www.stokercon2016.org On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1665022323728155/ Or Twitter at https://twitter.com/StokerCon2016

STOKERC ON 2016 PROGRESS REPORT #2

This report is sent via email to registered members of StokerCon 2016. It will also be posted to our website at www.stokercon2016.org .

Any questions should be directed to Brad Hodson via [email protected] .

All contents © Horror Writers Association/StokerCon 2016 IIINN TTHHIIISS PPRROOGGRREESSSS RREEPPOORRTT:

 Author Signings and Special Signing Events  Dealers Room  Workshop Replacement  Pitches  The Scholarship From Hell Winner  Horror University Workshop Instructor Interviews  Lucky Th1rt3en Film Competition  The L.A./Vegas Party Bus  S. Scranton Photography  Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy  Sponsors

AAUUTTHHOORR SSIIIGGNNIIINNGGSS AANNDD SSPPEECCIIIAALL SSIIIGGNNIIINNGG EEVVEENNTTSS

We will be holding StokerCon author signings throughout the weekend. Each signing will last thirty minutes and will be held in our Dealers Room. We encourage you to promote your signing once you have your time! We still have slots left, so if you would like to sign at StokerCon, please FOLLOW THESE STEPS:  We suggest you first take a look at our programming schedule so you can choose a time that will not conflict with other events you’d like to attend. The schedule can be viewed here: http://stokercon2016.horror.org/?page_id=844. Please choose your top three times, and send your choices to [email protected]. Times will be assigned on a first- come/first-served basis. We will attempt to give you your top preference, and will confirm with you once your time is locked in. If none of your choices are available, we will provide you with a list of times still available.  You may either bring your own books to sell, or ask our official convention bookseller Barnes and Noble to sell your books. If you are selling your own books, you will be contacted with instructions regarding tax collection. If you would prefer to have Barnes and Noble sell your books, you can arrange consignment with them (they take 40%). If your book is available from major distributors, you may ask Barnes and Noble to order your book from the distributors. Please send your name, title, and ISBN to Crystal at [email protected]. Please do not send more than two titles.

THURSDAY, 5/12  6 pm - , Sumiko Saulson  8 pm - Madhouse Anthology – Meghan Arcuri, Megan Hart, Brad Hodson, Rena Mason, Lisa Morton, John Palisano, John Skipp, Jeff Strand, Mercedes Yardley  9 pm – James Gurley

2

 9:30 pm – Zombie Apocalypse! Series Signing - Peter Atkins, Jo Fletcher, Amanda Foubister, Nancy Holder, , Lisa Morton, Mandy Slater, Michael Marshall Smith

 FRIDAY, 5/13  9 am – Ian Welke, Kate Jonez, John Claude Smith  10 am – JG Faherty, Nancy Holder  11:30 am – David Sakmyster  12 pm – David Blake Lucarelli, Jeff Strand  1pm – , Tim Waggoner, Patrick Freivald  1:30 pm – Tonya Hurley, John McIlveen, Lucy A. Snyder  2 pm – Scary Out There Anthology (free custom book plates for the first 50!) – Linda Addison, Nancy Holder, Jonathan Maberry, Marge Simon, Lucy A. Snyder, R. L. Stine, Steve Rasnic Tem, Tim Waggoner  3 pm - Lisa Lane, Lisa Mannetti  3:30 pm - Rob E. Boley, Aaron Sterns, Mercedes Yardley  3:30 pm - The Art of Horror Anthology - Stephen Jones, Lisa Morton, David J. Skal  4 pm - Tom Monteleone, David Morrell  4:30 pm - Maria Alexander, Megan Hart, Ellen Datlow  5 pm Midian Unmade Anthology – Nancy Holder, Del Howison, Joseph Nassise. Weston Ochse, Kevin Wetmore  5:30 pm - Leslie Klinger  6 pm - Michael Potts

 SATURDAY, 5/14  9 am - Brian Matthews  10 am - Fungasm/Bizarro Signing: John Skipp, Shane McKenzie, Autumn Christian, Laura Lee Bahr, Danger Slater  10:30 am - The Monster, the Bad and the Ugly Signing: Paolo Di Orazio, Alessandro Manzetti  11 am - Chiral Mad 3 Anthology – Meghan Arcuri, Michael Bailey, Hal Bodner, Bruce , Gary A. Braunbeck, Jason Brock, Scott Edelman, Eric Guignard, Erinn Kemper, , Gene O'Neill, Marge Simon, Stephanie Wytovich, Mercedes Yardley  11:30 am - The Library of the Dead Anthology – Michael Bailey, Gary A. Braunbeck, Erinn Kemper, Chris Marrs, Rena Mason, Yvonne Navarro, Weston Ochse, Gene O’Neill, Lucy A. Snyder,  12 pm - Richard Devin, Taylor Grant, Lance Taubold, Steven Van Patten  12:30 pm - nEvermore! Anthology – Jason Brock, Sunni Brock, Nancy Holder, Nancy Kilpatrick, Lisa Morton, William F. Nolan, Caro Soles  1 pm - Bryan Cassiday, Mathew Kaufman  1:30 pm - Aidan Russell  2 pm - John C. Foster, Jeff Depew  2:30 pm - Alys Arden, James Chambers  3 pm - Marge Simon, Nicole Cushing, Janet Joyce Holden  3:30 pm - Weston Ochse, Yvonne Navarro, Steve Rasnic Tem

3

 4 pm - Studies in the Horror Film: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining Anthology – Danel Olson  5 pm - David J. Skal

 SUNDAY, 5/15  11 am - Greg McWhorter, Oz Monroe  11:30 am -Daniel Braum, Elizabeth Crowens

DDEEAALLEERRSS RROOOOMM

Our official convention bookseller, Barnes and Noble, will be on hand throughout the entire convention with books from our attending guests and signing authors. However, we encourage you to patronize all of our outstanding vendors:

 01Publishing  Bad Moon Books  Barnes & Noble  Kurtis Bissell  Co-Conspiracy Entertainment/ Rothco Press  Dark Regions Press  Ellen Datlow  Imaginarium  Independent Legions Publishing  Jimmy Z. Johnston (Official StokerCon apparel and gear)  Jack Ketchum  Samhain Horror  Anne Serling  Seventh Star Press  John Skipp

WWOORRKKSSHHOOPP RREEPPLLAACCEEMMEENNTT

Unfortunately, Michael Knost will be unable to join us at StokerCon and his workshop “Intertwining External Conflict With Internal Conflict” has been canceled. However, we’re pleased to welcome Joseph Nasisse and his workshop “The Art of Story Structure”. Write better stories faster with this workshop on the art of structuring your novel. Students will learn the four key phases and three game changing moments of story structure and then will work to develop a new concept, beginning with an initial premise and ending with a working outline they can use to

4 prep a new project. Focus will be on creating a purposeful structure that will provide a powerful emotional experience and deepen reader satisfaction overall.

We still have a few open slots for our workshops, including “The Art of Story Structure”. Please visit http://stokercon2016.horror.org/?page_id=93 for more information on how you can sign up for our Horror University workshops.

PPIIITTCCHHEESS

StokerCon pitch sessions will open for signups on Monday, April 25th at noon PST. We have an exciting line-up of publishers, agents, and film producers and executives.

An email will go out at that time with instructions for signing up. Those instructions will also be posted on the StokerCon Facebook page as well, so please check your inbox and Facebook at that time if you wish to sign up for pitches. We expect the slots to fill up quickly.

Registrants will be able to sign up for a maximum of 3 pitch sessions, though we ask that you have your top 5 choices ready when signing up in case we can't accommodate your top 3.

We'll be posting a list of who is accepting pitches on our Facebook page shortly. We will also post the information at this page shortly:http://stokercon2016.horror.org/?page_id=140

TTHHEE SSCCHHOOLLAARRSSHHIIIPP FFRROOMM HHEELLLL WWIIINNNNEERR

The HWA would like to congratulate Sumiko Saulson, winner of Horror University’s Scholarship From Hell! The scholarship includes roundtrip domestic travel to Las Vegas, accommodations at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, registration to StokerCon 2016, and as many workshops as she can attend!

Additionally, the HWA awarded a runner-up mini-scholarship (registration & five workshops) to Hillary Dodge!

Congratulations to both, and thanks to all who submitted.

5

HHOORRRROORR UUNNIIIVVEERRSSIIITTYY WWOORRKKSSHHOOPP IIINNSSTTRRUUCCTTOORR IIINNTTEERRVVIIIEEWWSS

Have you been following the weekly mini-interviews with our Horror University workshop instructors? Read what Lucy Snyder, Tim Waggoner, John Skipp, Nicole Cushing, Stephanie Wytovich, and more have to say about their workshops. All the interviews may be accessed via our blog: http://stokercon2016.horror.org/?page_id=665

LLUUCCKKYY TTHH11RRTT33EENN FFIIILLMM CCOOMMPPEETTIIITTIIIOONN

On April 25, we’ll officially announce the thirteen finalists in our Lucky Th1rt3en Film Competition! We had entries from eighteen different countries. On Friday the 13th during the convention, be sure to attend the screening. At the end, our judges will choose the Grand Prize winner. The winning filmmaker will also receive a cash award of $1,000 plus an exclusive one- year “first look” deal with Co-Conspiracy Entertainment for the winner's short film with the opportunity for the project to be further developed for Co-Conspiracy's development slate, the opportunity to work with Co-Conspiracy's story and marketing teams, and the opportunity to be attached to a project already in development at Co-Conspiracy Entertainment. (http://co- conspiracy.tv/).

The host for our screening will be our Guest Tony Timpone (Editor Emeritus, Fangoria)

Our celebrity judges:

 John Skipp (Tales of )  Daniel Knauf (The Blacklist)  Mark Miller (Seraphim Films)  Ryan Turek (Blumhouse Productions)  Mike McCarty (KNB EFX Group)  Aaron Sterns (Wolf Creek 2)  Lisa Morton (Horror Writers Association President)  Monica S. Kuebler (managing editor, Rue Morgue magazine)

TTHHEE LL...AA...//VVEEGGAASS PPAARRTTYY BBUUSS Wouldn't you like to journey from L.A. to Vegas in a swank mini-bus with some of SoCal's finest and fun-nest horror writers? HWA LA Chapter will be chartering this 28-passage mini-

6 bus, which features plush high back seats and flat-screen TV's. Currently, about half the seats are spoken for; if we can get it down to all of them, we're looking at about a hundred bucks for a round trip. Contact John Palisano ( mailto:[email protected] ) if you'd like to join the most entertaining expedition to and from StokerCon!

SS... SSCCRRAANNTTOONN PPHHOOTTOOGGRRAAPPHHYY

Smile! StokerCon2016 is pleased to announce S. Scranton Photography will be shooting pictures at the event as well as offering a great deal ($30 only for StokerCon attendees) on author bio photos! Check it out and sign up before all the slots are taken. http://stokercon2016.horror.org/?page_id=1366

AANNTTIII--HHAARRAASSSSMMEENNTT PPOOLLIIICCYY

ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICY

StokerCon 2016 is dedicated to providing a harassment-free convention experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of convention attendees in any form. Attendees violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the convention without a refund at the discretion of the chairs.

REPORTING HARASSMENT

As evidenced by our anti-harassment policy, we at StokerCon take any type of harassment at conventions seriously. To that end we would like to announce the process for reporting harassment.

All of the StokerCon staff and volunteers will be identifiable by their bright red StokerCon t-shirts. Each volunteer will be briefed before the con begins on StokerCon’s anti-harassment policy and on how to handle reporting. If anyone sees or experiences an instance of harassment, they can bring their complaint to a volunteer or event staff.

7

Additionally, we have created an email address specifically for this issue. That address is [email protected]. Anyone who sees or experiences harassment can, if they aren’t comfortable speaking to someone in person, file their complaint through that email address.

All complaints will be immediately brought to the Convention Chairs. They will then follow-up with any needed communication or investigation and take the appropriate action.

As said, we take this topic very seriously and want to ensure that everyone who attends StokerCon has a great time free from any type of harassment.

SSPPOONNSSOORRSS

Please be sure to visit all of our outstanding sponsors:

 Samhain Horror  Independent Legions Publishing  01 Publishing  Dark Regions Press  Cutting Block Books  The Imaginarium  Seventh Star Press  Kurtis Bissell

8

See you in Vegas!

9