Female Horror Writers

     Horror, both historically and in a more contemporary sense, has been dominated by men. That’s not such a bold statement because, frankly, it’s not much of a surprise. But is this deliberate? I’ve known women horror writers who’ve done book signings in which customers would approach, assuming that they’d written a cozy romance and were supremely disappointed to learn that they’d written a particularly gory horror novel.

     As a society, women have been backed into the corner regarding works of horror and terror. Perhaps the notion that women are too delicate to treat gritty and terrifying works with full potency is at the root of it. As horror readers, we should remember that some of the most important works in our genre have been penned by women. Below are five female horror writers that you should check out with all the reasons why.

     Sephera Giron: Sephera might be the most underrated/underappreciated horror writers out there. She hasn’t had a lot in the way of new horror novels in the last few years, but the works that put her on the map are still readily available, particularly in e-book form. Mistress of the Dark, originally published by Leisure, is a book not to be missed. For anyone who thinks that women can’t write horror that grabs you by the throat, I implore you to read Mistress of the Dark.

     Sarah Pinborough: Britain’s Pinborough writes horror in such a way that you can’t differentiate it between the work of a male or a female. From the Pinborough work I’ve read, I wouldn’t say that it’s any different from the work being produced by leading male horror writers.

     Lisa Morton: Her record speaks for itself. This is a writer with more Bram Stoker awards on her shelf than darn near anyone. Known mostly as a writer of short fiction (as prose is concerned—she’s also been a screenwriter), her work can be found in numerous anthologies and genre magazines over the last few decades. You may also want to try her novel The Castle of Los Angeles.

     Mary Shelley: Frankenstein is a seminal work of horror and is also quite brilliant. I re-read it each year. Notably, when the novel was written, it was presumed that her husband, Percy Shelley, had actually written the book.

     Shirley Jackson: Jackson, who died way before her time, wrote some of the most important and, yes, most terrifying work in the field. No, she never wrote a vampire novel, but she did write The Haunting of Hill House and  We Have Always Live in the Castle.  “The Lottery” might be one of the most unsettling pieces of fiction out there.

Here are a few more female horror writers you should try:

Gemma Files

Deborah LeBlanc

Kelley Armstrong