Today and tomorrow I have something a little different. I am featuring award winning dark speculative poets and their Why I Love Horror essays. Before we get to that though, I want to remind everyone that poetry, in general, is steadily gaining readers, and dark poetry, specifically, is very popular with poetry readers. If you are looking to add dark poetry to your libraries, please look at the last few years of Bram Stoker Nominees in the Poetry category here.
Now back to today's guest. I am thrilled to welcome the extremely talented and award winning poet Pedro Iniguez. From his website:
Pedro Iniguez is a Mexican-American Bram Stoker, Elgin, and Dwarf Stars Award-winning science-fiction and horror writer from Los Angeles. He has also been a Rhysling finalist and Puschart Prize and Best of the Net nominee.
He is the author of MEXICANS ON THE MOON: SPECULATIVE POETRY FROM A POSSIBLE FUTURE, FEVER DREAMS OF A PARASITE, ECHOES AND EMBERS: SPECULATIVE STORIES, SYNTHETIC DAWNS & CRIMSON DUSKS, and the SF novel CONTROL THEORY.
His fiction and poetry has also appeared in Nightmare Magazine, Never Wake: An Anthology of Dream Horror, Shadows Over Main Street Volume 3, Qualia Nous Vol. 2, Beyond the Bounds of Infinity, Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers, Dark Spores, A Night of Screams: Latino Horror Stories, Speculative Fiction for Dreamers, Worlds of Possibility, Infinite Constellations, Tiny Nightmares, Apex Magazine, Shortwave Magazine, Star*Line, Eye to the Telescope, Space and Time Magazine, and Savage Realms Monthly, among others.
Apart from leading writing workshops and speaking at several colleges, he has also been a sensitivity reader and has ghostwritten for award-winning apps and online clients.
Forthcoming, his debut picture book, THE FIB (Gloo Books), is slated for a Fall 2025 release.
I was in the room as Pedro won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Poetry this past year for Mexicans on the Moon: Speculative Poetry From a Possible Future. This 50 poem collection weaves science-fiction, Mexican folklore, and magical realism as he explores the wonders and pitfalls of humanity in a future yet to come. The room burst into some of the loudest applause of the night.
Pedro is a dark poet you need to know about. And as you see above, his picture book, The Fib, can out this week! It is an allegorical tale about the consequences of lying that weaves magic and morality into a powerful message about honesty, responsibility, and the power of creativity-- all messages our children need right now.
His work needs to be added to your libraries so that he can inspire future writers much like Dennis Etchison inspired him. Read Pedro's essay below to learn more.
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The Path Toward Purpose; or, Why I love Horror
By
Pedro Iniguez
People enjoy horror for many reasons. It can entertain, unsettle, or allow one to engage with the uncomfortable topics of life from a safe distance. For me, it’s all those things but as a writer, horror has also given me something else. Something personal, something profound. And, like many journeys, this story involves a path of discovery.
My first brushes with horror came when I was around 4 years old when my parents would tell me stories of El Cucuy, the Latin American boogeyman who lurked in the dark waiting to snatch up disobedient children. Every night in bed when the lights went out, I’d come to fear his skulking presence. It was my parents’ way to police me without having to actually do anything. I’m surprised this didn’t traumatize and outright turn me away from horror.
It wasn’t until I was about 5 or 6 that I began to willingly wade into the shallow end of the horror pool with books like Goosebumps and shows like Scooby-Doo and Are You Afraid of the Dark? These all did wonders for my imagination. Thus, my first foray into short story writing happened when I was in third grade, when the entire school had to participate in a Halloween short story writing contest. I wrote a story about a pair of brothers who forget their homework assignments at school before deciding to sneak out of their homes one night to break back into class to retrieve their worksheets. The boys’ mother then goes on to team up with the school custodian to dress up as skeletons and give them the scare of their lives in order teach them a valuable lesson about not sneaking off and forgetting their homework. Anyway, I won! And I received my first story payout: a Jack-O-Lantern plushie. It was beautiful. It felt great.
But my short story writing career stopped there. At least until college, when I had become a voracious reader. That’s when I’d sit bored through hours of lectures and I’d write these paragraph-long flash fiction pieces inspired by the books I’d been reading at the time. Books like Starship Troopers, I Am Legend, and Fahrenheit 451. Then, in October 2007, Mystery and Imagination, a local used bookstore in Glendale, California, announced an open mic night on Halloween, an event featuring many renowned local authors. One of which was Dennis Etchison, acclaimed horror writer, and future Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement winner.
I printed out a four-paragraph-long story and got myself to the open mic night. When I got there, the event was nearing its end, and Dennis had just finished wrapping up his reading of a story. When he was done, he asked if there was anyone who’d like to read something. I nervously raised my hand and proceeded to read my horror story about a group of survivors holed up in a church as an undead horde pounded on the doors. When I was done, there was a pause that felt like an eternity. Then the crowd erupted into cheers and applause. They loved my story. I was shocked. As I began to walk away, Dennis said he was hosting a weekly writing class and he wanted to see me there. I said OK.
So, I began to attend Dennis’ classes, where I learned about story structure and the proper way to submit a story to an editor and how to handle rejection. But he went above and beyond. I think he must’ve seen something in me, because he’d invite me to hang out and have dinner with him and the likes of veteran writers like Peter Atkins (Hellraiser II-IV, Wishmaster), Lisa Morton (The Castle of Los Angeles, Midnight Walk) Willaim F. Nolan (Co-author of Logan’s Run), and George Clayton Johnson (The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Ocean’s 11), all who became wonderful friends.
It was shortly afterwards that I sold my first story in 2009. This began my journey writing and selling fiction and poetry. And this went on until Covid hit hard in 2020. The world went into lockdown in March, just when my debut horror and SF short story collection, Synthetic Dawns & Crimson Dusks, was set to release. But I saw an opportunity to do something positive with my writing. Something meaningful. I announced that a portion of funds from sales of the book would go towards programs that provided free food to children who relied on school lunches. By the end of the year, I’d donated somewhere around $200 to Covid relief programs.
This moment spurred something in me. I’d realized I could use my writing for good. I could actually help people. Since then, I’ve donated portions from all pro sales, book sales, advances, speaking engagements, and royalties to causes and organizations dear to my heart. In that time, I’ve raised somewhere around $2000. But it didn’t stop there. I also began to lead writing workshops, speak at colleges, and on occasion, help writers that’d reached out in private who needed a little mentoring. Just like Dennis Etchison had done for me.
You see, Dennis put me on a path I didn’t know I needed to be on. Because sometimes we’re lost in life, wandering until we find our way. And this is why I love horror. Because, ultimately, it has given me purpose.
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