This week, we pay tribute to the Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest and their celebration of terrible opening lines. We reached out to the spooky coeds for them to submit their own terrible openers and even came up with a couple of our own!

https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

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We continue our look into the HWA's many varied recent tragedies!

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The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has been in a constant state of disaster recently, much of it surrounding (now, former) executive director Maxwell I. Gold. In this two-parter, we go over the many recent controversies of the HWA.

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The spooky professors try out a new format this week!

Raise your hand if you've been rejected by THE DARK.

We read the August 2026 issue of famed horror magazine THE DARK to analyze what they publish and if it matches their submission guidelines!

All writers are mentally ill, so it makes sense that all of our characters are too! We talk about sensitive and insensitive portrayals of mental illness in horror and associated tropes.

Sources

https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2020.160110

https://hcpl.net/blogs/post/mental-health-and-horror-a-complicated-history/

https://thetandemcollective.com/community/blog/mentalheathandhorrorfiction

https://www.horrorhomeroom.com/the-evolution-of-mental-illness-monstrosity-in-horror-films/

https://katiemariewriter.com/2024/08/07/from-madwomen-to-monsters-unpacking-mental-disorders-in-horror-writing/

ttps://thebsdj.cardiffuniversitypress.org/articles/10.18573/bsdj.372

This week, PLMbo finishes up our deep dive into the history of horror!

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Professor PLM keeps hitting her ruler against her palm as she delves into the history of horror in this massive 1 of 2 part series.

Learn the foundations of the genre and discover the commonalities at the core of horror.

Sources

https://www.librarypoint.org/blogs/post/bh-horror-fiction/

https://horrorfilmhistory.com/horror-roots-of-the-genre/

https://www.tabula-rasa.info/DarkAges/Timeline1.html

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The goblins dive deep into a valuable writing tool: the prompt. How do they like to use prompts in their writing, types of prompts, and they even provide some for their dearest spooky co-eds.

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