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Sludging Through Doom: Heavy Metal and Horror History
Sunday June 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Westmoreland
Good horror disturbs and distorts reality with all the fuzz of a heavy metal guitar pedal. And metal music, for its part, has long drawn inspiration from the genre of the supernatural and occult. In "Sludging through Doom," panelists will explore how the horror genre has intersected with heavy metal music across time and how horror writers continue to derive inspiration from the scary music genre, banging their heads as they bang stories out on their keyboards.
Moderators
avatar for Michael Arnzen

Michael Arnzen

Director, MFA in Writing Popular Fiction at SHU

Michael Arnzen holds four Bram Stoker Awards and an International Horror Guild Award for his disturbing (and often funny) fiction, poetry and literary experiments. He has been teaching as a Professor of English in the MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University sin... Read More →
Speakers
JC
avatar for Brian Cummings

Brian Cummings

Brian is an author of occult fantasy rooted in supernatural horror. He’s a metal musician, reluctant psychic, and host of the fiction/paranormal podcast, Dark Concepts. If you want to talk about spooky, reality-blurring stuff, he’s your dude.
avatar for Edward J. Flora

Edward J. Flora

Author, Gravesend Books
Ed is a horror author and audiobook narrator. His most recent book, In The Shadow of a Broken Spire, is a small-town folk horror story. He is a fan of cosmic horror, ghost stories and discovering new indie authors.
avatar for Gillian Daniels

Gillian Daniels

Gillian Daniels' poetry and short fiction have appeared in Nightmare Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, among more than thirty other publications. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa, grew up in Greater Cleveland, Ohio, and she now writes, works, and haunts the... Read More →
avatar for Jo Kaplan

Jo Kaplan

Author, HWA LA co-chair
Jo Kaplan is a Shirley Jackson Award nominated author whose work has been described as “immersive, chilling, and compelling” by Library Journal and “delightfully creepy” by Booklist. She is the author of It Will Just Be Us, When the Night Bells Ring, and The Midnight Muse... Read More →
Sunday June 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Westmoreland
  Horror Genre and Media

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