Category Archives: blog

Denver Horror Collective Raises Funds for Local Horror Fiction Anthology

Posted on by

Terror CoverDenver Horror Collective, a group of horror writers and artists, has raised $1,150 through its Indiegogo fundraiser to purchase stories from twenty-seven Colorado authors to publish in Terror at 5280’, a local horror fiction anthology due out this fall.

The twenty-one dark tales chosen for the print and e-book anthology (and six more in The Epitaph newsletter and on DenverHorror.com) are set around the greater Denver metroplex and Front Range Rocky Mountain communities. Some stories are based on local folklore and urban legends, while others touch on social and environmental themes relevant to the area, such as gentrification, substance abuse, and zombie deer (aka chronic wasting disease).

All stories are penned by Colorado authors, including: Bram Stoker Award® winning horror master Stephen Graham Jones, USA Today and #1 Denver Post bestselling thriller author Carter Wilson, various Denver Horror Collective members, and other Colorado-based horror fiction writers including Carina Bissett, Lindsay King-Miller, and Joy Yehle, with a foreword by Horror Writers Association President John Palisano.

Continue reading →

The Hatchet Lady of Red Rocks

Posted on by

– by Adrianne Montoya

Red Rocks

Photo: Adrianne Montoya

The road that runs the east slope of Lookout Mountain has a great view of the city lights, but as a Lovers’ Lane, it gets a little crowded. If you and your date require a more secluded spot, there are plenty of half-hidden pullouts along the backroads of Morrison where you can slip under the wild plum and gambel oak. Ignore the litter of empty beer cans, discarded prophylactics, and coyote scat, and it’s peaceful and private. If you manage to get close to Red Rocks on summer concert night, you can even enjoy the background thrum of the music.

Until the Hatchet Lady wanders past. She’s known to be less than friendly to people she considers trespassers. That hatchet may be getting dull, but she swings it with surprising force.

Continue reading →

Jeamus After Midnight Podcast #2: Josh Schlossberg Interview and Folk Horror Discussion

Posted on by

Jeamus_After_Midnight_PodbeanIn this second episode of the Jeamus After Midnight Podcast, Jeamus interviews author and journalist Josh Schlossberg, a damned fine writer who mixes it up with the macabre. Later in the episode we have a brief discussion about the very big subject of American Folk Horror.

Download/stream on Podbean.

Jeamus After Midnight Podcast #1: Brains and Origins

Posted on by

Jeamus_After_Midnight_PodbeanIn this pilot episode of Jeamus After Midnight (sponsored by Denver Horror Collective), artist and author Jeamus Wilkes flies solo in a fifteen minute monologue about creative brains, the origins of stuff, sobriquets, what meaneth “horror”, and the road ahead for the podcast… all with a delightfully creepy, blizzardy soundtrack.

Download/stream on Podbean.

Call for Submissions: Terror at 5280’

Posted on by

Call for Submissions: Terror at 5280’

Denver Horror Press is seeking the best in local horror fiction to publish in our upcoming anthology, Terror at 5280’.

We’re looking for short stories related to or taking place in or around Denver, Colorado (bonus points for including local lore or haunts) written by authors currently living in Colorado (stories written by those outside of Colorado will not be considered).

Continue reading →

Playing with Fear

Posted on by

– by Bobby Crew

Playing with your fears is the sure way to make them your friends, in my highly-valued opinion, that is. But before I explain… I’ll just show you an example of how I like to play. This prose poem below is how I turned one of my fears into who I now call Big D.

Ryan Eldon Holmbeck

Photo: Ryan Eldon Holmbeck

A Tribute to Big D

I am well acquainted with Big D; we are beyond a first name basis, Death and I. A few times a year he drops by to see me, just to say hello—although sometimes I really wish he’d call first. I always like to clean up a little before guests come over. You know, shove everything in the closet and under the bed, vacuum, wash a few dishes, fill the rooms with sweet fragrance, and buy a bottle of tequila.

Continue reading →

Blurred Lines: Newswriting and Horror Fiction

Posted on by

– by Josh Schlossberg

blood-with-penPeople often act surprised when I tell them I’m both a journalist and a horror fiction writer.

I mean, I get it: In many ways the two fields don’t even occupy the same landscape. In one, shameless hacks make up fake stories to exploit the most depraved aspects of the human experience, while the other is a celebrated genre of literature popularized by respected writers such as Bram Stoker, H.P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King.

Seriously, though, while quality journalism presents a spectrum of viewpoints all at once, horror fiction is typically about seeing the world through the biased (even warped) lens of one character at a time.

The mechanics of the writing itself also tend to differ, where spare and simple prose best conveys the facts essential to newswriting, while in fiction colorful word choice and stylistic phrasing amplify a writer’s unique voice.

But the lines can—and often do—blur. Whether it’s an article delving into the gun control debate or a story about swimmers devoured by a lake monster, both crafts are driven by our inborn attraction to conflict.

Continue reading →