Featured Interview: Horror Author J.F. Gonzalez

My special guest this Halloween is horror writer J. F. Gonzalez, author of several acclaimed novels of terror and suspense including Clickers (with Mark Williams), Clickers II: The Next Wave (with Brian Keene), Survivor, Bully, Fetish, and many others, as well as over sixty short stories and numerous articles. Gonzalez was kind enough to take [...]

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“Horror Fiction – Ten Cliches to Avoid,” by William Meikle

For anyone thinking about writing in the horror genre, there are certain situations that, over the years, have been done so often that the audience knows exactly what to expect. Using any of these is fine if you’re being post-modern and ironic as in the Scream series, because you can get the audience laughing as [...]

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The Origins of Halloween

Halloween is not only a colourful night of fun, frights, sweets and costumes. It is a full-blown industry, with more than $14 billion spent each year on costumes, decorations, party supplies, candy and other paraphernalia.
How did it all get started?
The origins of Halloween are quite dark, and go all the way back to 2,000 years [...]

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Halloween Festival: Interview with Bill Sherman, Commentator and Comics Review Editor at Blogcritics Magazine

Pop culture critic, blogger and commentator Bill Sherman is the founder of Pop Culture Gadabout, a blog focusing on comics, music, TV and film criticism. He's also the Comics Review Editor at Blogcritics Magazine. In this interview, Sherman talks about his blog, the reason why zombies are the 'hard-core champions' of all horror fiends, and what's popular in horror books [...]

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Halloween Festival: Interview with Christine Verstraete, author of THE WITCH TREE

Thanks for stopping at the Dark Phantom today, Christine. How long have you been writing dark stories?
For a while now. Funny as while I lean towards mystery first, I always seem to want to write horror. Blame it on Stephen King. Ha!
Tell us about your story, The Witch Tree. What inspired it?
Jimmy [...]

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Halloween Festival: Interview with Karen Wiesner, author of The Woodcutter’s Grim Series

Prolific, multi-genre, award-winning author Karen Wiesner has written over 55 books in the past 10 years, many of which have been nominated or won awards. She's the founder of ‘Jewels of the Quill’, a group of 12 award-winning women authors from the Midwest who help to promote each other. Karen’s books cover such genres as women’s fiction, romance, [...]

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Halloween Festival: Interview with Alexandra Sokoloff, author of THE HARROWING and THE PRICE

California native Alexandra Sokoloff is a professional screenwriter, director, choreographer and author of the supernatural thrillers, The Harrowing and The Price. The first was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel and for an Anthony Award for Best First Mystery. She has adapted numerous novels for film for companies such as Sony, Fox, [...]

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Halloween Festival: Interview with Kim McDougall, author of ANGEL VENOM

Multi-genre author, photographer, and fiber artist Kim McDougall enjoys writing for adults, young adults and children. She's the author of the novellas, Angel Venom and The Stone Beach, as well as various short stories in the dark fantasy and horror categories.  Kim is also the founder of the new, growingly popular Blazing Trailers, a site featuring book [...]

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Halloween Festival: Interview with Inanna Arthen, author of MORTAL TOUCH

Inanna Arthen is the author of The Vampires of New England series and founder of By Light Unseen Media, a publishing company specializing in vampire fiction and nonfiction. She’s also a regular contributor to Blogcritics Magazine. An expert in vampire folklore, Arthen is here today to talk about her series, her new press, vampires, and [...]

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Halloween Festival: Interview with Karen L. Syed, Owner of Echelon Press

Started in 2009, Echelon Press publishes short stories, novellas and novels in various genres. Under their new imprint 'Quake', they also publish fiction for middle graders and young adults. At present, Echelon publishes two paperback novels a month as well as one or two of their popular short story and novella downloads. Here to talk about the company and [...]

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