Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo, the largest multimedia pop culture, comic book, horror and gaming convention in Los Angeles, has announced a partnership with Cassandra Peterson, best known for her character, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

Like Stan Lee, Cassandra Peterson was a Guest of Honor at 2011′s inaugural Comikaze Expo. Impressed by Comikaze’s success, and Stan Lee’s role, Peterson wanted to be involved. The Elvira creator is taking a very active position in the planning of the pop-culture expo. Peterson and Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo plan on creating interactive content unlike any other convention.

“Elvira is part of our pop culture history. Not only is Cassandra Peterson a pretty face, but she is also brings so much to the table. She’s one of the most brilliant businesswomen of our time, and has some fantastic ideas. I am so proud to call her our partner. I like to think of her as Mistress of the Board,” said Stan Lee’s Comikaze CEO Regina Carpinelli.

Peterson and the Stan Lee’s Comikaze team are launching an interactive webseries & film festival for the show, taking place September 15-16th, called Elvira’s Horror Hunt. Aspiring and amateur filmmakers will submit their videos to Comikaze. A team of judges will evaluate them, and the top 10 will be picked – or panned by Elvira and her co-host, Peaches Christ, on the hilarious new web series, Horror Hunt. A final winner will be chosen and flown out to LA. The winner will receive a red carpet premier at the historic Vista Theater, as well as an official screening at Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo. They will also be featured as a guest at Comikaze.

Tickets are now available through pre-sale at $15. Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo presented by POW! is also offering a unique ticket that enlists fans into the Stan Lee’s Comikaze Army. This interactive ticket includes a weekend pass, armband, dog tag, military ID for discounts on merchandise and select vendors as well as collector’s edition posters (children under 12 are free) through the website Comikaze Expo.

Comikaze Expo is the largest multimedia pop culture convention in Los Angeles. The brainchild of Southern Californian Regina Carpinelli and her siblings, this unique event brings together the best in comics, gaming, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, anime and all other cult programming.

In 2012, Carpinelli partnered with comic book legend Stan Lee and horror icon Cassandra Peterson to rebrand as Stan Lee’s Comikaze Presented by POW! Entertainment.

Comikaze takes place September 15-16, 2012 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and offers a slate of innovative programming, panels, contests and other activities that provide fans access to their favorite artists and creators in this adventure-packed weekend.

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has announced Jeff Strand will emcee the 2013 Bram Stoker Awards Banquet and also act as Toastmaster at the World Horror Convention 2013. Both of these events are part of the Bram Stoker Awards Weekend, to be held in New Orleans from 13-16 June 2013.

Jeff has emceed four of the past five Bram Stoker Awards banquets (he couldn’t make it to Brighton, dammit!), and is thrilled to be back for a fifth time. His books include Pressure (which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award but did not win), Dweller (which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award but did not win), Gleefully Macabre Tales (which was nominated for but DID…not win), and also such non-Bram Stoker Award-nominated books as Wolf Hunt, Fangboy, Lost Homicidal Maniac (Answers to “Shirley”), and Benjamin’s Parasite. His latest novel, A Bad Day for Voodoo, will be out in June 2012.

HWA President Rocky Wood said, “Anyone who’s ever been to one of our Awards Banquets hosted by Jeff knows what a treat they are in for. Jeff is the funniest straight man I have ever seen, or heard from, or run screaming down a corridor from.”

Check out part of Jeff’s last appearance at the Bram Stoker Awards Banquet in Salt Lake City 2012, here: Jeff Strand (thanks to Scott Edelman).

The Bram Stoker Awards Weekend incorporating the World Horror Convention 2013 will be held at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Horror Writers Association, the peak group for horror writers,is also hosting World Horror Convention as part of our regular Weekend. Further Guests will be announced as the year progresses, including those dedicated to the World Horror Convention component. The HWA is a worldwide organization promoting dark literature and its creators. Started in 1985, it has over 700 members writing professionally in fiction, nonfiction, videogames, film, poetry, comics, and other media.

She has also contributed many short stories to anthologies and magazines, written for comics, and produced columns for Time Out, the Sunday Correspondent, the Sunday Mirror, Bliss magazine and the Sunday Herald. In 2001 she won Columnist of the Year in the Scottish Press Awards.

Muriel joins our other Author Guests of Honor, legendary Texas “Mojo Story Writer” Joe R. Lansdale and New York Times best-selling fantasy author Brent Weeks, Special Editor Guest Mary Danby, and Master of Ceremonies Tim Lebbon.

The British Fantasy Society has recently announced its list of Nominees for this year’s British Fantasy Awards, and you can now book your place at the Awards Banquet on the Sunday afternoon. This gala event is always the highlight of the convention, but please be aware that places are strictly limited and that once the allocated number of banquet meals have been sold, then they will be unable to add any more.

They are also now starting to put together their Programming for the convention. As always, there will be panels, talks and presentations on a wide variety of genre-related topics presented over the weekend. If you are interested in being considered for programming, then please register at Program, where you will find more details. And if you are interested in doing a Reading from your own work, then go to Readings to register. Please remember, you cannot be considered for Programming or Readings, if you are not a registered member of the convention.

Publishers who wish to sponsor Launch/Signing Parties, have material included in the Delegate Bags or donate prizes to the Raffle should contact info@fantasycon2012.org. This is also the same e-mail to contact if you are interested in Advertising in the Souvenir Book or Pocket Program. The Dealers’ Room is currently sold out, but if you want to be put on a waiting list, in case anybody drops out, then please contact dealers@fantasycon2012.org

FantasyCon 2012 is being held in the historic seaside town of Brighton, East Sussex, over September 27-30. If you haven’t joined up yet, then please do so now as membership prices will be increased from June 1st. All you have to do is go to the How to Join page on the website, submit the form with your details and then pay via the PayPal buttons. Alternately, you can print out the form and mail it with a cheque to the address given.

The Oxford Companion to English Literature describes Ramsey Campbell as “Britain’s most respected living horror writer”. He has been given more awards than any other writer in the field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association (HWA), the Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention and the Living Legend Award of the International Horror Guild.

The Horror Writers Association has announced Ramsey Campbell as their first Guest of Honor for the Bram Stoker Awards™ Weekend 2013, to be held in New Orleans from 13-16 June 2013. HWA President Rocky Wood said, “Ramsey is a truly a legend in horror. As one of our Lifetime Achievement Award winners we couldn’t be more pleased to confirm him as our first Guest of Honor for the Weekend. He has kindly agreed to participate in all aspects of the Convention, including a one-on-one in-depth interview; panels; our mass signing and presenting during the iconic Bram Stoker Awards Banquet. It is also pleasing that we continue our expanding international focus with a major British Guest, building on such innovations as hold the Awards Banquet in England in 2010, Canada in 2007 and significant membership growth in countries such as Italy and Australia.”

Among Ramsey Campbell’s novels are The Face That Must Die, Incarnate, Midnight Sun, The Count of Eleven, Silent Children, The Darkest Part of the Woods, The Overnight, Secret Story, The Grin of the Dark, Thieving Fear, Creatures of the Pool, The Seven Days of Cain and Ghosts Know. Forthcoming is The Kind Folk. His collections include Waking Nightmares, Alone with the Horrors, Ghosts and Grisly Things, Told by the Dead and Just Behind You, and his non-fiction is collected as Ramsey Campbell, Probably. His novels The Nameless and Pact of the Fathers have been filmed in Spain. His regular columns appear in Prism, All Hallows, Dead Reckonings and Video Watchdog. He is the President of the British Fantasy Society and of the Society of Fantastic Films.

Ramsey Campbell lives on Merseyside in the UK with his wife Jenny. His pleasures include classical music, good food and wine, and whatever’s in that pipe.

The Bram Stoker Awards Weekend incorporating the World Horror Convention 2013 will be held at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Horror Writers Association, the peak group for horror writers, is also hosting World Horror Convention as part of their regular Weekend. Further Guests will be announced as the year progresses, including those dedicated to the World Horror Convention component. The HWA is a worldwide organization promoting dark literature and its creators. Started in 1985, it has over 700 members writing professionally in fiction, nonfiction, videogames, film, poetry, comics, and other media.

Both WHS and HWA are very pleased to be able to combine this event. Currently, HWA holds its iconic Bram Stoker Awards Banquet in conjunction with WHC in even numbered years and stages its own stand-alone Convention in odd numbered years, so combining the event in 2013 is seen as beneficial to the whole horror community.

The event will be billed as the Bram Stoker Awards Weekend incorporating World Horror Convention 2013. The World Horror Convention (WHC) programming will primarily be held on Friday June 14, with the normal WHC components including the Art Show, Artists’ Reception, Dealers’ Room, Mass Autographing (which is also a feature of HWA Weekends) and Grandmaster Award featuring over the weekend. The Convention membership fee covers both HWA and WHC events, excepting the Banquet and any special events such as writers’ workshops, which are charged separately.

HWA programming will concentrate on Saturday June 15 and will culminate with the Bram Stoker Awards Banquet that evening. Other HWA programming will feature on the Thursday and the Sunday. Guests of Honor will be announced as they are confirmed. The Convention will be held at the recently renovated and historic Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter. Greg Herren is Chair of the Organizing Committee for the Weekend and HWA will also shortly announce a Chair for the WHC component.

Membership sales will begin in the second half of 2012, as will voting for the WHC Grandmaster Award. Hotel bookings will be available shortly, and the Organizers have negotiated rates for extended dates before and after the Convention, so that attendees can enjoy some of the many benefits New Orleans has to offer.

HWA President Rocky Wood commented, “This is the first time that HWA has hosted a World Horror Convention and we are pleased that we are able to do so within our own convention, the Bram Stoker Awards Weekend, which we hold every odd numbered year. And of course in 2013 we are in the historic, haunted and literary city of New Orleans, Louisiana, affectionately known as NOLA. This is a win-win for the horror community if ever there was one.”

WHS spokesman, Mike Willmoth said: “The World Horror Society is pleased to be working with HWA on WHC2013 next year in New Orleans during the Bram Stoker Awards Weekend. We look forward to a fabulous combined event.”

About HWA: The Horror Writers Association is the world’s premier organization for professionals and fans interested in horror and dark fantasy. With over 700 members worldwide, HWA provides networking and book marketing via such outlets as its popular “Dark Whispers” blog, sponsors a mentor program and other educational opportunities, promotes the genre at such events as the yearly BookExpo, and bestows the prestigious Bram Stoker Awards™ each year in eleven categories. At its annual gathering in 2012, HWA celebrated its 25th anniversary with co-founders Joe Lansdale, Karen Lansdale, and Robert McCammon.

About WHS/World Horror Convention: The World Horror Society was formed in 1991 by Maureen Dorris who was the Chair of WHC1991 and WHC1992 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Since then WHC has been held annually in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.