Rebbie’s Leading Ladies
Rebbie’s Leading Ladies
This Women in Horror Month I thought I’d talk about some of the brilliant women I’ve reviewed in the Horror Community over the years. I’ve been very privileged to be given books by these authors and I am very aware that some of these ladies helped put me on the map as a reviewer by using me.
As much as the services I provide are free of charge, and I know they’re a help to the authors who receive those reviews, it’s still a huge lift when an author wants to use you, when you’re their go to person, I think I speak for all book bloggers when I say that’s an exciting relationship to have.
Christine Verstraete was amongst the first of the female authors I reviewed on the blog, in December 2013, the first year I started Rebbie Reviews, I read her story Girl Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie. I really enjoyed her work and her writing is of a really great standard. Since then I’ve read other titles and her work really does shine. From this first experience to the last book of hers I read which was The Haunting of Dr Bowen in July 2017, she has not disappointed. With vision and integrity, Christine is a brilliant author and someone to look out for. In her spare time Christine is a dolls house enthusiast, often creating her own houses and scenes which I love to look at when she shares them on her social media channels.
Amy Cross is another name in horror which myself and my Husband both like very much. I’ve really enjoyed her work, it’s often something fairly simple but enjoyable. I first read her work in October 2015 when it was recommended to me. Often she will give her work away for free for a while before putting a price on it so it’s easily accessible and means readers are likely to want to read more following their first experience. The first title I read was Annie’s Room, which explored the lives of two girls named Annie, who lived 71 years apart. The last time I read Amy Cross was when she appeared in Kevin J Kennedy’s Horror Collection: White Edition alongside many other authors I enjoy.
Em Dehaney I first came across in March 2019 when I read her book After Us. This was recommended to me so I grabbed it to check it out. Em’s work absolutely speaks for itself and this book made me want to know more. The way that she doesn’t skirt around subject matter impressed me, you can’t have an apocalypse that doesn’t harm women and children, that’s just silly. Em pulls no punches in her horror and I’ve found her stories are very individual too. By that I mean that each time I read a story of hers it’s fresh and new. Some authors have a habit of bringing out book after book with different names and places but they’re essentially the same book, Em’s work could not be further from that. Em is also a wife and mother of two, alongside a busy home life and her writing, Em is also one half of Burdizzo Books, a small publishing press. The most recent release I’ve read of Em’s was The Searcher of the Thames, which is not horror, but I would absolutely recommend it, that one came out in 2020.
Laura Mauro is a fantastic author, I had many people mention her within the horror community but I hadn’t really had much contact with her writing. I was so glad I picked up her book Ningen in November 2019, Ningen is a short story but, like with her other works is so lovingly crafted and is packed with imagery and suspense. Most recently I read Sing Your Sadness Deep in September 2019 which is a collection of her work and it was absolutely fantastic. If you haven’t read Laura Mauro, read her work, if you have, read more.
Moving into 2020, I read some fantastic stories by Women in Horror and absolutely love that their work made it under my nose.
Eve Harms is the author of the Demonic Diaries series with main character Kendra Temples and I love that series so much. I’m also signed up to Eve’s newsletter which teaches you about supernatural beings and their origins. I read all three books in the series during the course of 2020 and I hope to see more of her work going forward.
Hailey Piper is another treasure I found in 2020. I started off my Hailey Piper adventure in January 2020 with her book Benny Rose: The Cannibal King. A brilliant story capturing so much of horror that it seemed to have nods to a few well loved themes whilst remaining very individual. I also read her shorter story An Invitation to Darkness which I loved due to it’s classic tone, one of the characters putting me in mind of Vincent Price. Regretfully, my blog and life have both been so busy that I have not yet had the pleasure of her latest release (at the time of writing this) The King and his Worms, but I did read her contribution to the Gothic Blue Book VI: A Krampus Carol which was entitled The Last Noel and I can confirm that she has got no less brutal over the year.
Tracy Fahey appeared on the blog in June 2020 with her collection The Unheimlich Manoeuvre which I really enjoyed. Tracey doesn’t go for the big nasty monster scares, she leans more on the plausible things that could happen to anybody. There’s something disconcerting about stories like that in a way that just doesn’t happen with monsters and the supernatural.
June 2020 also brought me Tonya R Moore with her collection ODES to the Multiverse, and whilst she’s not horror per se, her stories do have a horror element to them so I wanted to mention her anyway. Her genre is speculative fiction and I really enjoyed her work. I’d love to read more of her work and can’t wait to see what she does next.
Eight Women of Horror in seven years may not seem like many, and I agree it’s not. These aren’t the only women I’ve read of course, there are those who write other genres or simply didn’t seem to fall deeply enough into horror to bring them to this article. There are also ladies who have appeared in Collections, and this was focussed on those whose novels I’ve read. More will come up in the future as I navigate my way through the horror world, CL Raven is a name I cannot close without mentioning. CL Raven are a pair of welsh horror writing twins and their stories are absolutely fantastic, regrettably at the time of writing this I haven’t experienced one of their novels but I can completely recommend their short stories and finally, another name I would like to throw in is Jacky L Lane whose debut novel came out in June 2020 entitled Where the Spiders Meet. Now the reason I didn’t previously mention Jacky is that this particular story is more of a psychic/detective novel but I would completely recommend it as it’s wonderfully written, and I know she has more up her sleeves so she’s one to watch out for.
Rebecca Lambert is a book blogger who was born and raised in the Steel City of Sheffield in England.
She is an avid reader and is passionate about literature, mental health and physical fitness. In her spare time Rebecca can be found nose deep in a book or wandering around the local area with her camera. She founded Rebbie Reviews in 2013 and continues to review and promote literature in many genres with a particular focus on Horror.
As a Mental Health First Aider, Rebecca also co-admins the Facebook Group Squats and Sparkles which is a Women’s Health Club with a view to supporting Women with matters pertaining to the Mind, Body and Soul.
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