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Book Review: 100+ Black Women in Horror Fiction by Sumiko Saulson

100+ Black Women in Horror Fiction by Sumiko Saulson

Iconoclast Productions, 2018

ISBN: 9781387587469

Available at Lulu.com in hardcover, paperback, and premium paperback, and on Amazon as hardcover, paperback, and Kindle edition.

 

February is both Women in Horror Month and Black History Month, and in 2014, author and blogger Sumiko Saulson compiled interviews and biographical sketches of black women writers who have written in the horror genre, composed for and shared on her blog, into a book titled 60 Black Women in Horror Fiction. Saulson published 100+ Black Women in Horror Fiction as an expanded edition in 2018. It includes additional, very brief entries on black women horror writers that Saulson uncovered after 2014. Entries are listed in alphabetical order and each is accompanied by website addresses for the author. Following the entries are interviews of 17 black women authors profiled in the book. Poet Linda Addison, Africanfuturist Nnedi Okorafor, and horror writers Lori Titus and Eden Royce, among others, are included in the interviews section of the book, and David Watson shares a short essay on L.A. Banks and Octavia Butler.

The book is clearly a labor of love, and even a list of black women writers of horror is needed, but unfortunately, the majority of entries do not include typical biographical information like date and place of birth, family members, and  background information. They do include a list of the author’s publications, specifically those related to the horror genre. I examined the Kindle edition, and the website links do work, but not all of them are current: a few of them are no longer in existence (unfortunately, one of them is a resource Saulson cited as using in researching and writing the book: darkgeisha.wordpress.com). It is clear that this is an expanded version– that is, new entries have been added– and not an updated one, after reading the introduction, but this is really a starting point for exploring these women’s work rather than a detailed biographical reference. There are unfortunately a number of typos and punctuation errors in the book, but they don’t interfere with the ability to understand and use what is still a unique book for reader’s advisory and for readers wanting to diversify their experience of reading horror fiction.

Saulson’s original work can also be found on her blog at sumikosaulson.com, and I highly encourage you to visit and explore her resources. There are more black women writers of horror than there were when Saulson started this project on her blog in 2013, but their writing, and recognition for it, is a part of the horror community that needs to continue to grow.

Saulson has also edited a companion volume of original short fiction by 18 black women writers of horror whose profiles are included in this book, which also came out in February of 2018, called Black Magic Women: Terrifying Tales by Scary Sisters. Stay tuned for a review later this month!

 

 

Posted on February 7, 2020 by , Reply

Women in Horror Month: Not Just Plot Devices

The cast of Wayward Sisters

 

Considering that Supernatural is a show that’s basically drenched in white toxic masculinity, it actually has some really awesome, kick-butt female characters, and because the fans demanded it, it looks like they’re getting their own spinoff show, Wayward Sisters . The recent backdoor pilot, though, apparently brought along its share of tired tropes centering men, especially the ever popular one of using a woman’s death, mutilation, or violation as a plot device and motivation for a male character to do his (usually violent and heroic) thing, according to The Mary Sue . This trope actually is common enough that it has a name: “Women in Refrigerators”. Before I even knew what it was called, I LOATHED this trope, which is the basis for pretty much everything that happens in The Crow. In this case, the women who were “fridged” also got to embody another trope: that of the black woman willing to carry on to support the talents of a white main character. On a show that’s supposed to celebrate women, and even had some diversity in its casting, a woman of color was killed off to advance the plot, for the Winchester brothers. In addition to representation in casting, I’m thinking some diversity in screenwriters is in order.

This trope is so tired and so vomit-inducing that someone has finally created an award to be given to a thriller that manages to get through its plot to the end without a women getting beaten, stalked, killed, raped, or sexually exploited, called the Staunch Prize. I can’t think of too many candidates that will qualify. Even my favorite tough-woman detective, V.I. Warshawski (yes, I’m old), gets beaten and stalked. You go after the bad guys, you fight injustice, and chances are there’s going to be some kind of violence or threat in your future. These days, all you have to do is tweet something someone doesn’t like to have death threats shower down on you. So I don’t know how many entrants the sponsor of the prize will actually find, but it says a lot that she is so damn tired of reading about violence against women used as a plot device that she would actually shell out hard, cold, cash to read a suspenseful book that doesn’t have it. We are not plot devices, and those of you writing horror who don’t already know this should know that leaning on women in refrigerators to drive your plot is lazy and disrespectful.

As you are thinking about and reading about women in horror this month (or writing about women in your own horror fiction) consider this: there are many, many, women writers and women writers of color who are writing horror fiction and poetry, from Linda Addison to Nnedi Okorafor, and including many who are unknown. I challenge you to seek them out this month and see what women, and especially women of color, are creating to scare the hell out of us.

 

Posted on February 1, 2018 by , Reply

Review: Four Elements by Charlee Jacob, Rain Graves, Linda Addison, and Marge Simon

It’s not traditional for us to publish our reviews right here on the blog, but with Women in Horror month just ended and Stoker season already here,  I wanted to share a review here that showcases a book belonging in both categories. This will appear on the site as well, as soon as there’s an opportunity to post it. Sumiko Saulson also published an interview with Linda Addison about Four Elements, which I’ll link to here.

And now, the review.
    Four Elements by Charlee Jacob, Marge Simon, Rain Graves and Linda Addison

Bad Moon Books/Evil Jester Press, 2013

Available: New paperback, Kindle edition

ISBN-13: N/A

 

Four Elements is a collection of poetry and short fiction by four women of horror who are all Bram Stoker Award winning poets. Each writer takes on one of the four elements of nature—earth, air, fire and water—and brings their own vision to each.

“Earth” by Marge Simon contains poems and stories that all deal with various consequences of people’s actions including war, desolation, destruction and death, including “A Time For Planting” about the consequences of love and lust and “Quake” about how short our time can be.

“Water” by Rain Graves which includes many pieces dealing with destruction through mythology, including a series of six poems, which I loved, titled “Hades and Its Five” that encompasses all of the myths of Hades, the river Styx and the ferryman.

“Fire” by Charlee Jacob that includes works dealing with death and destruction.  My favorite here is “Accidental Tourists” about a couple of voyeurs who find love at the scene of a horrific car accident and their many names for the color red—the color of life and death.  There is also a series of ten poems called “Reaching Back to Eden” that involve the consequences of the actions of Adam, Eve, Lilith and Satan.

“Air” by Linda Addison contains poems about the power of the wind to shape life and our environment as well as describing the soul as air versus the body.  “Lost in Translation” is one of my favorites here, about air as a hidden, living being.  “Upon First Seeing Ongtupqa” is a beautiful description about air moving through canyons, wearing away the earth and exposing millennia of past life.

All of the prose and poetry is dark, beautiful and vivid in its imagery. There is emotion behind the words that will draw a visceral response from the reader. All of the poetry by these four amazing women is so powerful you will find yourself reading Four Elements again and again.  I have already read through it twice.  If you are a fan of dark poetry then Four Elements is for you. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Colleen Wanglund

 

Posted on March 2, 2014 by , Reply
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