‘Hear Us Scream: The Voices of Horror’ Anthology Announced + Interview!
With contributors from across the horror community in academia, acting, content creation, and film festivals
The anthology Hear Us Scream: The Voices of Horror anthology is on track to release in October, 2021. Hear Us Scream: Voices of Horror is an anthology of personal essays and the people who love and live the genre. Horror has an amazing way of bringing people together through movies, games, and books and this anthology highlights the personal experiences of those who love horror.
Spearheaded by Cat Benstead, horror movie content creator and host of TGIF: A Horror Movie Podcast, this volume is planned as the first of a series of anthologies featuring personal essays from those who are part of the horror world. With such an incredible ability to heal, inspire, and influence the experiences of amazing people have so many amazing personal stories to share. Cat, who serves as founder and editor of the project, says the following about the anthology volume:
“The purpose of this anthology is to share a variety of personal experiences and perspectives across mental health, personal development, journeys through loss and of course healing. Each of the authors are bringing a variety of stories that as the founder/editor I am so incredibly proud to include in this anthology.”
The contributors are supported by an incredibly experienced editorial team including Ame Searle (PR and marketing, Fellow Traveller and TRPG Narrative Design) and S.C. Parris (horror author and podcaster for Monster Thoughts and owner of MonsterThoughts.com).
Confirmed contributors include:
Violet Burns
Amber R.W. Knapp
RC Jara
Jack Van Tuyle
Jerry Sampson
Em Harring
Hari Berrow
K.C. Amira
Kristen / Chucky's Side Chick
Destiny Kelly
Immortal Graves / Steffi
Elecia Page & Sam Whittaker
Blayne Waterloo
Enola Lugosi
Barnaby Falck
Zoe Smith
Lucy Derry-Holmes
Jessica Scott
Erin M. Brady
+ MORE TO BE CONFIRMED
Contributors come from all faucets of the horror community from academia, scare acting, content creation, writing, all the way through to horror film festivals. The first volume is going to be an incredibly special volume and the contributors have so much knowledge and experiences to share with readers and horror lovers alike.
A Kickstarter has been launched to help raise the funding for cover art designs, ISBN purchases, and the loading of the anthology to self-publishing service IngramSpark. Rewards include: an eBook version of the anthology and a thankyou postcard designed by Destiny Kelly.
Social Media Accounts:
Twitter - @hearusscreamm
Instagram - @hearusscream
INTERVIEW WITH CAT BENSTEAD
What inspired this anthology (and the shape it took)?
I'm a sociologist at heart and I have always wondered how horror has impacted the people I know in the community. This project came off the back of some wishful thinking—I knew I wanted to create something really special either it be a website or a blog and after careful consideration landed on an anthology series. Volume One consists of the personal experiences of women and non-binary individuals who love horror and work in all facets of the genre whether it be academia, content creation, journalism, and even podcasting.
How did you come up with this list of contributors?
About a month ago I put out a tweet asking if anyone would be interested in joining the project as a contributor, I received an incredible response! After I had a few contributors reach out there were a few people I wanted to reach out to so that I could include their perspective in the anthology. I spent days searching through Twitter and online blogs looking for contributors. It was a combination of people reaching out to me and me reaching out to people. Now there are over 28 contributors for the first volume and I am so honoured to have each and every one of them on board. I'm incredibly proud of their work, their perspectives and that they are so supportive and encouraging whilst I cut my teeth on this project.
There are also two incredible editors on the team - Ame Searle and S.C. Parris who I am so grateful for joining the team. I know that they both have a wealth of knowledge that they will bring out the table when it comes down to editing, helping with formatting, structure and having my back in decisions that as an editorial team we may need to make.
What are the plans for future releases? (Timeline, themes, etc)
There is hope for more volumes after this one! Looking to release around the same time each year (October). I haven't really thought about volume themes beyond Volume One, but I do hope to open it up to the horror community and hear a variety of perspectives from horror lovers all over the world.
Tell us about your podcast...
TGIF is a horror movie podcast that talks about all your favourite horror movies! Every week a new guest joins me in the co-host seat and we (over)analyse a horror movie that they have chosen to talk about. TGIF is an incredibly casual conversation about horror movies, the team behind the film and our opinions and perspectives on the film of that week. OH and of course it's filled with trivia and behind the scenes information galore!
What do YOU as a fan look for in horror fiction?
I really enjoy psychological thrillers that create intense atmospheres and mystery whilst providing in depth story arcs and character development. At the moment I am reading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King and it's incredibly perfect in the way that every single scene is setup with time, place, characters and setting, I swear Stephen King can do no wrong. In the past I have really enjoyed thrillers such as Into The Water by Paula Hawkins, The Breakdown by P.A Paris and of course Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Anything that is spooky, creepy and psychologically on the brink of nuts I will really enjoy!