Dark Wisdom Webinar #6 – LGBTQ HORROR FICTION (with Bobby Crew)
Join author and indie publisher Bobby Crew, as we explore themes in LGBTQ horror fiction from historic to modern and learn how some LGBTQ authors naturally gravitated to the horror genre.
Bobby Crew is author of Dining with Devils, a collection of 7 stories that explores the hell you create when you get too close to your demons. He’s also starting a small publishing press that focuses primarily on LGBTQ horror.
Get tickets & Zoom link through Eventbrite ($5 or free for DHC members) or email submissions@denverhorror.com for more info.
1. Name one horror author you admire and explain how they helped you become a better writer.
Joe Hill, if what I once read about him being Stephen King’s son and choosing to not publish under the King name so that his writing would succeed on its own merit is true, I can totally dig and respect that! Stories like this give me drive to also succeed.
2. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot and why?
I chose my mascot in the opening rant of my third book when I said, “I am your Puking Jesus. I am the god of the urinal-cake!” And though there’s deeper meaning, it simply sounds cool.
3. Name six of your favorite horror movies or books. Elaborate on any of them.
Now we’re talkin’!! Naming six is so much easier than only one.
Books: Hell Bound Heart – Awesome splatterpunk sadomasochism. It – Come on, creepy clown is always a classic! Haunted – Chuck does a pretty good job writing horror without the supernatural aspect involved, especially in the section entitled “Guts”.
Movies: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, A New Generation – It’s just so messed up!!! Dracula, with Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder – that scene where he decides not to turn and condemn her to his eternal hunger, but she’s begging him to at this point; yeah, breathtaking. House of a Thousand Corpses – Get on my fluffy tail, said the rabbit, and I’ll take you to my rabbity hutch. Hahahahaha-hahahaha-hahahaha; Stab-stab-stab-hack-stab-splatter.
4. What is it about writing that excites you? And of course, what’s the next story we can look forward to reading from you?
Immortality in this carnal world through my craziness caught on paper, and in digital form, to be left as a legacy if I can’t someday achieve this immortality through medical science. If you haven’t read Brain Pulp, it could be the next thing being it’s back on market @ Amazon Kindle. My agent has submitted my novel, Lou Cifer, to Eraserhead Press, so let’s hope that’s, available soon. I’ve sent y’all my short story “Moo Like a Chicken” to answer your wendigo call. And right now, my second anthology, Collection of Madness, is undergoing its final format, a sequel to Lou Cifer entitled “Luci Fire” is in mock-up while I’m handwriting a vampyre novel, They Nest, in longhand.
What’s your favorite line in a book/movie? And why?
This is probably the most difficult question I have ever been asked. The first line that popped up in my head was, “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones,” by William Shakespeare from Julius Caesar.
I love this line for many reasons. Someone can be a good person almost all their life and then ruin their entire memory in a single act of violence or a single horrible decision. As a reader and writer, I love a good villain, and I think the greatest villains are those that aren’t entirely bad, those who have been warped into believing that the evil they do is justified or necessary. I love the unreliable narrator’s perspective because you can show this happening throughout the book through the eyes of the main character.
As a writer, how would you describe your muse? And your process?
My muse is a dark, vile, torturous, goth sprite, and she is easiest to summon at night with offerings of wine and the shitty day I’ve had.
Writing has always been a way for me to escape and empty out my emotional energy. I love the creative process. Creating has always been my way to retreat to another world…granted, this other world is always horrifying.
I have been writing horror since I was eight years old. I draw inspiration from dreams, and sometimes I warp personal traumas into supernatural abstractions. I’ve always been a night owl, so usually once everyone else is asleep and I’m truly alone, I get to play in the dark corners of my mind.
What author has been your biggest inspiration to write? And why?
I probably owe my entire desire to write to R. L. Stine. I hated reading when I was 7, and then I was introduced to the Goosebumps books. I immediately fell in love. I lived two buildings down from a big library, and I used to go there by myself to borrow them. I spent a lot of time at the library as a little kid.
When I was 8, I decided to try writing creepy stories of my own. My parents were a little worried at my violent and graphic content, but they let me be, encouraged me, and I have been writing ever since.
What is it about writing that excites you? And of course, what’s the next story we can look forward to reading from you?
I love creating worlds, characters, stories, and trying to create that creepy atmosphere in writing. Once I complete a draft, there is always this exciting rush, and I’m just like, “Wow, did I really just pull all of these pages out of my head?”
I’ve recently published a collection of horror stories called Dining with Devils, seven stories that explore what happens when you get a little too close to your demons. I’m currently working on my first novel called Helping Hands, it’s a working title, and probably the most thought-provoking and thematic horror story I have ever written. It has a lot of cultish and sexual undertones and explores how we can take even the most beautiful messages and turn them into horrifying realities.
Hunger. Insatiable hunger. Hunger that changes you…consumes you…turning you into a nightmare version of what you once were.
On the heels of the success of its Denver Post best-selling and critically acclaimed Terror at 5280’,Denver Horror Collective is cranking out another horror fiction anthology!
CONSUMED: Tales Inspired by the Wendigo will contain stories based on the Wendigo, a part-human monster or possessing spirit that instigates acts of murder, insatiable greed, and cannibalism, originating in the oral tradition of First Nations Algonquian tribes.
The brainchild of master editors Hollie & Henry Snider (formerly of Strigidae Publishing), CONSUMED: Tales Inspired by the Wendigo will feature Wrath James White (author of Succulent Prey, Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town, and Population Zero), Steve Rasnic Tem (author of Ubo, Deadfall Hotel, and over 350 short stories), Dana Fredsti (author of The Spawn of Lilith, Blood Ink, and the Plague Town trilogy), Owl Goingback (author of Crota, Darker than Night, and Coyote Rage), and many more seasoned and emerging horror authors.
In an effort to help communities struggling the most with the COVID-19 pandemic, 20 percent of net profits will go towards Native American coronavirus relief.
To make a contribution and claim your gift, check out our Indiegogo!
As with everything at Denver Horror Collective, CONSUMED is a group effort. So, if you love horror fiction and indie publishing, we need your help!
Our goal is to raise $3,000 to get CONSUMED off the ground and into the hands of horror fans across the country.
Here’s where your money will be going:
$1,200 for author payments $1,000 for publishing and printing $500 for marketing $300 for original cover
In appreciation for your financial contributions, we’d like to offer the following gifts:
$250 Framed CONSUMED: Tales Inspired by the Wendigo poster
$150
Framed Wendigo cross stitch from cosmic and sci-fi horror author P.L. McMillan
$100
Denver Horror Collective trading card with your name, photo, and personal info by Matt Sprague of Mile High Horrors
An original horror story with you as a character written by K.D. Webster, author of Adrian’s Children and Urban Legends series
$75
Virtual horror tour of Medellin, Columbia with Mike Hance, organizer of Ghost Town Writers Retreat (via Zoom)
Live commentary on horror film of your choice by Ian Neligh, author of Gold!: Madness, Murder, and Mayhem in the Colorado Rockies (via Zoom)
$50
Spooky family campfire tales with Joy Yehle, author of Dread (via Zoom)
Horror bedtime story of your choice read to you live by Jeamus Wilkes, DHC Steering Committee Member and author of The Music of Vengeance (via Zoom)
Content edit on a short story up to 5,000 words by Hollie Snider, co-editor of CONSUMED: Tales Inspired by the Wendigo
$20
EARLY RELEASE print copy of CONSUMED: Tales Inspired by the Wendigo signed by editors Hollie & Henry Snider
Denver Horror Collective T-shirt (Large, Medium, Small only)
$15
EARLY RELEASE E-book of CONSUMED: Tales Inspired by the Wendigo
$10
E-book of Terror at 5280’ by Denver Horror Collective
To make a contribution and claim your gift, check out our Indiegogo!
Before you pick up that pen, learn about the history of gothic literature, the various sub genres of gothic present, and the revisionist gothic future.
Colorado native Adrianne Montoya writes literary horror with a folkloric and historical flavor. She also has a finger in narrative podcasting, and another in developmental editing. She specializes in developing long-form literary fiction, thrillers, horror, and historical fiction, but also enjoys taking on stories and non-fiction projects. Find her podcast at https://southwestgothic.com.
Brenda Tolian is a writer out of Alamosa currently working on her MFA at Regis University. She is published within the short story horror genre and academically. She lives in and is inspired by the San Luis valley and the haunting stories past and present of the Southwest. The western gothic horror genre is her pleasure and passion.
Get tickets & the Zoom link ($5 or free for DHC members) through Eventbrite or email submissions@denverhorror.com.
Denver Horror Collective 