Hi, my name is Kirsten Kowalewski, and I am a librarian.

I am currently living in a state where the governor just attempted to use tax dollars to start a state-run news service and is recommending cutting library funding. The past two weeks have also been the culmination of a year of hostility from the governor and the state board of education toward our elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, who is, like me, trained as a librarian and school media specialist and is a certified teacher.  The state legislature is stripping her of her powers and assigning them to the state board. When Indiana Senate president David Long was asked about it, he implied that she wasn’t up to the job. “She’s a librarian, ok?” This has left me steaming.

The Librarian Avengers are putting you on notice, Mr. Long.

So, what’s all this got to do with women in horror?

A number of awesome librarians have contributed to promoting the horror genre and keeping this website alive. Many of them are women, and all of them are amazing. I have been lucky to work with Becky Siegel Spratford (author of The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror Fiction), Patricia O. Mathews (author of the reader’s advisory guide Fang-tastic Fiction), Lucy Lockley (also known as the RAT Queen), Kelly Fann, Julie Adams, and others, and to connect through the site with Heather Whiteside Ward. If you want horror fiction to thrive, and its audience to grow, you’ve got to have the librarians on your side, and (whether it’s right or not) a lot of librarians are women.

In conclusion, I give you Evie Carnahan, Librarian Most Likely To Break A Mummy’s Curse:

Don’t underestimate the librarian. It could be your last mistake.