Cryptids & Creatures

Grady Hendrix is the New York Times-bestselling author of How To Sell a Haunted House, The Final Girl Support Group, My Best Friend's Exorcism, and many more. His history of the horror paperback boom of the '70s and '80s, Paperbacks from Hell, won the Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction. His books have been translated into 23 languages and sold over two million copies, which means he is guaranteed a seat on the space ark when the earth becomes uninhabitable. His latest book is Witchcraft for Wayward Girls. You can learn more useless facts about him at www.gradyhendrix.com

Richard Freeman is a former zookeeper and still-working cryptozoologist, author and explorer who searches for and writes about unknown animals. The melodramatic may call him a monster hunter. He has hunted for creatures such as the yeti, the Mongolian death worm, the giant anaconda, the almasty, orang-pendek, the gul, the naga, the ninki-nanka, the Caspian tiger and the Tasmanian wolf. He is the Zoological Director at the Centre for Fortean Zoology, the world’s only full-time mystery animal research organization.

V. Castro is a two time Bram Stoker Award nominated Mexican American writer from San Antonio, Texas now residing in the UK. She writes horror, erotic horror, and science fiction. Her books include Immortal Pleasures, The Haunting of Alejandra, Alien: Vasquez, Mestiza Blood, The Queen of the Cicadas, Out of Aztlan, Las Posadas, Rebel Moon (official Netflix film novelization), The Pink Agave Motel, and Goddess of Filth. Her latest releases include a YA short story collection, Tejano Tales to Tell in The Dark, and Tales of The Dark Feminine from Watkins Books. Connect with Violet via Instagram and Twitter @vlatinalondon or www.vcastrostories.com.

Tiffani Angus (PhD) is a multi BSFA- and BFS-award finalist for her debut novel Threading the Labyrinth and for non-fiction (with co-author Val Nolan) for Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Vol. 1 (2023) and Vol. 2 (2024), both of which also made the Locus Recommended Reading List, and a BFS-award finalist for short fiction. She spent over a decade teaching creative writing at universities in the US and UK, most of that time as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Publishing at ARU in Cambridge (UK).

Tiffany Morris is an L'nu'skw (Mi'kmaw) writer from Kjipuktuk, Nova Scotia. She is the author of the ecohorror novella Green Fuse Burning, which won the Indigenous Representation Indie Ink Award, and which was a finalist for the Indigenous Voices, Shirley Jackson, Aurora, and Ignyte Awards in 2024. Her work has been published in Nightmare Magazine, Apex Magazine, and Uncanny Magazine, among others.

Kayleigh Dobbs is an Imadjinn Award Finalist (The End, 2023) and the owner of Happy Goat Horror, a horror review website and YouTube channel. She has an MA in Scriptwriting (with two produced theatre plays, both zombie themed, of course), and her BA dissertation topic was The Walking Dead. Academically, she has been considered a zombie expert, which delights her. She spends all of her time doing book-related activities.

Alex Davis is an author, lecturer and events organiser based in Derby. Much of his work centres on horror, specifically ghost stories and folk horror, including organising events such as the UK Ghost Story Festival and the Darkness in the Fields series. He lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Derby and in Media and Journalism at De Montfort University.

Hero Owen is the principal writer and producer at Monstrous Productions, an independent audio fiction studio based in Belfast. Their first show, Monstrous Agonies, took the form of a late night radio advice show for creatures and cryptids, and won the 2022 British Fantasy Award for Best Audio. They are currently releasing their second show, Travelling Light, a queer and cosy science fantasy story about exploring the galaxy and celebrating difference. When they’re not podcasting, Hero can usually be found in a pile of blankets and woolly jumpers, watching Doctor Who with their eyes closed.

A W Earl is a writer and storyteller whose work centres queerness, deviant bodies, and the macabre.Their life has dragged them northwards, from Kent, via East Anglia, to end up in the Scottish Borders. Inspired by landscape and folklore, their work is fascinated by the way hidden histories shape things that we perceive as being fixed and eternal. As such, they love Border Ballads, the nineteenth century gothic, and faery lore. They have an essay in The Modern Craft - a collection of about modern witchcraft from Watkins Books, while their poetry has appeared in various venues, including The Selkie and Renard Press. Time’s Fool, their debut novel, was a piece of vampire fiction published by Unbound in 2018.

Zoe Burgess is an author and artist of queer cosmic horror and monster erotica. They podcast on Monster Romance Movies, organise events and create art. They hold 2 Masters in Japanese Media specialising in alternative genders and erotica which they use on their research on tentacle erotica. They have a love of all things tentacled and beyond imagination.

Writing the Occult: Belief
6 September 2025
Featuring: Dr Francis Young, Lilith Dorsey M.A., Wole Talabi, Deborah Hyde, Brandon R Grafius, Ella Snyder, Dr S Jonathon O'Donnell, Jordan S. Carroll, Sarah Elliott, and Chris Hawton.

Writing the Occult: Relics
10 May 2025
Featuring: Cat Irving, John J Johnston, Ally Wilkes, Rebecca Stone Gordon, Steve Toase, John Buglass, and Jon Dear.

Writing the Occult: The Uncanny
18 January 2025
Featuring: Dr Elizabeth Dearnley, Zebib K. Abraham, E. Saxey, Dr Vicky Brewster, Dr Steph Lay, and Chris Hawton

Writing the Occult: Hauntology
30 November 2024
Featuring: Evelyn Hollow, Professor Robert Edgar, Adam S. Leslie, Dr Icy Sedgwick, Lindz McLeod, TC Parker, Mina Ikemoto Ghosh, and Robert P. Ottone.

Writing the Occult: Connection to Land
15 June 2024
Featuring: Ally Wilkes, Eve Smith, Caroline Wise, Dr Kevan Manwaring, Tiffany Morris, Xan van Rooyen, Akintoba Kalejaye, Penny Billington, Kerry Hadley-Price, Lindz McLeod, Shona Kinsella, Renan Bernardo, Paul Hardisty, Lisa Brideau, and Lindsey Trout Hughes

Writing the Occult: The Fae
6 April 2024
Featuring: Dr Elizabeth Dearnley, Gabriela Houston, Mark Norman, Morgan Daimler, Villimey Mist, Yvette Tan, Somto Ihezue, Avra Margariti, Yve Chairez, Khaya Maseko, Tanya Akrofi, Chinelo Onwualu, Komal Salman, and Xueting C. Ni

Writing the Occult: Ritual
27 January 2024
Featuring: Tracy Fahey, Dr Adam Scovell, Lee Murray, Eden Royce, Dr Helen Frisby, LMK Sheppard, Robert P. Ottone, Stephanie Ellis, Kev Harrison, Lindsey Trout Hughes

Writing the Occult: Vampires
28 October 2023
Featuring: Jewelle Gomez, Deborah Hyde, Dr Sam George, Scott J Moses, Beverley Lee, Nicole Eigener, Katalina Watt, Dawn Kurtagich, A.W. Earl, Erica Robert Pallo, A.R. James, Rebecca Wojturska

Writing the Occult: Witches
12 August 2023
Featuring: Alice Tarbuck, Claire Askew, Stacey Thomas, Chelsey Pippin Mizzi, Tiffani Angus, and Lauren McMenemy