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Here we are, one month until StokerCon™ 2019. After nearly two years of work, I write this final blog post before the convention starts. I have covered many topics, most of them about the hotel, the city, and the food experiences in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It has been fun, and I’m glad you were along…

via GIPHY In what I think may be my penultimate blog post for StokerCon™ 2019, I want to cover what may be the penultimate topic of importance at any convention. Where the hell do I find some dinner? The convention venue, the historic Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, contains three upscale dining options: Ruth’s Chris Steak House,…

HWA’s Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Graham Masterton – Lifetime Achievement Award PLEASE NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond his control,  our Lifetime Achievement Award winner Graham Masterton cannot make StokerCon™.  He sends his regrets and hopes to see you all at a future StokerCon™. This year the Horror Writers Association announces Graham Masterton as Lifetime Achievement…

If you’re older than, say, thirty, you may remember something called a map. Large, wide, and folded in maddening ways, maps helped you find your way from Point A to Point B to Point C via the roadways of the country. Maps helped keep you from getting lost by providing you the location of everything….

Well, not literally. Based on some feedback on social media, though, I thought now might be a good time to highlight a new, critical part of the StokerCon™ experience, introduced this year: our online scheduling website, called Sched. In an effort to improve the planning, implementation, and attendee experience of StokerCon™ conventions, the HWA purchased…

Beep beep’m beep beep, yeah! For December’s blog post, I am going to move away from food, drink, and other convention fun and focus on how to get around town. Most attendees will fly into the Gerald R. Ford International Airport just outside of Grand Rapids. From there, you have two options to get to…

In a previous blog, I talked about the New Holland Brewing Company and its resident beer garden, the Knickerbocker. Next on our list of brewpubs to visit while at StokerCon™ is Founders Brewing Company, located roughly half-a-mile from the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel—easily within walking distance, or a quick Uber ride if it’s raining. Having…

As part of our more fun-filled events at StokerCon™ 2019, we are pleased to announce our second Midnight Special! “The last thing I wanna see is myself at a podium, awkwardly trekking through what should be an immersive, electric story.” –Josh Malerman, StokerCon™ 2019 Guest of Honor From the day his first book, Bird Box,…

StokerCon™ attendees do not live on bread alone (though it would be cheaper if we did). Since we don’t, however, there is always…beer. Grand Rapids, Michigan, known as Beer City, U.S.A., has more than eighty breweries within the city and the surrounding suburbs—more craft beer per square mile than any other place on earth. In…

No matter if you are an experienced conventioneer or a first-time attendee, one concern everyone shares is where do I go to eat? Visiting a new city, where few know the lay of the land, can be intimidating. People often stick with the hotel’s restaurants, which is fine. For StokerCon 2019™, the Amway Grand Plaza…