Notes From StokerCon 2022
Making The Devil Fun: The Possession Panel at StokerCon, Photo Courtesy of Tori Eldridge.
You know you’re in the right place when the titles of the talks are “The Tell-Tale Kidney” and “Whatever Possessed You?” I’m talking about the Horror Writers Convention, which stalked the halls of The Curtis Hotel in Denver from May 12 to May 15th. There are two things you need to know. One, StokerCon is one of the best professional conferences out there. You can learn everything you need to know about the business: from designing book covers to making independent films to how to write fight scenes.
Two, horror writers are some of the friendliest people out there. Just look at the shiny, happy people on the “Whatever Possessed You?” panel. Needless to say, after two years lost to COVID, we were happy to see each other again.
The Shining Girls Claim Another Victim On The Horror Themed Floor Of The Curtis Hotel. Image Courtesy of Marc Abbott.
I’m using other peoples photos because I was so absorbed, I didn’t bother to document it.
Some of the highlights for me?
Meeting F. Paul Wilson
I read F. Paul Wilson’s The Keep when I was a teenager exploring horror for the first time. To be able to meet him almost forty years after I read his book? Priceless. And he was such a nice guy. Even gave me an idea for a potential story. Tinnitus and picking up voices from beyond. That’s all I’m going to say…
The Increasing Diversity in Horror
When I first started reading horror, it was overwhelmingly white and male. This has changed in recent years. A look at the Stoker Award Winners this year provides a snapshot of what I hope will be a lasting trend. Stephen Graham Jones, a Blackfeet Native American, won best novel for My Heart Is A Chainsaw, an homage to slasher films which centered around a teenage girl in Idaho. Hailey Piper won best first novel for Queen Of Teeth, a story about a woman who (I kid you not) discovers teeth in her vagina. This is definitely not the kind of stuff I read in the 1970’s when I first started sampling the genre. I, for one, am thrilled by the change.
Unexpected Discoveries
One of the things I love to do at Cons is attend talks on things I don’t know much about. This time, I chose to attend a panel on splatterpunk. Splatterpunk is a subgenre of horror known for its graphic, over the top material. For most of my life, I shied away from it, but I decided to attend out of curiosity. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that splatterpunk is not just about gore, but also about making political and social commentary. And the people that write it are sensitive and thoughtful about what they do. Better still, they discussed how to take care of yourself when you write intense material. Mental health advice from a splatterpunk panel? Not what I expected, but part of the magic of challenging your preconceptions.
Books, books, and more books!
Part of being at StokerCon is getting free advance reading copies of soon to be released books. Imagine my surprise when two of the books on my Amazon wish list (Sundial by Catriona Ward and What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher) showed up in my goody bag. Add that to my other purchases and the advanced reading copy of Don’t Fear The Reaper, Stephen Graham Jones’ sequel to My Heart Is A Chainsaw, and I have enough material to last me until the next time we gather.
Speaking of which, the next StokerCon will take place in Pittsburgh, home of George Romero and the birthplace of the modern zombie.
I already have my tickets…
StokerCon 2023 Logo