On the final day of StokerCon 2017, I woke ridiculously early for a breakfast recording of Eating the Fantastic at Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles—to the great skepticism of almost everyone I’d told at the con, who doubted those two foodstuffs were meant to be ingested simultaneously.

Luckily, my guest this episode was not a skeptic, and enthusiastically accompanied me for the greasy goodness. Five-time Bram Stoker Award winning-writer Nancy Holder had been the Toastmaster during the previous night’s ceremony, is the author of the young adult horror series Possessions, and has written many tie-in works set in such universes as Teen Wolf, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Smallville, and Wonder Woman.

We discussed her somewhat secret origin as a romance novelist, why her first horror convention made her burst into tears, how she got off on the wrong foot with acclaimed editor Charles L. Grant, what caused her Edgar Allan Poe obsession to begin, why she was a fan of DC Comics instead of Marvel as a kid, what Ed Bryant might have meant when he called her “the first splatterpunk to chew with her mouth closed,” and more.

Here’s how you can take a bite out of that chicken and waffles, too— (more…)

It’s too early to share any photos of the fun from this year’s World Horror Convention, because I won’t even be heading off to Salt Lake City until Thursday. But what I can share is a look back at a moment of fun from one of my favorite World Horror Cons past.

Here’s a kooky quartet of writers yucking it up sixteen years ago at the 1992 WHC in Nashville. (Click on the image at right to make this fantastic four even more fantastic.) The trio towering over me is, from left to right, Nancy Holder, Adam-Troy Castro (who I already told you about here), and Connie Hirsch. I have no idea how we ended up in such a compromising position, but since I have no shame, I guess it doesn’t really matter.

As you might suspect from everything that’s happened since, the only way that I got Adam off my back was by agreeing to buy all those Vossoff and Nimmitz stories when I was editing Science Fiction Age. Why else do you think I published them? If I hadn’t, he’d probably be around my neck still!

As you can see, World Horror Cons are always a blast, and I expect the coming one to be no different. Check back later this week to see just how wild and crazy it gets.