I am delighted to be the recipient of the 2017 Horror Writers Association Scholarship. (The announcement of winners is found here:
http://horrorscholarships.com/2017-scholarship-winners/). The $2500 prize is for approved spending on education-related activities that aids me in the perfection of my craft, especially in my writing dark poetry and prose.
Essay excerpt:
This scholarship will be very valuable to me in my writing career and developing as a successful horror writer and poet… I aspire to take my writing to another level…
honing my skills in short fiction and expanding into long fiction—novella length dark/horror work, as well as the developing of new skills in poetry…I pursue…a Bram Stoker Award for both poetry and fiction.
Not only would I personally benefit, but also would the community of horror writers via at least three mechanisms:
(1) I’d be compelled to continue to give back to this writing community by sharing my existing and developing craft knowledge of the horror genre.
(2) I’d continue to promote the genre consistent with the vision of the HWA
(3) As an active member in the writing community,…I can give voice to speculative poetry and prose…And though I am not yet a member of the Horror Writers Association, I plan to apply for full membership in the near future.
To demonstrate the diversity of dark writing, here are the titles, with updated publication information, for the writing sample I submitted:
Fiction
-Wolf in Grandma’s Clothing (Fantastical Feathers, January 2018)
-Frozen Promises (Fantastical Feathers, January 2018)
-The Holy River (2017 Chattanooga Writers’ Guild Spring Writing Contest finalist; forthcoming in the CWG anthology in 2018)
-The Minotaur (Liquid Imagination & David McFarland promotion writing contest, 3rd place, February 2011)
-The House Boat (Mausoleum Memoirs, House of Horror, Summer 2009)
Poetry
-Lord of Flies (Apocalypse (Alban Lake Publishing, July 2015))
–Extinction Level Event (Abyss & Apex, October 2010 & Apocalypse)
-Skeletal Remains (Apocalypse (Alban Lake Publishing, July 2015))
–Yellow Spiders (Altered Reality Magazine, May 2017)
–Wormwood (Pedestal Magazine, March 2017 Issue 79)
-Adam’s Rendezvous With Dante (Last Darn Rites Anthology (eBook), Whitesboro Writers Group, November 2016; 2017 Rhysling Poetry Award nominee (long poem)
–Windows (Switched-on Gutenberg, August 2017)
-Night Train (Flash Fiction Chronicles 2009 string of ten contest finalist placed 8th out of 250+)
-Train Stop (The Monsters Next Door, November 2009)
–Cycles (Phenomenal Literature: A Global Journal Devoted to Language and Literature, April 2017)
Additional details about the scholarship can be found here:
http://horrorscholarships.com/hwa-scholarship/
Best wishes,
John
