by on

Statement on Maus and Other Banned Books

The Horror Writers Association condemns banning books in no uncertain terms. We believe authors need to be able to tell their stories without fear of reprisal.

The banning of “Maus” in a Tennessee school district, which was done on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is nothing less than censorship and anti-Semitism.

“Maus” is not the first text to be excluded from school libraries. Recently, LGBTQ+ texts have been banned in a Washington state school district, and many other books by authors of color have been censored in districts across America. These are chilling examples of censorship, racism, anti-Semitism, and white washing. We all need to be more vocal each and every time this happens.

These actions set a dangerous precedent in a free society. They cannot and should not be tolerated. The HWA condemns all attempts at censorship, particularly these obvious attempts of the establishment to silence marginalized voices. We urge you to speak out in your local communities against such autocratic tactics that not only threaten our creative community but also make our world less safe.

Signed,

The HWA’s Officers and Board of Trustees

by on

I can’t believe January has already almost come and gone. There’s so much to do, but I wanted to take a few minutes and update everyone with some of my upcoming writing appearances.

The Winter Edition of Spectral Realms No. 16 has been released from Hippocampus Press which includes contributions from Christina Sng, Wade German, Ann K. Schwader, Frank Coffman, and a host of familiar faces. The cover was designed by Dan Sauer which features the artwork A Witches’ Sabbath by Cornelis Saftleven, c. 1650.

I will have three prose poems in this issue, ‘The Great Parade,’ ‘The Beast with a Billion Stomachs,’ and ‘The City of Dreams.’

I’m particularly fond of the last piece due to the fact I tend to write a lot of my poetry as if I were dreaming in cities, landscapes and other metallic-scapes.

Next up is the Spring 2022 issue of the award winning publication The Horror Zine edited be Jeani Rector. This issue will feature three of my poems, ‘The Näigöth Waits,’ ‘Where No One Goes,’ and ‘Chthonic Dreams.’

Artwork by Janusz Gierat, formatted by Bruce Memblatt