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Women in Horror Fiction: Barbie Wilde

Image of Barbie WildeThe horror genre actually has the capability of being a welcoming place for women, because it offers opportunities for participation in a variety of approaches to the genre. Barbie Wilde is an example of a woman who has successfully transitioned from acting to writing, with her role as the Female Cenobite in Hellbound: Hellraiser II leading to the publication of her short story “Sister Cilice” in Hellbound Hearts, an anthology themed around the Hellraiser mythology created by Clive Barker, on which the movie franchise is based. Barbie has since published short stories in a variety of anthologies and recently came out with a book, The Venus Complex, which we reviewed here. It’s great to see the horror genre lifting up women in the horror community so that they can take advantage of all it has to offer, and I can only hope that not only continues, but becomes much more common.

 

1. Can you give our readers a brief introduction?

My name is Barbie Wilde. As an actress, I’m best known for playing the Female Cenobite in Clive Barker’s cult horror movie, Hellbound: Hellraiser II. I’ve also appeared in Death Wish 3, Grizzly II: The Concert (along with then unknowns George Clooney, Charlie Sheen and Laura Dern) and numerous TV shows in the UK as either an actress, a mime artist or a host-presenter.

So far, I’ve written eight short horror stories published in eight different anthologies, as well as my debut dark crime-real life horror novel,The Venus Complex. Fangoria magazine has called me “one of the finest purveyors of erotically charged horror around.” (My mother would’ve been so proud, I’m sure!)

 

2. Why do you write horror?  What draws you to the genre?

I didn’t actually start out as a horror writer. I was always more interested in crime, particularly the psychology of the scariest monster on the planet: man.

Then Paul Kane (who interviewed me for his book, The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy) asked me to contribute to an anthology that he was editing with Marie O’Regan called Hellbound Hearts. All the stories in the antho had to be based on Clive Barker’s mythology that he created for his novel, The Hellbound Heart, which the Hellraiser film franchise is based on.

When Paul contacted me about writing a horror story, I was initially reluctant, as I didn’t think I could write horror. However, two weeks later, I finished my first horror story, “Sister Cilice”, about the making of a female cenobite. I’m actually planning a Cilicium Trilogy and the second part, “The Cilicium Pandoric”, is appearing in Fangoria’s Gorezone #30.

So quite a few horror stories down the line, why am I drawn to the genre? I think that there is a great leeway for your imagination to take flight in horror. You can use all sorts of mythological, literary and historical research and then turn these sources into something (hopefully) unique. Also, I was very influenced and disturbed by horror and science fiction movies when I was a kid and they made their mark on me, fueling all sorts of uneasy and paranoid fantasies. Movies like The Thing From Another World (1951), Invaders from Mars (1953), Psycho (1960), The Innocents (1961) and The Haunting (1963) made a big impression on me. And of course, TV shows like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, One Step Beyond, Dark Shadows and Night Gallery were also very influential.

 

3. Can you describe your writing style or the tone you prefer to set for your stories?

I like to keep things as simple as possible– I love spare and muscular writing. [See influences below.] There is a strong erotic thread through my stories, which I’d like to think is more sensual than romantic. Also, even when I’m writing about the most horrific crimes and events, there is always a sense of humour in there somewhere.

 

4. Who are some of your influences?  Are there any women authors who have particularly inspired you to write?

Influences: Rod Serling, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Hemingway, Clive Barker, Colin Wilson (for his crime non-fiction, like The Criminal History of Mankind and The Order of the Assassins).
Influential women authors: Patricia Highsmith, Shirley Jackson and Margaret Atwood. I’m also inspired by writer-directors such as The Soska Twins, Jovanka Vuckovic, Mary Harron, Kathryn Bigelow and Ida Lupino.

 

5. What authors do you like to read?  Any recommendations?

All of the above authors, as well as Paul Kane. I just finished his latest compelling novella Rainbow Man and really enjoyed it. Other Kane books that I can recommend are The Gemini Factor and Red. All of Paul’s books are written so beautifully and so descriptively that you can just imagine movies been adapted from them. I also love the work of John Skipp and Craig Spector. Their novel, Light at the End, was a very cool and unusual take on the vampire genre.

My top pick of 2013 was the evocative and brilliant written Whitstable by Stephen Volk. The main character of the novella is Peter Cushing and it’s almost spooky how Stephen has channeled Cushing as a character in the story.

 

6. Where can readers find your work?

You can buy The Venus Complex as a paperback and Kindle on all the Amazons, as well as Barnes & Noble (online only). All the short stories that I’ve written are available in the following anthologies on Amazon. Most are published as both paperback and Kindle:
“Sister Cilice” (Hellbound Hearts)
“Uranophophia” (Phobophobia)
“American Mutant: Hands of Dominion” (Mutation Nation)
“Polyp” (The Mammoth Book of Body Horror and as a reprint for The Unspoken)
“A is for Alpdruck” (Demonologia Biblica)
“Z is for Zulu Zombies” (Bestiarum Vocabulum and as a reprint for Gorezone #29)
The following stories will be available soon:
“The Cilicium Pandoric” (Gorezone #30)
“Botophobia” (Phobophobias)

 

7. Is there anything else you’d like to share with librarians and readers?

If your readers would like to read more news, reviews and interviews, then please go to:
www.barbiewilde.com
Follow me on Twitter at: @barbiewilde
Facebook: www.facebook.com/barbie.wilde
Facebook Author-Actress Page: www.facebook.com/BarbieWildeAuthorActress

I’ve got some interesting writing projects and appearances coming up in the future, so please keep an eye out for news on either Facebook or my website.

 

Interested in learning more? Visit Barbie Wilde’s Amazon page, her website, her Facebook page, or her Author-Actress Facebook page, or follow her on Twitter at @barbiewilde.

Posted on February 24, 2014 by , Reply

Women in Horror Fiction: Michele Lee

Image of Michele Lee Michele Lee, one of our own book reviewers and the mind behind our teen-focused blog Reading Bites, is the author of such books as Wolf Heart (2012 Violet Ivy Press), the heartbreaking zombie novella Rot (2013 Skullvines Press), the self-published ebooks The List  (2013)  and On Halloween (a choose-your-own-path book co-written with Mini Lee). Her latest work, Last Brother, Last Sister (2014 Skullvines Press), was published earlier this month.  Michele’s short stories can be found in anthologies including Dark Futures: Tales of Dystopian SF (2011 Dark Quest) and Horror Library, Volume 4 (2012 Cutting Block Press). Michele also writes erotic fiction under the name M. Lush.

 

1. Can you give our readers a brief introduction?

My name is Michele Lee. I’m a multi-genre writer (Horror, SF/F and erotic romance), a reviewer and a vet tech by day.

 

2. Why do you write horror?  What draws you to the genre?

Way back when I was a teenager, horror was the only place you could find stories of the paranormal. Now we have urban fantasy and paranormal romance, both of which I also like, but sometimes you just want that spooky story. Also, I think a lot of the setups in horror, especially the monsters, are a powerful thematic way to deal with the darker stuff in our real lives. Violence, rape, fear of the true nature of human evil; the nameless thing that might be waiting to devour us in the dark is a perfect allegory for facing cancer, abuse, fiscal devastation and more. We can, as either writers or readers, work through and face our feelings on some Really Big Issues ™ without freezing up when the boogie man has the face of our abuser or looks like that shadow on the radiogram. And maybe, for a little bit, we can fantasize that beating cancer or a recession is as easy as staking that vampire or stopping that serial killer.

3. Can you describe your writing style or the tone you prefer to set for your stories?


The tone of my stories, I hope, is different because I really like to let characterization come through in how things are set up and described and how the characters react to things. I seem to be drawn to people working through things, maybe outside discoveries, but often things about themselves that are exposed because of things happening around them.

In my novella Rot, for example I wanted to take a typical rough/bad ass male character (stoic, former military man, zero illusions about life) and make him incredibly emotional without making him any less of a strong male lead. I also wanted to take on the “flamboyant gay” stereotype and the “damsel in distress” that you see in horror a lot and do something meaningful with them.

 

4. Who are some of your influences?  Are there any women authors who have particularly inspired you to write?


Anna Sewell, actually. My mom was really restrictive with me when it came to…everything, but she encouraged me to read Black Beauty. Maybe because it was about horses, or was a classic. But honestly it’s very brutal. You see horses die in war combat, serious cruelty to dogs, cats and horses and real world events like illnesses and alcoholism which leads to disaster for Beauty. It was the darkest book I had ever read.

An Anne Rice phase led me to the far more amazing authors Poppy Z. Brite and Nancy A. Collins, the latter of which not just writes fairly hardcore horror, but also wedged her way into comics. What geek girl doesn’t admire that?

On the male side of the spectrum, Roald Dahl, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman are all glorious masters among us plebs.

5. What authors do you like to read?  Any recommendations?


I read a lot, over many genres. If you’re comfortable being seen in the urban fantasy section, Ann Aguirre is doing great things with demons and zombies (her zombie books are YA). Stacia Kane is a favorite for sure. Ilona Andrews is an auto-buy.

As for Authors You’re Probably Missing; Sara M. Harvey and Jennifer Pelland write dark speculative fiction, K.H. Koehler, Lucy Snyder and Chesya Burke are all amazing horror authors.

 

6. Where can readers find your work?

I’m mostly in ebooks these days, so all the usually places, Amazon, B&N, Kobo, OmniLit and iBooks. I have a werewolf book out (Wolf Heart), two zombie novellas (Rot and The List) and a zombie novel that just came out (Last Brother, Last Sister). I have short stories here and there, and my erotic romance stuff is published under the pen name M. Lush.

Interested in learning more ? Check out Michele Lee’s Amazon page, this interview, her blog, or Reading Bites.

Posted on February 23, 2014 by , Reply

Women in Horror Fiction: Alexandra Sokoloff

Image of Alexandra Sokoloff

Alexandra Sokoloff is the Thriller Award-winning and Bram Stoker, Anthony, and Black Quill Award-nominated author of the supernatural thrillers  The Harrowing, The Price, The Unseen, Book of Shadows, The Shifters, and The Space Between, and the Amazon bestselling new FBI thriller series Huntress Moon. The New York Times Book Review called her a “daughter of Mary Shelley”, and her books “Some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre.” It’s no surprise that reader’s advisory expert Becky Siegel Spratford spotlighted her as one of the top women writers in horror in the Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror Fiction

As a screenwriter she has sold original horror and thriller scripts and adapted novels for numerous Hollywood studios. She has also written two non-fiction workbooks: Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Writing Love, based on her internationally acclaimed workshops and blog (ScreenwritingTricks.com), and has served on the Board of Directors of the WGA, west and the Board of the Mystery Writers of America.

Alex is a California native and a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, where she majored in theater and minored in everything Berkeley has a reputation for. In her spare time (!) she performs with Heather Graham’s all-author Slush Pile Players. Fellow bandmate (not sure that’s a word, but I’ll run with it) and Monster Librarian reviewer Dave Simms asked her to answer some questions for us.

On a personal note, The Price was, for me, unforgettable. Since I read it, the story has never quite left me. Beyond the awards and bestseller status, Sokoloff is a genuinely talented storyteller and well worth recommending even to readers who wouldn’t traditionally approach anything labeled as “horror”.

 

1. Can you give our readers a brief introduction?

I’m the bestselling, Thriller Award-winning, Bram Stoker and Anthony Award-nominated author of ten horror, thriller and crime novels, with number eleven, the third book in my Thriller Award-nominated Huntress Moon series, coming out in May. I started my career in theater as an actor and director but turned to screenwriting so I could, you know, eat… then I worked as a film writer in L.A. for ten years before I snapped and wrote my first novel, The Harrowing (best career move I ever made – I’m MUCH happier as an author.)  I’m both traditionally published and independently published; I also teach a very popular story structure workshop based on my Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workbooks and blogs.

 

2. Why do you write horror?  What draws you to the genre?

I have to admit that a big reason I read and write horror is because I’m an adrenaline junkie and I love the sensual exhilaration of terror. But as a writer I also find horror one of the only genres adequate to express my outrage at the cruelty that exists on this planet. Horror allows me to explore the life question that most troubles me: Why is there evil in the world and how can we mitigate it? That being said, I don’t think of myself as a straight horror writer; I write more of a mix of mystery, suspense, thriller, and horror.

 


3. Can you describe your writing style or the tone you prefer to set for your stories?

Being a woman I’m a fan of the slow, sensual build (!) My books have been described as nail-biting, poetic, page-turning, terrifying and addictive, always good stuff to hear. My particular style is to blur the line between horror, thriller and mystery: keeping the reader guessing about what’s really going on: Is it supernatural, or the distressed mental state of an unreliable protagonist, or a con, or even a crime?  My current series, the Huntress Moon thrillers, aren’t really horror at all, there’s just the slightest possibility of the supernatural – which can easily be explained away. But the level of tension and suspense is still excruciatingly high, and the underlying theme is exactly the same as in my horror novels: What can good people do about the evil in the world?

 

4. Who are some of your influences?  Are there any women authors who have particularly inspired you to write?

I discovered Shirley Jackson and Charlotte Perkins Gilman when I was quite young and I was deeply affected by their mix of terrifying suspense and an overwhelming psychological state that is particularly feminine, and feminist, encompassing  mental illness and a soul sickness that comes from societal repression, as well as the possible supernatural. I think women have a particular understanding of horror because we live with it on an intimate, daily basis that men in non-warring countries (or outside of prison) rarely experience. For us, a simple walk out of the grocery store to the parking lot at night can turn into the most horrific of nightmares. We have a lot to say about terror. A lot.

 

5. What authors do you like to read?  Any recommendations?

Besides the above mentioned, I’ve loved Daphne du Maurier and Madeleine L’Engle since I was a child. More recently – Mo Hayder is one of the most terrifying writers I’ve ever read, and I’m a big fan of Denise Mina and Val McDermid. I’m lucky to have extremely talented friends who provide me with lots of reading pleasure: Sarah Pinborough, Sarah Langan, Rhodi Hawk and Lisa Morton come to mind. There are some men, too. 🙂

 

6. Where can readers find your work?

And everyone has e readers now, right? You can find everything on Amazon, naturally. But you can browse the books on my website,http://alexandrasokoloff.com, and readers can sign up for my newsletter there to get announcements about special deals and giveaways. And libraries, of course – please support your local library!


7.  You’ve been in a very cool group – the Killer Thriller/Slushpile Band – for years now.  What has that experience been like for you?

The best! Maybe even lifesaving. I grew up doing music and theater, but I never expected to be in such a great group as part of my author life, and to be acting and jamming with my own literary idols like F. Paul Wilson, Heather Graham, John Lescroart, David Morrell, and Michael Palmer, plus so many new author friends like Scott Nicholson, Blake Crouch, Harley Jane Kozak, Beth Ciotta, Daniel Palmer and (ahem) Dave Simms.  I guess it shouldn’t be surprising – so many authors have musical and theater backgrounds, and let’s face it, we’re such hams. When we’re writing we’re so much in our heads that it’s fantastic to be able to cut loose and perform with such talented friends.

 

8. Is there anything else you’d like to share with librarians and readers?

For librarians – I am so aware that times are tough, and if you’d like to get more of my books into your branch, please contact me directly. And readers – I love to dialogue on Facebook. Please stop by my page and keep me from writing! I mean, say hi!

 

Interested in learning more? Visit Alexandra Sokoloff’s Amazon page, her website, her Facebook page, and, for tips on screenwriting,  her blog, Screenwriting Tricks.

 

Posted on February 22, 2014 by , Reply
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