This blog post is by Toby W., Murphy Wilmot Library. Toby has been a longtime moderator at the Tucson Festival of Books and looks forward to continuing that tradition in 2026! He also collects signed bookmarks from Festival authors and is excited to add to his collection this year!
I’m very excited about the Tucson Festival of Books happening March 14 and 15! I’ll be moderating the “Inherited Nightmares” author panel for the Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Horror committee:
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Inherited Nightmares: Three compelling voices in horror
Featuring authors Rachel Harrison, Christina Henry, and L. L. Madrid
Saturday, March 14 from 4 to 4:45 pm
University of Arizona
Koffler Room 204
The Place Where They Buried your Heart
I hope you enjoy this blog post I conducted with the authors!
When did you first realize that you were a fan of horror?
L. L. Madrid
I vividly remember checking out Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark edited by Alvin Shwartz from my elementary school library. The illustrations were unreal, and because I was obsessed with creepy stories, I got hooked fast.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Rachel Harrison
Not until college, when I saw The Orphanage. Something clicked. I'm very sensitive and very easily frightened, so it took me a while to discover the power and catharsis of the genre.
Christina Henry
I was a big fantasy reader as a kid and sort of scooted sideways into horror from fantasy, which I don't think is that unusual because horror books with supernatural elements used to be shelved with fantasy in bookstores and libraries — there wasn't often a separate section. As a very young girl I used to watch a lot of horror movies, though, because girls in the '80s used to have sleepovers and we'd rent horror movies to watch together. I watched A Nightmare on Elm Street when I was around 10 years old — completely appropriate, right?
Did you know you wanted to be a writer all along, or were you encouraged by someone to pursue your talents further?
Rachel Harrison
I always knew I wanted to tell stories, I just wasn't sure how. Theater, film, short stories, novels, I wasn't sure. I'm still not totally sure!
Christina Henry
When I was 12 years old, I read The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and decided then and there that I wanted to be a writer. A couple of times I flirted with the idea of being a marine biologist or something like that, but I was always writing and there really isn't anything else I was ever good at besides writing, anyway. I certainly can't do math.
L. L. Madrid
I always wrote stories, but just for myself. I secretly wanted someone to come along and declare me talented, but that can’t happen if you never share your work! Later, when I started pursuing writing seriously, attending workshops, etc., I found some amazing mentors who’ve inspired me to keep going.
Which other horror authors would you suggest to your readers?
Christina Henry
I read a lot of Japanese writers in translation and would like to suggest some specific books that may not necessarily be categorized as horror but that I think are deeply disturbing in the horror tradition: Out by Natsuo Kirino, The Night of Baba Yaga by Akira Otani, Butter by Asako Yuzuki, and Earthlings by Sayaka Murata.
L. L. Madrid
Besides my fellow panelists’ books (holy smokes!), I love to recommend The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James, The Mean Ones by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman, The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim, The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, and The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. There are so many great horror writers, it’s hard to pick just a few!
Rachel Harrison
Alexis Henderson, CJ Leede, and Kristi DeMeester are three of my favorites.
