever it is that you’ve done or that you’re interested in or an expert in, write about that. And if you don’t have something that makes you interesting? LEARN something interesting and bring other people along for the ride.    25. Practice.I started with telling you to write everyday. I’m going to end in the same place. None of the rest of the suggestions here can replace a daily writing habit. Write everyday and finish your manuscripts.

Tell............... Sonja Huber Today the imperative sentence resonates with all the creepiness of forcing someone to keep a secret. For many of us, “don’t tell” in other forms has been a tight constricting rope that has mangled our voices and changed our books and the years of our lives. A writer of nonfiction discovers their own authority by telling. The good essays tell. They pronounce. They manifesto. They ask and wonder and feint and layer. Their first drafts begin, though, with shy observations and many, many apologies that what they have thought might seem weird and they are sorry they are taking any of your time at all. Describe what you see outside and what you feel inside, how the scene inside shifts and whirls and changes in your ribcage and in your skull, how chocolate and rain taste and what they remind you of. Feel things. And say them. Tell. Tell me everything. Tell me a story. Tell me the truth. Tell me lies. Tell me what you want to say. Tell so that we may all be less alone. What’s the difference between Breaking Bad and Ozark? Both are stories about husbands and fathers who fall into criminal enterprises while trying to provide for their families. Both shows have a strong sense of place and local culture. And both explore the entire moral spectrum between elemental survival and boundless greed. (Also, both require a moderately strong stomach since they occasionally dip their toes into Quentin Tarantino levels of violence.) MIXED REVIEWS:   71% of 200 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10. Army of the Dead is a 2021 American zombie heist film directed by Zack Snyder, with a screenplay by Snyder, Shay Hatten, and Joby Harold, based on an original story by Snyder.[4] The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, Theo Rossi, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tig Notaro, Raúl Castillo, Huma Qureshi and Garret Dillahunt. The plot follows a group of mercenaries who plan a Las Vegas casino heist amid a zombie apocalypse.

Josh Schlossberg

Josh Schlossberg is a biological and microbial horror fiction author, editor, and publisher hiding out in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. He's a founding member of Denver Horror Collective (DenverHorror.com) and creator of Josh's Worst Nightmare (JoshsWorstNightmare.com), where he surveys the dark landscape of today's biological horror fiction.

Josh's novella, Malinae, will be unleashed by D&T Publishing in April 2021.

Short film by director Marc Pearce. Featuring HAG members Angie Guinn, Maria Morrison and David Dahman.

​Evil lurks from beyond its tomb Summoning the souls of the damned to his clutches, feeding from their auras to replenish its strength so he may reclaim his throne. In his absence, a new beast rises to claim the seat of power, threatening pain and destruction upon the world. Fueled by hatred and the lust for power, the fiend known as Atrin lurks in the shadows and slaughters the creatures known as rifters, suckling on their souls to build his own power. Two unlikely heroes, a teenage boy named Franklyn and his wolf brother named Chij, find themselves stuck in the middle of the fight between the two evils. Along the way to save the world, Franklyn and Chij overcome obstacles that would find a lesser pair dismembered and cast deep into the pits of hell. Together, they risk their lives so that the rest of the world may once again live in peace without worry of damnation on Earth. Inexperienced and unprepared, the unlikely duo discovers that the only option is to face the evil entities head on, whether the outcome results in life or death. Join them in their destiny as they embark on their Final Reverie. Scott Essel Pratt

Josh Davis Andrew Lennon Authors of Terror Tract and a few guests take Christmas a horrifying direction. Filled will tales that will have you changing the words to your favorite carols. ​ Jonathan Lambert Thomas M. Malafarina Aaron Lebold Terry Miller L.C. Valentine R.C. Mulhare Edmund Stone Derek Austin Johnson Craig Gerard Ferguson David Owain Hughes ​Eric Kapitan ​Josh Davis Rob Shepherd Dusty Davis Mawr Gorshin ​Andrew Lennon C.M. Saunders & Michael McCarty

Ruthann Jagge Ruthann grew up in Upstate New York where her favorite month of October is magical and terrifying. She currently lives on a cattle ranch in Texas and the porches on her 100 year farmhouse are painted "haint blue" just in case...If you listen closely, the night air whispering through these old fields has a lot to say. Her stories are influenced by extensive travel and appreciation for homegrown horror and superstition.Several works are in progress including a full length novel that wakes her at night for editing.

Josh was a contributor to Rue Morgue for four years, and a contributing writer for The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Horror and The Overstreet Price Guide to Star Wars Collectibles. He lives near Fort Worth, Texas with his wife Jordan, two children, and their dog Behr.

The God in the Hills is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for any die-hard feminist horror fans: all of the male characters are despicable misogynists. There is an embarrassment of riches for fans of splattergore, for certain: characters are impaled, spines are broken, and orifices are violated in the most excruciating ways imaginable. (…) Steffens’ imagery is wickedly colorful and effective, so don’t read on an empty stomach unless you’re looking to lose a few pounds.”– Rebecca Rowland (Rowland Books) ​Jon Steffens is the author of the short novella The God in the Hills, and the short story “Foul Treats”, featured in the anthology Ghosts, Goblins, Murder, & Madness: Twenty Tales of Halloween. Jon Steffens

Kevin David Anderson  Kevin David Anderson was born in Indiana, and currently lives and writes speculative fiction in Southern California. Before becoming a writer and active member of the HWA (Horror Writers Association), Anderson earned a B. A. in Mass Communication (TCOM) with a focus on Media Production from CSUF (Fresno State), and worked as a marketing professional for more than a decade, during which he managed award-winning campaigns for both television and radio. Anderson's short stories have appeared in almost a hundred publications, from anthologies and magazines to podcasts and radio dramas. His work has appeared in multiple languages and on every continent, excluding Antarctica - mostly because penguins and polar bears don't read. Anderson was the first American to be published in the award-winning South African Horror Magazine, Something Wicked. Anderson's short story Third Shift took first position in the Top International Horror competition from Rain Fall books in the UK. Anderson has contributed to many award-worthy publications including the British Fantasy Award-winning magazine Murky Depths, and the Bram Stoker nominated anthology, The Beauty of Death from Independent Legions Publishing. Several dozen of his stories have been turned into audio productions with voice talents like Jason Hill, Rish Outfield, and Mur Lafferty, on Parsec Award-winning podcasts like Pseudopod, The Drabblecast, The Dunesteef and on the very popular Simply Scary Podcast and the No Sleep Podcast.

February Cover of the Month

When we suffer for our art....

Welcome to Horror Bob's Blog II. This is a Memorial blog for retired video store owner and blog interviewer Robert "Horror Bob" Masters. Eric Morse and The Wolf Pack inherited the original Horror Bob's Blog on Overblog after Robert's death in January 2012. Since then in honor of him we have strived to do quality movie reviews, interviews, and commentary to keep his memory alive....Keep on Creepin'! Unearthed Tombs: An Analysis of Poltergeist, and Poltergeist II

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Check out these covers!

Find Brenda Tolian in these! Christophe Maso ------------->>>

S. Feaker is an avid story teller, lover of the paranormal and reader of the macabre. Married for eight years and a mother of three living in rural Iowa she enjoys reading, writing, spending time with her family and exploring the unknown.

Summer Feaker The secrets here are seldom told None are known from young to old Songs and footsteps in the hall Just hold your breath when whispers call The air will chill, your body shakes With every new soul, it will take Listen closely to the ghosts For they know what it aches for most Beware of shapes the shadows make For you will be the next it takes Haven Manor has the beauty and elegance of a modern-day castle. But regardless of its outstanding exterior dark secrets haunt those who dare to enter. Scarlett finds herself forced into an uncomfortable move after the death of her mother in law. Being kept in the dark about its questionable history, she is on a mission to uncover its secrets. Her husband Jeremiah, on the other hand, is trying to protect his family from the dangers of Haven Manor, he leans into his addictions for comfort. With help from a few unlikely allies, they work to piece together the secrets buried under Haven Manor. And welcome to the first book in the Haven Manor Trilogy! But beware, once you enter you may not ever escape the grasp it holds on you. Get ready for a story full of twists and turns. You will not be able to put it down! Get ready for dysfunctional family dynamics, ghosts, and monsters in the hallway of this severely haunted house.

Twin Peaks changed television and inspired a new kind of horror including The X Files. A drama series set in a small town, Twin Peaks showed us that high school student had been murdered. Who killed Laura Palmer? FBI agent Dale Cooper took the case and found supernatural aspects. Lynch said, "The project was to mix a police investigation with the ordinary lives of the characters." Characters such as the log lady, Hawk, Andy, Audrey and more became household names. We cared about each and we found ones to hate: Leo, Windom Earle, and more. We discovered what goes on behind closed doors, horrific secrets, Project Blue Book and UFOs, cave secrets, that owls are not what they seem, and that the log had plenty of advice. Creamed corn is evil. And along the way, we discovered who killed poor Laura. But there was more.  Beware the black lodge. Mister Lynch, we salute you!...http://tobtr.com/s/11880056..

Join the cast and director of CRAVE

​THE HOOSIER BIGFOOT Verona Jones This week is about Indiana’s cryptid. Indiana has fascinating cryptids, which include a demon snake. This demon snake haunts a graveyard in Evansville, Indiana. Witnesses say the demon snake has red glowing eyes and has horns on its head.  I wanted to write about the demon snake, which is an exciting story I will write later. This week is the Indiana Bigfoot. The cryptid reported most times is the Evansville Monster. Yes, it is a Bigfoot-like creature. Indiana State University Folklore Archives is the largest university-based folklore repository in the Midwest. Tony Ward, an Archives representative, recorded Janet Archibald’s first-hand account. Archibald told of a tall, large-footed, man-like monster seen by many witnesses. The couple was parking in the woods when the monster held back a car.   TO READ MORE:

Don't use too many commas!

Edgar Allan Poe Quotes

“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” “We loved with a love that was more than love.” “Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” “I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.” “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door -- Only this, and nothing more."

Why Join Horror Authors Guild? HAG is a non profit organization for horror writers, actors, film workers, musicians, artists, and readers. Anyone with an interest in horror is welcome.  Our mission is to offer a diverse group of horror (dark fantasy, dark gothic, dark historical, dark mystery, sci-fi horror, true crime) writers, artists, cover artists, editors, and poets a place to belong and connect. We celebrate horror in all forms and wish to help build relationships, share information, give support, and reward excellent works. The Yaggies, named for the Baba Yaga award, is based upon Debut Novel, Novel of the Year, Novella of the Year, Short Story of the Year, Anthology of the Year, Cover of the Year, Art of the Year, Poem, and Best Audio Book. All members are welcome to any HAG events.

The Baba Yaga (Haggie) award. Designed by Trevor Smith. Winners have their name, date, and award engraved on a plate. Imagine your book displayed with a Haggie! ALL HAG members may use the HAG logos for webpages, etc.

Winners may use: "HAG Award Winner" "Yaggie Award Winner" "Baba Yaga Award Winner"

Many ways to kill off characters:

Below is a list of ways people might die and it reflects common fears. How many of these have you used in your writing? (Meryl Rothstein   July/August 2017 Popular Mechanics) Article * wild pigs (they eat anything, swine flu) * microwaves             * electrical outlets * boats and cars        * parasites * sharks                     * lightning * stabbing and getting shot * power lines             * solar flare * EMP                       * hospital mishap * bad food                 * poison

Common poisons: hemlock, nightshade, mandrake, aconite, foxglove, opium, strychnine,  ​mercury, lead, and arsenic.

Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.”— Stephen Chbosky “I hate it that Americans are taught to fear some books and some ideas as though they were diseases.”— Kurt Vonnegut “Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it.”— Mark Twain

2019 most challenged books   (source: American Library Association)

Click Click above to go to Michael's website. He takes commissioned art job and provides legal, creative, unique book cover.

​Michael Fisher, Fish to his friends and family, has worn many hats in his long life. He’s done a little of everything, including US Navy Hospital Corpsman, club DJ, security specialist, psychiatric technician, painter, and currently, father, Mason, author and tattooer, not necessarily in that order. He has a love of ugly Hawaian shirts. He also bears a passing resemblance to Walter Sobchak. His work includes the collaborative novel It Always Bites You in the End, Legends: Emergence of Fear, FVM: The Deadliest of the Species, Doorway to Death as well as many other upcoming anthologies. Within Stranger Aeons is the first anthology on which he has taken lead. Michael is an award-winning author, artist and editor with J. J Ellington Ashton Press. Awards include Honorable Mention for Short Story of the Year 2013 for the Return of the Devil Fly in Midnight Remains, as well as Top Ten Artist and Top Ten Editor from Critters Workshop Annual Predators & Editors 2014 Awards and Top Ten Author, Artist, Editor, Book Cover, Nonfiction Article and Short Story from Critters Workshop Annual Predators & Editors 2015 Awards. He also placed in the Top Ten Author, Artist, Editor, Book Cover, Mystery Novel from Critters Workshop Annual Predators & Editors 2016 Awards. DC’s Dead was awarded J. Ellington Ashton Press’ Editor’s Choice Award for Novel in 2015, while It Always Bites You in the End was runner up for J. Ellington Ashton Press’ Editor’s Choice Award for Novel and Within Stranger Aeons was runner up for Anthology of the Year in 2016. Michael is the art director at J. Ellington Ashton Press and designs book covers under the name Meister Arthur Dunkel. He is also a member of the Horror Writers Association.

Fill a bowl with water. Pinch off and remove any fibers that remain on the seeds. Pour off the cloudy water. Drain in a colander. Saute the seeds in the oil of your choice. with the seasonings of your choice. Or spread the dry seeds in a single layer and bake them in a 300 F oven for 15–20 minutes, checking frequently.  You want them to be dry and crunchy, but not so brown they taste burnt. You can eat them plain. Or toss them with coconut oil and sweet or savory seasonings. Then return them to the oven for a few more minutes.

Jeremy Mac

Hazal Kaya Hazal is a new artist and model. For Whipping Girl, she modelled and tweaked the photo to reflect a Hitchcock feel. For the Curse of Cain, Hazal layered a monster that she created. Her attention to detail and ability to design what an author needs is amazing. ​If interested in hand-drawn, original art, contact catt dahman for details.

I got a bad review! What now? When you publish your book or written project, you will get reviews on Amazon or whatever platform you’re using. Those reviews will be used by the platform’s algorithm to determine how much promotion the work will receive. For example, when you reach certain levels of reviews on Amazon, they will begin including you in their bulk emails and you will appear in more searches and recommendations. It’s just how it works. So, yes, as an author, we really do need those reviews. They help us on so many levels. Read the article

The author of dozens of books offers great advice for everyone. Reviews can be cruel, wonderful, unfair, vicious, inspirational, on target, personal, of no help, funny, serious, and even unfounded. How YOU respond (or don't) will flavor your entire career. Read the article to learn all about reviews.

Dani Brown: a rare blog Dani Brown, Halloween 2020 HAG post   Nothing like a global pandemic to notice sales of Reptile (JEA Wetworks) dipping. If you’ve ever met me at an event, you’ll know you can open to any page and there will be something extreme and something horrible. It is my personal promise to you. You’ll know I sell out of this book fast and if you want a copy, you have to get there EARLY! (So early, I’ve put it in caps.) What you may not know is Reptile, along with all my other titles are available on Amazon. That particular one is even available for Kindle Unlimited. I know it is difficult to bring up on amazon, so here’s the links: USA: Link UK: Link Reptile must be my most requested book. Don’t miss out just because amazon makes it difficult. If you don’t save these links, you can always message me on facebook.com/danibrownbooks for the link or visit the pinned post, which has links for all my books. In Reptile, Ruth guts herself while enduring flashbacks of the local fetish community (who aren’t really fetish, just attention seekers, Ruth would actually be into BDSM if she had the chance to experience it for real and there’s lots of bizarro-esque madness). Becoming is told through Marcy’s flashbacks. It doesn’t have a straightforward narrative like Reptile and is much more representative of what it is like to think and function under extreme stress. It really is one of those books that you have to experience (preferably in paperback as kindle lost the formatting). I can describe it all day but you still wouldn’t get the full impact. It explains what happened to lead Marcy up to where she is, where Kord comes into her life. The demonic robotic shapeshifter from Mars. Becoming     USA kindle: Link                      USA paperback: Link                      UK kindle: Link                      UK paperback: Link 56 Seconds  USA kindle: Link                      USA paperback: Link                      UK kindle Link                      UK paperback: LInk Hopefully I’ve copied all those links properly. The important one is Reptile. It comes up on my author page but not on the amazon search (yes, it really must be that extreme). Becoming and 56 Seconds come up when you search both my name and the book. While we’re on releases, Night of the Penguins experienced an audible release while we were on full lockdown here in the UK and every day blurred into one. That’s the book you’re looking for if you’ve ever worked a job you hated or suspected management were in some sort of cult. USA: Link UK: Link I’m afraid I don’t have a fun Halloween story for this year. No vampires that sparkle when they feed on women wearing glittery eyeshadow. No Chester and Lester with Lester’s special hairspray. I don’t even have a spooky Halloween story with the Forest of the Dead and the creeps carved into the trees. However, I do have some art that features creeps carved into the trees, their souls trapped through eternity. I have a thing for medieval art, particularly from medieval manuscripts. I was sketching based on google searches for medieval art (possibly general ones, but put whatever you want to search in google, add medieval manuscript to the end and do an image search, you won’t be disappointed). I noticed one of the sketches resembled the last creep to grab at me. I decided to use that face and put in it into a tree where the creeps are trapped in eternal agony (where they belong). Medieval art is fun. It is a lot of fun. I didn’t do so well in art history so I can’t really go into the background of it, but the images are great (I should look into it one day). All of my visual art is based on medieval art. It started with cats licking their buttholes in medieval manuscripts and took off from there. I had been trying to recover my visual art skills for about two years when someone sent me a meme with the cats licking their butts in medieval manuscripts. I drew it. I drew more cats licking their butts. I drew a cat-i-pede (I haven’t seen the movie version of Cats but the reviews influenced that one, I haven’t seen Human Centipede either, think I’ll live without seeing that one). I think it is fair to say that my visual art skills are back I think Halloween has been cancelled in Liverpool this year due to lockdown restrictions, which is sucks because I love seeing the children in their costumes (my son hates trick or treating and these past few years, I’ve been providing him with a Halloween bucket filled with sweets and chocolate). I guess I’ll have to eat all the candy myself then. I can’t not buy it. It is a yearly tradition.

Another thing from medieval art is the Penis Birds (or Richard Gizzards for the sake of possible Redbubble censors). They look nothing like the original image. It was a little image someone sent to me, possibly part of a larger doodle in a medieval manuscript. It had buttcheeks with a man’s face stuck in it. Some sort of bird with a twisted neck. I removed the man’s face and the twist in the neck. The birds looked like giant penises. So that’s what they were. ​Prints and random products can be found here QueenofFilth.redbubble.com ​While we’re on the topic of global pandemics and my extreme titles, Becoming (Death’s Head Press) was released in February. If you’ve read 56 Seconds (Nihilism Revised), you’ll be familiar with Marcy. Marcy stalks DJ Donnie (still a dick, still a jerk) in a rundown bar while Honey screams inside his head. The walls ooze golden honey with a taint. Flies reanimate when Marcy twitches her fingers. Even the dusty taxidermy springs back to life. Becoming is the story of how Marcy died. This story is just as extreme as Reptile but a lot more complex. If you read my story Visions in Blue in Dig Two Graves Vol 1 (Death’s Head Press), you’ve met the creeps before. I don’t typically write from real life, but I was getting absolutely sick of men (mainly men, women can be just as bad), coming up to me and grabbing at me because I write sex in my books or “if you aren’t asking for it, why are you wearing that”. I don’t often leave my house because of it, but I reached my breaking point, especially as this was happening at events and cons where I’m trying to speak to people interested in my books. Wannabe writers can be especially guilty of this. So I trapped the souls of these creeps into the bark of the trees inside the Forest of the Dead (Marcy’s underworld). By the way, not like it is anyone’s business, but I’m really prude, uptight and squeamish in person. Why do you think I can describe body fluids and body functions in such vivid detail!?! If the creeps were going to accuse me of writing from life as an excuse for sexual harassment, then damn right I would write them. Guess that isn’t the real life they were wanting though. I am currently open to illustration commissions. I don’t do book covers yet, but as I’ll be doing my own book cover for my next self published title, Karen and the Crabs from Outer Space, it is only a matter of time. I’ve been using my lockdown time to really put my career where I want it. However, I still haven’t found the time to clean up my Deviant Art page. Prints and random products are available on Redbubble. ​I haven’t had much time for “fun” writing but all writing is fun for me. I’ve been more focusing on my more experimental texts, all of these hit elements of horror.  However, I did eventually finish Karen and the Crabs from Outer Space. That’s the first “fun” story I’ve written since Sparky the Spunky Robot way back in October of 2017. Also wrote a Chester and Lester Halloween story that year. There will eventually be a Chester and Lester novel. I have notes for it. I also have notes for a second Ketamine Addicted Pandas and two spinoffs (okay, that one is both fun and extreme). Once I get Karen and the Space Crabs out into the world and I finish We Gave the World Synthpop Dreams (think horror and erotica, but not paranormal romance) I have notes for a serious sci-fi offering and notes for a fun, erotic sci-fi offering. That second is finally the Dream Princess novel I’ve been talking about writing since January 2018. Lots of sexbots.

Art By Jackie Lane

Celebrating actor Andrew Lincoln

Naomi Downing found a use for a ruined book. Modge Podge and some work made this bookshelf one of a kind! *No healthy books were harmed*

Breaking it all down so you have a strong flow....

“Ragnarok Rising Saga,”he blends the zombie genre with the events of Norse Mythology. The series has been called “a thinking man’s apocalyptic world.” This is a unique approach that creates a new sub-genre in Apocalyptic Fiction. Debuting in July of 2012, the series has been featured on radio shows on three continents. He is also known in science fiction for “The Infinite Black Series This series is basedn the hit video game from Spellbook Studio. ​Approached by Spellbook Studio to create the history of their universe, D.A.’s series explores the rich tapestry that is The Infinite Black. Download and play the game for free at www.Spellbook.com. His two most recent releases are Cold Hunger which he co-wrote with Author Catt Dahman and Apex Predator: Wolf Moon. Wolf Moon is a tale which explores Native American lore and creatures known as the Dogman. Both available now from J. Ellington Ashton Press.

In November of 2018, D.A. took on the challenging role of C.E.O. of J. Ellington Ashton Press. In March of 2020, D.A. was elected first president of the Horror Author’s Guild. Find more about his work at: www.jellingtonashton.com www.amazon.com/author/daroberts https://www.facebook.com/DARobertsAuthor/ https://www.haguild.com/

Just because it's cute and we love cats and bats....