Just in Time For Halloween: Ghost Stories, Horror, the Paranormal and More!

Prizes for Best Costume and Best Halloween Short Fiction (250 words or less) will be handed out followed by readings by Dana Hammer, Candi Sary and Greta Boris followed by a panel discussion on writing the supernatural, creating authentic otherworldly characters, and why they write what they write! (Short story submissions should be sent via our website at southerncalwriters.org.) The winning story will be announced and read at the meeting.

Dana Hammer
Dana Hammer is a playwright, screenwriter, short story writer, and novelist. Her screenplay, Red Wings, has been optioned by EMA Films, and she has signed a book deal with Cinnabar Moth for her novel, The Cannibal’s Guide to Fasting, which was recently released. She completed a writing residency at Hypatia in the Woods, in the summer of 2022. She has received over sixty awards and honors for her writing, few of which generated income, all of which were deeply appreciated. Her works have been and will be published in many anthologies, journals, and magazines.Dana lives in Anaheim with her husband and child. She is not a psychopath.

Greta Boris
USA Today bestselling author Greta Boris was raised in Greenwich Village, New York, by an opera singing, piano playing, voice coach and a magazine publisher. Her original life plan was to be a famous Broadway actor, singer, and dancer, but when she moved to Laguna Beach, California, she changed her plans due to the commute. She is the author of the Seven Deadly Sins Series, The Mortician Murders and The Wine and Chocolate Workout. Greta writes to inspire, entertain, motivate, and so she can afford nice wine.

Candi Sary
Candi Sary graduated from the University of California, Irvine. Her awards for Black Crow White Lie include 1st Place in the Dante Rossetti Awards, winner of the Reader Views Literary Award for the West-Pacific, and first runner-up in the Eric Hoffer Award for fiction. She has also been a finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and the William Faulkner Wisdom Creative Writing Competition. Candi’s second novel, Magdelena,  was released in early July 2023. Candi She lives in Southern California with her husband and two children.