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Creating Tension & Fear: Sometimes, you just need to put a book in the freezer, but what is it that creeps into our psyche and won’t let go? How do you create that perfect storm that keeps readers glued to the page, even when they want to hide under the covers?
Join moderator David Green and panellists David Barnett, Lindz McLeod, and Ayida Shonibar for their insights on crafting tension and fear.
David Barnett (he/him): David Barnett is a journalist, comic writer and author, his latest novels being the folk horror series beginning with Withered Hill and followed by Scuttler’s Cove. He lives in West Yorkshire. Connect with David on Bluesky, or find out more on his website.
Lindz McLeod (she/her/they/them): Lindz McLeod is a queer, working-class, Scottish writer who dabbles in the surreal. Her short work has been published by Apex, Catapult, DIVA, and many more. Her longer work includes the award-winning short story collection Turducken, as well as the books Sunbathers, Queen O’Nine Tails, and The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet, with more forthcoming. Her work has been taught in schools, universities, and turned into avant-garde opera. She is a full member of the SFWA, the club president of the Edinburgh Writers’ Club, and is currently in her final year of a PhD in Creative Writing. You can find Lindz on Bluesky and Instagram. Or check out her website. Find her books: Mary Bennet, Sunbathers, Queen O’Nine, Turducken.
Ayida Shonibar (she/her/they/them): Ayida Shonibar writes dark and wistful speculative fiction about misfits, monsters, mischief-makers. A Lambda Literary Fellow and previous We Need Diverse Books mentee, they’ve also received support from the Horror Writers Association and Dream Foundry for their writing. Spanning genres and age categories, their short stories, essays, and poetry appear in various publications, including Silk & Sinew (Bad Hand Books), Heartlines Spec, The Skull & Laurel, Worlds of Possibility, Wilted Pages (Shortwave Publishing), Luminescent Machinations (Neon Hemlock), Nature Futures, Asian Ghost Short Stories (Flame Tree Publishing), Night of the Living Queers (Wednesday Books), and Transmogrify! (Harper Teen), among others. Connect with Ayida on Bluesky or Instagram. Or find out more on their website.
David Green (he/him): David Green is a neurodivergent writer of the epic and the urban, the fantastical, the cosy, and the mysterious. With his character-driven dark fantasy series Empire Of Ruin, or urban fantasy noir Hell In Haven, David takes readers on emotional, action-packed thrill rides. Hailing from the north-west of England, David now lives in County Galway on the west coast of Ireland with his wife and Godzilla-obsessed son. When not writing, David can be found wondering why he chooses to live in places where it constantly rains. David’s Path Of War was nominated for Best Novel at the 2023 BFS Awards, and he is repped by Laura Bennett of Liverpool Literacy Agency. David is the Secretary of the British Fantasy Society. Learn more about David on his website or follow him on Twitter or Bluesky.
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