StokerCon 2025

From emotionally immature mothers to monstrous fathers and legacies soaked in dread, horror has long used family as a vessel for fear. In recent years, the genre has seen a surge in stories centered on parental horror—where the most terrifying relationships aren’t with ghosts or ghouls, but with those closest to us.

This panel brings together authors whose work examines parent-child relationships at every stage of life: from Nat Cassidy’s When the Wolf Comes Home, where grief, care, and monstrous memory collide; to CJ Leede’s American Rapture, where family fractures amidst an apocalyptic collapse; to Philip Fracassi’s The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre, where the horror of aging meets the scars of the past. Panelists will explore how dysfunctional families, generational trauma, and the “parent as monster” trope shape their work—and why horror remains the perfect genre for unpacking the complexities of love, fear, and legacy.