“Life is What Happens To You While You’re Busy Making Other Plans…”
Coronavirus, or rather COVID-19, has disrupted life as well know it. Social distancing is keeping people from their jobs, their families, and well, their plans. Among those plans being changed and/or cancelled are a number of conventions, which is what sparked this idea…
You see, Scares That Care does a convention in August in Williamsburg, VA every year, and this year they were expanding with a spring convention in Wisconsin. Covid had other plans. And as soon as Wisconsin was cancelled (for the safety of everyone), those of us who were planning on attending thought maybe we could do something for the overall morale of con-goers and guests alike. Initially I thought it would be a short, cute, live Q&A… it’s turned into something else entirely.
Horror authors, reviewers, and even Joe Ripple himself from Scares that Care were on deck Saturday, April 18th for a LIVE streaming day full of readings, panels, giveaways, and more!
It was a smashing hit! Here’s what “Something Ghoulish” had to say about it.
Guests included: Jonathan Janz, Mary SanGiovanni, Robert Ford, Tim Meyer, Matt Hayward, Wes Southard, Somer Canon, Wile E. Young, Stephen Kozeniewski, Aaron Dries, Bracken MacLeod, Brian Keene …with moderators: Sadie Hartman (MotherHorror of Nightworms), Bob Pastorella (This is Horror), Steve Pattee (Horror DNA), and Shane Keene (Ink Heist)
The schedule was planned as follows. Please note these were just guidelines, an order to the chaos. The actual times on the video are posted on the youtube page.
9:45 am — Kick Off: Joe Ripple of Scares That Care
10:00 am — Reading: Bob Ford
10:30 am — Panel: “Finding New Readers” Stephen Kozeniewski, Mary SanGiovanni, Aaron Dries, Wile E. Young, moderator: Steve Pattee (of Horror DNA)
11:30 am — Reading: Brian Keene
12:00 pm — Panel: “Collaborations” Bob Ford, Matt Hayward, Somer Canon, Wes Southard, moderator: Sadie Hartman (MotherHorror of Nightworms) 1:00 pm — Reading: Aaron Dries
1:30 pm — Panel: “Characters likable vs. compelling” Bracken MacLeod, Kelli Owen, Tim Meyer, moderator: Bob Pastorella (of This is Horror)
2:30 pm — Reading: Jonathan Janz
3:00 pm — Reading: Stephen Kozeniewski
3:30 pm — Panel: “Versatility and cross-genre” Brian Keene, Jonathan Janz, TBA, moderator: Shane Keene (of Ink Heist)
4:00 pm — Reading: Bracken MacLeod
There is a finite amount of time and far too many people to include, so yes, it’s very very likely there will be a second one later this summer if cons continued to get cancelled…
Stay home, stay safe, and to quote George Romero, “Stay Scared!”
I was pleasantly surprised to find myself on a year-end list of books. As a writer, reader, reviewer and occasional journalist, Jay has seen a lot of books, and these 20 in 2020 stuck with him.Kelli Owen is one of a number of authors who is under recognized for her talent. This book could have easily become a copy of a number of stories that orbit this premise, but Owen very quickly establishes that she is no one’s imitator. It has a great crime fiction feel and a marvelous horror sensibility. I was glad to be reading this story the whole time I was in it.
