Panel: Blood on Tumbbad’s Claw: Global Folk Horror
Innsmouth, Dunwich, Summerisle: we know these sites of folk horror. But rich traditions of chilling stories exist in the film and folklore of every inhabited corner of our planet. This panel looks at major and minor works of folk culture and folk horror beyond the countrysides most of us are familiar with, and recognizes that "folk horror" is a genre label applied to countless living folk beliefs and practices across the world.
With Evan J. Peterson (M), Frances Lu Pai Ippolito, Maquel A. Jacob, Garret Cook, Niyyah Ruscher-Haqq
Evan J. Peterson is a novelist, game writer, monsterologist, and poet. His first novel, Better Living Through Alchemy, won the Small Spec Book Award for fantasy fiction. His newest RPG is Posthuman: Guardians vs PSION (Choice of Games). Other works include Drag Star!, the world’s first drag performer RPG; METAFLESH: Poems In the Voices of the Monster; and The Road to Innsmouth: Arkham Horror. His writing has appeared in Weird Tales, PseudoPod, Queers Destroy Horror, and Nightmare Magazine. Evanjpeterson.com can tell you more.
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Frances Lu Pai Ippolito (she/her) is a Chinese American writer and publisher in Portland, Oregon. Her writing has appeared in several venues including Nightmare Magazine, Flame Tree’s Asian Ghost Stories, Chromophobia, Mother: Tales of Terror and Love, and Unquiet Spirits. She is the founder of game and book publisher Demagogue Press and the award-winning nonprofit, Qilin Press, which focuses on marginalized voices. She is also the co-editor of three cozy horror anthologies through Underland Press. But most importantly, she believes in ghosts. IG: @demagogue_press & @qilin_press
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Maquel A. Jacob writes fluid beings in an ocean of stars with a little bit of romance and a touch of gore. Originally from the Windy City of Chicago, she now resides in Oregon. She has three different series and short stories in various anthologies and magazines. Her degrees are in Accounting, Business Administration, and Digital Film and Video. Member of SFWA, PNWA, NIWA, and ALLi. As a strong advocate for diversity, Maquel injects elements into her stories to encourage new ways of thinking through Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, and the Paranormal. She is a HUGE Anime fan, loves a great bottle of wine, and rocks out to heavy metal music while spinning imaginary worlds in her head and daydreaming.
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Garrett Cook is a Wonderland Award winning author as well as an editor, mentor and Twitch streamer. His work has been translated into several languages and published in multiple countries. He streams games and documents his writing process on his channel DocFaustus82 on Twitch. His latest book is Kennel from Madnesss Heart Press.
Niyyah writes middle grade and adult speculative fiction, fantasy and horror, with an emphasis on Muslim American and multicultural characters. Her novella “The Veil” debuted September 2026, and she has published several short stories. She was selected as 2026 We Need Diverse Books Mentee for her middle grade fantasy manuscript “Under.”
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