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a jaunt in the UK
I’m off to Brighton tomorrow morning to attend the World Horror Convention, which should be fun. I’ll be moderating a panel on Saturday at noon, in the Russell Room, called Femme Fatales: How Can We Get More Women in Horror?, where I’ll be in the distinguished company of Ellen Datlow, Tanith Lee, Allyson Bird, Sarah Pinbourgh and Suzanne McLeod. I suspect there might be some interest in this panel. Rob Curley, my co-conspirator on RóisÃn Dubh, received copies of our preview issue today. Alas, it’s too late for my early flight tomorrow, however he’s posting copies to me, so I should have them before the weekend, and in plenty of…
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graphic preview
I’ve established a web site for the RóisÃn Dubh graphic novel I’m working on. I’ve been blogging intermittently about the project for the past couple of months. There’s also a twitter feed and a Facebook fan page, if you like either of those media. Artist Stephen Daly has been working flat-out, lettering and making tweaks to the final cover of our ten-page preview issue. It went to the printers on Tuesday, and I’ll be taking copies of it with me next week to World Horror Convention and then on to Odyssey 2010, so those of you attending the events should be able to get a sneak-peek I’m looking forward to…
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give us your fear
Chris and I are already receiving submissions for the Campaign for Real Fear, so keep them coming! We say: “Give us your terror, your fear, Your horrid tales yearning to alarm, The wretched stories of your teeming brain. Send these, the disturbed, nightmare-tossed to us, We lift our laptops to behold their forms!” With homage to Emma Lazarus and The New Colossus. Also, it pleases me no end that the Australian Horror Writers Association has announced its finalists for the 2009 Shadows Awards and three out of the five entries in the Long Fiction Award are women. There are also three women out of five in the short fiction category,…
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Campaign for Real Fear
Christopher Fowler and I have launched the Campaign for Real Fear: a horror short story competition. Send us your best 500-word story that explores horror in the 21st century. We want diversity of characters and themes, and beginner or pro can enter. The top ten stories will be published in Black Static, and podcast by Action Audio. The deadline for entry is 5pm GMT, on Friday the 16th of April. If you want change, you better write it. Information on how to enter is available on the Campaign for Real Fear web site.
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women in horror: a summary of recent posts
It’s time for a summary of the reaction across the Internet to my recent posts about the lack of representation of women in the SFX horror edition. As I mentioned last week David Barnett at the The Guardian blog brought up the issue immediately, and by the end of the week UK Feminist web site The F Word was running with the story. Once I posted editor Ian Berriman’s reply to my query, the response in the comments, on Internet articles and to me personally has been anger and frustration at the lack of knowledge displayed about women’s participation in the horror industry. As Cheryl Morgan put it, it was…
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a terrible treasure
I decided to pick a work to feature in a “Horror’s Hidden Treasures” section of my own since SFX failed so spectacularly to ask women to promote an under-rated horror gem. I’d encourage other women to do the same. There’s no pressure to pick a woman’s work, but I’m doing so because this writer hugely impressed me with her work. Since the debacle last year about the lack of representation of women in horror I’ve been paying more attention to the subject. Even I was under-educated in the variety of women working in the field, but I’m hardly immune to a system that promotes men’s fiction and accidentally forgets to…
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dear Alexandra
This blog post began as a reply to a comment made by horror writer and screenwriter, Alexandra Sokoloff, on my last blog entry, but got too long. It’s probably best if you read that first before continuing with this entry. I’ll wait. Back? Great. Here’s what my couple of lines morphed into: Dear Alexandra, Thank you for your note, and I appreciate your kind comments. I’m currently reading your novel The Price, as I’m engaged in a drive to read as much horror by women as possible before World Horror Convention. That means getting books from a lot of different sources, especially since women’s horror isn’t easy to come by…
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SFX responds: a long post
After a prompt from a friend I wrote to SFX on Sunday regarding my concerns about its Horror edition. Here is my email: To whom it may concern, I purchased the horror edition of SFX magazine at the weekend since I’m a fan of horror literature and media, and also write in the genre. I was surprised at the lack of representation of women in the articles in the magazine. In particular I was stunned by the “Horror’s Hidden Treasures” piece. You found the time to query 34 men for their opinions, but neglected to ask even one woman to recommend an under-rated gem in the horror field. Can you…
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SFX forgets women in horror
It’s ironic that during Women in Horror Recognition Month I have to draw attention yet again to another major publication that has a blind spot when it comes to women in horror. Five months ago I was irked when the British Fantasy Society published a collection of interviews of horror writers that omitted women. A minor Internet outrage ensued, which died down with the society’s quick and honest apology. Naïvely, I thought maybe a lesson had been learned. This month the British magazine SFX published a special edition devoted to Horror that overlooks women almost entirely. In his opening words editor Ian Berriman says: “You see, some people think horror…
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talking arts
I will be interviewed this afternoon, around 1.30pm, by Claire O’Mahony, as part of her weekly “Arts Brew” cultural programme, on Z103, an Internet radio. We’ll be discussing the arts and its relationship with the Internet, although I believe Claire will be quizzing me a little about writing horror as well.
