So February was Women in Horror Month, where we celebrated some of the dark and lovely ladies in horror. We discussed many of the newer women in the genre, but I had a lovely conversation with David J. Schow where he urged us not to forget some of the veteran female horror writers. He gave me a wonderful list and permission to share it. 🙂
David J Schow and me at Killercon. I was fangirling out.
He suggested that Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley started the horror genre. And then he suggests:
Louisa May Alcott (believe it or don’t — she wrote ghost stories!)
Suzy McKee Charnas
Daphne du Maurier
Melissa Mia Hall
Allison V. Harding
Rachel Ingalls
Shirley Jackson
Kathe Koja
Nancy Lambert
Carson McCullers
Ardath Mayhar
Dorothy Parker
Jane Rice (Read “Idol of the Flies” if you haven’t!)
Lucy Taylor
Eudora Welty
Kate Wilhelm
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Katie Arnoldi
Kirsten Bakis
Leigh Brackett
Pat Cadigan
Gemma Files
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Sarah Langan
Elizabeth Hand
Mary Louisa Moleworth
Elizabeth Gaskell
Amelia Edwards
And for the horrific, we can sure as hell toss in Gillian Flynn and Tana French, for sure.
There are names on this list that I’m not familiar with. I’m excited to pick up some new work. Thanks to David for putting this together. 🙂