Where to Find Me at StokerCon

Folks, ain’t going to lie, I was a bit down about the writing life earlier this year.

I had received a whole raft of rejections pretty consistently since the start of the year. They kept piling up, especially on two pieces (one a story and one a novella) which I thought (and think) are quite good. That made me fall deeper into this funk. And then, I took a break.

I stepped away for a week from the day job, took a trip out to Oregon, and spent some time out at my parent’s place which is deep in the country at the end of a country road. I tuned out social media (completely), the news (almost entirely), and the Internet (mostly). I upped my time spent with the family, with watching nature/wildlife,  and observing the night sky. And slowly, I started to come back into myself.

Then, one day, hanging out by the pond at dusk I watched the bats come out and start to carve these delicate, little loops on the surface of the water. At that point, a kernel of an idea for a story suddenly popped in my head. It was such a great idea that I wrote it down IMMEDIATELY in my phone. I enjoyed the rest of the dusk, and the bats, and the fish jumping and I headed back up to the house thinking: “Well…This is what I do. This is who I am.”

Shortly after this I got the news I had been selected to be on a panel at StokerCon. That hit me like a ton of bricks (in the best possible way!). I have NEVER been on a panel at StokerCon and it would be one of my favorite subjects: Cosmic Horror.

So, I’m back now from wherever I was. Hitting my word counts. Polishing stories. Capturing poems. Getting good ideas down before they’re gone on the wind. This is me now. And it has been for a long time…I just needed a little break to re-realize it.

…Anyway…

I hope to see you (fellow Horror writers, especially) at StokerCon 2025 in Stamford, Connecticut in a couple of weeks (June 12-15). If you see me wandering the halls—don’t forget to say “Hello.” I should be easy to spot.  

And if you want to catch me on the panel or at a reading—here’s where you can find me:  

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Two Readings…
I will be doing two readings at StokerCon this year.

First, I plan to publicly debut a poem (probably “Anti-Hydra”) at the Open Mic Poetry Reading on June 12 at 6 p.m. If you’re a Dark Poet, that Open Mic Night is a great place to be. You can listen to lots of other poets read and if the spirit moves you—stand up and deliver one yourself. It’s a super non-judgmental and supportive crowd. If you have something to share—it’s a great place to start. In fact, it’s where I gave my first public poetry reading.   

Second, I have a reading with two other talented writers: Rachel Harrison and Ryan Marie Ketterer. This reading will be June 14 at 9:00 a.m. A perfect way to start your day (or work off your hangover, as the case may be…). I plan to read more of my poetry here, starting with my latest release this year: “Celestial Worm.” It’s got people, worms, blackholes—I mean what a way to wash down your breakfast!   

BTW, readings, for me, are really a great way to discover the intention behind an author’s words. I really feel like I get more of what a writer meant to say when they read their owns words somehow.

…And a Panel on Cosmic Horror
This is the big one.

I will be appearing on the panel “Cosmic Horror: Beyond Lovecraft” on June 15 at 10 a.m. (in room Grove 2). This panel will be a “discussion of non-Lovecraftian cosmic horror with an emphasis on the works of Algernon Blackwood, Robert W. Chambers, Lord Dunsany, William Hope Hodgson, and Clark Ashton Smith, who contributed to the foundation of this horror sub-genre. The panel will also look at contemporary trends in cosmic horror that take the genre beyond HPL, and where authors are finding new, fertile ground for this kind of horror.”

I will be appearing alongside a list of incredibly talented writers in contemporary Cosmic Horror: Barbara Cottrell, Ann Dávila Cardinal, John Langan, and Darrell Schweitzer. James Chambers will moderate.

I will just say this about the panel for now: I know there’s a great desire by myself and the other panelists to focus on the second part of the summary above, the “fertile, new ground” of Cosmic Horror as opposed to looking to the past. As it should be!

OK. All for now! Hope to see you in Stamford. (I have to start packing).

If you can’t make it, I plan to post audio recordings on the Appearances tab here on the Blog. I should have those up sometime later in June.