This is a Guest Post submitted to Fangs for the Fantasy
I'd like to thank Fangs for the Fantasy for
having us.
Despite such lights as Mary Shelley,
Shirley Jackson, Joyce Carol Oates, Tanith Lee and Suzy Mackee Charnas, and
editors like Ellen Datlow, horror is perceived as a male field. There's even a
Women in Horror month, February. But it's still generally accepted that women
aren't as scary as the men.
I asked the founding members of the
Literary Underworld, (http://www.literaryunderworld.com ) an independent author consortium, to talk about their experiences
writing horror while female.
The three of us, Sara Harvey, Elizabeth
Donald and myself, Angelia Sparrow, all write dark fantasy or horror. Yet, all
three of us are consistently relegated to romance panels at conventions. Sara
and I usually get the steampunk ones, but I'm always on the 11 PM sex panel,
because I write erotic horror. Elizabeth
may have a zombie or vampire panel and Sara probably has a costuming one, but
we almost always get at least one romance panel.
I write mostly GLBT, heavy on the
paranormal and erotic horror. My gay Christmas werewolves may be peaceable
pups, just wanting to be left alone and enjoy their short story series, but my
post-millennialist vampires in Power in
the Blood aren't averse to forcible conversions to bring about the Second
Coming and their antagonists aren't shy about filling a megachurch knee-deep in
blood to make sure it doesn't happen.
My first experience with the general
attitude that men write horror, women write sexy vampires came at Hypericon. I
stopped Brian Keene and Bryan Smith, two writers I read, who were working for a
press I was researching to ask some questions. I said I had written a horror
novel, with about as much sex as Smith usually had, and was interested in knowing
some basic stuff about the publisher. The first words out of Keene's mouth
(Smith's very quiet) were “Are you sure it doesn't
need to go to the romance imprint?” I looked at them and said “Let me give you two words: buzzsaw penis. The main character's
reverse Prince Albert piercing turns into a buzzsaw threaded on a spindle of
flesh.” They both flinched,
nodded and said, “Yeah, horror.”
In that instant, I felt proud of myself for
making men who give me nightmares flinch, but I also felt deeply annoyed by
having to prove myself and give away the biggest, baddest scene in order to do
so.
But my single experience is nothing
compared to what my friends have gone through in a systemic way.
Sara Harvey:
I don’t necessarily consider myself a horror writer, per se. I do like a bit of the creepy stuff and in my
Blood of Angels series from Apex Publications, I definitely took things to dark
places.
Two things came out of this particular
experience for me.
The first was that The Convent of the Pure was reviewed by Publisher’s Weekly this is a really awesome step for a
small-press like Apex and a relatively new author like me. I was completely
thrilled to be noticed by such a prestigious reviewer.
The review was overall positive. Although I
wasn’t sure of the reviewer
had actually read the book, all the way through, all 36,000 words of it. See,
it’s a very dark fantasy
that some might categorize as horror. There is a romantic relationship between
the lead characters but sex never happens on the page, or anywhere in the book
as one of the main characters is a ghost that haunts the other. I reiterate
that NO SEX EVER HAPPENS IN THIS BOOK. It isn’t even the least bit sensual, flirtatious, or smutty.
The two protagonists are both women.
This led the Publisher’s Weekly reviewer to declare my book “fluffy lesbian erotica” right after calling it “gothic Steampunk.”
Did I mention at no time is there sex in
this book? For crying out loud, there isn’t even KISSING. But it has lesbians and was written by a woman and
therefore must be erotica, right?
Said review also felt the need to mention
that “Readers who aren't put
off by the cheesecake cover illustration of buff, busty Portia will appreciate
the mix of heat, horror and humor.” So we had some fun with the cover, spoofing Penguin classics and
pulp. Personally, I like it. It shows two strong women who happen to also be
attractive and it illustrates a scene that happens in the book. AND no one’s ass or boobs are hanging out and no one has
a tramp stamp.
