World Fantasy Convention 2005 – Looking back and forward again

IT’S BEEN NINE YEARS since my last World Fantasy Con — which was held in Schaumburg, right down the street from where I work, and was also my first World Con. At that convention, I was still very much a newbie writer, knew no one and had no idea what to expect, but I made some great contacts — from Ken Wisman and Joe and Bobbi Morey who ran Dark Regions magazine to writers like…

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Reading at Acorn Library in Oak Forest

TONIGHT I PULLED UP outside the Acorn Public Library in Oak Forest, IL and the white-lit sign outside proclaimed: Horror Author, October 27, 7 p.m. Wow…there it was, my name up in lights…oh wait a minute – my name wasn’t there. Oh well, I knew it meant me! I walked in and found my hostess, who gave me a wonderful introduction to the small, but appreciative audience, and she also found a way to turn…

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Gothic Fest, Stoker Press and a Halloween Tour

WITH THE BIRTH of my son, Shaun Austin on July 15, I’ve been a little too…busy…to update this journal…but there’s been lots going on. I’ve had a bunch of press hit on my winning the HWA Bram Stoker award (see Chicago Tribune article at right!), and have a lined up a long list of appearances for October and November. This week kicked off the official “John Everson Halloween 2005 Tour!” Seriously, I have more events…

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HWA Stoker Weekend 2005

NANCY ETCHEMENDY CAN correct me, but I’m pretty sure my first words to her upon returning from the podium were…”holy crap.” I didn’t expect to win the Stoker Award for First Novel from the Horror Writers Association (HWA) last weekend. Honest. It was an honor to be nominated, but while my novel, Covenant, received good initial reviews, it was also on the smallest press out of the four nominees, so I really didn’t have high…

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World Horror Convention 2005 – Return to New York!

WHEN MY PLANE landed at LaGuardia Airport on April 7, 2005, my heart leapt — it felt like I was coming home. It was the first time I’d been back to Manhattan since I spent a summer there as a magazine intern in NYC 18 years ago, working on 52nd Street and living down near the East Village in an NYU dorm. It remains one of my favorite times in my life. And when I…

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COVENANT nominated for Bram Stoker Award!

WOW…JUST…WOW! What a month. Yesterday, the Horror Writers Association announced the Final Ballot for the 2004 Bram Stoker Awards — and my novel Covenant (Delirium Books) was nominated in the “First Novel” category, along with Black Fire by James Kidman (Leisure) Move Under Ground by Nick Mamatas (Night Shade Books) and Stained by Lee Thomas (Wildside Press). It was also announced that my publisher, Delirium Books, will receive the 2004 Specialty Press Award for its…

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A New Website for a New Year!

I’VE PRETTY MUCH  DEVOTED every spare minute of the past month to redesigning this Dark Arts Web site, which went live this week. I didn’t realize til I dug in that I had about 70 pages of content lurking about through various subsections on the site, so it took a lot longer to pour everything into the new format than I anticipated! (Geri started to wonder if she still had a husband somewhere). If you never…

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