It's not Halloween (it's not even October!) but we don't care! We like our horror all year round and we're especially interested in local lore - the ghost stories, hauntings, and cult activity that fuel our nightmares. We're excited to welcome authors Christa Carmen and JW Ocker to the library for, what we anticipate will be a fascinating conversation. 

Registration is Requested so we know how many seats to have out. Please Register HERE. 

You can PREORDER Books from Aesop's Fable and they will be here on the day of for our authors to sign. 

NOTE: this program is IN PERSON ONLY. We will not be streaming or recording it.

The conversation will be moderated by horror author Bracken McLeod. We can't wait to see him again!

Books by Christa,  JW, and Bracken will be provided by our favorite indie bookstore, Aesop's Fable. Our authors will sign books you bring from home, but please limit them to 3 per author (we know, it's torture to pick!). You can PREORDER (link coming soon) books from them which will guarantee that your copies will be at the library on the day of. 

About Christa:

Christa Carmen lives in Rhode Island. She is the author of The Daughters of Block Island, winner of the Bram Stoker Award and a Shirley Jackson Award finalist, the Indie Horror Book Award-winning Something Borrowed, Something Blood-Soaked, and the Bram Stoker Award-nominated "Through the Looking Glass and Straight into Hell" (Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror). She has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA from Boston College, and an MFA from the University of Southern Maine.

When she's not writing, she keeps chickens; uses a Ouija board to ghost-hug her dear, departed beagle; and sets out on adventures with her husband, daughter, and bloodhound-golden retriever mix. Most of her work comes from gazing upon the ghosts of the past or else into the dark corners of nature, those places where whorls of bark become owl eyes, and deer step through tunnels of hanging leaves and creeping briars only to disappear.

About JW:

J.W. Ocker is a national-bestselling, award-winning author of macabre travelogues, spooky kid’s books, and horror novels. His nonfictions books include The New England Grimpendium and The New York Grimpendium (both Lowell Thomas Award winners), Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe (Edgar Award winner), A Season with the Witch: The Magic and Mayhem of Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts, and Cursed Objects: Strange But True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items. His novels for kids include Death and Douglas, The Smashed Man of Dread End, and The Black Slide.

Ocker is also the creator of OTIS: Odd Things I've Seen (oddthingsiveseen.com), where he chronicles his visits to thousands of oddities of culture, art, nature, and history across the country and world with photos, articles, and through Odd Things I've Seen: The Podcast. His work has appeared on or in CNN.com, The Atlantic, Rue Morgue, the Boston Globe, The Guardian, TIME, and other places people stick writing. Ocker is from Maryland but has lived in New Hampshire for more than a decade.

About Bracken:

Bracken MacLeod is the Bram Stoker, Splatterpunk, and Shirley Jackson Award nominated author of the novels, is the author of the novels, MOUNTAIN HOME, STRANDED, COME TO DUST, and CLOSING COSTS (available in hardcover, paperback coming 9/20 from William Morrow).

His short fiction has appeared in several magazines and anthologies including LampLight, ThugLit, and Splatterpunk and has been collected in WHITE KNIGHT AND OTHER PAWNS and 13 VIEWS OF THE SUICIDE WOODS, which the New York Times Book Review called, "Superb." 

Before devoting himself to full time writing, he worked as a civil and criminal litigator, a university philosophy instructor, and a martial arts teacher. He lives outside of Boston with his wife and son, where he is at work on his next novel. 

This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Public Library.

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