Business

1. Welcome and introduction 
2. HWA News
   1. A reminder that these meeting minutes are submitted monthly to an online HWA repository and posted to our website
   2. HWA 2026 Specialty Awards Announcement
      1. Sarah Read was the recipient of the Karen Landsale Silver Hammer Award
      2. Marc L. Abbott was the recipient of the Richard Laymond President’s Award for Service
      3. Eric Guignard (gee-nyar) was the recipient of the Mentor of the Year Award
      4. Bad Hand Books was the recipient of the Speciality Press Award
   3. HWA Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
      1. Jonathan Maberry and Lisa Morton
   4. HWA Poetry Showcase Thirteen Submissions Open
      1. For HWA members
      2. Closes May 1st at 11:59 PM Pacific
      3. No more than 35 lines, 1 poem, with a horror slant
   5. HWA Volunteers needed
      1. The Bram Stoker Awards team is seeking several HWA members who would be interested in volunteering to be verifiers for the awards
      2. Contact volunteers@horror.org if you are interested
      3. At least 1 hour a week up to 6 hours a week in the last three months of the award season leading up to the preliminary ballot
   6. If you are an HWA member, update your Wild Apricot profile to make Oregon your chapter
      1. Also fill out the ACA questionnaire
3. Upcoming April & May Chapter Events
   1. Spring 2026 Reading at Memento Mori Cafe: Saturday, April 25 at 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
   2. Next book club meeting: Sunday, April 26 at 6:00 p.m. on Google Meet to discuss Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall
   3. May book: This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno
   4. Crypticon Seattle (with HWA Seattle): Friday, May 01 through Sunday, May 03, 2026
   5. Beaverton Local Author Fair: Saturday, May 16, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
   6. Next chapter meeting (in-person): Sunday, May 17 at 5:00 p.m. – Hawthorne Asylum Food Cart Pods, 2026 Writing Goals and Progress, Book Swap
   7. Book Club meeting: Sunday, May 31 at 6:00 p.m. to discuss This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno
   8. StokerCon 2026: Thursday, June 04 to Sunday, June 07, 2026
   9. Renaissance Fair: Saturday, 06/20/2026 or 06/27/2026 in Canby, OR

Member News & Announcements

• Elizabeth Beechwood signed a contract with Third Flatiron Publishing for her story “The Memory of Walnuts” for their SciFi to Go: Food for Thought anthology. The ebook will be available in June with a physical edition to follow.
• Jacy Morris’s novel A Town Painted Red will be published by Tenebrous Press in spring 2027. He has also been invited to participate in an upcoming anthology.
• Zachariah O’Keeffe is celebrating four years of blogging short stories twice a month, as well as the sixth season of his SCpod podcast.
• Katherine Quevedo has a nature poem published in The Ranger’s Almanac, Vol. 1.
• H. A. Spector has been taking comedy improv classes and will participate in a showcase on April 26, 2026. Work on his new literary magazine, Northern Shadows Magazine, is moving along quickly, with the first digital issue expected October 15, 2026. Submissions open soon.

Guest Speaker Valentina Sainato

• Bio: “Valentina Sainato (she/they) is an associate agent at JABberwocky Literary Agency specializing in horror and speculative fiction. Before joining JABberwocky, Valentina worked as an Events Manager with Barnes & Noble, where they hosted a variety of author events, book clubs, children’s activities, and more. Outside of work, she enjoys drawing and playing video games, both of which she is proudly bad at.”
• Valentina answered our many questions about agents while providing an overview of their professional background, a glimpse of their daily routine, what writers forget to include in their queries (a sense of their personality and comps), thoughts about the state of publishing today, and much more.