Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse Southern vampire novels, on a con panel at WHC '15
World Horror Con 2015 has come and gone and I'm left with memories of a fantastic conference, two successful pitch sessions with agents and an awesome print of artist Bob Eggleton's Pennywise the clown from Stephen King's IT. (see photo below)
As a first timer to WHC, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but the four-day conference blew me away with panels, readings, an art show, a mass author book signing, and a costume ball. I even had the opportunity to lead a group of horror poets in a Fried Zombie Dee-light sing-along!
One of the highlights was getting to meet author Charlaine Harris whose Sookie Stackhouse series inspired the HBO show True Blood. I've read the entire series (love it!) and just started watching Season 2 of True Blood on dvd. I also had the pleasure of meeting several other guests-of-honor, such as Dacre Stoker, the great-grand nephew of Bram Stoker who wrote DRACULA--one of my favorite books of all time. Kami Garcia, co-author of the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES series was an absolute hoot and so entertaining, as was poet Linda D. Addison who was an absolute delight in all ways.
A large percentage of attendees were women--something I was pleasantly surprised to see! The general public often thinks horror appeals more to men, but I'm here to tell ya that the ladies love horror, too.
The one thing that actually scared me at the con was having to pitch my latest novel face to face with not one, but two agents. Even though I've pitched and sold two novels and a short story collection to a professional publisher, it was all via email query where I could edit and polish my pitch until it was as perfect as I could get it. But when you're in person and have 3-5 minutes to sell someone, anything can go wrong! But I didn't get tongue tied, didn't stammer, and didn't put my foot in my mouth. And both agents want to see my manuscript. Pitch day also happened to be my birthday and getting two MS requests was the best birthday gift ever.
I left World Horror Con 2015 in high spirits and would love to return again next year.
As a first timer to WHC, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but the four-day conference blew me away with panels, readings, an art show, a mass author book signing, and a costume ball. I even had the opportunity to lead a group of horror poets in a Fried Zombie Dee-light sing-along!
One of the highlights was getting to meet author Charlaine Harris whose Sookie Stackhouse series inspired the HBO show True Blood. I've read the entire series (love it!) and just started watching Season 2 of True Blood on dvd. I also had the pleasure of meeting several other guests-of-honor, such as Dacre Stoker, the great-grand nephew of Bram Stoker who wrote DRACULA--one of my favorite books of all time. Kami Garcia, co-author of the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES series was an absolute hoot and so entertaining, as was poet Linda D. Addison who was an absolute delight in all ways.
A large percentage of attendees were women--something I was pleasantly surprised to see! The general public often thinks horror appeals more to men, but I'm here to tell ya that the ladies love horror, too.
The one thing that actually scared me at the con was having to pitch my latest novel face to face with not one, but two agents. Even though I've pitched and sold two novels and a short story collection to a professional publisher, it was all via email query where I could edit and polish my pitch until it was as perfect as I could get it. But when you're in person and have 3-5 minutes to sell someone, anything can go wrong! But I didn't get tongue tied, didn't stammer, and didn't put my foot in my mouth. And both agents want to see my manuscript. Pitch day also happened to be my birthday and getting two MS requests was the best birthday gift ever.
I left World Horror Con 2015 in high spirits and would love to return again next year.
Bob Eggleton print of Pennywise the clown
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