Women and Horror

Female horror writers

By on Thursday, February 9, 2017

Since February is Women In Horror Month I tried to make a list of all the female horror authors that I’ve read. Of course the obvious got quickly jotted down, Mary Shelley, Anne Rice, Daphne Du Maurier (one of my favorite authors of all time,) and that chick who wrote Twilight. What’s her name? Then I was stumped and resorted to Google for a quick refresher. 

And yes, I feel a little ashamed…

But hold on, I have a legitimate excuse. I still suffer from mommy brain and spend most of my time with a preschooler, so what do you expect? For the first year of motherhood one of my main topics of conversation was the color and consistency of baby poop. Now it’s all about potty training (notice a theme here?) Regardless, I’m behind on some reading and need to rewire my brain so I can get back to being a serious horror junkie and keep my mind off sh#@. 

Where was I? Female horror writers. There are definitely more male authors in this genre. And again, I feel a little ignorant as I’m reading an online Top 10 list and I don’t recognize some of the writers’ names. Oh wait, here’s one, Anne Rivers Siddons. And another, Shirley Jackson.
Okay I’ve been kind of narrow in my horror taste. I just love Stephen King and find it so hard to find a modern day author (male or female) who comes close. It’s not just about the story with King, his characters are so real, you feel like you’ve met them before. Probably in some small town in Georgia, in a convenience store, where they sell pickled pigs feet in a jar, right on the counter…Back to women. Is it just me, or is anyone else fed up of vampires? I’ve picked up so many books (more often by female authors) and quickly returned them to the shelf after reading the word ‘vampires’ in the blurb. But I digress. There are so many good horror books written by women out there. How on earth did I miss them? Probably because I’ve been in my comfort zone, cuddled up with my favorites, and maybe a little reluctant to try something new.

So to hell with all that now, I’ve got some homework to do. I owe it to my fellow women writers to give their work a go. Maybe when my stuff gets published one day (hopefully soon!) they’ll return the favor.

First things first. I need to pay my library fine so I can once again check books out of the library. Hopefully they haven’t gone to collections, and thank God the ‘Library Policeman’ (Stephen King fans will know who I mean) hasn’t discovered I had overdue books…and still haven’t paid the fine. Don’t tell him, alright?

Here’s my ‘hit list’ of female horror writers to read this month. Please leave a comment and let me know your favorites. I’m excited and inspired. So much talent, and so many scary stories to get my teeth into!

Nancy Holder

Dion Fortune

Helen Oyeyemi

Asa Nonami

Elizabeth Gaskell

Chantal Noordeloos

Ania Ahlborn

Joyce Carol Oates

And I’m going to revisit Shirley Jackson

This is just for starters. The year is young.

See you on the dark side. 

Dark Ali

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