Горрор-сообщество HWA ликвидировало должность исполнительного директора из-за скандала с Максвеллом Голдом

Lisa Wood, President of the Horror Writers Association, on September 2 shared a video message on Facebook responding to recent complaints, events, and questions sent to the HWA Board of Directors. Probably the most significant news is that HWA is dissolving its Executive Director position, til now occupied by the embattled Maxwell Ian Gold. Wood told members: - They will announce a new date for the organization’s annual general meeting. They hadn’t been aware of a significant conflict – (the original date fell in the middle of World Fantasy Con.) - A Bylaws Committee is at work. They are making “finishing touches” to proposed changes. Although the committee has been at work for a year, it seems members have just recently become aware of it. - “We have dissolved the Executive Director position and will now be taking strides to determine how to move forward with the very good work that needs to be done from a position like that but from a different trajectory and a different focus as it suits our organization.” - They have a new Treasurer ready to fill the position, vacated in mid-term. The person’s name has not yet been announced. - Wood defended HWA’s nondisclosure agreement (NDA) as “pretty standard for what I’ve experienced”. A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS. The month of August has taken a severe toll on the Horror Writers Association. TRUSTEE REMOVED. On August 5 they removed Sèphera Girón as a Trustee from HWA’s Board of Trustees. The action followed publication of Girón‘s comments calling opponents of AI “gatekeepers” and airing views about the technology greatly out of line with the rest of the organization in her “In the Trenches” column for the HWA Member Newsletter. (See “Horror Writers Association Removes Sèphera Girón as Trustee”.) CREEPAWAY CAMP ACCUSATIONS. On August 26, the proprietors of the Creepaway Camp (“Summer Camp for Horror Fans”) released a “Public Statement Regarding Our Formal Complaint to the Horror Writers Association”, a message prepared by business owners Amanda Shafer and K.J. Brantley, and author Laurel Hightower about the way HWA Executive Director Maxwell Ian Gold has dealt with the Camp. Creepaway Camp is publishing this statement to provide a clear, factual record regarding a formal complaint we have submitted to the Horror Writers Association (“HWA”) concerning communications and conduct involving HWA representative Max Gold…. … What we hoped was a show of support for our endeavor and the beginning of a positive relationship with the HWA (an organization of which we are all paying members), dissolved into what we perceived as an attempt to “absorb” our event through threatening language and unprofessional persistence on behalf of the executive director…. … At camp, Mr. Gold pulled myself and my new business partner, K.J. Brantley, aside many times despite us being extremely busy with running camp, to discuss a “deeper partnership” with the HWA for 2027. At first, we were very excited that the HWA might want to be more involved and seemed to be taking us more seriously. But as more discussion transpired, Mr. Gold used words like “absorb” to characterize the type of proposal he was suggesting. He said that I would essentially be “an HWA employee” and that the HWA would want to “hold the Creepaway Camp trademark”…. And Creepaway Camp’s Amanda Shafer shared a series of emails exchanged with HWA Executive Director Maxwell Ian Gold. Shafer concluded: …I responded once more, mostly to call out the gaslighting in regards to the accusation of not fulfilling obligations and to more directly call out that we were feeling very pressured to accept terms that we were not comfortable with. At this point, we cc’d nine members of the Board and would receive no response or request for more information… …. In summary, the Executive Director made a proposal that would undoubtedly be detrimental to our event and our business at this early stage, and that would disproportionately benefit the HWA. WE HAVE A RIGHT TO SAY NO. But when we exercised that right, we were met with hostility, undue persistence, insults and a withdrawal of the low level of support already offered. No member of the HWA Board responded or reached out for clarification on this matter despite being copied to be made aware…. … On August 24, 2026, we submitted a formal complaint to the HWA Board requesting that it review these concerns through an appropriate and impartial process…. An official response was made on Facebook: “Horror Writers Association addresses allegations against Executive Director Maxwell Ian Gold”. The Board and Officers of the Horror Writers Association are aware of the allegations concerning Executive Director, Maxwell Ian Gold. We take these complaints seriously and have responded directly to KJ Brantley, Amanda Shafer, and Laurel Hightower to open a dialogue and conduct a full investigation. We know that our membership also takes this seriously, and although we are unable to comment further at this time, we are committed to addressing these reports fully and openly when our internal process of review and documentation is complete…. FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY. For some time there has been a steady drumbeat of questions about HWA financial accountability generally. One of the latest came from Todd Keisling, on August 29, who wrote a long post on Bluesky and made the point members ought to be entitled to see the “org’s financials beyond a legally-required tax filing. That tax filing is the *bare minimum* of what the org should provide to its membership”. Meanwhile, Michael Bailey has been studying HWA’s recent tax filings and posted to Facebook his observation that they show that for the fiscal year ending February 28, 2025 HWA had paid its Executive Director $98,642. This was the first year in which a specified payment to the ED was reported. However, HWA did have entries for Salaries in earlier returns, Bailey says: “Prior to that [FY 2025], an Administrator position and/or other salaried positions were paid”. Other professional writer organizations like SFWA and RWA also pay Executive Directors – and pay them even larger amounts – so compensating an ED may be an industry norm. OTHER CRITICISMS OF MAXWELL IAN GOLD’S CONDUCT. The current atmosphere has prompted several HWA members to relate their negative experiences with Executive Director Maxwell Ian Gold. Angela Yuriko Smith, a former HWA President, trustee, and HWA Mentor of the Year in 2020, shared in a letter she has decided the time has come to publicly explain why she resigned as President last October – reasons which she had kept to herself for fear of being sued. Smith’s statement ends: …A concerned member also alerted the executive officers and the Executive Director that sensitive member and contractor information, including home addresses, bank details and contracts, appeared to be accessible to the broader membership through Wild Apricot. I did not believe the response addressed the urgency of the situation. As president, I believed I had a responsibility to notify the affected members quickly so they could take steps to protect their information. That decision was met with displeasure. I expected concern about the possibility that private information had been exposed. Instead, the focus seemed to be on my decision to tell the people exposed. At first, I thought these were separate disagreements that could still be worked out. I kept documenting what was happening and continued trying to use the proper channels. Over time, though, concerns about oversight were treated as hostility. Eventually, concerns I had raised as president were reframed as evidence that I had a personal vendetta against the Executive Director. That was especially painful because Maxwell Ian Gold and I had once been friends. I have past experience with domestic abuse, and I began to recognize some of my interactions with the Executive Director as gaslighting and bullying. I also have to acknowledge my own role. I supported Max, trusted him and defended him for years. I helped strengthen his position within HWA because I believed in him. At the time, I thought I was doing the right thing. I regret that support now. Scott Couturier aired his experiences with Gold on Facebook: At first, I didn’t intend to share my history with the HWA’s current Executive Director. However, seeing friends speak up about their experiences has emboldened me enough to put this on record. I first met Max back in 2017-18. We emerged from the same creche of writers, both of us having some of our first publications in anthologies put out by Planet X Publications. He reached out to me as he seems to have reached out to many others; however, as I was just starting out myself, there was no talk of mentorship. Instead, in short order I became one of who-knows-how-many he sent his work to for proofreading & editing. Since we were at the beginning of our careers & both enthusiastic about weird fiction, a sort of friendship was established, though it mainly consisted of me editing his works for publication & helping him submit to new markets (I gave him the email to submit to Spectral Realms, for instance). This relationship/quasi-friendship lasted for about two years. Then, confronted with my increased unwillingness to edit his work in perpetuum, coupled to his own rapidly ascending star, Max cut off contact with me, & persisted to pretend like I didn’t exist (as per his recent post praising the staff of Weird Fiction Quarterly but leaving me out). To my utter amazement, suddenly he was the Treasurer, then Executive Director of the HWA; I was baffled how someone so inexperienced could reach these positions. As for myself, his rapid rise while my career remained mired set me up for some severe depression over my trajectory. Had I done something wrong? How could someone who regularly misspelled basic words & misused tense get to the top immediately while I (& so many other excellent dedicated writers) remained in limbo? Of course, Max never communicated with me again except in the rare instance he wanted something, a commonality I’m seeing in lots of posts. Our last interaction was me reaching out to him in 2024 for a list of HWA members I could send a notice about a story of mine submitted for Stoker consideration. Max’s response was “The HWA doesn’t give out that information.” There are plenty of other stories: how he kept in contact with my partner Shayne Keen for years, writing to him often & asking his opinion on pieces while (again) pretending like I didn’t exist, creating tension in my household (but what was Shayne supposed to do? Say no to the HWA’s Executive Director?). How he referenced “Zot,” originally from one of my stories, in his debut collection without asking my permission; when I asked to return the favor & mention one of his Cyber Gods in my work, he demanded I provide an attribution at the beginning of the story. How he repeatedly hassled me to get him invited to venues, carrying that habit over to later communications with Shayne. During early conversations he pressed me to become his “literary executor” & proposed coming to visit me, suggesting we meet up in a hotel room despite knowing I had a partner. The weirdness (not of the good kind) goes on & on; his helming of the HWA naturally made me feel like I could get nowhere with the organization. Still, I went ahead & renewed my membership this year, & haven’t canceled it yet because I’m waiting to see whether a full-bore housecleaning will take place. Max’s patterns seem pretty universal; he once told me his work would eventually include all weird fiction as part of its universe, & he even hoped to incorporate corporate creative properties as well. This whole concept of absorbing other writers & their work seems to have carried over to his tenure with the HWA to devastating effect. As horrified as I am at what has become of the organization, I can only feel a sense of great relief that Max’s varied cycles of use & abuse are coming to the surface. Honestly, I never thought it would happen. HWA GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE DISSOLVED. The HWA Grievance Committee had been run for some time by Brent Talley, who this year aspired to step up as HWA President. Brian Keene explained the issues in his blog entry for “8/20/26”. If your social media and Discord channels are full of horror writers talking about the most recent HWA (Horror Writers Association) scandal, you might be forgiven for any confusion as to which particular scandal at the moment, because there are multiple, including the fact that — with an election only a few weeks away — the only Presidential candidate (who was running unopposed) has stepped down after some allegations were made online…. …Anyway, the latest of all the latest HWA controversies is that Brett Talley, a horror writer who served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice, and who was nominated by Donald Trump to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama in 2017 (he later withdrew from nomination after several controversies), was revealed to be the person in charge of HWA’s Grievance Committee. That’s an important position. If you, as a dues paying HWA member, have a grievance — let’s say a publisher ripped you off or a fellow author slipped you a roofie and had their way with you at an official event — and you file a confidential report, then Talley is the person in charge of handling that information and acting upon it. The controversy surrounding this stems from three things: 1) Talley’s only the third judicial nominee since 1989 to receive a unanimous rating of Not Qualified from the American Bar Association, and 2) Talley appears (according to Buzzfeed, Slate, and other media venues) to have made comments in which he showed support for Nathan Bedford Forrest and “The early KKK”, and falsely claimed that during reconstruction, the KKK did not engage in violence or racism, and also allegedly supported a 20-year old having sex with a 14-year old, and 3) some among the dues paying membership state they were not aware of his position inside the organization. You can probably understand why a writer of color or an LGBTQ+ author might have concerns about filing a private concern with him. To the best of my knowledge, Talley has not clarified or apologized for these past comments. Personally, I think the value of groups like HWA, SFWA, RWA, etc have passed. I’m hard pressed to think of anything one can get from such organizations that they can’t get elsewhere, save for the local chapter element. … By mid-August HWA had dissolved the Grievance Committee: For the last few months, the HWA Board of Trustees has been working on sunsetting our Grievance Committee to make it more in line with our peer organizations. In conversation with MWA, SFWA, and our attorney, it was made clear to us that any HWA Grievance Committee had no legal standing and the committee we had in place did not make that clear. DEEPER DIVE. Those interested in greater detail and analysis of all these controversies are recommended to read Michael Patrick Hicks’ article “The Horror Writers Association’s Never-Ending August 2026 Shitshow”. Discover more from File 770 Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.