Virtual Panel

“We no longer really accept the 19th century anthropological and psychoanalytical idea that all cultures have the same fairy tales with the same underlying meanings, but we do still see recurring tropes, and flashes of familiarity. This panel will explore their favorite tales and think about how fairy and folk tales in the cultures they have experienced express local cultural concerns, and shape and are shaped by the fantastic.”

Come join me for an informal, virtual chat!

S. M. Hallow is a speculative fiction author who loves history, fairy tales, and Frankenstein. She is the author of Indie Ink Award finalist How To Survive This Fairytale and gothic horror romance novel The Halls of the Dead. Join her for a virtual chat about her books, our favorite monsters, the books we loved when we were twelve, queer retellings, self pub & trad pub, and resurrecting your gays in fiction. 

First Person, Second Person, Third Person Limited, Third Person Camera-Eye, Omniscient with Narrator as Character, Omniscient with Narrator Off-Stage, Unreliable Narrator,  all these possible perspectives are vital to telling a story. Panelists will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each, giving examples of where it's done well, or in a fresh way.

2026 debut authors, indie and traditional, talk about getting their first project into print.

S. M. Hallow reads from her debut novel The Halls of the Dead, a gothic horror romance between three necromancers on a revenge quest against a corrupt judge in 1849 London.

From Shelley’s seminal creation to current depictions exploring feminism, transness, fatness, and deviation from Western beauty standards, monsters have served as stand-ins for bodies and souls that violate social norms and moral boundaries. Why is disability associated with morality? Whose body gets to be "right?" And why are cis and trans women kicking so much butt in the body horror subgenre right now?

Although mainly for MFA students, undergrads, and faculty, S. M. Hallow’s craft talk at Sarah Lawrence College is also open to the public! After the craft talk, a book signing will follow.

S. M. Hallow will be signing copies of The Halls of the Dead at this year’s Horror on the Hudson! Books will be available to purchase on site.