Those responsible for his death cringed in fear On the day that the child on their lawn did appear Was his hair in corn rows, or a fuzzy black crown? Were there tears in his eyes when held his head down?
Some of us keep histories The tales of our tribe Oral legends intertwine With the parts of our mind Containing genetic memory Of the trauma, we’ve shared Grievous wounds to our psyches Handed down by forebears
They say that the child on the lawn Is one of those such things When tears well in his dead eyes Then the living’s eyes sting And the weight that he brings down Upon their hearts is hard to bear
The ghost of the tragedies Our ancestors endured Has escaped through our wounds Now he’s walking the streets Though the guilty may hide Their sanity is unwound By the sound of his Telltale Heartbeat
Those who injured him grievously cower in fear Terrified that the child on their lawn will appear
When the child on the lawn waved his fabulous wand Playing games with his fervent imagination Weaving tales without jails where he’d play and run free Did they grow terrified? Mistake it for a gun? Did they call the police on someone’s Twelve-year-old son?
Now the ghost on their lawn is enacting his rage Clammy hands clawing up as he climbs from the grave Craving equality, as he did in his life When his enemies told tales with their backstabbing knives The same bigotted tales that they told in his life Weaving stories to ensure his kin would not survive Calling him superpredator, fettering him in chains Tossing his corpse out in a pauper’s fire heap of remains
Now the child on the lawn sings his frightening songs Threatening to “overcome” and also “carry on” How they cower in their homes afraid to walk at night alone For the fear of this reverberant hum, it amasses as it Is carried down the line by the other children As they march in a line, and their feet beat in time Making the sounds that amound billowing over their heads For you cannot escape the cries of the dead
My short story “Dwayne’s Baby Daddy” is in Blerdrotica 2: Couple’s Therapy (curated by Cranston Burney and Penelope Flynn). The full moon has all kinds of effects on the local werewolf population: including their on mating patterns. For Jamal, who’s in an open relationship with his reluctant wife Mariah, and his adventurous boyfriend Dwayne, the mystical fertility powers of the lunar cycle bring new complications when Dwayne, a transman, gets pregnant. That’s where a mysterious supernatural force steps in to help work things out: The Therapist.
The Therapist is the strange, unearthly, and at times foreboding paranormal creature that holds together the tales told in Blerdrotica 2: Couple’s Therapy, a compilation of erotic short fiction by eight authors, Sumiko Saulson, James Goodridge, Penelope Flynn, Jarla Tangh, Abdul-Qaadir Taariq Bakari-Muhammad, Quinton Veal, Cranston Burney and Valjeanne Jeffers, who in their own very unique and provocative ways express sex and sexuality employing science fiction, fantasy, horror and urban fantasy.
Blackened Roots: An Anthology of the Undead (Nontraditional zombie stories from the African diaspora) is on its final week of fundraising on IndieGoGo, and is only 45% funded. Please help get the word out! We have little time left. The project has to be at least 60% funded for the editors/publisher to reach their goal of professional rates for the authors.
Help them achieve their goal of paying Black authors at professional rates.
The anthology is co-edited by Stoker-nominated and award-winning editor and writer Nicole Givens Kurtz at Mocha Memoirs Press, and 2022 World Fantasy Award Winner and 2022 Ignyte Winner, producer and editor Tonia Ransom at NIGHTLIGHT. At least three stories from the anthology will air on the NIGHTLIGHT podcast.
Check out my reading from earlier today as part of the Berkeley Public Library Halloween Programming! So honored to have been a part of Scary Stories, Past and Present, where my novella “Ashes & Coffee” was paired with Edgar Allen Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death”
Cats in the Garden – weird cat grief filk – this song is about how my cats were with me during Shelter in Place in 2020 and 2021, I used to have two cats, but now I have one…
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!
[ONLINE] SFPA Awards Ceremony & Social Hour October 17, 2026 at 9:00 am – 11:00 am
Come join , Diane Severson Mori, SFPA membership chair and VP, and Kate Ristau, president of SFWA, on a trip to the stars! On Oct. 17, 2026 at High Noon (Eastern US time!) blast off by live-streaming the first annual SFPA Awards Ceremony, followed by a social hour for attendees to meet in small groups…
[IN PERSON] Read the Room: Books Not Bans @ Kerouac Alley October 17, 2026 at 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Jack Kerouac Alley, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
[IN PERSON] The Rise of Speculative Poetry at WFC October 22, 2026 at 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Sunday, October 25, 2026 10AM-11AM Room 201This year the World Fantasy Convention recognizes its first-ever Poet Guest of Honor, poet Linda Addison. Last year Brandon O’Brien was recognized as the first Worldcon Poet Laureate, and Marie Brennan won the first-ever Hugo for Best Poem. We’ll discuss the broadening recognition for speculative poetry, and why it’s…
[IN PERSON] World Fantasy Convention October 22, 2026 at 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Oakland Marriott City Center, 1001 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94607, USA
Reimagined Identities & Fantastic LiteratureWorld Fantasy Con 2026 Oakland: A Beacon of Becoming and Belonging
Bootsy Catlins
