August William Derleth was born in 1909 in Sauk City, Wisconsin, where he spent most of his life. He sold his first story to Weird Tales at the age of seventeen, in 1926, and contributed prolifically to that pulp magazine for much of its run. Also in 1926, he came into contact with H. P. Lovecraft, whose influence upon his work would be decisive. Corresponding prolifically with Lovecraft, he became acquainted with many of Lovecraft’s colleagues, including Donald Wandrei, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard. After Lovecraft’s death in 1937, Derleth and Wandrei established the publishing firm of Arkham House to issue Lovecraft’s tales in hardcover; Arkham House would become the most prestigious small-press publisher of supernatural fiction in the United States. (more…)

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PAUL DesCOMBAZ lives in Saint Paul, MN. “Passing Grade” is his second sale.

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Gabriel Diani  wrote and starred in the award-winning supernatural comedy feature film THE SELLING and created THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN [Robotic Edition]. He is currently prepping a Kickstarter campaign for his second feature film called DIANI & DEVINE MEET THE APOCALYPSE.

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H.B. Diaz is a gothic mystery and horror writer whose short stories have appeared in publications from Flame Tree Press, Ghost Orchid Press, Horror Tree, and others. She is the author of Nocturne: A Collection of Dark Tales, and her gothic romance novel, The Ghost of Ravenswood Hall, is forthcoming from publisher Literary Wanderlust. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association, and lives with her family in a historic (and likely haunted) town on America’s eastern coast.

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By day, Evan Dicken studies old Japanese maps and crunches data for all manner of fascinating medical research at The Ohio State University. By night, he does neither of these things. His short fiction has most recently appeared in publications such as: Apex Magazine, Shock Totem, and Unlikely Story. Feel free to visit him at evandicken.com, where he wastes both his time and yours.

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CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870) surely needs no introduction so let’s talk a little bit about his relationship to the horror genre. Nearly everything Dickens wrote contains elements of the grotesque – exaggeration (used for both comic and chilling effects) was one of the devices most natural to him. He had a steady interest in the supernatural, albeit with reservations. Several of his stories make fun of spiritualism (“The Lawyer & The Ghost”, “The Haunted House”, “Well-Authenticated Rappings”) but Dickens thought ghost stories were especially appropriate for the Christmas season and encouraged other writers to produce ghost stories for the holidays including Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Elizabeth Gaskell and Wilkie Collins. (more…)

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Christopher DiLeo inherited his love of horror stories from his father, who left him a coffin filled with Stephen King novels. Chris teaches high school English in New York, infecting many students with a love for the macabre. Chris is currently searching for an agent for his novel DARK HEART, a psychological thriller that explores treacherous deceit, violence, and love, where the strongest heart is often as dark as it is virtuous. 

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