Women Writing Horror Rekindled My Love for the Genre

In January of 2019, a friend told me about a Women in Horror book club being hosted by a new local independent bookstore (www.whittybooks.com). Until that moment, I did not realize how much I had been missing reading horror. Somewhere along the way, I had become disenchanted with the genre. I was not entirely sure I wanted to join another book club, as the ones in my past generally involved members who would not even read the book to discuss (insert “I joined book club to drink wine” jokes here, because it is a fairly accurate description of some of the members). But, I decided to give it a chance and I found a community I did not even know I was missing. I was introduced to books and authors that I didn’t even know existed, mostly small press and independent authors, and my love for reading horror was rekindled. I found horror I wanted to devour, books written by women.

Enter 2020, when things shut down and activities were canceled. I turned to Twitter as a way to keep in touch with the outside world. I mostly lurked in the corners, feeling my way through being social on social media (when I wasn’t even social in person). 2020 was bad, but two great things happened to me. 1) I made new friends I would not have even met if it were not for Twitter, and 2) virtual events became more prevalent. These virtual events gave me access to so many authors who would not normally be able to come close to me, to meet in person. And so, so many of those events were centered around the woman making names for themselves in the independent and small press horror scene. I was enraptured. I started following those authors on Twitter and started reading their books. Eventually, I was able to add suggestions to the Women in Horror book club, and in October of 2020, we read Crossroads by Laurel Hightower. It ended up being one of my top horror reads of the year. The reception in the club was overwhelmingly positive. But, the really cool thing, a bright spot in my year, is that because we read it as a group, and virtual events were now the norm, and I was following Laurel on Twitter, I felt brave enough to ask her if she would be willing to do an event with Whitty Books and our book club. Laurel graciously agreed to do a reading and Q&A via zoom; it was Whitty’s first author event of that type and would not have been possible if the world had not gone virtual. In the scheme of things, it was not a huge crowd, but I know that it was a highlight for so many of the members of my book club. It was such a great way to end the year, by getting to talk to the author of a book we read, and connecting with a woman actively writing horror. I truly hope it is the first of many such events. 

Shameless plug time: If you are a lady writing horror or the dark and weird, and want to virtually talk to enthusiastic horror lovers, hit me up. Or if you are interested in chatting about Women in Horror, the book club meets the last Wednesday of the month at 7PM Central. (www.facebook.com/shopwhittybooks for event information). Join us in our celebration of Women in Horror!

On the calendar, Women in Horror month is February, but, luckily, I get to celebrate it every month. I have so many books by women sitting on my shelves, patiently waiting for me to get to them. And I couldn’t be more excited. Books from my TBR that I hope to get to in January and February, in an attempt to read exclusively women for those two months, include (in no particular order):

The Family Plot by Cherie Priest

Invisible Chains by Michelle R Lane

Hell’s Bells by Lisa Quigley

The Fourth Whore by EV Knight

Whispers in the Dark by Laurel Hightower

The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper

True Crime by Samantha Kolesnik

All That’s Fair by S.H. Cooper

The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

Cradleland of Parasites by Sara Tantlinger 

Seeing Things by Sonora Taylor

The Ruin of Delicate Things by Beverley Lee

The Bone Weaver’s Orchard by Sarah Read          

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Essay by Teresa B. Ardrey 

Teresa is most likely lost in a book somewhere, but her social of choice is Twitter.

Twitter: @teresa_ardrey