WIHM: Why Do We Need Women In Horror Month?

This month is Women in Horror Month, and Stuart was kind enough to ask me if I’d like to write a post about it. So, here goes…

First of all, I’m ambivalent about a month dedicated to female writers. Mostly, because there are women writing amazing things all year long, and they deserve more than a month of recognition. On the other hand, it makes me smile to see people going out of their way during this month to tell people about the female authors who have touched them with a short story, a poem, or a novel. I think there are probably as many women writers as men, throughout my life, who have made an impact on me and my own writing. I’m not limiting that to the horror genre, either, although I have heard there are people out there who don’t appear to realize that women can write scary or suspenseful or even gory as well as men. Luckily for me, I haven’t run into a lot of that personally. My friends and family have known for years my love of horror, and don’t seem to think it strange.

I have heard from others that there is still some bias to be found in publishing, in the large publishing houses as well as the multitudes of small presses that put out so many of the books and anthologies that I read these days. Maybe I’m lucky, because I haven’t recognized any of that in my own submissions and publication history. Maybe I have just been fortunate enough to run into people who carry my same ideals. I want to read good fiction, stories that I connect with, characters who impact me, tales that evoke an emotional response. I want to feel my heart race, my breath catch in my throat, my eyes burn as I read the lines that transport me into another world, another person’s point of view. I want to immerse in someone else’s reality. And when that happens, I don’t really care who wrote it, what gender or background that writer brings to their writing. All I care about, at that point, is that that story has taken me away.

I guess the best part about Women in Horror Month for me, is the opportunity to learn about other female writers whom I might not previously have read. So take a few minutes during this month to think about those women who have made you stay up too late so you could finish a short story, or just one more chapter, and share her with others. I’m pretty sure we all appreciate it.