StokerCon 2026: Full Schedule

2:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Thursday June 4, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT

Speakers

D.R. Forge (CJ Ruff)

D.R. Forge needed a pen name on the fly to submit her first entry to a zine, which, against the odds, was published, along with her hastily cobbled together bio. Thusly spawned her nom de plume. She did not think this through. So many years later, regularly struggles at introductions... Read More →

Curtis Schlak

Founder, Escribo Studio Writing Software

Curtis Schlak is an Author Accelerator certified Book Coach, as well as a novelist and screenwriter. He was recently shortlisted for the Writers Guild Foundation Veterans Mentorship. Jackson Ford (THE GIRL WHO COULD MOVE SH*T WITH HER MIND) has commented that Curtis’ debut novel... Read More →

Celina Thompson

Celina Thompson is basically a vampire. She is a best-selling dark romance author with multiple invisible illnesses which cause sunlight to be painful, require blood transfusions, and even make garlic off limits. This served as inspiration for her debut novel, Sanctuary (a #1 Best-seller... Read More →

Thursday June 4, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

2:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Thursday June 4, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Jacques Mersereau

Author, Day and Night Media, LLC

Fellow Halloween People,

My name is Jacques Mersereau. I've made my living as an artist and video director for over forty years. I am an Emmy winning movie-maker and ran the University of Michigan's Video Studio for the last twenty years. I started my career in one of the USA's first ska bands opening for... Read More →

Kathleen Palm

Jes Malitoris

I am a trans-nonbinary horror and dark fantasy author from North Carolina with a PhD in history and a day job in books marketing. My work has been featured in horror magazines and speculative fiction anthologies, shortlisted for Brave New Weird: Volume 3, and included on the Stoker award reading list... Read More →

Thursday June 4, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

3:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Thursday June 4, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

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.

Matthew Mercier

Author & Storyteller

Matthew is a novelist, storyteller, & Edgar Allan Poe expert. He used to live in Poe's basement in The Bronx, an experience he turned into his first novel Poe & I from Crystal Lake Publishing. He also perform stories with The Moth and other storytelling groups. His cat's name is Bombadil... Read More →

Stacie Herrington

Author | Screenwriter | Film Journalist

Stacie writes funny-scary-feminist horror for page and screen. She is the author of Dead Husband Energy: A Comedy-Horror Novelette. You can find her poetry in HWA Poetry Showcase XI (2024) and XII (2025), and the StokerCon Souvenir Anthology 2025. Stacie is the film columnist... Read More →

Thursday June 4, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

3:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Thursday June 4, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Tiffany Michelle Brown

Author of How Lovely to Be a Woman: Stories and Poems. Co-host of the Horror in the Margins podcast.

Sarah Faxon

Sydney Bollinger

Writer

Sydney Bollinger (she/her) is a queer writer of dark fiction and horror. She has an MS in Environmental Writing from the University of Montana, where her work focused on the intersection of faith and climate activism. Her writing has been published in Slate, Write or Die Magazine... Read More →

Thursday June 4, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

3:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Thursday June 4, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Charles Barouch

Author, HorrorWords.com

Charles Barouch writes Horror (start with Shadows Without Light), Westerns (start with the Marshal Theo Starr books), Science Fiction (start with Tiago and the Masterless), and more.

Ann Heyward

Ann O’Mara Heyward is a horror fiction and non-fiction writer in Cleveland, Ohio. Her short story “The Carny” recently received the Supernatural Fiction Award from The Ghost Story (theghoststory.com). Her short fiction will be adapted by the NoSleep Podcast (air date TBA... Read More →

Raymonde Chira

Author

Raymonde Chira (she/they) is a writer, illustrator and librarian based in New York City. She is the author of multiple dark short stories and comics, having been published in Ghost Parachute, Dark Matter Presents: The Off-Season, Let Her Be Evil, and Bump in the Night (forthcoming... Read More →

Thursday June 4, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

4:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Thursday June 4, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Heather Hein

Writing Heights Writers Association

Heather Hein is a Rocky Mountain Wordsmith who lives in Colorado with a menagerie of people, pets, and plants. Though her heart belongs in the west, she spent her high school years living in Iowa City where she (really!) worked at Hy-Vee Food Store before moving on to bigger and better... Read More →

Carina Stopenski

Librarian | Author | Horror Scholar

Carina Stopenski (they/them) is a writer, scholar, and librarian born and bred in Pittsburgh, PA. They are an academic member of the HWA and currently serve on the Library Advisory Council and as co-chair of the Pittsburgh chapter. Carina is pursuing a PhD in Literature and Criticism... Read More →

Daniel Carpenter

Commissioning Editor, Titan Books

Horror commissioning editor at Titan Books, author of Hunting by the River (Black Shuck Books, 2024)

Thursday June 4, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

4:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Thursday June 4, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Peter Rosch

Author

Peter Rosch is the author of What The Dead Can Do, Future Skinny, But I Love You, and My Dead Friend Sarah, and other dark fictions, many born from the addictions he chased while living in New York City. He’s sober now but remains an addict’s addict: he can turn anything fun into a serious problem... Read More →

Danielle Ackley-McPhail

Author, Editor, Publisher, eSpec Books

Award-winning author, editor, and publisher Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked in publishing for over thirty-five years, been a published author for twenty-five years, and a publisher for eleven years. She is also a book and cover designer, having worked on hundreds of books in... Read More →

Andrew Robertson

Founder, Great Lakes Horror Company

Thursday June 4, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

4:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Thursday June 4, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Teel James Glenn

writer

Teel James Glenn has killed hundreds and been killed more times-- on stage and screen as he has traveled the world for forty plus years as a stuntman, fight choreographer, swordmaster, jouster, illustrator, storyteller, bodyguard, actor and haunted house barker.
His stories have... Read More →

D. Matthew Urban

Author

D. Matthew Urban hails from Texas and lives in Queens, NY, where he reads weird books, watches weird movies, and writes weird fiction. A collection of his stories, Shaky Pictures of Vanished Faces, was published in 2025 by Cursed Morsels Press, and his work has appeared in such v... Read More →

Ananda Lima

Author

Ananda Lima is the author of the linked short story collection Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil (Tor Books, 2024) and the poetry collection Mother/land (Black Lawrence Press, 2021), winner of the Hudson Prize. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Poets.org, Ke... Read More →

Thursday June 4, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

5:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Thursday June 4, 2026 5:00pm - 5:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Leza Cantoral

Publisher/Publicist, CLASH Books

Leza Cantoral is the publisher of CLASH Books. She is an editor, writer and filmmaker. Editor of Tragedy Queens: Stories Inspired by Lana Del Rey & Sylvia Plath. Author of Trash Panda and Cartoons in the Suicide Forest. She is currently working on a novel and a short film screenplay... Read More →

Ryan Marie Ketterer

Norman Prentiss

Thursday June 4, 2026 5:00pm - 5:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

5:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Thursday June 4, 2026 5:00pm - 5:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Katrina Carruth

Luke Dumas

Author

Luke Dumas is the USA TODAY bestselling author of Nothing Tastes as Good, The Paleontologist, and A History of Fear. He is the winner of an ITW Thriller Award and his work has been optioned for film and TV. His debut middle grade horror novel, The Sweet Revenge of Bertrand Berry, is forthcoming from Random House Children's in fall 2027. Luke was born and raised in San Diego, California, where he works for a biomedical research institute... Read More →

Jaq Evans

I'm a speculative fiction and horror author based out of Richmond, VA. My debut novel, WHAT GROWS IN THE DARK, was published in 2024 by MIRA / HarperCollins, and my short fiction appears in Fusion Fragment, Three-Lobed Burning Eye, and elsewhere. My pronouns are none/she/they.

Thursday June 4, 2026 5:00pm - 5:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

5:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Thursday June 4, 2026 5:00pm - 5:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Jack LaRoche

QAA co-host, podcaster, writer, QAA

Co-host of QAA. Writer. Werewolf enthusiast.

K.A. Schultz

author illustrator, Dakeha Taunus LLC

Kimann (K.A.) Schultz is the author of three horror short story collections NEITHERIUM, GÖTHIQUE, and KHRYSTMASS; PÔËTÍQUE Dark Poems & Lyric Poetry, JACOB A Denouement in One Act, and A LETTER FROM KRAMPUS
She was an independent blogger at Huffington Post 2013-2018, was also... Read More →

John Collins

Thursday June 4, 2026 5:00pm - 5:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

9:00am EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 9:00am - 9:50am EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Rachel Horak Dempsey

Author

Rachel Horak Dempsey is a writer of dark fiction living in Denver. Her debut novella, PN0K0, a retelling of Pinocchio with a terrifying techno twist, releases on June 9, 2026. Her short fiction is available or forthcoming from Creepy Pod, Brigids Gate Press, Timber Ghost Press, Twenty... Read More →

Christopher Hawkins

Co-chair, Chicagoland Chapter

Christopher Hawkins (he/him) is the multi-award-winning author of Downpour and Suburban Monsters. His latest novel is I Contain Multitudes.

Peter OKeefe

Peter O'Keefe is a writer and filmmaker, born and raised in Detroit, now living in Racine, Wisconsin. His first novel Counted With the Dead—a reimagining of Frankenstein set in late-90s Detroit—was released by Grendel Press in 2024. Peter's second novel White Flight was relea... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 9:00am - 9:50am EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

9:00am EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 9:00am - 9:50am EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Kenya Moss-Dyme

Author/Nightmare Vendor

As a child, I realized that my entertainment choices leaned more toward ghosts and goblins than princesses and fairy godmothers. My favorite authors were Stephen King and Jack Ketchum, as I wasn't aware of any BIack women - or Black men - who wrote horror, so I began writing short-form hor... Read More →

Erin Louis

Author, Winding Roads Stories

Erin is a former exotic dancer with a love of books, writing and humor. She spent twenty five years as a stripper on and off and started writing as a way to shed light on a misunderstood industry and profession. But also, to destigmatize and humanize those who choose to work in the... Read More →

Alex Gonzalez

Wrote "rekt" and "The Man of Wind and Moss" for Erewhon. Happy to be here! Cheeky pint, king?

Friday June 5, 2026 9:00am - 9:50am EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

10:00am EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Scott Edelman

Author

SCOTT EDELMAN has published 135+ short stories in magazines such as Lightspeed, Analog, Apex, and The Twilight Zone, and in anthologies such as Why New Yorkers Smoke, Crossroads: Southern Tales of the Fantastic, and MetaHorror. He began his professional writing career in the comics... Read More →

John Kachuba

Author

Shapeshifters! Ghosts! Middle Grade horror! Author of 15 books, including the historical fantasy trilogy, “The Bottle Conjuror,” and the middle/grade novel, “Haycorn Smith and the Castle Ghost.”Several of my nonfiction books are about ghosts and the paranormal and I am a... Read More →

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 →

Friday June 5, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

10:00am EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Ann Fraistat

Author

Ann Fraistat is an author, playwright, and narrative designer. Her debut novel, What We Harvest, is a 2022 Bram Stoker finalist, a 2026 HWA Summer Scares selection, and an ABA Indies Introduce and Kids' Indie Next Pick. A Place For Vanishing, her second book, is a 2024 Bram Stok... Read More →

Russ Colchamiro

Craig Brownlie

Friday June 5, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

10:00am EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Jay Bechtol

The Alaskan Delegation

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Clare Castleberry

Clare Castleberry is an author, artist, and narrator from Louisiana. For updates, follow https://femmebionic.substack.com/

barbara barnett

Author/Editor

Barbara Barnett is the author of The Apothecary's Curse and Alchemy of Glass, both published by Pyr Books. The Apothecary's Curse was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award (2017). She is also the author of Chasing Zebras: The Unofficial Guide to House M.D., published in five langua... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

11:00am EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Hildy Silverman

Author and editor. Former publisher and Space and Time Magazine.

Ann Dávila Cardinal

Author

Ann Dávila Cardinal is a Nuyorican poly-genre author. Her young adult horror novels include Five Midnights (winner of an International Latino Book Award and a Bram Stoker finalist), Category Five, Breakup from Hell, and You’ve Awoken Her. Ann lives in a little house in Vermon... Read More →

Shane Hawk

Writer-Editor, PRH-Counterpoint

Shane Hawk is a horror writer, editor, and creator of the Native Horror Index. He serves as a contributing editor at Counterpoint Press, where he exclusively acquires and edits works by Indigenous North American writers. His writing career began in 2020 with the release of his short... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

11:00am EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Victoria Dalpe

Victoria Dalpe is a Providence-based horror writer and painter. To date, her short fiction has appeared in over sixty anthologies. She has put out the collection Les Femmes Grotesques and the horror fantasy trilogy Selene Shade: Resurrectionist for Hire with CLASH Books. Book 2 Selene... Read More →

C.S. Humble

Diane Sismour

Producer/Screenwriter/Author, Author / Screenwriter

Diane Sismour keeps her fans up at night with grounded horror, thrillers, and psychological suspense. Her characters and audiences never know what perils await them or the predicaments they must resolve. She’s a member of national and local writing and screenplay groups.

Her scr... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

11:00am EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Tom Deady

Meg Ripley

Writer of horror and dark fantasy, designer, and drawer. Her debut novel, NECROLOGY, (Book #1 of the Dirty) is a Foreword INDIES Bronze Medalist in Fantasy (2024).

Book 2 of the Dirty, WOODFEAST, due Fall 2026, Creature Publishing.

Grace Daly

Author

Grace Daly (she/her) is a disabled author with multiple invisible chronic illnesses. She lives near Chicago and spends most of her free time with her dog, who is a very good boy. Her debut horror comedy novel, “The Scald-Crow”, is currently available and her fantasy novella, “The... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

12:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Erika T. Wurth

Writer/Professor, Flatiron/Macmillan

Erika T. Wurth is the author of WHITE HORSE and THE HAUNTING OF ROOM 904. She's a New York Times editors pick, a Good Morning America buzz pick, and an Indie Next, Target book of the Month, and BOTM Pick. She’s both a Kenyon and Sewanee fellow, has published in The Kenyon Revi... Read More →

Chloe Spencer

Minnesota native Chloe Spencer is an award winning writer, indie gamedev, and filmmaker. She is the author of multiple sapphic horror novellas, novels, and short stories. In her spare time she enjoys playing video games, trying her best at Pilates, and cuddling with her cats. She... Read More →

Jamal Hodge

Founder, Hodge Cinema

Jamal Hodge is a 2x Bram Stoker Award-nominated writer and an award-winning director. He has directed for Investigation Discovery’s Primal Instinct and PBS’s Southern Storytellers, while producing credits include the Academy Award–nominated documentary Armed Only With a Camera... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

12:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Stephanie M. Wytovich

Stephanie M. Wytovich is an American poet, novelist, and essayist. Her work has been featured in magazines and anthologies, such as Weird Tales, Nightmare Magazine, Southwest Review, Year's Best Hardcore Horror: Volume 2, and The Best Horror of the Year: Volumes 8 & 15.

Wytovich is the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press and an adjunct at Western Connecticut State University, Southern New Hampshire University, and Point Park University. She has received the Elizabeth Matchett Stover Memorial Award, the 2021 Ladies of Horror Fiction Writers... Read More →

Cynthia Pelayo

Cynthia Pelayo is an International Latino Book Award winning poet and author.

She is the author of Loteria, Santa Muerte, The Missing, Poems of My Night, Into the Forest and All the Way Through, Children of Chicago, Crime Scene, The Shoemaker’s Magician, as well as dozens of sta... Read More →

Francesca Maria

SF Bay Area HWA Co-Chair, Black Cat Publishing

Francesca Maria writes dark fiction surrounded by cats near the Pacific Ocean. She is the award-winning, bestselling author of They Hide: Short Stories to Tell in the Dark from Brigids Gate Press, the co-editor of Black Cat Tales: An Anthology of Black Cats which debuted as a... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

12:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Tommy B. Smith

Tommy B. Smith is a writer of horror and dark fiction whose works meander through the darker spaces of the psychological and the cosmic. A two-time Imadjinn Award-winning author and 2023 nominee for the Michael Knost Wings Award, he has been featured in numerous publications to span... Read More →

Darius Jones

Darius Jones’s stories and poems have appeared in Strange Horizons, The No Sleep Podcast, Space and Time Magazine, and Star*Line Magazine. His first book, The Books of Hours, a collection of 24 Dark Cosmic poems, was published in 2025.

Darius is a member of the HWA, the SFWA, t... Read More →

CJ Dotson

Author

C. J. Dotson possesses the statistically average number of body parts for a human being to have. She and her husband, stepson, and children (all of whom also appear human) share a cabin in the woods with more bugs than she would ever like to see. She is the author of THE CUT (4/8/25... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

1:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Rebecca Cuthbert

Writer, Undertaker Books

Stephanie Feldman

Stephanie Feldman is the author of the novels Saturnalia and The Angel of Losses, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, winner of the Crawford Fantasy Award, and finalist for the Mythopoeic Award. She is co-editor of the multi-genre anthology Who Will Speak f... Read More →

Ai Jiang

Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and Nebula Award winner, and Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist from Changle, Fujian currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. Her work can be found in F&SF, The Dark, The Masters Review, among others... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

1:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

A.C. Wise

A.C. Wise's fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Apex, and several Year's Best anthologies, among other places. Her work has won the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, as well as twice being a finalist for the Sunburst Award, twice being a finalist... Read More →

Christi Nogle

Author of BEULAH and three short fiction collections

Christi Nogle is the author of the Bram Stoker Award® winning and Shirley Jackson Award nominated novel Beulah (Cemetery Gates Media, 2022) and the Bram Stoker Award® nominated short story collection The Best of Our Past, the Worst of Our Future.

She is co-editor with Willow Daw... Read More →

Chelsea Conradt

Chelsea Conradt is the USA Today bestselling author of The Farmhouse and The Secret Attic. She writes twisty speculative thrillers and psychological horror. Her short fiction has been featured in The Sunday Morning Transport and the Fractured Reveries anthology. Her stories are packed with both murder and kindness because we can be more than one thing. When not writing stories that make you question what’s real, she is likely watching a baking show or a true-crime documentary. She is nothing if not on brand. Chelsea lives in... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

1:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Sarah Langan

Sarah Langan is the three-time Bram Stoker Award Winning author of the novels Trad Wife (2026) A Better World (2024), Good Neighbors (2021), Audrey's Door (2009), The Missing (2007), and The Keeper (2006). She works in prose and film and lives in Los Angeles.

Mikayla Randolph

writer

Mikayla Randolph (she/her) is the author of Not Your Final Girl. Her short fiction has been published in The Chamber Magazine, Watershed Review, and Coffin Bell. She lives in Monterey, California with her husband, two dogs, and an overwhelming pile of books to be read.

... Read More →

Diana Rodriguez Wallach

Young Adult Author

Diana Rodriguez Wallach is a multi-published author of young adult novels, most recently YA horror novels. Her next book, THE SILENCED, described as Girl Interrupted meets Poltergeist, comes out in September 2025 through Random House/Delacorte. In October 2023, she released HATCHET GIRLS, a modern twist on the legend of Lizzie Borden, and in 2021, she published SMALL TOWN MONSTERS, named one of the “13 Scariest Books of 2021” by Kirkus Reviews (both through... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

2:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Douglas Gwilym

Bram Stoker Award–nominated short story author, novelist, editor of NOVUS MONSTRUM

Douglas Gwilym has written a rock opera or two. He's also edited five anthologies of speculative fiction, including NOVUS MONSTRUM with Ken MacGregor, which features Jonathan Maberry, Gwendolyn Kiste, Ramsey Campbell, and other amazing authors, and Triangulation: Harmony & Dissonance... Read More →

Nicole Willson

Stoker-nominated author of TIDEPOOL (2021), THE SHADOW DANCERS OF BRIXTON HILL (2023) and THE KEEPER OF THE KEY (2024). Find out more about me at http://www.nicolewillson.com

Dave V. Riser

Writer & Researcher

Friday June 5, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

2:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Ace Antonio-Hall

Omnium Gatherum

Dacia M Arnold

AMS/ AMG Marketing Account Manager, Liquid Mind Marketing, Dacia M Arnold LLC

Friday June 5, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

2:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Brandon Ketchum

LCSW, Local Recovery Coordinator, Mental Health Champion of the Pittsburgh VA, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and Author

By day, Brandon Ketchum is a social worker at the VA. By night he is a spec fic writer putting a weird spin or strange vibe in every story, dark or light. He is a member of SFWA and the Horror Writers Association, and his work has been published with Air & Nothingness Press, Perihelion... Read More →

Lauren Elise (L. E.) Daniels

Author/Editor, HWA Mental Health Initiative Co-Chair, Brisbane Writers Workshop

Catlyn Ladd

Writer

Catlyn Ladd loves alliteration, the poetic slip of similar sounds through throat and tongue. She blends metaphors and archetypes from the shadow self, illuminating the monsters, beautiful and horrifying, that gestate there. Her speculative fiction has been published in over a dozen... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

3:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Darrell Schweitzer

Darrell Schweitzer's books include four novels, THE WHITE ISLE, THE SHATTERED GODDESS, THE MASK OF THE SORCERER, and THE DRAGON HOUSE, plus nine short-story collections, the most recent of which is a volume of Lovecraftian stories, THE CHILDREN OF CHORAZIN, published by Hippocampus... Read More →

DIane Corso

Barbara Cottrell

Vanishing Edge Press

Barbara Cottrell is a former professor who gave up her career to pursue her true passion: writing weird fiction. The first book in her series of supernatural thrillers, Darkness Below, won a gold medal at the Book Fest, was named best first novel by Indie Reader and was an editor... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

3:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Brittany Cekus (B.S. Miller)

B.S. Miller is a writer and teacher who lives with her husband and children in a secluded area south of Pittsburgh, surrounded by critters, crows, and coyotes. Miller earned her MA in Literature from the University of New Orleans and BSEd in Secondary English from Slippery Rock University... Read More →

Leticia A Urieta

Leticia Urieta (she/her/hers) is a Tejana writer from Austin, TX. She works as a teaching artist and freelance writer and editor. She is the author of Las Criaturas, published in 2021 by Flowersong Press and was a finalist for the Sergio Troncoso Award for Best First Book of Fic... Read More →

Valerie Williams

Writer, reader, dog lover.

Valerie B. Williams' short fiction has been published by Flame Tree Press, Dark Recesses Press, and Crystal Lake Publishing, among others. Her debut novel, "The Vanishing Twin" was released by Crossroad Press in October 2024.Her first collection of dark tales, "Penfold's Menu of Ma... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

3:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

ROYCE BUCKINGHAM

Author--Penguin/Random House (Blanvalet)

Royce is an author of 14 novels with Penguin/Random House (Blanvalet) in Germany and with Putnam's and St. Martin's Press in North America. He is a member of the HWA and WGAw. Royce grew up with Stephen King and D&D and has been publishing horror and fantasy as a grown-up since 2006... Read More →

Christa Carmen

Author

Christa Carmen lives in Rhode Island. She is the Bram Stoker Award-winning and two-time Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of The Daughters of Block Island, Beneath the Poet's House, and How to Fake a Haunting, as well as the Indie Horror Book Award-winning Something Borrowed... Read More →

Sara Tantlinger

Sara Tantlinger is the author of the Bram Stoker Award-winning The Devil’s Dreamland: Poetry Inspired by H.H. Holmes, as well as other works like To Be Devoured, Cradleland of Parasites, and her recent fiction collection, Cyanide Constellations. She embraces all things macab... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

4:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Meghan Arcuri

Scotty Milder

Sonora Taylor

Author

Sonora Taylor (she/her) is the award-winning author of several books and short stories. Her books include Someone to Share My Nightmares: Stories, Seeing Things, Little Paranoias: Stories, Without Condition, The Crow’s Gift and Other Tales, and Wither and Other Stories. She a... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

4:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

John Langan

Author, THE FISHERMAN

John Langan is the author of two novels and five collections of stories. For his fiction, he has received the Bram Stoker and the This Is Horror awards. With Paul Tremblay, he co-edited Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters (2011). He is one of the founders of the Shirley Jac... Read More →

Jessica McHugh

Jessica McHugh is a 3x Bram Stoker Award-nominated poet, a multi-genre novelist, & an internationally-produced playwright who spends her days surrounded by artistic inspiration at a Maryland tattoo shop. She’s had thirty-two books published in seventeen years, including her Elgin... Read More →

Jason A. Wyckoff

Jason A. Wyckoff's first novel, IXIXIKLIS was published in 2025 by Grendel Press. His third collection of short stories, Snare for a Small Eclipse, is forthcoming from Nightmare Press. He is the author of two prior collections published by Tartarus Press, Black Horse and other St... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

4:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Friday June 5, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Jonathan Kincade

Author & Artist, Story Logic Media

Jonathan Kincade is a writer and photographer interested in mining the uncanny. His fiction and art appear or are forthcoming in FIYAH, Clarkesworld, and The Sun Magazine. When he's not investigating the hidden world, you'll find him gardening, playing guitar, or spending time with... Read More →

Emma Murray

Author of Crushing Snails, When the Devil, and Shoot Me in the Face on a Beautiful Day

Jessi Ann York

Debut Author with Macmillan

Jessi Ann York’s debut novel, TALONS AND NIGHTSHADE, is forthcoming Fall 2027 from Wednesday Books, an imprint of Macmillan. Her first two published short stories, “Phases of the Shadow” and “Women of the Mere,” were mentioned as standouts in the Summation section of The... Read More →

Friday June 5, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

9:00am EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 9:00am - 9:50am EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Corey Farrenkopf

Staff Librarian / Writer, Eastham Public Library

Mark Matthews

Mark Matthews is a Shirley Jackson Award Finalist, a graduate of the University of Michigan, and a licensed professional counselor. He is the author of On the Lips of Children, All Smoke Rises, Milk-Blood, and The Hobgoblin of Little Minds. He also edited, published, and contributed... Read More →

Christoph Paul

CLASH Books

Saturday June 6, 2026 9:00am - 9:50am EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

9:00am EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 9:00am - 9:50am EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Jonathan Fortin

Jonathan Fortin is the author of the LILITU series from Crystal Lake Publishing, specializing in Gothic Horror and Dark Fantasy. He attended the Clarion Writing Program in 2012, one year after graduating summa cum laude from San Francisco State University's Creative Writing program... Read More →

Robert Ottone

Robert P. Ottone is a two-time Bram Stoker Award winning author from Long Island. He is the author of the novels AMITYVILLE AWAKENS, THE VILE THING WE CREATED, THE TRIANGLE, THERE'S SOMETHING SINISTER IN CENTERFIELD and the collections TEAR ME OPEN: FEARS UNWRAPPED and HER INFERNAL... Read More →

Michael Allen Rose

Bizarro Writers Association President, RoShamBo Publishing

Saturday June 6, 2026 9:00am - 9:50am EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

9:00am EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 9:00am - 9:50am EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Lawrence C. Connolly

Writer

Lawrence C. Connolly’s books include the collections This Way to Egress, whose titular tale of psychological horror was adapted for the Mick Garris film Nightmare Cinema; and the Bram-Stoker-nominated Voices, which features Connolly’s best stories from The Magazine of Fantasy... Read More →

larry hinkle

The least famous author you've never heard of, Larry Hinkle writes cosmic horror, pulp, and horror comedy, tinged with a touch of weird. His short stories made the Preliminary Stoker Awards ballot in 2020 and 2022. Books include The Space Between (collection, 2024), The Eris Ridge... Read More →

Nicole Givens Kurtz

Author, Award-winning publisher, Mocha Memoirs Press

Nicole Givens Kurtz has been called “a genre polymath who does crime, horror, and science fiction and fantasy (Book Riot).” They’ve named her as one of the 6 Black SFF Indie Writers You Should be Reading, 30 Must-Read SFF Books by Black Authors, and The Best of the West: 8 Alternative... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 9:00am - 9:50am EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

10:00am EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Jonathan Frater

Publisher, Desperate Measures Press

I'm a librarian, people should ask me any question they can think of...

Sarah Read

Tim Waggoner

Tim Waggoner’s first novel came out in 2001, and since then he’s published over sixty novels and eight collections of short stories. He writes original dark fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins. He’s written tie-in fiction based on Supernatural, Conan the Barbarian... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

10:00am EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

TJ Price

mask

TJ Price’s corporeal being is currently located in Raleigh, NC, where he lives with his handsome partner of many years, but his ghosts can be found in northeastern Connecticut, southern Maine, and north Brooklyn. He is the author of The Disappearance of Tom Nero, a mixed-media... Read More →

Chris Panatier

Writer

Jeff C. Carter

Host, We Bleed Orange & Black

Jeff C. Carter’s stories have been featured in dozens of anthologies, translated for international markets and adapted for podcasts.
His love of Halloween inspires his horror writing. He lives in New Mexico with a cat, a dog and a human.

He co-hosts We Bleed Orange & Black, the... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

10:00am EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

James Chambers

Trustee; Co-Chair, StokerCon Governing Committee; Chair, Horror University, Horror Writers Association

James Chambers is the Bram Stoker Award® and Scribe Award-winning editor and author of A Bright and Beautiful Eternal World, On the Night Border, On the Hierophant Road, the graphic novel, Kolchak the Night Stalker: The Forgotten Lore of Edgar Allan Poe, and editor of Under Twin... Read More →

Keith Rosson

Keith Rosson is the author of the novels The Devil by Name, Fever House, Smoke City, Road Seven, and The Mercy of the Tide, as well as the Shirley Jackson Award–winning story collection Folk Songs for Trauma Surgeons. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his partner and their two children. More can be found at keithrosson.com... Read More →

Hazel Zorn

REEF MIND is out now from Tenebrous Press! Short work in Cosmic Horror Monthly, Dark Matter INK. Horror writer/ oil painter.

Saturday June 6, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

11:00am EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Clay McLeod Chapman

Author of Devil Inside, Bodies of Work, Wake Up and Open Your Eyes, Acquired Taste, Shiny Happy People, Kill Your Darling, Stay on the Line, What Kind of Mother, Ghost Eaters, Whisper Down the Lane, The Remaking, and others.

Cate Peebles

Poet

Cate Peebles is the Bram Stoker Award nominated author of The Haunting (Tupelo Press, 2025) and Thicket (Lost Roads Press, 2018), as well as five chapbooks, including Sun King (winner of the Editor's Choice/Tomaž Šalamun Prize from Factory Hollow Press, 2025) and The Woodlands... Read More →

Caitlin Starling

Caitlin Starling is the nationally bestselling author of The Starving Saints, the Bram Stoker-nominated The Luminous Dead, and the upcoming Milkteeth, among others. Her work showcases her love of genre-hopping horror; her bibliography spans besieged castles, alien caves, and haunted... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

11:00am EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Kevin Wetmore, Jr.

Volunteer Coordinator, HWA LA

Mo Moshaty

Writer, Lecturer, Producer and Journalist, NightTide Magazine/Mourning Manor Media

Mo Moshaty is a multi-award-winning horror writer, producer, and international lecturer whose work explores trauma, folklore, and the boundaries of fear through a diverse and inclusive lens. She is the author of Maddalena – 206 Word Stories (2022), Henry – A Quaint and Curious... Read More →

Cassandra O’Sullivan Sachar

Author/Editor/English Professor

Cassandra O’Sullivan Sachar is a Pennsylvania writer, editor, and English professor who teaches creative writing, composition, and composition theory classes. A former secondary English teacher in Delaware public schools, she received her Doctorate of Education with a Literacy Specialization... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

11:00am EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Maria Alexander

Maria Alexander is a produced screenwriter, games writer, virtual world designer, award-winning copywriter, prolific fiction writer, and poet. Since 1999, her stories have appeared in acclaimed publications and anthologies.

Her debut novel, Mr. Wicker, won the 2014 Bram Stoker Awa... Read More →

Patrick Freivald

A. L. Sterling

Author

A.L. Sterling (she/her) writes dark tales for bright minds. She is the author of Foresyth Conservatory, a dark academia gothic murder mystery set at an occult arts graduate school. An award-winning scientist, she holds a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering and lives in Charlotte... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

12:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Kristy Park Kulski

Kristy Park Kulski is a Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Award nominated, Korean-American author and editor. Her work includes Silk & Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora, the novel Fairest Flesh, and novella House of Pungsu. Born in Honolulu, she now lives in... Read More →

Ally Malinenko

Ally Malinenko is the author of several poetry collections as well as Ghost Girl and the Stoker nominated This Appearing House both from Katherine Tegen Books/Harper Collins

Brian McAuley

Saturday June 6, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

12:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

J.R. Blanes

Author, Ruadan Books

J.R. Blanes is the author of the novel, Portraits of Decay, forthcoming October 21, 2025, from Ruadán Books. His short fiction has appeared in or is forthcoming from, Allegory, Tales to Terrify, The No Sleep Podcast, Creepy, among others. He lives in Chicago with his wife, their neurotic dog, and a three-legged cat. He plays bass guitar a... Read More →

Pauline Chow

Pauline Chow is a writer, coach, and ancestral magic practitioner, crafting alternative histories and optimistic futures. She is a Pushcart Prize nominated author with words in Cosmic Monthly Horror, Space and Time Magazine, Apocalypse Confidential, and more. Not your average data... Read More →

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 →

Saturday June 6, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

12:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Patrick Barb

Author & HWA Treasurer

Patrick Barb is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of weird, dark, and horrifying tales, currently living in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. His published works include the short-story collections The Children's Horror and Pre-Approved for Haunting; novellas The Big One, The Nu... Read More →

Taylor Grothe

Taylor Grothe (AKA T.G. Laine) is a writer of adult and young adult horror, horror romance, and dark fantasy. They hold a nonfiction MFA from Fairfield University, acted as the graduate Assistant Managing Editor of Brevity, and their short works can be found in esteemed publications... Read More →

Vaughn A. Jackson

Author

Vaughn A. Jackson is an Horror Writers Association affiliated author, editor, and sometimes poet of dark speculative fiction. His work generally focuses one one of three categories: Creatures, Kaiju, or Cosmic Horror. Often blending elements of fantasy, science fiction, and horror... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

1:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Douglas Ford

Oh, god, another writer. This one has written a body of work that contains several short stories, including "The Boy in the Closet," which appeared as a selection in Ellen Datlow's The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 17. More recent stuff includes a novel, The Bloody Bucket, and a... Read More →

Casey Masterson

Hello!

I am the author of numerous short stories, such as "Shock," "Portrait of an Artist," and "Project Lazarus." I am also the author of Revelations of the Raven Master, which is a collection of 18 short horror stories!

Tanya Pell

author

Tanya Pell is a narcoleptic horror author who drinks bougie coffee and lives in the American South. She is the Bram Stoker nominated-author of Her Wicked Roots, Cicada, and the upcoming This B Just Won't Die! Her short fiction can be found in Fever Dreams, Mother Knows Best, ... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

1:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Paul Michael Anderson

Writer

Writer of the novellas STANDALONE, YOU CAN’T SAVE WHAT ISN’T THERE, and THE ONLY WAY OUT IS THROUGH, as well as the collections BONES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN and EVERYTHING WILL BE ALL RIGHT IN THE END: APOCALYPSE SONGS

Richard Kadrey

Guest of Honor

Richard Kadrey is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim supernatural noir series. Sandman Slim was included in Amazon’s “100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime,” and is in development as a feature film.Some of Kadrey’s other books in... Read More →

Emily Ruth Verona

Author

Emily Ruth Verona is the author of the novel Midnight on Beacon Street, published by Harper Perennial in 2024 and the novella Shiva

Saturday June 6, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

1:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Kylie Lee Baker

Elizabeth Broadbent

Elizabeth Broadbent (she/her) left the South Carolina swamps for the Commonwealth of Virginia, where she lives with her three sons and husband. She’s the
author of Ink Vine (Undertaker Books, 2024), Ninety-Eight Sabers (Undertaker Books, 2024), Blood Cypress (Raw Dog Screaming P... Read More →

Nat Cassidy

Nat Cassidy is a bestselling and Bram Stoker Award-nominated author whose acclaimed works include Mary ("One of the Best Horror Novels of All Time" - Audible), Nestlings, and Rest Stop. Esquire described him as one "of the best horror writers of this generation" and among the writers "shaping horror's next golden age." His award-winning plays have been produced across the country, including Off-Broadway and the Kennedy Center. You've also maybe seen Nat guest-starring... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

2:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Rachel Bolton

Rachel Bolton is a Bram Stoker Award nominated writer working on more projects than she has time for. Her stories and essays have appeared in Apex Magazine, Women Write About Comics, Strange Girls, and more. Rachel lives with her partner and their two cats in Massachusetts. Find... Read More →

Carlyn Greenwald

Author

Carlyn Greenwald a YA and Adult horror and thriller author and screenwriter of YA horror-thriller MURDER LAND, which was featured in Forbes, Daily Dead, and Goodreads’ Biggest Summer Thrillers. Her upcoming works include YA horror-thriller WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE GIRLS and Adult... Read More →

Carol Gyzander

I love quiet horror, weird fiction, and cosmic horror!
More about me:
Bram Stoker Award® recipient and World Fantasy Award finalist Carol Gyzander writes and edits horror, weird fiction, and science fiction—with strong women in twisted tales that touch your heart. She has a stor... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

2:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Linda Addison

Trustee, Horror Writers Association

Billy Martin

Stephen King, John Kennedy Toole, cats, birds (wild ones, not pets), New Orleans, Jaws, Goodfellas, international food, travel, old music (mainly 1960s - 1980s)

Saturday June 6, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

2:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Leanna Renee Hieber

Author, Actress, Ghost Tour Guide, Kensington, Tor and Union Square Books

An actress, playwright, ghost tour guide and award-winning, bestselling author of ghost-filled fiction and non-fiction for Kensington, Tor, Sourcebooks and Union Square, Leanna’s A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts, co-authored with Andrea Janes... Read More →

Liz Kerin

LIZ KERIN is the author of the critically acclaimed NIGHT’S EDGE duology, YA horror THE PHANTOM FOREST, and the forthcoming HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY from Sourcebooks in February 2027. She’s also a playwright and screenwriter, who graduated from NYU Tisch, where she majored... Read More →

CJ Leede

CJ Leede is a rescue dog mom, hiker, Trekkie, and author of USA-Today bestselling novels Maeve Fly and American Rapture. Her debut novel, Maeve Fly, won the Splatterpunk Award, the Golden Poppy Octavia E. Butler Award, and earned a Bram Stoker Award nomination. CJ's third book, Headlights... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

3:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Jess Hagemann

Author of Headcheese, Mother-Eating, and Resurrection

Jess Hagemann’s debut novel Headcheese won a 2019 IPPY Award in Horror. Her sophomore novel Mother-Eating was named a “Most-Anticipated Horror Book of 2025” by Paste Magazine and made Bloody Disgusting’s list of Best Horror Books of 2025. That same year, Rapture Publishin... Read More →

Emily Hughes

Author, critic, listmaker, Darker Times

Rhonda Jackson Garcia AKA RJ Joseph

academic and creative writer/editor/professor, RJ Joseph, Writer/Speaker

Rhonda Jackson Garcia, AKA RJ Joseph, is a Stoker Award™ and Shirley Jackson Award nominated, Texas based academic and creative writer/professor whose writing regularly focuses on the intersections of gender and race in the horror and romance genres and popular culture. She has... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

3:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Rachel Harrison

Rachel Harrison is the New York Times Bestselling author of PLAY NICE, SO THIRSTY, BLACK SHEEP, SUCH SHARP TEETH, CACKLE, and THE RETURN. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and in her debut story collection BAD DOLLS.

Her next novel, KISS SLAY REPLAY, is out this September from Berkley in the US and Titan in the UK... Read More →

John Shirley

Decades of experience in horror, television, science fiction,thriller writing, movie scripting. Strong opinions on AI, the future of our civilization, esoteric spirituality. Weird poetry.The book I won the Bram Stoker for: Black Butterflies. My new horror novel (written with Ma... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

3:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Kate Maruyama

Mae Murray

Nicole M. Wolverton

Professionally unsettling, Horror Writer, Editor, & Academic

Nicole M. Wolverton is the author of A Misfortune of Lake Monsters (2024, CamCat Books/Marble Press) and the upcoming Meat Sweats (March 2027, Horrorsmith Publishing) and Mother Mort's Carnival Phantasmagoria (October 2027, Ethereal Visions Publishing). She served as Editor of the... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

4:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

N.J. Gallegos

ER Doc by day, horror author by night. She lives with her wife and two cats in the middle of tornado alley. She is a cohost of The Scream Kings Podcast. She has two novels, The Broken Heart and The Fatal Mind, with Winding Road Stories. Her short story collection, Time of Death: A... Read More →

Lisa Kröger

Trustee

Horror writer. Author of MONSTER, SHE WROTE and TOIL AND TROUBLE. Cohost of the Know Fear Cast and The Monster, She Wrote podcast.

Rami Ungar

I am a novelist from Columbus, Ohio specializing in horror and dark fantasy. I have published six books and several short stories.

Saturday June 6, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

4:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

LC Allingham

Author / Editor / Artist / Publisher, Speculation Publications

LCW Allingham is an award-winning author, artist, and editor. Her publications include her novel, LADY, and novella MUSE, as well as short fiction. She is the co-founder and executive editor of the indie press, Speculation Publications, a member of the Historical Novel Society and... Read More →

KC (Kristina) Grifant

Author, Editor, San Diego HWA co-chair

A previous StokerCon chair, KC Grifant is an award-winning writer based in Southern California who creates internationally published horror, fantasy, science fiction, and weird west stories. Dozens of her short stories have appeared in podcasts, magazines, games, and Stoker-nominated... Read More →

Jamie Flanagan

Writer, Editor, Actor, Freelance

Jamie Flanagan (they/them) is a WGA East screenwriter, SAG actor, HWA author, and editor. Screenwriting credits include Netflix's The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, The Fall of the House of Usher, AMC Shudder's CREEPSHOW, Peacock's HYSTERIA!, and Amazon's... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

4:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Saturday June 6, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Carina Bissett

The Storied Imaginarium

Angela Sylvaine

Angela Sylvaine is a Bram Stoker Award nominated author and self-proclaimed cheerful goth who writes speculative fiction and poetry. Her novel, Frost Bite, a ‘90s sci-fi horror comedy, and her retro ‘80s YA mall slasher novella, Chopping Spree, embody her cheerful side. Her s... Read More →

Tamika Thompson

Author

Tamika is author of THE CURSE OF HESTER GARDENS (Erewhon/Kensington, 2026) and Next Generation Indie Book Awards Horror WINNER, UNSHOD, CACKLING, and NAKED (Unnerving Books), which Publishers Weekly calls “powerful,” “unsettling,” and “terrifying.” She is also the author... Read More →

Saturday June 6, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

10:00am EDT

Author Readings

Sunday June 7, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

John G. Hartness

Author, Podcaster, Editor, Publisher, Billionaire, Philanthropist, Playboy, Falstaff Books

John G. Hartness is a teller of tales, a righter of wrong, defender of ladies’ virtues, and some people call him Maurice, for he speaks of the pompatus of love. He is also the award-winning author of the urban fantasy series The Black Knight Chronicles, the Bubba the Monster Hunter... Read More →

C.R. Kellogg

C.R. Kellogg is a mom and writer who lives in the Pacific Northwest. Kellogg writes speculative fiction, horror and raves about food and books on her Substack. She is an alumnus of the Viable Paradise workshop and a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America and Horror Writers... Read More →

Grace R. Reynolds

Author

GRACE R. REYNOLDS is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland “home,” where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is... Read More →

Brigitte Winter

Author

Brigitte Winter writes books about your favorite monster ex-girlfriends. She also writes narrative games, poetry, and short stories. The capacity of storytelling to connect, inspire, and incite is central to Brigitte’s art and her activism, and she makes art that is queer, feminist... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

10:00am EDT

Author Readings

Sunday June 7, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Rebekah Faubion

Rebekah Faubion is a queer author and screenwriter living in Los Angeles. Her books include the YA dark speculative thriller Lost Girls of Hollow Lake out now from Delacorte Press, sapphic rom-coms The Lovers and The Sun and the Moon, and her adult horror debut What a Nightmare, releasing... Read More →

Emily Smiley

Emily Smiley is a horror and dark fantasy author who encourages her readers to discover deeper truths within themselves through the exploration of fear, grief, and trauma, with a splash of dark humor and (sometimes) a little spice. She was a panelist at World Con 2025 and is slated... Read More →

Joe Belcastro

Author, Joe Belcastro

After spending five years as an accredited film critic, Joe ditched his stash of Academy Award screeners and took the opportunity to jump behind the cameras working in the writers’ room for WWE. The following seven years he crafted storylines for millions of viewers each week and... Read More →

AJ Humphreys

Publishing Account Executive, Dark Journeys Press

AJ Humphreys is an emerging author of spooky thrillers, mysteries, and dreadful tales. The serialized four-volume, Season of The Monster saga served as his publishing debut. His newest work, TRIP: A Psychological Horror Novel, released April 4th, 2025, to overwhelmingly positive reception... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

10:00am EDT

Author Readings

Sunday June 7, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Liam Burke

Author

Stephanie Sanders-Jacob

Author

Stephanie Sanders-Jacob writes horror and weird fiction. Her books include Pyramidia, Dropshipped, Hearsepower, and Singing All the Way Up. She loves murderous and mystical cowboys, satirical stories, and Furbys. She is the editor-in-chief of Squirm Books, the YA imprint of Slashic Horror Press... Read More →

Mark Mellon

Mark Mellon is a novelist who writes two-fisted, hardboiled, blood and guts pulp fiction and has five novels and over a hundred short stories (many as reprints) published in the USA, UK, Canada, Ireland, India, Bulgaria, and Denmark. Short fiction by Mark has recently appeared in... Read More →

Robbie Dorman

Author and podcaster

Sunday June 7, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

11:00am EDT

Author Readings

Sunday June 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Mary Berman

Author, UNTIL DEATH (Little, Brown 2026)

Mary Berman is a Philadelphia-based novelist. Her debut, UNTIL DEATH, a horror novel about wedding planning, is coming May 19, 2026 from Little, Brown.

Jonathan Gensler

Author

Raised in a haunted house on the outskirts of a cursed town in West Virginia. US Army veteran and recovering entrepreneur. Words in Cosmic Horror Monthly, CreepyPod, and others. Stay in touch at jonathangensler.com

Lori D'Angelo

Writer

I write short horror fiction and am the author of The Monsters Are Here, a collection of short stories, which was published by ELJ Editions in October of 2024.

Kendall Phillips

Kendall Phillips is a Bram Stoker nominated author and scholar who writes about horror in popular culture. He is author of several books, including Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture, Dark Directions: Romero, Craven, Carpenter, and the Modern Horror Film, and A P... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

11:00am EDT

Author Readings

Sunday June 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Libby Edwardson

Author WE SENT THEM DOWN SINGING (Page Street Horror, July 2026)

MJ Huntsgood

Mar Romasco-Moore

Author of queer YA multimedia horror novel Deadstream (VIking, 2025) and several other books.

Abigail F Taylor

A Texas based, award winning author of speculative fiction and horror. Her work is often set in historical periods and always inspired by her Choctaw-Irish heritage.

Sunday June 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

11:00am EDT

Author Readings

Sunday June 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Victoria Navarra

Victoria Navarra lives in Richmond, VA. Her fiction has been published in Analog, ParSec, and Andromeda Spaceways, and her first horror story is forthcoming in F&SF. She was a 2023 AnLab finalist, and recently she won the Emerson First Chapter Prize for the Emerson Popular Fiction MFA Program. She works at the Direction of Education Assessment and Accreditation at Randolph-Macon College. In between short stories, she is haphazardly working on... Read More →

Oliver Baer

Oliver Baer does many things. He was the editor of Cthulhu Sex Magazine and Two Backed Books. He now edits roleplaying game manuals for Burning Wheel and other companies. His epistolary novel, Letters to the Editor of Cthulhu Sex Magazine, was published in October 2019. His short... Read More →

Steven Van Patten

Writer/ Producer/ Stage Manager, Laughing Black Vampire Productions

Brooklyn native Steven Van Patten is the author of the critically acclaimed Brookwater’s Curse trilogy that features an 1860s Georgia plantation slave who becomes law enforcement within the vampire community. In contrast, the titular character in his Killer Genius series is a m... Read More →

Jeff Deck

Author & novel coach, Eternal Author Books

Jeff Deck is an indie author who lives in Maine with his wife, Jane, their dog Rippey, and the ghost of their dog Burleigh. Deck writes science fiction, fantasy, horror, dark fantasy, and other speculative fiction. He is the author of the horror story collection Survivor and Ot... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2026 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings

12:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Sunday June 7, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT

Armstrong

Speakers

Rath Mercury

Writer

Hi, I’m Rath. I write horror, fantasy, romance, and science fiction, always queer.I’ve published in Reckoning, Small Wonders, Stance on Dance, DASH Literary Journal, Avatar Review, and Jersey Devil Press. I’m a member of Codex and SFWA.I’ve also worked as a choreographer... Read More →

Piper L. White

Author

Piper L. White is an author from North Carolina. She holds her BFA in creative writing from UNC Wilmington, where she also got her certificate in publishing. Her other work can be found in literary magazines such as Atlantis, Full House Literary, Carolina Muse Arts, amongst other... Read More →

Marissa Yarrow

Marissa Yarrow is a horror author based in Colorado Springs, where she lives with her spouse and two cats. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, biking, rock climbing, and backpacking.

Her work has been featured in the No Sleep Podcast and Robots Past & Future Short Stories from... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT
Armstrong

Author Readings

12:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Sunday June 7, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT

Fayette

Speakers

Richard Dansky

Consultant, Dansky Narrative Services

Richard Dansky is a 25+ year veteran of the video game industry and is widely regarded as a leading authority on game writing and narrative. He has written and narrative designed for bestselling franchises including The Division, Assassins Creed, Far Cry, and Splinter Cell. He is... Read More →

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.

Tony Sarrecchia

Tony is a writer who creates audio dramas, including the award-winning, HARRY STRANGE RADIO DRAMA, and SCARLETT HOOD ADVENTURES. His LADY SHERLOCK HOLMES Episode, ‘The Lady in Red’, performed at DragonCon and the National Audio Theatre Festival won the NATF’s Platinum Festival... Read More →

Andromeda Ruins

Author, Andromeda Ruins

Heyyo, I'm a dark fantasy and horror author from a small town in the midwest! I mostly focus on Greek Mythology retellings and religious horror, but I have a soft spot for just about anything folk related as well!

Sunday June 7, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT
Fayette

Author Readings

12:00pm EDT

Author Readings

Sunday June 7, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT

Lawrence

Speakers

Lara Frater

Writer, Librarian

Lara Frater (she/her) is the author of the Paranormal Pest Control series, the End of the Lines Zombie series, Jersey Devils, and many short stories and poems. She is also the author of the non-fiction book Fat Chicks Rule. http://www.larafrater.com. During the weekdays, she's a medical... Read More →

Maddison Dawn

Author of EATING VERONICA, coming May 2027

Maddison's debut EATING VERONICA is coming May 2027 from Grand Central in the US and Fontana in the UK. It's a feminist psychological horror novel about beauty standards and empowerment, following the bloody glow up of a young woman who spawns a carnivorous monster that feeds on her... Read More →

Saratoga Schaefer

author of SERIAL KILLER SUPPORT GROUP and TRAD WIFE

(they/them) author of SERIAL KILLER SUPPORT GROUP and TRAD WIFE, as well as the upcoming THE LAST TIME WE DROWNED and A THOUSAND MONSTROUS FORMS.

L.T. Williams

Writer and Space Scientist

L.T. Williams can’t seem to escape mountains – whether it's the mountain of his TBR list, the Appalachians where he grew up, or the Ozarks where he now resides. L.T.'s love for speculative fiction also started in the mountains, where the folk tales, urban legends, and cryptid... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT
Lawrence

Author Readings