HWA Oregon

The Oregon Chapter of the Horror Writers Association

Meetings, News

HWA Oregon Meeting – February 16, 2026

Business

  1. Welcome and introduction 
  2. HWA News
    1. HWA announced the 2025 Bram Stoker Award® Preliminary Ballot on January 26, 2026
      1. Active and Lifetime Members in good standing are eligible to vote by today (Sunday, February 15, 2026)
      2. FAQ available
    2. HWA hosted the second annual Queer Horror Conference from February 5-7, 2026
    3. HWA announced the Eighth Annual Summer Scares Titles on February 13, 20206.
      1. Adult Selections:
        1. A Botanical Daughter, by Noah Medlock (Titan, 2024)
        2. Never Whistle at Night, ed. Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst (Vintage, 2023)
        3. Maeve Fly, by CJ Leede (Tor Nightfire, 2023)
      2. Young Adult Selections:
        1. What We Harvest, by Ann Fraistat (Delacorte Press, 2022)
        2. Gorgeous Gruesome Faces, by Linda Cheng (Roaring Brook Press, 2023)
        3. Our Shadows Have Claws, ed. Yamile Saied Méndez & Amparo Ortiz (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2022) 
      3. Middle Grade Selections:
        1. Garlic and the Vampire, by Bree Paulsen (Harper, 2021)
        2. It Came from the Trees, by Ally Russell (Delacorte Press, 2023) 
        3. This Appearing House, by Ally Malinenko (Harper, 2022)
    4. Local Authors Fair at Beaverton City Library on Saturday, May 1, 2026
      1. This is an excellent opportunity to expand your readership, sell books, and network with other local, community authors from within and outside your genre. Applications are now open to have a booth at the fair, and you have until March 16th to apply. 
      2. We are inquiring about being there as an organization to connect with authors in the community, but I encourage you all to apply as individual authors as well if it aligns with your current career stage and/or goals. 
      3. Use this link to find the website with the application. https://www.beavertonlibrary.org/362/Local-Author-Fair
  3. Upcoming February & March Chapter Events
    1. Movie Night: Monday, February 16 at 7:00 p.m.
    2. Next book club meeting: Sunday, February 22 at 6:00 p.m. on Google Meet to discuss The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
    3. March book: Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
    4. Next chapter meeting: Sunday, March 15 at 6:00 p.m. on Google Meet with publisher FZ Boda (Moonstruck Books)
      1. Add your questions for FZ Boda early via the Google Form. 
    5. Jacy Morris mentioned BizarroCon in May if you are interested in meeting other horror and bizzaro writers.

Member News & Announcements

  1. FZ Boda: Moonstruck Books published Tiffany Meuret’s latest horror novel Disco Mama, in which a 40-something woman reenters the industrial music world as an underground DJ with a taste for blood. The novel is accompanied by a limited edition 7” record featuring new, unreleased songs by Paul Barker (Ministry, Puscifer, Lard, Lead Into Gold) and Joel Shanahan (Golden Donna, Auscultation, Purpura). The record is now available for preorder and includes a digital download eBook of Disco Mama. The paperback is available for purchase.
  2. Julia Shaw: Acceptance for short story from Creepy Pod. It’s a story she has been trying to sell for awhile.
  3. H. A. Spector: Starting improv classes at an improv theater!

Guest Speaker

  • Bio from website: “Caitlin Starling is the nationally bestselling author of The Starving Saints (2025), The Death of Jane Lawrence (2021), Last to Leave the Room (2023), and the Bram Stoker-nominated The Luminous Dead (2019), as well as the forthcoming The Graceview Patient (fall 2025). Her work showcases her love of genre-hopping horror; her bibliography spans besieged castles, alien caves, and haunted hospitals. Her short fiction has been published by GrimDark Magazine and Neon Hemlock, and her nonfiction has appeared in Nightmare, Uncanny, and Nightfire. Caitlin also works in narrative design, and has been paid to invent body parts. She’s always on the lookout for new ways to inflict insomnia. Caitlin is represented by Caitlin McDonald at Donald Maass Literary Agency.”
  • Caitlin has “been writing all my life” and discussed her publishing path from NaNoWriMo as a teenager, choosing anthropology in college instead of creative writing, and returning to writing with The Luminous Dead. She shared the challenges of subsequent novels, working with editors and publishers, and the freedom to write stand-alone novels.
  • Q&A session