On June 29, 2024, five authors from Connecticut’s chapter of the Horror Writer’s Association gathered at the fun, welcoming, and allegedly haunted, Howard’s Bookstore in Torrington. Readers came in wearing their favorite horror movie shirts ready for a night of horror stories, Q&As, and a shot at the horror trivia prizes.
Marc E Fitch kicked things off, not only by emceeing the event but also with the prologue from his book Boy in the Box. This tale of a paranoid and haunted slice of suburbia engaged everyone there and opened up a lively and conversational Q&A.
Next up, Jackson Kuhl read one of his stories in the Love Letters to Poe anthology, which elicited an audible gasp from a member of the audience (or one of the ghosts that allegedly haunts the third floor) and led our conversation into the realm of historical horror.
JP Behrens shocked the audience with his hauntingly prophetic story about the death of democracy. He then covered Q&A discussion topics such as: realistic vs. supernatural horror, the variety of stories produced by Connecticut horror authors, and the creative process.
Next, John Opalenik shared the first half of his story from the new Horror Over the Handlebars anthology which has a theme of coming-of-age horror. Our Q&A moved on to talking about how our life experiences inform our horror writing and the alarming fact that a story set in the late 90s can now be considered historical horror.
Mike Bertolini brought things full circle with a horrific tale of a Civil War soldier’s descent into a hellscape of horrors.
Our event ended with a lively session of our horror trivia where we had a close race, but one reader came out on top and we narrowly averted having to break out the dreaded tie-breaker questions.
Another HWA CT Fright Night in the books, and we look forward to many more!
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Horror Writers of Connecticut 
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