Author: Selene MacLeod

Welcome to The Horror Tree, and thank you for participating in Women In Horror Month. First, tell us a bit about yourself and your interest in horror.

I’m Emerian Rich, the Horror Host for HorrorAddicts.net and a writer, artist, and fan of all things horror! As a child, I loved reading all those spooky novels where a woman falls in love with the ghost in the lighthouse or meets a mummy guy when exploring a pyramid. When I got older I discovered vampires and my fate was sealed.

Why is Women In Horror Month important, and what do you say to someone who says ‘Oh, I don’t care if it’s by a man, a woman, etc., as long as it’s a good story’?”

In some ways it’s true. The story is the most important part, but for so many years it was said that women couldn’t write horror. I don’t understand this. Shelley, Radcliffe, Bronte, they all wrote horrific fiction, and yet still here in 2021, there are those who think good horror can only come from men. WiHM is about giving readers a chance to hear about these great women horror writers who haven’t been seen or heard because the noise of male horror writers drowns us out. Give us women the chance to change your minds!
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Welcome to The Horror Tree, and thank you for participating in Women In Horror Month. First, tell us a bit about yourself and your interest in horror. 

Thank you for having me, it’s an honor and a pleasure! I’m Lydia Prime—just your typical soulless ginger kid, trying to steal everyone else’s—no big deal, right?

My interest in horror stems from childhood if I’m completely honest. I was always a bit… off. My infatuation with all things mysterious and spooky peaked after I received a deep sea creatures book. Upon seeing some of those terrifying beasties, boogie-men became real, and I wanted to find them—I wanted to find others outside the depths.

I suppose it goes without saying at this point, but I love, love, love creatures! The freakier the better. My favorite part of horror is getting to go on a wild ride with the unfortunate characters in universes created for them. There’s something hauntingly beautiful in being able to vicariously live through their experiences and feel what they feel. I found that while my real life was chaotic (to say the least), I could put those issues into my own works. Having the ability to share my own monsters (real and imaginary) and fears (also, real and imaginary) through writing gave me a catharsis I’ve never turned away from. 

A few years back, Nina D’Arcangela took a chance on me. She brought me into her world and welcomed me to the Sirens Call Publications family. Although I stepped down from my role at SCP, we still work closely to keep the Ladies of Horror Picture Prompt Challenge going every month on her blog, Spreading the Writer’s Word.

When I’m not working to promote the work of others in our community, I’m always working on the next project, piece, or finding a way to summon the undead. Y’know, just girly things. 
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Welcome to The Horror Tree, and thank you for participating in Women In Horror Month. First, tell us a bit about yourself and your interest in horror.

Thank you for interviewing me! I’ve loved horror almost all my life, but only started writing it about 20 years ago. I’ve always wanted to be a writer – I asked for a typewriter when I was about ten years old or so. I wrote my autobiography! It wasn’t a long manuscript.

I believe my fascination with horror began when I was only two years old and watched The Wizard of Oz on TV. That was back when it was an event once a year, which is why my mother let me watch it with her. Funnily enough, even though the witch scared me, I developed a fear of tornadoes, even though we live in Maryland. Now, though, any big winds will provoke a fear response in me.

Why is Women In Horror Month important, and what do you say to someone who says ‘Oh, I don’t care if it’s by a man, a woman, etc., as long as it’s a good story’?” 
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Tell us a bit about yourself and your interest in horror.

My pen name is H.R. Boldwood. I’m a horror and speculative fiction author/reader. I’ve been writing and publishing short stories for about twelve years. My first novel “The Corpse Whisperer”, published by Third Street Press, was a finalist for the 2019 Imadjinn award. I’ve been a horror fan since childhood, after watching movie classics like “The House on Haunted Hill” and “The Screaming Skull”. I wrote my first horror story in grade school.

Why is Women in Horror Month important, and what do you say to someone who says, ‘Oh, I don’t care if it’s by a man, a woman, etc., as long as it’s a good story?’

I tell them, “Of course! Everyone appreciates a well-written story. The point of WIHM isn’t to suggest that female authors are superior or more deserving of readership. The point is that historically, females have been under-represented in the horror genre. Featuring female writers for an entire month encourages fledgling authors, and brings new blood to the game. Every horror reader should be pleased about that.”

Who are some Women in Horror (or other women) who have influenced your work, and why?

Where to start? Mary Shelley for possessing the courage to give females a seat at the table. Lisa Morton, my mentor through HWA, who shared her knowledge and showed me unfailing support when I wondered if I had the skill to stand up and be counted as an author. Harper Lee, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Janet Evanovich for fostering my love of strong voice and humor. But I am not only inspired by the most famous authors. Vonnie Winslow Crist inspires me with the sheer number of quality stories she produces in several different genres. I see Naching Kassa and Valerie Williams, both of whom I’ve written with for several years, honing their skills and making headway in the publishing world. You go girls!

2020 will probably be remembered as a TERRIBLE year for many of us; tell us something GOOD that happened in the last 12 months.

Third Street Press published books two and three of my Corpse Whisperer series! I also participated in Moanaria’s Fright Club—a fabulous online writing class taught be Moaner Lawrence. My goal was to develop more unique storylines that might grab the interest of pro-paying markets. The course showed me that I could stretch myself, and how to go about it. A great investment in myself as a writer.

What have you got planned for Women in Horror Month, and the coming months of 2021?

Busy times ahead! I’m currently working on book four of the Corpse Whisperer series, and waiting with bated breath for word on some pending short story submissions. I’m also developing a spin-off novel series.

Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers?

I’d ask them to consider reading one (or two) of the fabulous works written by our Women in Horror, and leaving a review. There are so many new and brilliant female horror voices today. When you have the chance to be supportive, show your appreciation.  Today’s up-and-coming authors are tomorrow’s stars!

Bio: H.R. Boldwood is a writer of horror and speculative fiction. In another incarnation, Boldwood is a Pushcart Prize nominee and winner of the 2009 Bilbo Award for creative writing by Thomas More College. Although Boldwood’s characters are interesting, they are often disreputable and not to be trusted. 

Links:

www.hrboldwood.com

https://www.facebook.com/hrboldwood

https://twitter.com/BoldwoodH

https://www.amazon.com/H.-R.-Boldwood/e/B01LWY22MD

Welcome to The Horror Tree, and thank you for participating in Women In Horror Month. First, tell us a bit about yourself and your interest in horror. 

I’ve loved horror for a while now, but it wasn’t always my favourite genre. As a kid, I used to get these horrible nightmares, so I’d avoid anything that might scare me. But as I got older, I was tired of feeling helpless and decided that the best way to reclaim my agency was to immerse myself in genre. So I started writing it, then I started reading it, and eventually I fell in love with it. It’s been over ten years since I made my first foray into horror and I can’t imagine ever going back. 

Why is Women In Horror Month important, and what do you say to someone who says ‘Oh, I don’t care if it’s by a man, a woman, etc., as long as it’s a good story’?” 

When someone tells me that they don’t care who a story was written by, so long as it’s good, I normally say, “Great!” I also don’t think the author’s gender should matter when it comes to good horror. But the problem I have, and the issue that Women in Horror Month helps highlight, is the disparity between which voices are being heard and showcased in mainstream horror. So, sure, the author’s gender shouldn’t matter, but it often does. And that’s something I think we need to address at a systemic level. 

When you go to a bookstore and look at the titles on the shelf, cisgendered heterosexual white men generally dominate the genre. And while there are popular women in horror, the diversity is also lacking. The genre needs more BIPOC authors, more nonbinary and gender-fluid authors, and more LGBTQ+ authors. Otherwise, we end up with the same stories over and over again. And I think this diversity needs to be reflected not just in horror authors, but the editors and publishers. When we have publishing houses and agencies that lack diversity, there’s a pretty serious risk that the voices they choose to promote and publish will be the same as their own. 
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Welcome to The Horror Tree, and thank you for participating in Women In Horror Month. First, tell us a bit about yourself and your interest in horror.

Growing up, my grandma would sneak me into horror movies with her and try to keep it from my mom, but I loved horror, so she kept doing it. One of the first films I saw with her was “Cat People” in 1982 at the Lancaster Mall Theater in Salem, Oregon. I would have been all of five years old. I don’t know if that was the first one she took me to, but I do remember coming out afterward and my mom wanting to know what movie we’d gone to. You see, she was the manager of the theater my grandma had taken me to. Pretty sure grandma WANTED to get busted.

I used to watch horror and sci-fi with my dad. We watched “V” and “Doctor Who.” He was the one I watched “X-Files” and “Twin Peaks” with when those came on. And my parents had shelves of horror fiction, which is where I discovered Stephen King and Dean R. Koontz. So the fact that I grew to love horror more and more through the years, only to one day start writing it, isn’t much of a surprise. Plus, I’ve lived a fairly colorful life, which has given me plenty of fodder for the bloody gristmill. I love to write horror short stories and now I’ve got a true crime podcast, which has been a fun change of pace.
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Welcome to The Horror Tree, and thank you for participating in Women In Horror Month. First, tell us a bit about yourself and your interest in horror. 

I have always been a horror afficionado. I love to read horror; watch horror films; review horror books, graphic novels, movies. I find horror to be soothing. It is a safe way of releasing anxiety. In my “pay my bills life,” I have always worked in academia and have found ways of implementing horror into the curriculum I develop. It has always been a major interest of mine and a big part of who I am.

 
Why is Women In Horror Month important, and what do you say to someone who says ‘Oh, I don’t care if it’s by a man, a woman, etc., as long as it’s a good story’?” 
(more…)