World Horror Con Retrospective

​World Horror Con 2016 came and went in a flash! I have to say this, it was great being around a bunch of folks who share my passion for horror and writing. I was able to meet and reconnect with a lot of great, talented people in the industry such as Jack Ketchum, Brian Keene, Joe McKinney, and Michael Arnzen. I even got to sit on a panel with most of them which was amazing. I was on a panel talking about Utah Horror and how it’s growing; I was also on a panel about short fiction vs novels; and I moderated a panel about graduate degrees and writing. If you missed it and have any questions about any of them, I’d be more than happy to take any questions.
If you’ve never been to a convention, I can’t recommend it enough. Nothing gets the creative fires going faster than three to four days of nothing but horror and writing. Not to mention the networking opportunities alone are worth their weight in gold. There are plenty of conferences and conventions out there, all you need to do is find one that interests you and go to it. Worst thing that could happen is you walk away the same as when you walked in (okay, sure there are plenty of “worst things” especially when dealing with the horror genre, but we’ll assume we’re living in a semi-safe environment…just don’t read that old musty tome out loud, and whatever you do, don’t play with that fun looking puzzle box). Best case, you walk away with some more friends and some education.
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Some highlights of the convention for me were the panels, the gross out competition (can’t mention what happened in this venue, you’re just going to have to attend one, that is if you have the stomach for it), and the crazy noises coming from the film festival. I was manning the Utah Horror Writers Association booth a lot of the time and the film festival was going on right behind us. It’s almost as fun trying to figure out what was happening based off the sounds coming from the films as it was watching them. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for next year and where the next World Horror Con is going to take place.