You’ve taken a seat at the table with me for five culinary conversations during the 80th World Science Fiction Convention — Wesley Chu, Carol Tilley, Eileen Gunn, Michael Swanwick and Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki — but now it’s time for our Worldcon wandering to come to an end. I invite you to eavesdrop as I chat and chew with three-time Bram Stoker Award-winning writer Tim Waggoner

Tim Waggoner is a writer of dark fantasy and horror whose first short story was published in 1992 and first novel came out in 2001. Since then he’s published more than 50 novels and seven collections of short stories. He’s written tie-in fiction based on Supernatural, Grimm, The X-Files, Alien, Doctor Who, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Transformers, and other franchises, and he’s written novelizations for films such as Halloween Kills, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and Kingsman: The Golden Circle. His most recent original novel, We Will Rise, was published earlier this year.

He’s the author of the acclaimed horror-writing guide Writing in the Dark, which won the Bram Stoker Award in 2021. He won another Bram Stoker Award in 2021 in the category of short nonfiction for his article “Speaking of Horror,” and in 2017 he received the Bram Stoker Award in Long Fiction for his novella The Winter Box. In addition, he’s been a multiple finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and the Scribe Award, and a one-time finalist for the Splatterpunk Award. In addition to writing, he’s also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio.

We discussed whether being a horror writer gives him any special insights into the pandemic, the true meaning of his latest novel’s very specific dedication, the patience the writing life requires, what his agent doesn’t want him to let his editors know, the reason ghost stories have never struck him as scary, how to write about people unlike yourself and get it right, the unusual way he decided which characters would live and which would die, why Psycho was one of the best movie experiences he ever had, the most difficult thing a writing teacher can teach, and much more.

Here’s how you can join us — (more…)

Vanity publishing scams have always been with us …

… as shown by this warning on the inside front cover of Invisible Scarlet O’Neil #2 (February 1951).

When I attended Chessiecon in Timonium, Maryland in 2018 — where in addition to taking part in programing, I recorded conversations with Jo Walton and Stephen Kozeniewski for episodes of Eating the Fantastic — I didn’t stay at the official con hotel. Instead of the Red Lion, I used miles to get a room next door at the Red Roof Inn. And I haven’t thought of that hotel since.

Until earlier this evening, while watching the first episode of the HBO series We Own This City, during which a drug bust went down on the same side of hotel where I was staying!

In the screen grab above, you can see a SWAT team on the second floor approaching the suspect. I no longer remember my exact room number, only its general location, but in my memory, I was in the middle right of that first floor, maybe even staying in the room by which you can see the housekeeping cart parked.

I look forward to seeing whether the remaining five episodes take me back to any other Baltimore geography out of my past.

Chessicon is held — sometimes in Baltimore, sometimes in the Baltimore suburbs — every year over the Thanksgiving weekend. I’m only able to make it for a single day this time around, so if you’re hoping to hear me pontificate, here’s where you’ll be able to find me —

The Collusion of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction
Saturday 1:00 p.m., Salon C
We like to think of stories as falling into separate genres, but often a story will end up crossing genres. This panel examines, and will point out concepts and that might fit into any or all of the referenced genres. It should also include some examples of stories that illustrate these concepts, and how they do so, and what the purpose of cross-genre stories might be.
with Michelle Sonnier, Margaret Carter, and Ef Deal

Short SF/F Stories vs Novels
Saturday 5:00 p.m., Salon D
So, you’ve written a story. It has a bgeginning, a middle and an end. But have you actually completed a story? Or, have you written more words than there is story to tell? A look at how to fine-tune your writing for the story you have.
with Michelle Sonnier, Ef Deal, and D. H. Aire

Hope to see you there!