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Book Review: 1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018 by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

cover art for 1000 Women in Horror

1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018 by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

BearManor Media, 2020

ISBN-13: 9781629333861

Available:  Hardcover, paperback ( Bookshop.org )

 

1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018 is a beautiful book that includes the stars and women behind the scenes who have molded the horror genre. Heller-Nicholas provides a global view of the “vast number of women who have worked in the creation of dark and spooky movies for well over a century, both behind and in front of the camera, and in films both widely known and comparatively obscure.” The author includes an incomplete, as she mentions, but still impressive filmography of full-length movies directed or co-directed by women in an appendix. Also included interspersed throughout book are interviews with Rutanya Alda, Tara Anaïse, Tonjia Atomic, Anna Biller, Axelle Carolyn, Aislinn Clarke, BJ Colangelo, Mattie Do, Julia Ducournau, Jordan Hall, Catherine Hardwicke, Katherine Kean, Karen Lam, Izzy Lee, Barbara Magnolfi, Marsha Mason, Donna McRae, Patrushkha Mierzwa, Hannah Neurotica, Alexandra Paul, Isabel Peppard, Cassandra Peterson, Debbie Rochon, Mia’Kate Russell, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Elizabeth Shepherd, Jen and Sylvia Soska, Brinke Stevens, Barbie Wilde and Silvana Zancolò.

 

Since this is more of a reference book with entries in alphabetical order, readers may not want to read it from cover to cover of course. However, having done so myself, it is wonderful to see how many women, and by no means a complete list of them, have had a direct hand in horror films. I found it particularly interesting that Heller-Nicholas chose to include those in front of the camera. As she points out in her introduction, acting “is a job” and often requires hard work, dedication, and time.  With WiHM, we so often focus on the filmmakers that the actors themselves tend to go unnoticed in their efforts.

 

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, a film critic from Melbourne, Australia, holds a PhD in Screen Studies from the University of Melbourne and is an Adjunct Professor at Deakin University and a Research Fellow at RMIT University. She has written eight books on cult, horror and exploitation cinema with an emphasis on gender politics. Given the quality of the research and care that went into 1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018, I will definitely be checking out her other work. I do hope that at some point in the future there will be a Kindle edition released for accessibility.

 

Highly recommended

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Editor’s note: 1000 Women in Horror, 1895-2018  is a nominee on the final ballot for the 2020 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction. 

Book Review: From the Stars… A Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures

cover for From the Stars... A Vampiress

From the Stars…A Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures by Steven A. Roman, with a forward by the official Vampirella historian Sean Fernald  (  Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com )

StarWarp Concepts, 2020

ISBN: 9780998236148

Available: Paperback

 

From the Stars…a Vampiress provides a great reference guide to one of the most recognizable female horror comics heroines, Vampirella. The first section, “The Vampire Who Fell to Earth”, tells her story from her initial creation by James Warren and Forrest J. Ackerman, and other writers and artists who helped her development such as Archie Goodwin, Jose Gonzalez, Trina Robbins, Frank Frazetta, Gonzalo Mayo, and many more, to her cancellation in 1982 after Warren Publishing closed its doors. The second section, “The Vampirella Episode Guide”, is an annotated bibliography of the Warren Publishing Vampirella stories, including ones that went unpublished. Entries include the names of the writer and artist, the issue in which the story was published, a list of main characters, setting, chronology, synopsis, and a brief review. This section makes up a bulk of the book. In the third section, “Vampi Goes to Hollywood”, Roman covers the 1966 Queen of Blood; a Vampirella film that never was, which was going to be produced by Hammer Films and to star Barbara Leigh and Peter Cushing; the unfortunate 1996 movie that starred Talisa Soto in the titular role, the Who’s Roger Daltrey, and an unfortunate redesign of Vampirella’s famous costume; and an entry that warranted less than a page about an animated film that never came to fruition. The fourth section, “The Literary Vampiress”, presents information on the Vampirella novelizations written by Ron Goulart and published by Warner Books. The fifth section provides just what it says, “The Vampirella Warren Era Checklist”. Roman presents a comprehensive list of all the Warren era Vampirella stories. Roman also includes reprint issues that were released by Dynamite Entertainment and Harris Comics.

The only criticism I have regards the use of illustrations. While there are amazing behind the scenes black and white photographs, there are very few pieces of artwork of the gorgeous Vampirella due to licensing. Otherwise, From the Stars…A Vampiress is not only a fantastic reference guide, but it is also a love letter to the fanged horror heroine. New fans and old will be interested in the Vampirella bibliography especially. Libraries that specialize in comics history should consider including this volume in their collection as well. Highly recommended.

Fun fact: One of my most prized comics is an issue of Vampirella with Julie Strain as the cover model.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Book Review: The PS Book of Fantastic Fictioneers: A History of the Incredible (volumes 1 and 2) edited by Pete Von Sholly

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The PS Book of Fantastic Fictioneers: A History of the Incredible (volumes 1 and 2) edited by Pete Von Sholly

PS Publishing, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1786364258 (volume 1)

ISBN-13: 978-1786364265 (volume 2)

Available: Hardcover

 

Fantastic Fictioneers is a two-volume set from PS Publishing of short essays, arranged alphabetically, meant to celebrate 120 people who have contributed to what creator Pete von Sholly describes as the “imaginative arts”.  This term covers individuals who have contributed to a wide swath of media, from children’s authors to comic book artists and writers, movie directors, animators, actors, publishers, and writers of science fiction, mystery, and horror. Some have passed away, like H.P. Lovecraft and Forrest Ackerman, and others are still with us, like Stuart Gordon and Ramsey Campbell. Each entry starts with a large illustration filling three-quarters of a page including the likeness of the entry’s subject accompanied by an illustration by von Sholly of what made them a prominent “fantastic fictioneer” (for example, the entry on Charles Addams pictures the Addams Family conjuring up Addams’ ghost in a seance; the background of Hiernomyous Bosch’s portrait contains creatures from his paintings; Ray Harryhausen’s face floats among his many models) followed by the first few paragraphs of a short essay. Some essays are detailed biographical entries, others are more personal accounts, and many are a combination. The entry on H.R. Giger includes musings and analysis on his work; the entry on Octavia Butler goes into detail on her life but includes a personal account; and Maria Alexander’s entry on Clive Barker is mainly a personal account of her experiences with him and his work.  Each essay includes many photographs of artifacts and artwork related to the work of the essay’s subject, as well as photos of the individual. Von Sholly was able to get some prominent names to write many of the essays, including S.T. Joshi on Lovecraft, J.D. Lees on Ishiro Honda, and Harlan Ellison on Frank Herbert. If you have the time, you could spend quite a while turning the pages and learning a little about the varied “fantastic fictioneers” included.

The entries aren’t consistent enough in their format and content for the books to be used reliably as a reference source of biographical information, but the collection of individuals profiled crosses many areas of the “imaginative arts” and there is information on individuals that might not be typically covered (I had never heard of Seabury Quinn before). Although it could have benefited from a little more diversity (very few women and minority “fictioneers” are covered), Von Sholly explains that, outside of a few “obligatory” entries, the majority are subjective favorites. As long as the set already is, ultimately choices about what would be included had to be made, and there is no doubting that Fantastic Fictioneers is a labor of love. Unfortunately, while it is a gorgeous volume, it lacks an index, and many of the images are not credited, which could be a detriment to a library purchasing it. Fantastic Fictioneers will appeal most to collectors and fans, and large libraries interested in adding specialized biographical reference materials to their collections.

Due to the variety of individuals covered, and the expense of purchasing the set (about $130 for both volumes), I’m including images of the table of contents of both volumes below. It really is a wide-ranging collection of entries! For those fascinated by all aspects of speculative fiction, this is a unique collection!

Editor’s note: I received a PDF file from the publisher for this review.

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