July News
Summer Horror & Author Updates
Happy summer and Summerween! I love this new trend of celebrating spooky things in the summertime. Last month was a whirlwind of horror events with StokerCon in Pittsburgh and Creepaway Camp in Colorado Springs, both with fantastic horror authors and readers, while this month brings Comic Con and some other fun news. Read on for details!
Women of the Weird West spotted at a bookstore!
THIS WEEKEND! Level Up Your Fiction Writing
This Saturday I’ll be hosting my virtual writing workshop (July 11, 2026) through San Diego Writers, Ink. There’s still time to join in to learn how to use fear and horror to amp up your work of any genre!
Tension and Terror: Evoking Fear to Elevate Your Writing will cover suspense and horror techniques useful to early-career writers. You’ll learn strategies to evoke fear, build tension, create suspenseful scenes, deepen emotional stakes and sharpen pacing. You’ll also develop a compelling antagonist (human or monstrous) that haunts the reader long after the last page.
A Deep Dive Into Writing Horror Games
What would be the worst game to get Jumanji’d into? This was the icebreaker question to kick off a fun podcast on the art of writing and playing horror games as well as upcoming releases.
EPISODE 184 – Horror Fiction into Games Panel on We Bleed Orange & Black panelists:
KC Grifant (The Melinda West series, Women of the Weird West anthology)
Jon Cohn (The Island Mother, The Creed Falls Massacres, the Ghost Land game)
Emma E. Murray (Crushing Snails, Shoot Me in the Face on a Beautiful Day)
Chris Lackey (Strange Studies of Strange Stories, Cults of Cthulhu, Transreality)
Stellar Review for Women of the Weird West!
I am blown away by the positive feedback for my anthology, Women of the Weird West! This review from Ginger Nuts of Horror in particular resonated with what I tried to accomplish. Thanks so much to everyone who supported this project.
The book showcases 25 original speculative poems and short stories by extraordinarily talented authors. In these pages, you’ll find tales of gunslingers, outlaws, dreamers, and survivors who face overwhelming forces both human and supernatural.
San Diego readers, save the date for Saturday August 15th for a launch party at Mysterious Galaxy!
THIS MONTH
Comic Con is at the end of this month!! Hope to see you at one of these events:
SIGNING: Join for a signing of the new anthology, Women of the Weird West. The signing will include appearances from: me, New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Brody (author), Sarah Faxon (author), Jendia Gammon (contributor), Deborah Daughetee (author), and Mathilda Zeller (author) on Thursday July 23, 2026 at table AA04 from 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM.
SIGNING: Join for a signing for the panel “When The Void Screams Back: The Latest in Sci-Fi Horror.” The signing will include appearances from Peter Clines, author (God’s Junk Drawer, The Broken Room), Jendia Gammon, author (Doomflower, Dungeon Crawl at the Haunted Mall), KC Grifant, author (Monster Gunslingers, Shrouded Horror), Scott Sigler, author (Beasts Beyond the Rivers, Slay: Hatchet Man) on Thursday, July 23, 2026 at table AA06 from 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM.
PANEL: 7:00PM - 8:00PM When The Void Screams Back: The Latest in Sci-Fi Horror--Science fiction promises us the stars, while horror reminds us to be careful how far we venture. Join bestselling and award-winning authors and editors Peter Clines (God’s Junk Drawer, The Broken Room), Jendia Gammon (Doomflower, Dungeon Crawl at the Haunted Mall), Jean-Paul L. Garnier (Space Cowboy Books, Simultaneous Times), Scott Sigler (Beasts Beyond the Rivers, Slay: Hatchet Man) and moderator KC Grifant (Monster Gunslingers, Shrouded Horror) for insights into sci-fi horror stories that resonate, whether about the terrors of space, insidious technologies, or biological processes gone monstrously wrong. Room 6DE
I’ll also be at our annual Horror Writers Association networking event on Saturday at 4:30pm at the Marriott. Message me for details if you’d like to stop by!
More Events
Virtual workshop at San Diego, Ink - July 11
Comic-Con panel and book signings - July 23
Midsummer Scream (workshop and signing) – August 8
Women of the Weird West - panel and signing at Mysterious Galaxy - August 15
Book conversation with Jendia Gammon at Through The Fold - August 15
KPBS San Diego Book Festival (panel and book signing) – August 22
LAcon V, the 84th World Science Fiction Convention (panels) – August 27-31
Long Beach Comic Con (panel) – September 5-6
Horror on the Mississippi (participating author) – October 1-4
Scream Diego (panels) - October 17
Twentynine Palms Book Festival - Nov 13-15
Last Month’s Events
StokerCon 2026 was a wonderful whirlwind of panels, books, horror fans and meetups. See you next year in Pittsburg!
Good times at Creepaway Camp 2026! This horror-focused adult summer camp in Colorado Springs was a unique experience, full of spooky stories, panels and new friends (including a cabin mouse)!
Recent And Upcoming Stories
Death Maidens, edited by Henry Herz, includes my story, “Mother Knows Best.” The tale features an incognito Valkyrie who has to make an impossible choice between honor and family. Preorder here.
Other New/Upcoming Publications:
“Mask Off” is my new story about a disturbed photographer appearing in the +Horror Library+ anthology edited by Eric J. Guignard. You can buy it now.
“Worship” in Of Dread, Decay and Doom from Stars and Sabers
Forthcoming story in a TBA anthology from Demagogue Press (2026)
“The Price of Eggs” in Don’t Go For the Vault from Cat Eye’s Press (2026)
Forthcoming story from The Void and the Darkness from Stars and Sabers
Book - Fantastica Horrifica (Stars and Sabers Publishing, 2027)
Anthology - Of Tombstones and Terrors (Stars and Sabers Publishing, 2027)
“How to Promote Your Book… by KC Grifant” in the HWA Souvenir Book
You can read or listen to some of my stories for free here.
Class On-Demand
And a reminder that my popular “Sellable Short Stories” virtual workshop at Reach Your Apex is available on-demand for a limited time! I cover short story and submission tips, along with writing exercises to hone your craft.
Memes of the Month
Let’s Connect!
If you’d like more writing news & memes, join me on social:
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As always, thank you for reading!