Killer Con 2024
On Awards, Family, and We Slaughter BBQ
Hello, friends. I’m writing this on a Monday. With another Killer Con in the books, I’m exhausted but happy.
This past weekend at the convention, my book Snow Angels won a Splatterpunk Award for Best Novella of 2023. Below is my acceptance speech:
When I heard that Snow Angels was nominated for a Splatterpunk Award, I was surprised. There are more people publishing horror than any other time in history, I'm far from the most “online” author, and I don't have the biggest readership. In fact, after a dozen years in the publishing business, I was starting to think my time to shine might be over. Holding this trophy now, though, it feels like there's still a lot I can offer this genre, a genre that has given so much to me, first as a fan and later as a creator.
Thank you to Wrath James White and Brian Keene for making the Splatterpunk Award a thing (none of us weirdoes are winning a Stoker anytime soon). Thank you to Dawn and Tim Shea at D&T Publishing for releasing the book; Ash Ericmore for designing a killer cover; Jamie LaChance for editing the manuscript; Ryan Harding and Judith Sonnet for reading an early draft; Lisa Lee, Sarah DeRosa, Scout Tafoya, John Baltisberger, CV Hunt, Daniel Volpe, Aron Beauregard, and Jeff Burk for championing my work over the years; all my readers; and everyone here tonight. I truly appreciate every single one of you. Thank you.
Oh, and special thanks to John Carpenter. Please don’t sue me for ripping off The Fog.
I composed that speech a week before the awards ceremony, not yet sure if I was going to win. Reading it back now that I won the award feels weird. It’s not that I feel differently than the sentiment in that speech; it’s that the reality of what transpired is one of those instances where words don’t feel like enough. If you’d like to read Snow Angels, you can pick it up on Amazon.
The other Splatterpunk Award winners from Saturday are:
C.J. Leede’s Maeve Fly for Best Novel
Ryan Harding’s Transcendental Mutilation for Best Short Story Collection
We’re Here: An Anthology of LGBTQ+ Horror for Best Anthology
“My Octopus Master” by Stephen Kozeniewski (from the anthology Dead and Bloated) and “Blood Harmony” by Chet Williamson (from the anthology The Drive-In Multiplex) both tied for Best Short Story.
Lastly, we surprised Wrath James White with a J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award. This was after we roasted him for a straight two hours the previous night.
Huge congrats to all the winners and nominees. I was surprised and disappointed that this was the first award Wrath had won at any convention. Dude has been kicking ass at this horror stuff for twenty years, and he’s showing no sign of slowing down. Seriously, read Rabbit Hunt.
Every year we do Killer Con, I come away with it having family on the brain. Family is a loaded word. It means different things and conjures different emotions for different people. There are some who think they have a monopoly on it and its definition, but let’s be real: those people are full of shit.
Killer Con is my family. They aren’t my only family, but they are likely the ones who understand me the most.
One last highlight I'll mention was getting to finally eat BBQ at The Gas Station, one of the locations where Tobe Hooper, his crew, and a group of young actors shot the seminal film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The food was actually pretty damn good, and the gift shop is the sort of place a horror fan can spend a lot of money. Here's a shot of me on a meat hook on the patio.
