“These are scary times,” says Tananarive Due, the American Book Award-winning author of The Reformatory and the driving force behind ScareUpTheVote, an effort to bring the all-stars of horror fiction and film together in support of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Scare Up the Vote brings together voices across generations, diverse backgrounds and beliefs to unite the horror community for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
“In scary times, people need to pull together in strength and hope, to fight the darkness,” Due continues. “Horror writers and filmmakers spend a lot of time contemplating monstrosity and thinking about fear. When I realized we had to speak out as a community, and began to invite others to participate, I wasn’t at all surprised by the massive response. We know what the stakes are in this election because we’ve imagined the worst possible outcomes.”
On October 15th, at 8pm Eastern time, Due and the rest of the Scare Up The Vote committee will host a massive online event to drive voter turnout and to raise money for the Harris/Walz campaign. Stephen King, Joe Hill, Rachel Harrison, Victor LaValle, Stephen Graham Jones, and many other authors will be joined by filmmakers including Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep), Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange, The Black Phone), Kevin Williamson (Scream), Don Mancini (Chucky), and Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Star Trek: Discovery), along with actor David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil).
The two-hour-plus event will include the guests talking about their love of horror stories alongside their thoughts about why the upcoming election is important to them and will stream live on October 15th.
Due’s co-hosts and fellow committee members are authors and poets Linda A. Addison, Maxwell I. Gold, Christopher Golden, and Cynthia Pelayo with production managed by Robb Olson.
You can register for the event at scareupthevote.com or visit the Scare Up The Vote YouTube channel at youtube.com/@scareupthevote.
More Names Added to Scare Up The Vote
Since the original announcement, Scare Up The Vote has added Clay McLeod Chapman, Keith Rosson, Billy Martin, Josh Malerman, Johnny Compton, P. Djèlí Clark, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Akela Cooper, Kevin Williamson, Erin E. Adams, and many more!