Horror Writers' Association's YouTube Page

Tonight  I am moderating the second of 2 panels sponsored by the Horror Writers' Association for Women in Horror Month. You can register here or by clicking on the graphic at the bottom of this post. [And if it tells you it is full, we are live streaming it on the HWA's Facebook page too.]

But the point of this post isn't to promote my appearance [rather, that was the point of my post on RA for All today], but to remind you that the HWA has a lot of excellent content for you and your Horror loving patrons on their YouTube page. From the Librarian's Day videos to author talks, there is a lot of good content there. 

With so much excellent content available on YouTube these days, consider offering a list of channels that your patrons might enjoy by genre.

And in the meantime, join me tonight. 

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #34: Tales From The Hinterland [MG]

The #HorrorForLibraries Giveaway is back today. Here is a refresher on the basic rules to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that  week.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #33. Our winner was Lizzy from Staunton [VA] Public Library.

Today I have a finished hard cover copy of Tales of the Hinterland by Melissa Albert. This novel is a companion to the very popular Hazel Wood duology.

Like the very best middle grade horror, this book is dark, harrowing at times, but still safe for kids. One of my Goodreads followers, Kristina has a great  review of the novel here. She lists her three words as, "harrowing, familiar yet fresh, spellbinding." Later in her review she goes on to really get into the appeal of the story [and the series]:

"The tales are deliciously dark and creepy, and I loved how brutal and visceral some of the tales were. It felt like a callback to the original fairy tales, which were quite dark and violent."

Click through to read more by Kristina.

This finished, hardcover copy is courtesy of Flatiron Books and can be added into your collections immediately. 

And don't forget, I have more librarian vetted, middle grade horror recs with readalikes and programming ideas on the Summer Scares Resources page.

Remember, if you enter today, you are entered in perpetuity.

Bram Stoker Awards Final Ballot Announced

Below is the final ballot of titles that are in the running for a Bram Stoker Award. I have linked to all of the books I have reviewed [which are numerous]. Please note that I have reviewed 4 of 5 titles in the novel category and the 5th title is from the publisher who I promoted last week in my #HorroForLibraries giveaway. I know you own the other 4, add Devil's Creek too.

I also want to point all of you to the excellent Bram Stoker Awards website. It is maintained separately from the HWA's main site to make it easier for everyone to have easy backlist access.

The Bram Stoker Awards will be announced as part of the Virtual StokerCon 2021- May 20-23. I will have a lot of news about the event very soon, but here is a bit of a preview: Librarians' Day will be happening and it will be a part of the entire Con. So for the same price you would have paid to attend in person, library workers can attend the entire event and authors can attend Librarians' Day. So for example, you get entry to the Final Frame Film Competition which is one of my favorite things about StokerCon with your LD ticket.

[However, that is just the tip of the iceberg in news about StokerCon.]

Also, I would like to  point out that in the list of this year's nominees for the Bram Stoker Awards we have 2 current Summer Scares authors nominated for their new works [Katsu and Koja], our current spokesperson [Moreno-Garcia] and 4 past Summer Scares authors [Jones [2 nominations below and a former spokesperson], Kraus, Keene, and Bulkin [in the Black Cranes Anthology]].

Your takeaway from this fact: Summer Scares is a prefect entry into the Horror genre for all ages of library patrons. Our committee is knowledgable about horror for libraries and we have our pulse on what is "the best." 

Here is the list and remember, all awards lists make for my favorite RA Tool.

The 2020 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Jones, Stephen Graham – The Only Good Indians (Gallery/Saga Press)

Katsu, Alma – The Deep (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Keisling, Todd – Devil’s Creek (Silver Shamrock Publishing)

Malerman, Josh – Malorie (Del Rey)

Moreno-Garcia, Silvia – Mexican Gothic (Del Rey)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Hall, Polly – The Taxidermist’s Lover (CamCat Publishing, LLC)

Harrison, Rachel – The Return (Berkley)

Jeffery, Ross – Tome (The Writing Collective)

Knight, EV – The Fourth Whore (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Reed Petty, Kate – True Story (Viking)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Archer, Steven (author/artist) – The Masque of the Red Death (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Brody, Jennifer (author) and Rivera, Jules (artist) – Spectre Deep 6 (Turner)

Douek, Rich (author) and Cormack, Alex (artist) – Road of Bones (IDW Publishing)

Holder, Nancy (author), Di Francia, Chiara (artist), and Woo, Amelia (artist) – Mary Shelley Presents (Kymera Press)

Manzetti, Alessandro (author) and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist/author) – Her Life Matters: (Or Brooklyn Frankenstein) (Independent Legions Publishing)

Niles, Steve (author), Simeone, Salvatore (author), and Kudranski, Szymon (artist) – Lonesome Days, Savage Nights (TKO Studios)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Cesare, Adam – Clown in a Cornfield (HarperTeen)

Kraus, Daniel – Bent Heavens (Henry Holt and Company/Macmillan)

Snyman, Monique – The Bone Carver (Vesuvian Books)

Thomas, Aiden – Cemetery Boys (Swoon Reads/Macmillan)

Waters, Erica – Ghost Wood Song (HarperTeen)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Iglesias, Gabino – Beyond the Reef (Lullabies for Suffering: Tales of Addiction Horror) (Wicked Run Press)

Jones, Stephen Graham – Night of the Mannequins (Tor.com)

Kiste, Gwendolyn – The Invention of Ghosts (Nightscape Press)

Landry, Jess – I Will Find You, Even in the Dark (Dim Shores Presents Volume 1) (Dim Shores)

Pinsker, Sarah – Two Truths and a Lie (Tor.com)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction

Arcuri, Meghan – “Am I Missing the Sunlight?” (Borderlands 7) (Borderlands Press)

Fawver, Kurt – “Introduction to the Horror Story, Day 1” (Nightmare Magazine Nov. 2020 (Issue 98))

Malerman, Josh – “One Last Transformation” (Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors) (Written Backwards)

O’Quinn, Cindy – “The Thing I Found Along a Dirt Patch Road” (Shotgun Honey Presents Volume 4: Recoil) (Down and Out Books)

Ward, Kyla Lee – “Should Fire Remember the Fuel?” (Oz is Burning) (B Cubed Press)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Koja, Kathe – Velocities: Stories (Meerkat Press)

Langan, John – Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies (Word Horde)

Lillie, Patricia – The Cuckoo Girls (Trepidatio Publishing)

Murray, Lee – Grotesque: Monster Stories (Things in the Well)

Taborska, Anna – Bloody Britain (Shadow Publishing)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay

Amaris, Scarlett and Stanley, Richard – Color Out of Space (SpectreVision)

Green, Misha – Lovecraft Country, Season 1, Episode 1: “Sundown” (Affeme, Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Warner Bros. Television Studios)

Green, Misha and Ofordire, Ihuoma – Lovecraft Country, Season 1, Episode 8: “Jig-a-Bobo” (Affeme, Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot Productions, Warner Bros. Television Studios)

LaManna, Angela – The Haunting of Bly Manor, Season 1, Episode 5: “The Altar of the Dead” (Intrepid Pictures, Amblin Television, Paramount Television Studios)

Whannell, Leigh – The Invisible Man (Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Goalpost Pictures, Nervous Tick Productions)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

Manzetti, Alessandro – Whitechapel Rhapsody: Dark Poems (Independent Legions Publishing)

McHugh, Jessica – A Complex Accident of Life (Apokrupha)

Pelayo, Cynthia – Into the Forest and All the Way Through (Burial Day Books)

Sng, Christina – A Collection of Dreamscapes (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Tantlinger, Sara – Cradleland of Parasites (Rooster Republic Press)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Bailey, Michael and Murano, Doug – Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors (Written Backwards)

Murray, Lee and Flynn, Geneve – Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (Omnium Gatherum Media)

Kolesnik, Samantha – Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror (Grindhouse Press)

Tantlinger, Sara – Not All Monsters: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women of Horror (Rooster Republic Press)

Yardley, Mercedes M. – Arterial Bloom (Crystal Lake Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction

Florence, Kelly and Hafdahl, Meg – The Science of Women in Horror: The Special Effects, Stunts, and True Stories Behind Your Favorite Fright Films (Skyhorse)

Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra – 1000 Women in Horror (BearManor Media)

Keene, Brian – End of the Road (Cemetery Dance Publications)

Peirse, Alison – Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre (Rutgers University Press)

Waggoner, Tim – Writing in the Dark (Guide Dog Books/Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Wetmore, Jr. Kevin J. – The Streaming of Hill House: Essays on the Haunting Netflix Adaption (McFarland)

Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction

Jackson Joseph, Rhonda – “The Beloved Haunting of Hill House: An Examination of Monstrous Motherhood” (The Streaming of Hill House: Essays on the Haunting Netflix Adaptation) (McFarland)

Pelayo, Cynthia – “I Need to Believe” (Southwest Review Volume 105.3)

Robinson, Kelly – “Lost, Found, and Finally Unbound: The Strange History of the 1910 Edison Frankenstein” (Rue Morgue Magazine, June 2020)

Sng, Christina – “Final Girl: A Life in Horror” (Interstellar Flight Magazine, October 2020)

Waggoner, Tim – “Speaking of Horror” (The Writer)

It's ALIVE! The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror, Third Edition

  

Here it is. The third edition of my book. And it is now live for pre-orders on the ALA Editions website. 

It won't be delivered until late summer, but over the next few months I will be updating the horror blog, which is the free update to the book. There is original information including double the annotations that could not fit into this book, but they will be available in full at RA for All: Horror. 

If you are interested in buying this book, please consider a preorder. 

Speaking of, I do want to address the price. It is not cheap-- $64 full price. But to put that in perspective, I charge  $300 minimum to give my 90 minute Horror presentation which is a brief summary of what is inside the pages of this book. So in that case, it is a great deal.

I am very excited to share this with all of you. 

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #33: A Silver Shamrock 4 Pack

 The #HorrorForLibraries Giveaway is back today. Here is a refresher on the basic rules to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that  week.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #32. Our winner was Jennifer from Ventress Memorial Library [MA].

This week have a prize pack of 4 books from one of my vetted independent horror publishers-- Silver Shamrock. Click here to see the full list of publishers, And here for their website. 

The titles are in the photo and listed below with links to Goodreads. These are all titles you can add with confidence. I have been impressed by the quality and quantity of the books this newer publisher is putting out. 

Enter but also click through to see more about each title. You  may want to add them to your collections:

• Dead Daughters by Tim Meyer
• Clementine's Awakening by  Jennifer Soucy  
• The Five Turns of the Wheel by Stephanie Ellis
• The Lupin Project by Allan Leverone

Good luck!

Summer Scares 2021 Announcement!

In celebration of National Library Lover’s Day, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, and Booklist, is delighted to announce the third annual Summer Scares Reading List, which includes titles selected by a panel of authors and librarians and is designed to promote horror as a great reading option for all ages, during any time of the year.

Each year, three titles will be chosen in the Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade categories, and for 2021 they are:

ADULT

• The Hunger by Alma Katsu [G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2018]
• The Cipher by Kathe Koja [originally published 1991 by Dell but reissued Meerkat Press, 2020]
• Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi, Translator Jonathan Wright [Penguin Books, 2018] 

YOUNG ADULT

• The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline [Dancing Cat Books, 2017]
• The Diviners by Libba Bray [Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2012]
• Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson [Razorbill, 2018]

MIDDLE GRADE

• Ollie’s Odyssey by William Joyce [Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2015]
• Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi [Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2017]
• Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods by Hal Johnson [Workman, 2015]

The goal of the Summer Scares program is to introduce horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that will extend beyond the books from each list and promote reading for years to come. Along with the annual list of recommended titles for readers of all ages, the Summer Scares committee will also release themed lists of even more “read-alike” titles for libraries to use when suggesting books to readers this summer and all year long. And, in order to help libraries forge stronger connections between books and readers, the Summer Scares committee will be working with both the recommended list authors and horror authors from all over the country, to provide free programming to libraries. From author visits (both in person and virtual) to book discussions to horror themed events, Summer Scares is focused on connecting horror creators with libraries and readers all year long.

Due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, the 2021 Summer Scares programming will be virtual, and held in conjunction with the Horror Writers Association’s annual StokerCon event (May 20 – May 23, 2021). Authors and committee members will be participating in live and pre-recorded sessions. Authors and committee members will also be available virtually throughout the year to libraries and schools to promote the Summer Scares program and discuss the use of horror fiction as a tool to increase readership and nurture a love of reading.

The Summer Scares program committee consists of bestselling author Silvia Morena-Garcia (Mexican Gothic, Gods of Jade and Shadow, Certain Dark Things, Untamed Shore), Becky Spratford (library consultant, author of The Readers Advisory Guide to Horror, 2nd Ed.), Konrad Stump (Local History Associate for the Springfield-Greene County Library and creator of the library’s popular “Oh, the Horror!” series), Carolyn Ciesla (library director, academic dean, book reviewer), Julia Smith (senior editor at Booklist), Kelly Jensen (editor, Book Riot, author of [Don’t] Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation about Mental Health), and JG Faherty (HWA Library Program director, author of Sins of the Father, The Cure, and Ghosts of Coronado Bay).

“The Summer Scares Programming Guide is back and packed with ideas that library workers can use to engage their communities with these great titles, whether they're planning book displays, hosting author events, or planning an entire Summer Scares program series,” states Konrad Stump, co-creator of the programming guide. “It also highlights the unique circumstances of programming during a pandemic.”

The HWA is a non-profit organization of writers and publishing professionals, and the oldest organization dedicated to the horror/dark fiction genre. One of the HWA’s missions is to foster an appreciation of reading through extensive programming and partnerships with libraries, schools, and literacy-based organizations.

For more information about the Summer Scares reading program, including how to obtain promotional materials and schedule events with the authors/committee members, visit the HWA’s Libraries web page (www.horror.org/libraries), Becky Spratford’s Reader’s Advisory Horror Blog RA for All: Horror (http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html), or the Book Riot, Booklist, or United for Libraries websites and social media sites.

You can also contact JG Faherty, HWA Library Program Director (libraries [at] horror [dot] org), or Becky Spratfor HWA Secretary (bspratford [at] hotmail [dot] com) for more information, and Konrad Stump (konrads[at]thelibrary[dot]org for programming content and assistance.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway #32: The Lost Village

The #HorrorForLibraries Giveaway is back today, featuring a book I reviewed in the current issue  of  Booklist. But first, a refresher on the basic rules to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that  week.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #31. Our winner was Andy from Gail Borden [IL] Public Library.

This week, to celebrate the beginning of Women in Horror Month I am giving away a copy of THE LOST VILLAGE by  Camilla Sten. Here is the link to my full review of The Lost Village from the current issue of Booklist. But below are some highlights:

Three Words That  Describe This Book: fast paced, oppressive atmosphere, seeking  answers.

In 1959, the population of the entire mining village of Silvertjärn, Sweden disappeared. 60 years later, Alice, the granddaughter of a villager who had moved out just before the tragedy, brings a film crew back to the isolated, abandoned, and eerie town, to scout for a possible documentary about the history, hoping to use her personal connection with the creepy occurrence to bring closure to the unsolved tale. But as soon as Alice and her crew arrive, strange, unexplainable things start happening, dangerous occurrences that put everyone’s lives and sanity at risk, and instead of making a movie, the trip becomes a race to survive whatever evil still has its hold on the community. Sten’s novel, already a hit across Europe, is a horror-suspense hybrid, told with a dual time frame in the “Now” and “Then,” with short chapters that keep the pacing brisk and the novel very hard to put down, and a killer set-up that is more than a gimmick. It is a puzzle that delivers maximum dread with clues revealed with remarkable restraint, and as the details pile up going from bad to worse to terrifying, readers will revel in the chills.

This ARC is courtesy of  St. Martin's press who passed it on to me for review. Now it is up for giveaway to one of you.

Don't sleep on this one. It has VERY wide appeal.

Good Luck!

Women in Horror Month: Mary SanGiovanni on Being A Veteran Woman in Horror

February marks the beginning ofWomen in Horror Month, and this year I am involved in a couple of events. They are live, free, and exciting. They are going to be very easy for you to promote and stream for your patrons too. Here is a hint....save 2/12 and 2/26 at 8pm eastern. 

But before we get to those, as I have in past year's, I asked author Mary SanGiovanni if I could share her WiHM post here on the blog for all of you.

Many of you may know her as the Queen of Cosmic Horror, both as an author and a scholar. Back in October, she provide all of you this primer to Lovecraft and Cosmic Horror in Library Journal.

But Mary has also paid her dues in the trenches of horror, often finding herself the only woman surrounded by men-- male authors and readers. Mary is happy for the strides that have been made, but she also knows that the fight is far from over.

With her permission, I am reposting her blog post getting ready for WiHM from January. There is a lot here to think about yes, but there are also practical things you can do to celebrate women in horror this month and all year long. Tips and ideas that translate very well to the library.

Thank you Mary.

Women in Horror Month 2021

In the past, I think I’ve made my feelings clear on what this means, but I have some new thoughts for the new year, and I hope you’ll indulge me a moment as I relate them.

I absolutely appreciate every time my name is mentioned on a reading list, a “best of” list, a list of women writers you should be reading, etc. I admit that it gives me a little thrill to know I’m not writing in a void, and that what I am writing means something to people. And since writing is such a solitary profession, it is sometimes the only way that I know you’re reading my work. I love seeing that, and I am always grateful. Now, during WiHM, we see a lot of these lists, specifically of women writing horror, and in the last few years especially, they’ve been pretty comprehensive, and show a wide range of women authors being read. While, ideally, women writers would like to appear on these lists all year long, it feels good to be acknowledged at least in February for all the hard work we put into our work. While, in a perfect world, we wouldn’t need a WiHm because sex/gender/race/orientation, etc. would be irrelevant from a buying and selling standpoint and writers would simply be known for their work, the world isn’t quite set up for that yet, even though we’re making some significant strides in that direction. A month acknowledging and introducing women to new readers is helpful. We acknowledge and appreciate our allies who do what they can to recognize, acknowledge, and encourage us.

But I’d like to make some suggestions. If you do these things already, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

If the purpose of WiHM is to bring awareness of women writers to a larger audience and to balance professional/financial opportunities for career security and success between male and female writers of horror, then let’s focus efforts on doing just that. This year, instead of JUST lists of women writer recommendations, I would encourage folks to go a little farther.

If you haven’t already, read some women horror writers — living women horror writers. It occurs to me that if the only women horror writers you can name and/or say you’ve read are Mary Shelley, Shirley Jackson, and Daphne Du Maurier, then in essence, it’s like saying these women were a historical fluke, and that nothing of note in horror has been done since then. This is, of course, untrue, and fans of horror do a disservice to themselves in missing out on some great fiction.

Perhaps discuss a book by a woman writer you’ve read, and talk about why you liked it. Tell others why it is a good, scary book, why it is a worthy contribution to the cannon of horror literature. Tell others why they might want to consider buying and reading this book. Tell family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances — anyone you think might be interested. Start a dialogue about why that book made an impression on you, and why it might make an impression on others, too.

If you’re a writer, discuss some of the women writers who have influenced you, and why. What is it about their style or their work or their approach to their careers that you admire? Tell other writers. Tell readers. Tell publishers. Both readers and writers who admire you (and, to some extent, publishers, too) are interested in what has shaped you as a writer. I have often seen people look up and read authors they have never heard of, simply because an author they admire mentioned those who were an influence.

Legitimize women as writers of horror. While, for the purposes of this article, I refer to us as women horror writers or female horror writers for the sake of clarity, when you discuss books in general, that qualification really isn’t necessary. It’s not a phenomenon that, despite being women, we write horror. If anything at all, it’s simply another perspective, shaped by experience, which allows us to tell horror with different themes, focuses, and approaches.

Recommend us for projects because you genuinely admire our work, our work ethic, and our potential, not because you need a woman writer to fill a quota. Now look, I know that publishing is a business. A successful business makes money. A successful business person in publishing seeks out writers who do good work, do it on time with no headaches, and have the kind of reputation that brings in readers. I’m telling folks that women writers can promise the first two now. In time, we can promise the third item, as well, so long as we can work toward eradicating the misguided concept that women can’t write original, scary horror fiction. It’s a bias that I think time can resolve, as well as chances that allow us to show larger and larger audiences what we can do. Give us an opportunity to prove that readers will keep coming back for our work and will trust in its ability to move them.

When you represent us, don’t just try to sell our work for projects that fit some concept of a “feminine” or niche angle. Again, I understand that as author representatives, you are, in a sense, looking for the best fit. And I respect that. But it goes back to legitimizing women’s work in the same way we do men’s. Represent us for the same kinds of jobs, the same money that you would represent male clients for. Go after those same big-fish projects for us, and we’ll work hard to make sure we deliver and make it worth everyone’s while. We are willing to work in writers’ rooms. We’re willing to do tie-ins. We’d like to see our work optioned for television and movies and streaming services. We’ll do interviews with TV, radio, and news outlets. We’ll travel for meetings if you need us to. We’d love to see our work translated into other languages all over the world. We are absolutely happy to think outside the box, and to try new things and new forms of media that can help books stay competitive with other forms of entertainment in this rapidly changing, tech-heavy world. We have ideas. We have enthusiasm. We want to go big.

Media coverage can do a lot of good for people in entertainment fields. If you are a big news outlet, a pop culture web hub, or an influencer in any way over what people read, consider doing an article or interview on women writing horror. Don’t minimize or “cutesy” it in any way. Tell your readership that women ARE doing this, right alongside all the men whose names they might already recognize. Help us reach an audience wider than the community who already knows us. Help us reach the casual browser, the beach reader, the airport shopper, the grocery store book buyer.

You don’t need to skew us toward more “female-friendly” marketing unless we’re writing in those genres/subgenres. You can call my work horror. You can call it supernatural thriller. That’s what it is. It’s not paranormal romance just because two characters kiss once and because I’m a woman. It’s not sexy gothic because I wear black and I’m a woman. It’s not erotica because I like sex and I’m a woman. I don’t have to write in a certain style or in a certain genre because of my lady parts, and you don’t have to market me that way. Read what I’m writing, and market it for what it is. If I write a paranormal romance, market it as such. When I write horror, call it that. Let people see that women write a wide variety of things, horror not the least among them.

At conventions and book signings, as you pass the tables of authors with their books for sale, read the author names on the book covers. If I’m sitting at a table with a man who has also written books, but my name is on the book cover, then understand that HE didn’t write those books — I did. This would seem fairly obvious, but sometimes people dismiss the woman behind the table. I am not, in that capacity, a partner, a girlfriend/wife, a +1, or his administrative assistant. I am a writer in my own right, and I am displaying the results of the hard work I’ve put into creating a literary product.

There are some things women writers have to navigate themselves. We have to decide what we want to wear — jeans and t-shirts like so many of our male counterparts, dresses, or business clothes, makeup, etc. — and how we want to present ourselves. We decide how much sexuality goes into our public image, because it’s a hard facts-of-life truth that women still are judged on that and so it’s still a consideration. We have to take some initiative in going after projects, negotiating fairness in contracts, and hell, sometimes, just making statements that are either a) actually heard, or b) not just automatically attributed to the nearest male. We have to be heard, to make our words count, to make ourselves seen, and to get our work read. We have to work twice as hard sometimes to be considered half as good. We have to consider what to do with WiHM, and how to make the best use of it so that come March 1st, people don’t go back to forgetting. And I encourage fellow women writers to be bold in doing those things. Bold does not have to mean bitchy. We have grace, class, talent, and power — bold means using those qualities to avoid being forgotten, ignored, or walked over, and that’s okay.

There are plenty of men (and other women and people of fluid genders) that are there for us and will support us and can understand struggling. We see them — we love and appreciate them — and we acknowledge that they’re there for us. They are our champions in this business. But the biggest champions for women writers are those women writers themselves. We can do this. We have been doing this. We will keep doing it.

To those who support women horror writers in any way they can, big or small, thank you. It is, sometimes, those little gestures that make all the difference. And to those who want to support us, I hope these suggestions are helpful. I think we can make next month, and all the months in 2021, a truly positive move forward for horror writers everywhere.