Hayward Public Library’s Halloween Haunting With the HWA!
When
Wed, October 26, 5:00pm – 6:30pm
Where
Hayward Library’s Fremont Bank Foundation Room – Large Room Subdivided 1/2 (Room A) (map)
Description
Bay Area members of the Horror Writers Association descend on Hayward! Come listen to horrifying excerpts from their recent and upcoming works, and have a chance to win a hoard of their books! Time permitting, a Q&A session will follow the reading.
This reading is appropriate for adults and older teens.
The Horror Writers Association is a worldwide nonprofit organization of professional writers and publishing professionals (including some fantastic editors!) dedicated to promoting the
interests of Horror and Dark fantasy writers.
The San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the HWA and is proud to join in the Halloween fun at the Hayward Public Library. Tonight you will be hearing unsettling excerpts from current and upcoming works by some of our local members.
ELANA GOMEL:
Born in Ukraine and currently residing in California, Elana Gomel is an academic with a long list of books and articles, specializing in science fiction, Victorian literature, and serial killers. She is also an
award-winning fiction writer and the author of more than a hundred
short stories, several novellas, and
five novels. Her latest fiction
publications are Little Sister, a
historical horror novella, and Black
House, a dark fantasy novel. Her
forthcoming novel is Nightwood,
based on Ukrainian folklore. She is
a member of HWA and can be
found at www.citiesoflightanddarkness.com
and social media.
LIANI KOTCHER
Liani Kotcher (writing as Rektok
Ross) is a trial attorney turned
award-winning young adult author,
screenwriter, and producer. An avid
reader herself, Liani writes the kind
of books she loves to escape into:
exciting thrillers with strong female
leads, swoonworthy love interests,
and life-changing moments. She lives in California with her husband, stepkids, and dogs. Her young adult survival thriller Ski Weekend is in development
for a major motion picture and has
won the American Fiction Awards,
IAN Book of the Year Awards,
Readers’ Favorite Book Awards, and
the Chanticleer Dante Rossetti Book
Awards. You can find her online just
about anywhere at @RektokRoss.
FRANCESCA MARIA
Francesca Maria has been penning
horror stories since she was able to
pick up a pen and write, at the age of
six. This fascination with horror was
spurred by her insatiable need to
uncover what was haunting her
childhood home — a need that
continues to this day.
Francesca is a writer of dark fiction
and the author of the Black Cat
Chronicles comic book series and her
upcoming short story collection
They Hide: Short Stories to Tell in the
Dark, is due out April 2023. You can
find her at francescamaria.com.
BEN MONROE
Ben Monroe has spent most of his
life in Northern California, where he
lives in the East Bay Area with his
wife and two children. He is the
author of In the Belly of the Beast
and Other Tales of Cthulhu Wars, the
Seething (coming in 2023), the
graphic novel Planet Apocalypse, and
short stories in several anthologies.
You can find more information
about him and his work at
linktr.ee/benmonroe
SUMIKO SAULSON
Sumiko Saulson (they/them) is
an award-winning author of
Afrosurrealist and
multicultural sci-fi and
horror whose latest
novel Happiness and Other
Diseases is available
on Mocha Memoirs
Press. Winner of the HWA
Scholarship from Hell
(2016) BCC Voice “Reframing the
Other” contest (2017), Mixy Award
(2017), Afrosurrealist Writer Award
(2018), HWA Diversity Grant (2020),
Ladies of Horror Fiction Grant
(2021). Sumiko has an AA in English
from Berkeley City College, writes a
column called “Writing While
Black” for a national Black
Newspaper, the San Francisco
BayView is the host of the SOMA
Leather and LGBT Cultural District’s
“Erotic Storytelling Hour,” and
teaches courses at the Speculative
Fiction Academy. Find out more at
SumikoSaulson.com
Sumiko Saulson 