Dangerous Waters: Aquatic Origins of Weird and Cosmic Terror
The fear of dark water, otherworldly creatures that lurk within, and the mutation or change that water affects are pre-Lovecraftian concepts used by Lovecraft in his stories. How do modern writers bend the ancient fear of water into new stories?
Moderator Sumiko Saulson, Panelists Francis Pai, Angel Yuriko Smith, Roni Stinger, Emily Flummox
Sumiko Saulson is an award-winning author of Afrosurrealistmulticultural sci-fi and horror. Author of the LOHR Reader’sChoice Award-winning collection Within Me Without Me (Dooky Zines), and the
novel Happiness and Other Diseases (Mocha Memoirs Press). Winner of the Carry the Light Award (2016) BCC Voice "Reframing the Other" contest (2017), Mixy Award (2017), Afrosurrealist Writer Award (2018),), Ladies of Horror Reader’s Choice Award (2021), and the HWA Richard Laymon President’s Award (2021). They write a column called "Writing While Black" for a national Black Newspaper, the San Francisco BayView.
Angela Yuriko Smith is a third-generation Shimanchu-American and an award-winning poet, author, and publisher with 20+ years of experience as a professional writer in nonfiction. Publisher of Space & Time magazine (est. 1966), a two-time Bram Stoker Awards® Winner, and HWA Mentor of the Year for 2020, connect with her at angelaysmith.com.
Roni Stinger lives in the Pacific Northwest, USA with her husband and two cats. When not writing strange, dark fiction, she’s often wandering the forests, beaches, and streets in search of shiny objects and creative sparks. Her work has been published in Dark Matter Magazine, Unnerving Magazine, and MetaStellar, among others. She’s a member of the Horror Writers Association, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. You can find her website at www.ronistinger.com. And find her on Instagram and Twitter @roni_stinger.
Emily Flummox uses 18 names (including An-Sisa, Gandalfina Face-and-Heart, & Tristissima) competed on two National Poetry Slam teams over a decade-long slam career. E also designs & streams TTRPG content, writes fiction, and edits anthologies. Much of eir poetry, notably “Sacred Purification Ritual Using Your Own Urine Instead of Water”, focuses on identifying with the divinity of the disgusting. Skunkheart performed that poem during the San Francisco Leather Cultural District’s Erotic Storytelling Hour; it was published in Scry of Lust. E teaches classes on Kink in Horror and Queerness in Horror with eir sweetheart Sumiko Saulson at the Speculative Fiction Academy.