Have I mentioned how much it means for me to be part of this Anthology? Being a part of this project is important to me because the first positive, centering, and important black representation I ever saw in horror as a kid was in Dawn of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead – which we saw in a double feature with my parents. I feel like Blackened Roots is making it so that I can do the same thing in terms of black representation in the zombie genre in literation.
Please repost this! Please help get the word out on the Kickstarter, and support me in being part of this historical, ground-breaking project. bit.ly.com/blackenedroots by my publisher Mocha Memoirs!#blackenedroots
Also click on that bitly link right up there ^^^ to support the project!
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
6 authors * 8 minutes each – come find your next favorite read with us!
Join us the First Friday and Third Thursday of every month for a tasting menu of science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories written by women and non-binary authors. We’ll feature 6 authors (different authors each time) who will each have 8 minutes to tempt and tantalize you with their reading. Our readings are like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates – you never know what you’ll get!
The event takes place live, via Zoom – attend from anywhere! The readings are free, there will be time for questions & answers at the end, and there will be 1 or more giveaways – a prize pack, free books, or something else!
Have I mentioned how much it means for me to be part of this Anthology? Being a part of this project is important to me. Please join me in being part of this historical, ground-breaking project. bit.ly.com/blackenedroots #BlackenedRoots
One of our visions for this project is a future where we see ourselves, our stories, our history, and even our fears represented in the zombie genre. bit.ly/blackenedroots #BlackenedRoots
I’m so excited! My publisher is putting out yet another ground-breaking anthology! This one seeks to reunite the zombie mythos with its African roots! bit.ly/blackenedroots #BlackenedRoots
Have you seen this? Mocha Memoirs Press is at again, smashing preconceptions and redefining genre with yet another spine-tingling horror anthology. I can’t wait! bit.ly/blackenedroots #BlackenedRoots
Do you love tales of the undead? Me too! That’s why I’m part of the latest anthology from Mocha Memoirs Press, Blackened Roots. Join us, before it’s too late! bit.ly/blackenedroots #BlackenedRoot
Excited that I am going to be a guest fiend host at Horror Film Salon at Old Devil Moon 3472 Mission St, San Francisco, CA, United States, California on Wednesday, October 5th. 7:00 pm – 9:00pm on the heated back patio
I will present a film with some context, and then we’d watch it together. The movie is a personal favorite of mine, Bones, a 2001 horror film starring Snoop Dog.
Horror Film Salon is a series of horror films that will be shown at Old Devil Moon throughout October, hosted by Elguyra, Dude of Darkness and Special Fiends such as me. The whole thing is a part of Halloween Town at the Old Devil Moon, fun times going down all October long!
Hayward Public Library’s Halloween Haunting With the Horror Writers Association of San Francisco!
Visit the Fremont Public Library for More Details Here
Fremont Bank Foundation Room – Large Room Subdivided 1/2 (Room A)
Wednesday, October 26, 2022 – 5:00pm – 6:30pm
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.
2Lani Dunn and Rex Reese
OCT 26 2022 WED
Fremont Bank Foundation Room – Large Room Subdivided 1/2 (Room A)
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
5:00pm – 6:30pm
Featured
decorative image
Program Type: Book Discussion, Special Events
Age Group: Teens , Adults , Seniors
Program Description
Event Details
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.
Help to raise funds for Blackened Roots: An Anthology of the Undead Nontraditional zombie stories from the African diaspora’s Indie A Go Go campaign!
:SPECIAL PERK:: Help #BlackenedRoots reach $500 and get an e-book copy of In The Bloodstream, a #horror anthology edited by award-winning author, @EdenRoyce, published by @mochamemoirs by midnight EST (9/29/2022). Here’s the link to the Indiegogo: https://igg.me/at/blackenedroots/x/10573081#/
Blackened Roots is an anthology of stories written by Black writers from all over the world featuring tales of non-traditional zombies. Think The Girl With All The Gifts, not The Walking Dead.
The anthology is co-edited by Stoker-nominated and award-winning editor and writer Nicole Givens Kurtz at Mocha Memoirs Press, and award-winning producer and editor Tonia Ransom at NIGHTLIGHT. At least three stories from the anthology will air on the NIGHTLIGHT podcast.
Blackened Roots will debut during February 2023, during Black History Month.
Planned Authors for Blackened Roots include:
Sheree Renée Thomas: Hugo Nominated Editor, 2001 & 2005 World Fantasy Award Winner, 2021 IGNYTE Finalist
Eden Royce: Shirley Jackson Award nominee, Walter Award Honoree, and a Nebula Award Finalist
Brandon Massey: Winner, Gold Pen Award for Best Thriller
Very proud to be a part of “In Trouble” an anthology edited by EF Schraeder and Elaine Schleiffer.
Terrified, desperate, and rebellious—before 1973, those were routine reactions for anyone trapped and in trouble. Access to reproductive health care has been chipped away for decades until a single decision once again mired a new generation in historic trauma and modern repression. Those reactions are once more routine for us.
The voices of “In Trouble” explore the fantastic and ordinary ways lives are overturned by unplanned or unexpected arrivals.
Reproductive rights are an issue that impacts everyone, including the transgender community. I am honored that my story, “The Ballad of Faerie Garcia,” was among the narratives accepted into this important anthology. It’s a story about a transgender couple whose plans for the immediate future are interrupted by an unplanned pregnancy.
While many of the stories in my personal wheelhouse are speculative fiction in the realm of the fantastical: horror, weird fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction (genres well-represented in this anthology), I decided to keep this story closer to home. Too many people think we’re fictional already, and too few understand that reproductive rights issues directly impact us.
The editors will donate 100% of net proceeds to benefit the National Network of Abortion Funds.
With the spooky season nearly upon us, this is a quick reminder that the Horror Writers Association’s Wellness Committee put together an incredible anthology of our member’s poems, flash fiction and personal reflections on mental health and horror — Of Horror and Hope — which includes my own poem “Generations of the Imaginarium” — is available for free download from the HWA website, or by clicking on the link to the PDF below. Featuring a beautifully harrowing Greg Chapman cover and a collection of writing to inspire and enlighten, we hope this booklet will offer solace and understanding around this important topic. Members with newsletters, we’d love it if you would share these links with to help spread the word.
Sumiko Saulson 