Ever enter a crowded room and notice a someone assessing the crowd? Maybe she's the quiet member of a group or quietly sipping chardonnay on the periphery. What's on her mind? Work? Kids? If she's my next guest, Stacey Longo, she might be scheming ways to terrify you.
Women in Horror by Stacey Longo
I am a horror writer. I am also a woman.
The horror genre is largely dominated by men. Yes, there
have been some amazing women who have left their imprint on the field: Mary
Shelley, of course, with the incomparable Frankenstein;
and Anne Rice’s Lestat series redefined vampires for a generation. Shirley
Jackson’s influence on the genre, from the short story “The Lottery” to The Haunting of Hill House, cannot be
denied. But if you were to Google “top ten current horror writers” (as I just
did), the list would look something like this: Clive Barker, Joe Lansdale, Jack
Ketchum, Richard Matheson, Jonathan Maberry, Dan Simmons, Robert McCammon, Dean
Koontz, Ramsey Campbell, and of course, Stephen King. Not an ounce of estrogen
on that list. Why? I believe there’s a perception out there that women, as the
fairer sex, write softer. Weaker. With less carnage and suspense and overall
terror.
Boy, are they wrong.
I can tell you that Monica O’Rourke’s novels are so violent,
so gore-filled, and so twisted that you’ll find yourself putting it down if
only to speculate for a moment on what kind of sicko would think of such
things. I can also report that Sarah Pinborough’s elegant prose will lull you so
comfortably into a cozy blanket of security that you won’t see the knife coming
until it is plunged in to the hilt. And Elizabeth Massie’s novels are
chock-full of murder, mutilation, and violence, and yet still manage to evoke a
tear from time to time. These women are brilliant, ballsy writers. They also
deserve a hell of a lot more attention than they’re getting now.
A lesser woman might look at the excess of sometimes
undeserved recognition paid to men in the field (be honest: when was the last
time Dean Koontz wrote something you really enjoyed?),
coupled with the cold shoulder that talented female scribes often receive, and
give up. Try a different genre. Romance sounds nice, doesn’t it?
But I’m the kind of woman who thinks Monster, serial killer Aileen Wuornos’s autobiography, was,
underneath it all, a romance. (You can’t deny she was crazy about her girlfriend
Tyria. My goodness: Aileen killed just to keep a roof over that woman’s head!)
Bodice-rippers are not my style, unless there are human organs being ripped out
as well. I don’t always choose to
write horror. I wrote a lovely short story once about a girl who moves to an
island, finds a job and a boyfriend . . . and then kills and skins her
boyfriend, cuts his flesh up for stew, and feeds it to her neighbors with
cyanide seasoning. It started out as a fun, happy little piece. (I’d argue that
it ended that way as well.) The horror just seems to bleed through when I’m
writing. And when I look at the writers I truly respect—not just King, and
Brian Keene, and Jeff Strand, but also O’Rourke, and Pinborough, and Massie—I
figure I’m doing okay. Those women may not be recognized enough for their
brilliance, but they’re not stopping. The viscera and body parts continue to
splatter on the pages of these women, and I love them for it.
One of the men in my writer’s group once described me like
this: “That’s Stacey. She likes to muck around in the dirt with the rest of
us.” I’ll take that compliment any day.
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| Stacey Longo, author and editor |
Stacey Longo is an award-winning author and editor. Her
books include Ordinary Boy, a dark
fiction novel, and Secret Things: TwelveTales to Terrify, a short story collection, among other titles. Her next
book, My Sister the Zombie, is due
out in 2016. Longo’s short stories
have been published in dozens of anthologies and magazines, including Shroud magazine and Shock Totem. Her non-fiction pieces have appeared in the Litchfield Literary Review and The Works magazine. Longo is a former
humor columnist for the Block Island
Times, and writes a weekly humor blog at www.staceylongo.com.
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FRIDAY FEATURES is a steady presence on Out of the Fog where I explore the concept of "strong women." Who are they? What makes them strong? How do we see them in writing and/or in business? If you're an author, what is their place in the world of thrillers of mysteries? If you're in business, how is the working environment impacted by the presence of a "strong woman" and how are they seen as leaders and team members? If you're an emerging strong woman, tell us about your journey. Have other questions you find compelling? Ask away and I'll post the answers here.
If you have something to say about the topic of
strong women, contact me on Twitter:
@conniehambley.
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