About Horror University
Horror University is one of the most successful and popular aspects of StokerCon™. We are proud to present another great series of live workshops for StokerCon™ 2026. Horror University furthers the Horror Writers Association’s focus on education with a curriculum run by some of the best and brightest in the horror field.
2026 Horror University Workshop Schedule
From June 4th to June 7th, HORROR UNIVERSITY will present nine live, in-person workshops at StokerCon 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. HORROR UNIVERSITY is designed for horror writers interested in refining their writing, learning new skills and techniques, exploring new writing formats, or better understanding the genre. These workshops are taught by some of the most experienced voices in horror.
Registration per workshop is $55 per workshop for all attendees. General registration for StokerCon does not include Horror University programming; additional registration is required so that the Con is able to compensate each instructor for their workshop and support the cost of the program.
June 4, 3 p.m.: Medusa's Children: Writing Horror from the Bones of Myth and Fairy Tale
In this two-hour workshop, writers will excavate the ancient narratives found in fairy tale and myth to discover the dark truths hidden inside these familiar forms. Trace the evolution of oral storytelling to traditional tale types, utilize folkloric tools to unearth literary legacies and mythic motifs, and crack the bones of contemporary stories to expose unexpected connections in both the monstrous and the mundane. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of mythic structure, a toolkit of approaches for retelling and subversion, and a series of transformative prompts designed to lead intrepid explorers through the labyrinth and into the dark wood.
Carina Bissett is a writer and poet working primarily in the fields of dark fiction and fabulism. She has written numerous short stories, many of which are featured in her debut collection Dead Girl, Driving and Other Devastations (2024), and she is also a co-editor of the award-winning anthology Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas (2021). She is a Shirley Jackson Award nominee for psychological horror. Her poetry has been nominated for the Rhysling Award, the Pushcart Prize, and Sundress Publications Best of the Net. And both her nonfiction and editorial work have been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award®. For more, visit http://carinabissett.com.
June 5, 9 a.m.: Understanding Tone and Word Placement in Poetry
As a poet, words are like gold. With so many lines, or so few, a poet must understand the weight each word has on every line. The goal of this workshop is to examine word choice, tone, and rhythm by looking at both classic and modern examples from Milton to Shelley to Lovecraft to Ginsberg.
Maxwell I. Gold is a Jewish-American author and poet with an extensive body of work comprising over 350 poems and nine poetry collections since 2017. His work has appeared in numerous literary journals, magazines, and anthologies. Maxwell’s work has earned nominations for two Bram Stoker Awards, the Eric Hoffer Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Rhysling Award and others. Find him and his work at www.thewellsoftheweird.com.
June 5, 11 a.m.: The Human Touch: Outwriting AI
This workshop will present techniques to take your horror writing to a higher level, so readers choose your stories over those “written” by AI. Topics covered include recognizing and avoiding horror clichés, reworking familiar tropes, mining everyday life for ideas, writing with a deep point of view, and developing a distinctive writer’s voice.
Tim Waggoner has published over sixty novels and eight collections of short stories. He writes original dark fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins, and his articles on writing have appeared in numerous publications. He’s a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, a two-time winner of the Scribe Award, and a professor of creative writing at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio.
June 5, 1 p.m.: Little Monsters: Writing the Unsettling Child in Horror
We instinctively view children as innocent, vulnerable, and deserving of protection. Horror becomes especially disturbing when that perception collapses; this workshop explores how writers can create unsettling children in horror fiction by disrupting the psychology of innocence. Drawing on examples from literature and film, the class examines how distorted morality, emotional detachment, manipulation, and supernatural influence can transform child characters into powerful engines of horror.
Mo Moshaty is a Bram Stoker Award-nominated horror writer, producer, and lecturer whose work explores the psychological and cultural dimensions of the genre. She is the founder of Mourning Manor Media and the Editor in Chief of NightTide Magazine, an independent horror journal dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices and examining horror as a reflection of history, identity, and lived experience. She lectures internationally on horror cinema and storytelling and is the author of Love the Sinner, Clariviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment and the forthcoming series The Annex of the Obscure.
June 5, 3 p.m.: The Five Senses of Dread
In this workshop, Bram Stoker Award-winning author Michael Arnzen takes you on a tour of the "five senses of dread" -- exploring how fear operates on your nerve endings, from the tips of your fingers all the way up to your brain. Learn how words work to paint haunting portraits of fear and generate anxiety, and how characters express their darkest fears from a whisper to a scream. Recommended for poets as well as full-length novel writers, this course will zoom in on what makes horror tick at the level of language.
Amityville-born horror writer Michael Arnzen holds four Bram Stoker Awards and an International Horror Guild Award for his often funny, always disturbing fiction and poetry. In addition to his creative books -- like the novel, Grave Markings, or the short story collection, Proverbs for Monsters -- he's published helpful collection of "story starters" for dark fiction authors called Instigation: Creative Prompts on the Dark Side and co-edited the anthology, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction. Arnzen holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Oregon and since 1999 has taught full-time at Seton Hill University, near Pittsburgh, in their MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction. His latest experiment is a horror podcast called "6 minutes and 66 seconds" and each episode lasts precisely that long. Learn the latest at: http://michaelarnzen.com
June 6, 9 a.m.: Terror by Design: Building Setpieces That Haunt the Reader
Horror lives and dies in the scene. In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn how to construct unforgettable horror setpieces—those iconic, slow-build moments that leave readers breathless. Using techniques drawn from classic and contemporary horror (like The Troop, The Only Good Indians, and The Cabin at the End of the World), we’ll examine how structure, detail, rhythm, and misdirection work together to craft unforgettable moments of dread.
John Peragine is the author of Arcane Auction Wars, a comedy-horror series where cursed objects, shady occult dealers, and supernatural chaos collide. With over 100 ghostwritten books to his name—including numerous horror and dark fiction titles—John brings a seasoned, story-first approach to genre writing. He is also a member of a national book-to-screen incubator, developing projects for television and film adaptation. A frequent speaker at writing conferences nationwide, John teaches workshops on horror craft, structure, and storytelling with humor and edge.
June 6, 11 a.m.: Workshop with the Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
Workshop to be announced!
Jonathan Maberry is a prolific horror author, an editor, a playwright, a teacher, a writer of graphic novels, and a mentor of authors. A six-time Bram Stoker Award winner, he has written creative nonfiction works on the supernatural, including the Stoker Award-winning The Cryptopedia, co-authored by David F. Kramer as well as many novels, including the Pine Deep Trilogy , the YA series Rot and Ruin, the fourteen-volume and counting Joe Ledger series (featuring such novels as Patient Zero, The King of Plagues, Dogs of War, Deep Silence, Rage, Cave 13, and many more), The Wolfman, and more. The author of hundreds of short stories and several fiction collections he has also edited fifteen anthologies, including the Stoker-nominated Nights of the Living Dead with George Romero and the HWA anthologies New Scary Stories to Tell in the Darkand Don't Turn Out the Lights, and is the editor of Weird Tales magazine.
June 6, 1 p.m.: The Spine of a Story: East Meets West in Structure
What do you do when the well-used Western narrative structures don’t quite fit your premise? Have you ever read or watched an Asian narrative and wondered why it feels unpredictable yet satisfying? Want a glimpse at the bones that made Ryan Coogler’s film, Sinners so powerful? Join Geneve Flynn and L. E. Daniels to explore Eastern and Western storytelling conventions across structure, character focus, and narrative goals, and expand your writing toolbox. Learning outcomes include recognizing the growth of Eastern narratives in Western spaces, understanding the differences between Eastern/Western narratives, and learning Kishontenketsu: the four-act structure, the three-act structure, and the heroine’s and hero’s journey.
A finalist for the Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, Aurealis, Ditmar, and Australasian Shadows Awards, L. E. Daniels is an American author, poet, and editor currently living in Australia. Lauren holds an MFA in Creative Writing (Emerson College) and has edited 150+ titles, and countless short stories and poems. She’s worked in publishing since 1992 (Ziff-Davis, Boston) and still contracts for Interactive Publications Pty Ltd and Hawkeye Publishing. Her novel, Serpent’s Wake: A Tale for the Bitten is a Notable Work with the HWA’s Mental Health Initiative, where she is co-chair with Mark Matthews. She directs Brisbane Writers Workshop, www.brisbanewriters.com
Geneve Flynn is a speculative fiction editor, author, and poet. Winner of two Bram Stoker Awards, and the Shirley Jackson, Australasian Shadows, and Aurealis awards; recipient of the 2022 Queensland Writers Fellowship. Her work has been short/longlisted for the British Fantasy, Locus, Carl Brandon Parallax, and Elgin awards. Co-editor of Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, the dark fiction anthology which launched the grassroots movement in Asian women’s horror writing. Her work has been published by Weird Tales, PS Publishing, Flame Tree Publishing, PseudoPod, among others. She is Chinese, born in Malaysia, and now calls Australia home. Read more at www.geneveflynn.com.au
June 6, 3 p.m.: Reading What You Wrote!
This workshop designed for writers to create an engaging and exciting experience for their audience. Through a series of short, interactive exercises and discussions, writers will learn to build confidence, shed anxiety, be loud and proud, and pick the perfect piece for that special event. There will also be a segment on MCing a literary event. A few participants will be able to read a small passage at the end of the workshop to showcase the tools they've learned.
Sèphera Girón is the author of over twenty-five traditionally published books, dozens of short stories, poems, and screenplays. She has acted in many theatre productions, TV shows, and movies. She worked on the Great Lakes Horror Company Podcast. Sèphera graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts Studies. She attended the Theatre London Theatre School as a teenager. She taught musical theatre at a dance studio in Toronto for several years and wrote and directed several short pieces.
Andrew Robertson is a queer horror writer and journalist, a radio host of over a decade on two weekly shows, and was a regular guest on television shows on MuchMusic and MuchMoreMusic like Evolution, Listed, and Hot/Not. He is also the founder of The Great Lakes Horror Company podcast and small press. He has read his work and also moderated panels and reading series at FanExpo Canada, Frightmare in the Falls, Little Ghosts Fest, Rainbow Country, Chiaroscuro Reading Series, CanCon in Ottawa, and Pride Toronto. He is also a recovering Electric Circus dancer.
June 7, 11 a.m.: Vending 101; Or, How to Successfully Vend at a Convention
Lots of authors vend at events like conventions and expos, and lots more would like to be vendors but don't know where to start or how to do it well. This class will give attendees the tools to find events they can vend at, and what they can do to ensure they get their books in as many readers' hands as possible.
Rami Ungar is a novelist from Columbus, Ohio specializing in horror and dark fantasy. He has published six books, including Rose, Hannah and Other Stories, and Symphony for Walpurgis, and has numerous short stories and articles in a variety of publications. When not writing, Rami enjoys reading, following his many interests, and giving his readers the impression he's not entirely human.