Editor’s note: This post was first published on February 14, 2014, but it’s such a perfect read for both Women in Horror Month and Valentine’s Day that I’m giving you another opportunity to read it.
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It’s Valentine’s Day! That makes it a PERFECT opportunity to talk about something problematic for women writing in the horror genre– the categorization of anything paranormal written by a woman, especially if it contains romantic elements, as part of the romance or urban fantasy genres.
Er, no. Take a look at this, inspired by a book written by a woman.
By definition, a romance novel has to have an HEA (happily ever after) at the end.
In spite of the hand holding and the bridal gown, this doesn’t qualify.
Yet it is an issue. In the recent discussion on sexism and horror, sponsored by the HWA, Sephera Giron made this comment:
“It’s always assumed I write romance no matter how much black I’m wearing in a bookstore or convention!!!! Where I said I write paranormal romance in the above post, I actually don’t but people perceived it as such because I wrote six books in a series for Ravenous Romance. The romance people wouldn’t read it because they thought it was horror. The horror people wouldn’t read it because they thought it was romance. It’s really erotica with a coven of witches (hey if you like Coven, you’ll probably like these) but everyone likes to pretend that since I’m a woman, it must be paranormal romance. I’m not sure I’ve ever written a happy ending yet.”
Can horror contain romantic elements? Absolutely. Psychology Today tells us that love is addictive, obsessive, and makes us prone to recklessness. We see plenty of all of that in horror fiction, from The Phantom of the Opera to Married With Zombies. And horror with romantic elements is hardly limited to women writers. Phantom was penned by a man, Gaston Leroux. and adapted into a musical by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. If you’re looking for a more recent example, well, there’s this book called Lisey’s Story…
So on that note, here’s a guest post by horror author Tonia Brown, that touches on just this topic. Warning, it’s NSFW.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Romancing the Groan
By Tonia Brown
It only took a few seconds of prompting for Coil’s lust to kick his worry in the ass and take command. He pushed her to the couch again and continued toying with her.
“If I wanted a gentleman,” she whispered, “I wouldn’t have worn my naughty undies.”
Coil growled in approval.
“Do you want to see ‘em?” she asked.
“Oh yeah,” he said and leaned back.
Laura fluttered her dress over her hips, flashing him an eyeful of pink lace before sliding the fabric in place once more. “What do you want to see now?”
“Your naughty undies.”
“Again?” Laura grabbed the hem of her dress, ready to flash him a second time.
Coil snatched up her hand and shook his head, his grin as wild and mischievous as that of a horny teenager. “I wanna see ‘em, all right. I wanna see ‘em on the floor.”
Laura matched his smile with one just as dirty. “That’s more like it. Come here, you.”
Coil fell into her seduction with a joyful ease.
He considered it an hour well spent.
The above section is a snippet from my novel Sundowners. From the clip, you could imagine the book to be an erotic romance, or an urban romance, or even a period romance. Steampunk romance? Romantic comedy? The point being, one may assume it is a romance. But wait, here is another snippet from the same novel:
She took up the razor and turned it on herself. Naomi cut away her fair share with a few determined slices, not to mention a whole lot of wincing and hissing. Using the corner of the razor, she peeled back the edge of her square, just a bit. She grasped this loose end of flesh and yanked, pulling along the guidelines she had worked into her own calf. The bloody square came away in one piece, then slipped from her trembling fingers with a wet slop to the floor. No bother. A little dirt wouldn’t make it any worse for wear. She planned on washing the whole quilt when she was done anyway.
Lightheaded and nauseated, Naomi picked up her needle and went back to work.
The voice guided her tired hands, assuring her that this was the right thing to do.
For the community.
Wait up now? How can the first part be sexy and this be … horror? Simple enough, it is a horror novel with romantic elements. Two of the characters rekindle an old passion and end up exploring those feelings as well as each other all across the pages. Feelings? Romantic sex? Love? Those aren’t elements of horror! What are you thinking, woman!
When folks envision horror, they often forget that romance can play an important element of the story. Yet, many characters in horror novels are driven by romantic intentions. Whether it’s a young man trying to rescue his lady love from the undead, or a wife seeking her husband’s soul in hell, romance can be a valid and powerfully driving plot point. Regardless of this, there is a notion somewhere in the horror community that romance has no place in horror. As if you stop feeling just because there is a nameless terror chasing you down, ready to tear your heart out and eat it. If anything, you feel harder at these times. It is common knowledge that battling stress brings folks closer together, and when folks get close, they can easily develop feelings for one another. Just replace the word ‘stress’ with words like ‘demons’ or ‘zombies’ or ‘Cthulhian nightmares’ and you see how this can work.
More importantly, a romantic subplot brings you, the reader, closer to the characters. Romance brings out the vulnerability of a person. You think it’s hard to escape from the undead? Try opening up to a living person, trusting them with your heart and soul, much less finding the bravery it takes to get naked with them! When a writer gives a hard bitten, zombie fighting, gun slinging guy a romantic interest in the midst of his badassery, it creates a whole new dimension to his makeup. He isn’t just a gun toting killing machine anymore; suddenly he possesses real depth and emotion. Romance humanizes characters. Real people fall in love, why wouldn’t characters who are trying to be real?
Of course there are those who say that as a female writer it is inevitable that I add romance to a story. Believe it or not, I have been told that many, many times before. Recently someone said about my work, “You are a woman, so no surprise there is romance in the book.” It is true many women use romance in horror as a plot point or a driving emotion for their characters. In fact, the list Popular Horror Romance Novels on Goodreads is dominated by women. Authors such as Anne Rice, Karina Halle, and Poppy Z Brite. But romance in horror isn’t exclusive to females. Many male authors work love into the pages of blood soaked terror. Consider Stephen King, the Mack Daddy of horror. He often includes romantic elements in his tales. ‘Salem’s Lot featured a pretty hot and heavy romance between Ben and Susan all while they are battling a master vampire and his thrall. Hell, Lisey’s Story is a love letter to a happy marriage.
My point with all of this is to encourage readers to seek out romantic horror, and encourage other writers to explore romantic subplots. Real characters deserve real emotions. We don’t stop loving when our lives get difficult. Why would they?
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Tonia Brown is a southern author with a penchant for Victorian dead things. She lives in the backwoods of North Carolina with her genius husband and an ever fluctuating number of cats. She likes fudgesicles and coffee, though not always together. When not writing she raises unicorns and fights crime with her husband under the code names Dr. Weird and his sexy sidekick Butternut.
Tonia Brown’s short stories can be found in such anthologies as Horror Library, Vol. 5 (2013 Cutting Block Press), D.O.A. Extreme Horror Anthology (2011 Blood Bound Books), Best New Zombie Tales (Vol.3) (2011 Books of the Dead Press), and Bigfoot Terror Tales Vol. 1: Scary Stories of Sasquatch Horror (2012 Coscom Entertainment), among others. Her novels and novellas include Badass Zombie Road Trip (2012 Books of the Dead Press), Lucky Stiff: Memoirs of an Undead Lover (2010, 2013 CreateSpace), the Railroad! Collection, and the Triple Shot collection.
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Interested in learning more about Tonia? Visit Tonia Brown’s Amazon page
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