Name: StokerCon 2025 Encore Presentation Presented by AllAccessCon
Start: 2025-06-19 20:00:00 -0400
End: 2025-06-22 20:00:00 -0400

80's/90's Kindertrauma

Panelists look back on some of their favorite classic kids media and discuss how the stories, characters and settings influenced their work.

A Conversation with Del Howison

Lisa Morton talks with Del & Sue Howison about their love of horror and their horror-themed bookstore, Dark Delicacies.

A Conversation with Joyce Carol Oates

A conversation with Joyce Carol Oates, her works, and her history, with Ellen Datlow.

Adapting Books to Film: Horror from the Page to the Screen

Guest of Honor Adam Nevill and other panelists look at what it takes to adapt horror stories for film.

Authentic Representation in Horror

Writers from marginalized communities bring their lived experience to the conversation about representation in horror.

Behind The Scenes Of Anthology Editing

Explore how to curate and arrange stories according to theme, setting, and mood, and building an arc throughout the book.

Bram Stoker Awards Panel

What are the Awards about, how do they work, how can HWA members and non-members participate in the Awards.

Building a Prolific Career in Horror

Panelists share real-world strategies for producing consistently, staying inspired, and managing writing alongside life’s responsibilities.

Chilling Comics

What makes horror comics special and influential, how to break into comics writing, and historical highlights of horror comics.

Cosmic Horror: Beyond Lovecraft

Non-Lovecraftian cosmic horror with an emphasis on Blackwood, Chambers, Dunsany, William Hope Hodgson, and Clark Ashton Smith.

Crafting Original Monsters

In this panel, authors introduce a brand-new bestiary with creeping, crawling critters beyond your wildest nightmares.

Editing Horror: Shaping Stories and Building Worlds

Panelists share real-world experiences working with authors, selecting stories for anthologies, and shaping manuscripts into finished books.

Feedback That Doesn't Haunt You: What to Look for in Writing Groups and Beta Readers

In this panel, we’ll explore the full spectrum of constructive critique, from beta reader partnerships to long-term writing groups.

Folklore and Fiction: Ancient Myths Into Modern Stories

Panelists discuss how to find, research, and use folklore as a basis or inspiration for fresh stories.

Found Forms in Horror

Join us for a panel about unique and unusual formatting of your writing beyond epistolary stories.

Horror as Therapy

Panelists discuss how horror can be used to process real-life experiences, how they've grown from consuming and writing horror.

How to Be a Pro

The panel will offer tips, do's and don'ts and general advice about how to succeed in making good connections and advancing your career.

How To Promote Your Book Without A Big Budget

Creators offer strategies for leveraging social media, finding ARC readers, bookstore/library outreach and other techniques

Monster Mash!

An intrepid group who will strive to answer the age old question: "Which monster would win in a fight?"

New England Gothic

From ghosts to witches to the Jewett City vampires, New England is emblematic of the dark themes of the Gothic literary tradition.

Off the Beaten Path: Self-Publishing, Indies, Crowdfunding

This panel will offer practical insights for horror writers ready to take the non-traditional path and make it their own.

Oh My Goth: The Gothic Heroine Renaissance

This panel explores the reimagining the Gothic heroine for a new era — subverting traditional tropes while honoring the genre.

Parental Horror: Generational Trauma and Ties That Terrify

This panel brings together authors whose work examines parent-child relationships at every stage of life.

Perspectives in the Writing Life: From Rookie to Veteran

StokerCon's Guests of Honor - writers at different stages of their careers - explore how the writing life evolves over time.

Power of A Poetic Voice

In this panel, panelists will discuss how poetry can be both advocative and subjective truth.

Public Domain Horror

Panelists discuss the merits and drawbacks of using public domain material.

Runnin' With the Devil

This panel will delve into creepy rock music of the 1970s and discuss how these songs have impacted the horror genre.

Salem's Lot at 50/Nosferatu at 103

This panel addresses the evolution of the Nosferatu mythos since the original film and how it has evolved over the last 100 years.

Scaring And Daring Anthology Panel

Join contributors from the Scaring and Daring official HWA anthology as they talk about their stories.

Sex and Monsters: Horror Is Redefining Bodies, Relationships

The panel explores the intersections of desire and the monstrous. How does horror defy boundaries, transform bodies, intimacy, connection?

Southern Gothic in the Contemporary South

How has Southern Gothic changed in relation to the current social and socioeconomic issues in that region of the United States?

The Fearsome Final Girl

Authors discuss favorite final girls throughout horror history, and their predictions for how this trope and the horror genre might evolve.

The Halloween Librarians and You: A Not So Scary Partnership

Join the HWA’s Library Advisory Council and author Clay McLeod Chapman for a discussion on how authors can make connections with libraries.

The Myth of Making It

Join our group of panelists as we talk day jobs, work/life balance, career shifts, and the many unconventional paths we walk as writers.

The Tangled Skein of Short Stories

Learn why short stories aren’t just lazy novels; they are an art form with its own set of rules and skills.

Writing Horror Novelizations and Media Tie-Ins

Learn what it takes to thrive in the world of horror tie-ins and novelizations with Guest of Honor Tim Waggoner and V. Castro.

Writing Horror as Resistance

Del Sandeen, Maxwell Ian Gold, Pedro Iniguez, Sonora Taylor, Steven Van Patten, Tatiana Schlotte-Bonne, Vincent Tirado, and Stacie Herrington

StokerCon 2025: Adapting Horror

Tim Waggoner (adaptations of Halloween Kills, Terrifier, Pearl, Supernatural) V. Castro (adaptations of Aliens: Vasquez, Rebel Moon) Josh Millican (adaptations of Chopping Mall, Circus of the Dead) Tim Lebbon (adaptations of Star Wars, Alien, Hellboy) Moderators Jeff C. Carter (Host of the WE BLEED ORANGE & BLACK podcast) Paxton Holley (I READ MOVIES podcast, CULT FILM CLUB podcast)

StokerCon 2025: Transcending Horror Tropes

Cassandra O’Sullivan Sachar, Lisa Wood, Carlos A. González, Stefan Sonntagbauer, Andrew Najberg

Your Work is all Intellectual Property: Finding the Media Potential of your Fiction

Tananarive Due, LP Kindred, Ai Jiang, Kate Maruyama

StokerCon 2025: Mind Killer or Manna?: Tapping into childhood fears to create exceptional modern monsters

Ann Dávila Cardinal, Dawn Kurtagich, Kat Ellis, Kiersten White, Rob Costello, Gretchen McNeil, Joshua Winning

StokerCon 2025: Modern Young Adult Horror

Taylor Grothe, Robert Ottone, Maria Alexander, Joey Powell, Wendy Dalrymple

StokerCon 2025: First Person Dead

CC Adams, Gemma Amor, John Langan, Gordon B. White, Jason A. Wyckoff

StokerCon 2025: Women of the Horrific Weird West

KC Grifant, Nicole Givens Kurtz, Tiffany Morris, Christine Morgan, Cynthia Pelayo, Stephanie Rabig, Rebecca Rowland

StokerCon 2025: Working with Editors

Lisa Kastner, Cecilia Kennedy, Henry Herz, and Kate Maruyama

StokerCon 2025: Mascot Horror: Cute, Cuddly, Creepy

Patrick Barb, Grace Daly, Brian McAuley, P.L. McMillan, Sam Rebelein

StokerCon 2025: Ghost Stories: From the Classics to the Modern

Lisa Morton, KC Grifant, Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito, Michael Arnzen, Eric J. Guignard

StokerCon 2025: We are Coming for the Children: The Scary Truth About Middle Grade Horror

Becky Spratford, Derick Chow, Fleur Bradley, Eden Royce, Graham Annable, Maxwell I Gold, and Julia Smith

StokerCon 2025: Neurodiversity in Horror

Tee Wood, Rick Claypool, Steven Belanger, Lara Frater, Ricardo D. Rebelo, L. E. Daniels

StokerCon 2025: Unmarked Graves and Tortured Roots: Defining Folk Horror from the Perspective of the Asian Diaspora

Geneve Flynn, J.A.W. McCarthy, Ayida Shonibar, Gabriela Lee, Kanishk Tantia

StokerCon 2025: Taking Risks: Tackling Taboo Subjects in Horror

Robbie Dorman, Tamika Thompson, Jamie Flanagan, Clay McLeod Chapman, Christina Persaud, Douglas Ford

StokerCon 2025: Vampires: Why they Endure and Continue to Fascinate Us

Hailey Piper, S. Faxon, Liz Kerin, Heather Hein

StokerCon 2025: Plotting Your Publishing Journey

Daniel Barnett, Wendy Dalrymple, Angela Sylvaine, Jenny Kiefer

StokerCon 2025: There's No Such Thing As Self-Publishing

Mark Matthews, Chad Lutzke, Candace Nola, Peter Rosch, Kat Silva

StokerCon 2025: It Came From the Depths of the Archives!: Writing Nonfiction

L. Marie Wood, W. Scott Poole, Heidi Honeycutt

StokerCon 2025: Crossroads: Choosing and Succeeding Among Different Horror-Publishing Paths

Dan Franklin, Steven James, Alan Lastufka, Erin Macnair, Premee Mohamed, Janine Cross

StokerCon 2025: Bubblegum Horror

Ryan LaSala, Kelly Andrew, De Elizabeth, Angela Sylvaine, Wendy Dalrymple

StokerCon 2025: Love Bites: Where Horror and Romance Make Out

Michaela Rae, Jonathan Reddoch, Brianna Malotke, Elizabeth Suggs

StokerCon 2025: Radio play “The Devil’s Saint”

Performers: Charles Barouch, Teel James Glenn, and Carol Gyzander; Sound engineering: Steven Van Patten

StokerCon 2025: Sinners: Afrosurrealism, Horror and Vampires, Oh My!

Zin Rocklyn, Steven Van Patten, Donyae Coles, Denise Tapscott, Sumiko Saulson

StokerCon 2025: Hello, And Welcome To... A Celebration of Horror Lit's Most Vocal Advocates - Our Podcasters

Neil McRobert - Talking Scared; Robb Olson - The ARC Party; Anna Dupre - Anna Rose Reads; Trevor Williamson - Sley House Presents

StokerCon 2025: Pathways to Horror

Joshua Ginsberg, Marie Still, Lee Murray, Jose Cruz, Kurt Fawver, J.W. Ocker

StokerCon 2025: Non-Traditional Gothic

Marianne Kirby, Carl Engle-Laird, Sofia Ajram, Caitlin Starling

StokerCon 2025: Venomous & Voracious: Fabulous Female Villains & What They Mean to Women Writers in the Horror Genre

Gwendolyn Kiste, Candace Nola, May Walker, Sara Tantlinger, J.A.W. McCarthy, vcastro

StokerCon 2025: Booksellers & Bookstores and Their Support of Horror

Marguerite "Peg" Turley, Lisa Doblow, Jenny Kiefer, Clay McLeod Chapman

StokerCon 2025: The Halloween Librarians and You: A Not so Scary Partnership

Konrad Stump, Becky Spratford, Yaika Sabat, Chloe Waryan, and Sadie Hartmann

StokerCon 2025: Understanding Historical Horror

Philip Fracassi, John Kachuba, Alma Katsu, John Langan

StokerCon 2025: Writing Quality at Speed

Charles Barouch (mod), Teel James Glenn, Carl Paolino, David Avallone, and B.E. Miller

StokerCon 2025: The United States of Horror

Patrick Barb (moderator), Cynthia Pelayo, John Langan, Christa Carmen, Elizabeth Broadbent, Wendy Dalrymple, Philip Fracassi

StokerCon 2025: How to Perform a Seance

Moderator: Frances Lu Pai Ippolito; Panelists: Lisa Morton, Jonathan Gensler, Rebecca Cuthbert, and Sarah Walker.

Author Reading: Ari Loeb

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