Members

Benji Carr

As a child growing up in the South with cerebral palsy, Benji Carr developed an eye for the bizarre and quirky, which provided all of the stories he told his friends and family with a bit of flavor. Working as a journalist, storyteller and playwright, his work has been featured in The Guardian, ArtsATL and Pembroke Magazine. Onstage, his pieces have been presented at the Center for Puppetry Arts, Alliance Theatre, and as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival in Manhattan. He lives in Atlanta and helps run the online literary magazine, Gutwrench Journal. Impacted is his first novel, that released May 2021 from The Story Plant.

T.S. Dann

T.S. Dann is a raving jerk from Atlanta who wasted a decade of his life in law enforcement. Through uniform patrol, robbery/homicide investigations, and a stint at the medical examiner’s office, he lost what little faith he had in humanity. He has seen more corpses than you have friends, and probably prefers their company.

Andy Davidson

Andy Davidson’s most recent novel, The Boatman’s Daughter, was listed among NPR’s Best Books of 2020, the New York Public Library’s Best Adult Books of the Year, and Library Journal’s Best Horror of 2020. His debut novel, In the Valley of the Sun, was a 2017 Bram Stoker Award Nominee and runner-up for This is Horror‘s Novel of the Year. Born and raised in Arkansas, he makes his home in Georgia, where he’s hard at work on his next book. He and his wife, Crystal, have many cats.

C. O. Davidson

C. O. Davidson is a writer and English professor. She co-edited the book Monsters of Film, Fiction, and Fable, and she won the July 2021 Flash Fiction Contest for Cemetery Gates Media. Her writing appears in Dark Moon Digest, Southern Nightmares Volume 1: Georgia Gothic, and the anthology Generation X-ed. She and her husband, Andy, have many cats.

Kelley M. Frank

Kelley M. Frank is a horror artist and author. She writes film and book analysis reviews, and has appeared in a number of anthologies including Slice Girls and Flesh and Bone: Rose of the Necromancers. She specializes in creepy illustration, as well as abstract work expressing her emotional states. She’s also an asexual witch and an outspoken advocate for the strange and unusual.

Marlena Frank

Marlena Frank has always been fascinated with monsters, and now gets to write about them. She has been writing since 2010 and has since published five books and many short stories. She serves as the Vice President of the Atlanta Chapter of the Horror Writers Association and is an avid member of the Atlanta cosplay community. She is also a Hufflepuff, an INFJ, a tea drinker, and a wildlife enthusiast.

Venessa Giunta

Venessa Giunta is a writer of weird things, an editrix extraordinaire, and a little bit of a nerd. She is a published author, with non-fiction essays, short stories, and the urban fantasy Soul Cavern Series. She is a dedicated viewer of the show Supernatural and was devastated when Sense8 was cancelled (Damn you, Netflix!). She lives in Atlanta, GA, with her husband — also known as her muse — and three cats who basically rule the house, but won’t pay the mortgage. She’s been called the kind of evil that inspires hugs.

Vicki Greer

Vicki Greer is an editor who specializes in horror, dark fantasy, urban fantasy, science fiction and romantic suspense. She welcomes new, unpublished and self-published authors as well as more experienced writers! Target ages include YA to adult. In her spare time, she also edits technical articles, primarily in computer science and related disciplines. She’s a Microsoft Word geek, and is always happy to help with formatting issues as well. She’s a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association as well as the HWA. When she’s not editing, she reads (naturally), builds websites, does cross-stitch, and attempts to herd her four cats.

Jamie Grimes

Jamie is a writer, editor, document designer, occasional English professor, and full-time
curmudgeon. He holds a MA in Professional Writing from Kennesaw State University, where he also wrangles cats and occasionally provides information systems support. He lives with his far superior wife, his indefatigable kid, and the platonic ideal of dog.

Darrell Z. Grizzle

Darrell Z. Grizzle is a queer poet and horror & crime fiction writer in shadow-haunted Kennesaw, Georgia, where he lives with two cats and way too many books. His stories have been published in Shotgun Honey, Daily Science Fiction, Mad Scientist Journal, Near To The Knuckle, Eldritch Tales, and Story & Grit: Southern Fried Crime. His Southern Gothic graveyard story “Under the Blood” was published in October 2020 in Skelos 4: The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy. He is a former parole officer, now working as a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice. His home on the web is www.ShadowHaunted.com and on Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, and Instagram as @dzgrizzle.

Lynne Hansen

Lynne Hansen is a horror artist who specializes in book covers. She enjoys using her 20 years of book marketing and promotion experience to create art that tells a story and helps publishers and authors reach the audiences they deserve. Her clients include Cemetery Dance Publications, Thunderstorm Books and Bloodshot Books, as well as folks like New York Times bestselling authors Christopher Golden, Rick Hautala, and Thomas E. Sniegoski. For samples of her work and information on how to commission her, visit LynneHansenArt.com.

Alex Hofelich

Alex Hofelich is Co-Editor of Pseudopod, a weekly horror podcast magazine. It is part of the pro-paying Escape Artists network, which has been delivering weekly short fiction in multiple genres since 2005. He has been involved with PseudoPod since 2009, and edited the anthology For Mortal Things Unsung, which celebrated the first decade of PseudoPod.

Melissa Hofelich

Melissa V. Hofelich is the copy editor at Nightmare Magazine and an extended family member of the Escape Artists podcast network. Originally from South Jersey, she now lives in Atlanta with her husband Alex and their four cats. She’s worked for both The Man and The Devil over the years (though generally not at the same time), trying her hand at jobs such as accounting, professional box-slinging, fraud detection, and lingerie sales. Her true passion is the care and feeding of books and libraries. Melissa holds a BFA from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and is a ravenous reader, gamer, and crypt creeper.

Persephone Justice

Persephone Justice is a nationally published middle grade fiction author, intuitive energy worker and professional tarot card reader. She has three grown kids who live out west and a fellow-author fiance who lives with her in Atlanta. She loves long walks, especially at night, and doing everything creative from crocheting to cooking to designing oracle card decks. She loves deep conversations, reading the classics, being at home and drinking lots of coffee.

Brian Kirk

Brian Kirk is an author of surreal and psychological horror. His debut novel, We Are Monsters, was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award. And his short fiction has been published in several notable magazines and anthologies, such as Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories and the Bram Stoker Award-winning anthology, Behold! Oddities, Curiosities, and Undefinable Wonders. His latest novel is a work of surreal horror titled Will Haunt You. He wrote the prequel as a creepy-pasta story, titled Obsideo, which you can read for free on his website, briankirkfiction.com.

EV Knight

EV Knight is the Stoker Award winning author of The Fourth Whore as well as the novella Dead Eyes and various short stories. Her upcoming sophomore novel, Children of Demeter will be released in August 2021 by Raw Dog Screaming Press. EV lives in the haunted city of Savannah with her husband, son, cats, and various wayward ghosts.

Gini Koch

Gini Koch writes the fast, fresh, and funny Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books, and, under pen names Anita Ensal, G.J. Koch, A.E. Stanton, and Jemma Chase, she writes a whole lot more in all the genres out there and in all lengths imaginable. Gini is scared by horror stories but, as J.C. Koch, writes them anyway. In addition to writing about scary things, she also likes to do scary things like pay attention to politics, keep up with the Kardashians, and play the stock market. With hobbies like those, though, she tends to stay hidden under the bed, letting more of the terrors of the mind bleed onto the page, both metaphorically and literally. Due to this, and the plot bunnies hiding there with her, she has scary stories published in a variety of fine e-zines and anthologies, making the terror somewhat worth it. Gini is the Past President of the Atlanta HWA chapter.

Dawn Major

Dawn Major is a blogger and book advocate. She received her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the Etowah Valley Writing Program at Reinhardt University, a Creative Writing Certification from Emory Continuing Education, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Kennesaw State University. In 2020, she completed a mentorship through the Horror Writers Association with Tim Waggoner and is currently working with Stephanie Ellis. She was previously awarded a fellowship as the assistant literary editor of the James Dickey Review. In 2019, her nonfiction piece “White Trash” won the Dr. Robert Driscoll Award for Excellence in Writing on Regional Themes and her short story “Nativity” won the Faculty Choice Award from her MFA program also for Excellence in Writing. She works with the William Gay Archive, editing, advocating, and lecturing about his work. Her published work may be found in Springer Mountain Press Summer Slasher Anthology, Vol. I, Five Points-A Journal of Literature and Art, James Dickey Review, Sediments Literary-Arts Journal, Sanctuary Journal, and Family Life Publications, with forthcoming work coming work in Southern Nightmares: Georgia Gothic, Vol. I. . Her debut novel, The Bystanders, will be released by Springer Mountain Press October 2021 . She is currently working on a speculative fiction novel based in North Georgia . To learn more about Dawn visit: www.dawnmajor.com.

Nathan McCullough

Nathan McCullough is a veteran journalist, editor and writer who has worked in the Atlanta area for more than 20 years. As a newspaper columnist, he is the winner of both the Georgia Press Association’s Joe Parham Trophy for Humor and the Otis A. Brumby Trophy. His first fiction story appeared in the Mini Anthology from Alban Lake Publishing in 2019, his novella/short story collection, Drag You Down, debuted in 2020.

Jessica Nettles

Jessica Nettles decided to be a writer at age 12 not knowing that this choice would take her on a lifelong, but amazing journey to find voice and learn craft. When you’re a kid, you don’t know much. She has written many short stories, some of which can be found on the Internet if you are strong in the way of Google-Fu. Her first novel, Children of Menlo Park, will be released in 2021 by Falstaff Books, and her second novel, Kudzu Ridge, will be finished by then as well (she hopes). Jessica has two wonderful adult children who share her love of the fantastic and D&D, and two black cats who will be so glad when her first novel is published because it will mean more food for them. She has a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Professional Writing from Kennesaw State University. She is also on the board of the Broadleaf Writers Association and serves as the volunteer coordinator for the association’s annual writing conference. When she’s not writing, knitting, or playing D&D, she teaches English Composition at a local technical college.

D.C. Phillips

D.C. Phillips is the author of Frightful Fables, the tales that leave you screaming for more! He has received praise for his dynamic and darkly ironic style, which has been described as “Flannery O’Connor meets ‘Tales From the Crypt.'” As a native of Atlanta, Georgia, D.C. cites Southern culture and classic horror as two of his major influences.

David Powell

David Powell’s has taught school, directed plays, played music and portrayed zombies, but now he writes full-time, seeking out the pockets of chaos brewing in the corners of the grid. You can read his work in Close 2 the Bone, Yellow Mama, Black Petals, Shotgun Honey, Calliope, Altered Reality Magazine, HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. 6, Fall Into Fantasy 2020, Into the Glen, Under the Shade, and Manawaker Studios Flash Fiction Podcast. You can see his zombie portrayal in Dance of the Dead (an extra, but hey–what zombie isn’t?) and hear his voice acting in the podcast Archive 81 and Pseudopod Episode 773.

Mathew W. Quinn

Matthew W. Quinn (b. 1984) grew up in Marietta, Georgia. After graduating from the University of Georgia with a dual degree in magazine journalism and history, he had an extensive career in Atlanta media before moving onto social-studies education. Throughout all of this, he has written science fiction, fantasy, and horror. His first sale was the short horror tale “I am the Wendigo” to the webzine CHIMAERA SERIALS and he later wrote licensed fiction for the BattleTech science fiction universe. 2017 saw the publication of his horror novel THE THING IN THE WOODS, while 2019 saw the publication of his horror-comedy novella LITTLE PEOPLE, BIG GUNS and his military fantasy novel BATTLE FOR THE WASTELANDS. 2020 saw the premiere of his newest work, the THING sequel THE ATLANTA INCURSION, as well as the BATTLE prequel novella “Son of Grendel.” He is a member of the Atlanta chapter of the Horror Writers Association. Matthew is also a regular participant in the podcast MYOPIA: DEFEND YOUR CHILDHOOD in which the movies you enjoyed as a child are put on trial to see if they hold up. He can be reached at mquinn1984@gmail.com.

Vanessa Reid

Vanessa Reid is a dark fiction writer and an English teacher in Atlanta. When she is not making her sixth-graders watch The Twilight Zone and read Poe, she writes about the human monsters that haunt us. Her story “The Short Straw” was just featured in Gutwrench Journal. She is a member of the Broadleaf Writers Association and the Horror Writers Association, where she is the Atlanta chapter treasurer. Reid lives with her adorably macabre family, an evil cat named Moreland, and a dog who is just trying to avoid his wrath.

Peter Adam Salomon

Peter Adam Salomon’s second novel, All Those Broken Angels, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award® for Young Adult fiction. His poem ‘Electricity and Language and Me’ appeared on BBC Radio 6 performed by The Radiophonic Workshop. He founded both National Dark Poetry Day (Oct. 7) and the Horror Poetry Showcase for the HWA and was the Editor for the first poetry collections released by the HWA.

Kitty Sarkozy

Kitty Sarkozy is a speculative fiction writer, actor and robot girlfriend. She is Associate Editor of Pseudopod, an award-winning weekly horror podcast in the Escape Artists network. Kitty is an alumnus of Superstars Writing Seminar and a member of David Farland’s Apex Writers Group. Several large cats allow her to live with them in Marietta GA, She enjoys tending the extensive gardens, where she hides the bodies. For a list of her publications, acting credits or to engage her services on your next project go to kittysarkozy.com.

Tony Sarrecchia

Tony Sarrecchia creates audio dramas including the award-winning HARRY STRANGE RADIO DRAMA, and the SCARLETT HOOD ADVENTURES. His LADY SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERIES episode, ‘The Lady in Red’, performed at DragonCon and the National Audio Theatre Festival in 2021, won the NATF’s Platinum Festival Fan Favorite award. You can find his short fiction in the GEORIGA GOTHIC anthology, THE LEGENDS OF NEW PULP anthology, and on the WICKED LIBRARY Podcast and VICTORIA’S LIFT Podcast. Keep up with his projects at www.tsarrecchia.com

David Simpson

David Simpson is a multi award winning writer with ten #1 best sellers on Amazon. He’s an Army veteran, former repoman and a car guy that has held world records for endurance racing. During the Covid pandemic he started trucking again to haul medical supplies into the hardest hit areas on the east coast. He’s married, has a bunch of great kids and has just finished principal shooting for a Zombie Road film trailer that will hopefully be picked up by one of the networks to be developed into a TV series.

Jeff Strand

Jeff Strand is a four-time nominee (and zero-time winner, but c’mon, he lost to Stephen King TWICE!) of the Bram Stoker Award. He is a two-time nominee and one-time WINNER!!!! of the Splatterpunk Award. His novels are usually classified as horror, but they’re really all over the place, almost always with a great big dose of humor. He’s written five young adult novels that all fall into the “really goofy comedy” category.

Can Wiggins

Can Wiggins can be found where the woodbine twineth. While her sweet spot is called Southern Gothic, she likes serving a combo platter of magic realism with two sides — usually folk horror and quiet creep. Particular to grimmer sister fairy tales and world mythos, she’s a dedicated cinephile and reads a LOT. Her stories can be found in Planet X Publications, Oxygen Man Books, and upcoming pubs she can’t talk about at this time. … Soon, darling. Soon. And thank you.

Jessica Ann York

Jessica Ann York is a horror writer whose work has been featured at PseudoPod, Vastarien, Cemetery Gates Media, and Love Letters to Poe. She serves as an Associate Editor at Pseudopod and as the Webmaster of the Atlanta Chapter of the Horror Writers Association. Her fiction centers around women who take comfort in using the macabre as a window to understanding their anxiety. Through writing and research, she’s come to love the things that used to scare her (like the baby tarantulas and rats she’s raising). You can follow her and her strange pets at the social links below.