Did you know that?

There used to be a larger celebration of this month, events showcasing female horror authors, anthologies, posts, you name it, but that has gone by the wayside over the past few years. As a Woman in Horror, that is difficult to reconcile. So, too, is the notion that one month to celebrate us is enough (if you belong to any of the marginalized groups that get a month to celebrate said distinction, you know what I mean). More… that we still need to celebrate Women in Horror, Black History Month, insert your choice here – don’t worry, it’ll fit – at all to make sure that those voices are heard is disheartening, to say the least. But we do.

So, here we are.

There is much to be said about this topic, and I’ve spoken about it many times. I wrote an article that you can read here. It dives deeper than this post will, so if you want some thoughts from a lightly academic perspective, check it out.

At one point Women in Horror month was in February. When it moved to March, I was elated because that meant two consecutive months to call my own and I am standing on that! 🙂 To create a list of notable women to read is risky because there are so many wonderfully scary female authors out there. I don’t want to miss anyone because it would break my heart to issue a perceived slight to my Sisters in Arms (Sisters with Pens?). Therefore, I’ll go a different route. Let’s talk about the classics. In the end, these are women in horror that you absolutely should familiarize yourselves with if you have not already, or should consider revisiting if you’ve already read them because their contributions shaped the genre into what it is now.

• Ann Radcliffe – While Horace Walpole’s novel, The Castle of Otranto, may have been the first gothic horor novel, Ann Radcliffe put the genre on the map with her work. The Mysteries of Udolpho is entrancing and it is easy to see why it was imitated by the likes of Jane Austen and Matthew Lewis (fight me).
• Mary Shelley – The jury is still out about whether Frankenstein is a horror sci-fi novel or a sci-fi horror novel, but does it really matter anymore? No one can deny that it is an amazing example of gothic literature, one that is still a genre favorite today, over 200 years after its first printing.
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman gave us “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and an exploration of the feminine in all aspects has never been done. A must read!
• Toni Morrison – Her novel, Beloved, is a stellar example of a gothic tale without the author intending it to be such. There’s no way around it, though. Read it and you’ll see what I mean.
• Shirley Jackson – Oh gosh, there are so many. We have Always Lived in the Castle, The Haunting of Hill House, and argument could be made for The Road Through the Wall… Shirley Jackson really leaned into the psychological aspect of gothic fiction that Ann Radcliffe introduced us to with her work in The Italian. Worth the read.

And that’s just five of us.

There are so many more, from way back up to present day. Check out Sumiko Saulson’s 160 Black Women in Horror and Romancing the Gothic’s 100 Women Writers in Horror, the Gothic and Supernatural Fiction from the 18th Century to 2021. Bold Latina ran an article about the Nuevo Gótico Latinoamericano horror subgenre, one that is dominated by female horror authors. Book Riot has a good starter list of Asian female horror authors.

WE’RE OUT HERE!

All you have to do is come find us.

Until next time…

L. Marie