Horror NEEDS Women

About a week ago, some misogynistic jackass made a comment that demanded I fire off a tweet about how a great deal of the best horror I've been reading recently has been coming from women authors. Statements have been lingerings, so I decided to make a blog post at 6 am since I can't sleep.

Right now I'm Reading TOOTH AND NAIL by Sara Lunsford. While it would be traditionally marketed as a "thriller," this has some extreme horror scenes right up there with Wrath James White. After reading the last two books by Michelle Garza and Melissa Lasson (The Sisters of Slaughter), I cannot wait to have more than $0.34 in my account to pick up KINGDOM OF TEETH. Their imagination is a dark place I truly can call home. ABIGALE HALL by Lauren A. Forry was a stunning, gothic horror novel set post-WWII. TERMINAL showcased the utter insanity and brutality that Amber Fallon could bring us when Aliens invaded an airport. Gwendolyn Kiste's PRETTY MARYS ALL IN A ROW, an ensemble ghost story of folklore and urban legend, and is currently the best thing I've read all year.

Yeah, these are just the books I've read from badass ladies in the last five months. This doesn't even count works from the likes of S.P. Miskowski, Mary SanGiovanni, Livia Llewelyn, Gemma Files, Karen Runge, Theresa Braun, Somer Canon, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Jane Brooks, Chesya Burke, Monica O'Rourke, Sarah Langan, and literally countless others. If you don't think women have contributed anything to the genre, either you're not very well-read, or you're a sexist pile of genetic filth that should likely be set on fire.

Try any of the books I mentioned above. Try the cosmic horror of CHILLS by SanGiovanni, try the weird nightmares of FURNACE by Llewelyn, try the dark folklore of WE WILL ALL GO DOWN TOGETHER by Files, try the existential dread of AUDREY'S DOOR by Langan. Find out I'm right.

Women in Horror is more than the month of February.