{"id":2377,"date":"2017-02-27T16:36:12","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T16:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/?p=2377"},"modified":"2020-07-10T22:47:17","modified_gmt":"2020-07-10T22:47:17","slug":"looking-to-the-future-part-4-of-our-women-in-horror-2017-discussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/looking-to-the-future-part-4-of-our-women-in-horror-2017-discussion\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking to the Future: Part 4 of Our Women in Horror 2017 Discussion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to the fourth and final part of our Women in Horror 2017 Discussion! To close out our month-long series, these amazing authors and I chat about their hopes for the future of horror as well as what each of them has planned for the coming year! And once again, if you need to familiarize yourselves with my featured authors (and all their varied accomplishments), head on over here<\/a> for a quick refresher!<\/p>\n

So let’s finish this up in style! Take it away, ladies!<\/p>\n

What is your hope for the trajectory of the horror genre over the next couple decades? What would you like to see more of in horror, and what would you like to see less of?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kristi DeMeester: I’m hopeful quiet horror<\/span> becomes more mainstream. With I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in<\/span> the House<\/i>\u00a0on Netflix, I’m hoping for an uptick in<\/span> less gore and more atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\"Miracle<\/a>Miracle Austin: I hope that all women will be paid more attention to and offered diverse opportunities to have their works exposed in various outlets. So many still have no idea how many women love to write and read horror tales.<\/p>\n

K.Z. Morano: The horror genre is constantly evolving and that\u2019s one of the many things I love about it. This is what makes this genre immortal. Already, we\u2019re enjoying a vast selection of subgenres from fantasy horror to noir horror to bizarro horror. Even so, I\u2019d very much like to witness the revival of extreme horror done the right way. You know, the way Poppy Z. Brite did it. I\u2019d like to read horror that\u2019s ferocious and fearless and emotionally honest and raw. I hope that fewer horror authors would be forced to \u201ctone down their voices\u201d in order to be accepted.<\/p>\n

Wendy Wagner: I think that after the success of The Conjuring<\/em>, The Witch<\/em>, Blair Witch<\/em>, and Thomas Olde Heuvelt\u2019s novel HEX<\/em> we\u2019re going to see a lot of witch stories for a few years. There\u2019s already a lot of weird witch SF coming out, and I think that will ripple through horror a bit. I\u2019m down with that. I think it\u2019s time for a witch renaissance! But I\u2019m never going to get enough haunted house stories. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Lori Titus: I would like to see more women, people of color, and non-Western settings in horror. I want to see less torture porn and more movies with substance. Stories about flawed humans can be just as scary (if not more) than the serial killer\/monster like Freddy or Michael Myers. And it\u2019s not to say that those creatures don\u2019t have their place, too. It just seems that horror goes through these phases where it\u2019s only one thing—all serial killers, all vampires, or all Bigfoot. Variety is always good.<\/p>\n

Eden Royce: I\u2019d love to see the definition of horror widen. It has a tendency to be dominated by the Eurocentric male view of what is fearsome or frightening. Chesya Burke\u2019s article in Nightmare Magazine<\/a> explains this well. Also, I want to see more horror films and webseries written and directed by women. I also hope we can throw off the stigma that comes with horror, especially for women writers. I see so many books that are categorized as \u201cparanormal\u201d in order to avoid using the term \u201chorror\u201d when the works clearly fit into the latter category.<\/p>\n

Scarlett R. Algee: Well, I’m hoping to see more women \ud83d\ude42 Less zombies. I am sick unto death of zombies and I’ve never quite worked out what their appeal is. I’m not a Walking Dead<\/em> fan, and I can count the number of good zombie novels I’ve read in the past year on one finger. More psychological horror. Stories and films that don’t rely on outside monsters, but that show us we’re the monsters. Keep the gore offscreen and give us the dread, give us those subtle little touches that keep us awake at night.<\/p>\n

\"Julia<\/a>Julia Benally: I\u2019d like to see horror that actually makes me shiver. Some horror should be classed in the genre of \u201cstupid\u201d because the story had no meat to it. I want to see better endings. How many stories choke at the end because somehow the evil ghost is a victim? WHATEVER! EYE ROLL! I\u2019d like to see less of women\u2019s privates. One can argue it shows vulnerability, so why are mostly women naked? That dude who wrote the story for the Silent Hill<\/em> movie said women are good in horror because they\u2019re ALREADY vulnerable. AKA she\u2019s there to satiate horny sickos in the name of vulnerability. The only scary part about that is making rapists think about getting me. House of Wax<\/em> with Vincent Price did the naked thing, but they showed the woman shoulders up. The focus was not her body, but the actual scene.<\/p>\n

Tell us about your latest writing and\/or editing projects. Also, what upcoming projects can we expect from you in the next year?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Lori<\/a>Kristi: Currently at work on stories due to anthologies and waiting to hear back on a handful of stories out on submission. Once those are off the list, I can circle back to working on my third novel. My debut novel, Beneath<\/i>, is forthcoming from Word Horde in<\/span> April.<\/p>\n

K.Z.: I\u2019m happy to share that one of my stories will be included in an anthology with tales written by Filipino authors. The stories are all set in the Philippines (or an alternate version of the Philippines). It\u2019s not a horror antho but is instead made up of various stories in different genres. I\u2019m actually looking forward to introducing more Filipino readers to my work.<\/p>\n

Miracle: I\u2019m in the process of working on edits for my upcoming YA\/NA eclectic collection, Boundless<\/em>\u2014a work that almost was not published, which is another story of course. It will possess free-verse poems and short stories, which I hope will evoke many emotions. The expected release date is late January 2017. I\u2019m also working on a short story for a YA Anthology to benefit Autism with 12 more amazing authors. It\u2019s titled Ever in the After<\/em>\u2014fantasy and supernatural tales. Spring 2017 is expected release date.<\/p>\n

Wendy: Editing-wise, I\u2019ll be doing my usual stuff over at Nightmare this year, which is always fun. I love reading horror slush and working with horror writers\u2014it\u2019s an absolute joy. I have a story coming out in Pseudopod\u2019s Artemis Rising project\u2014it\u2019s called \u201cDrift Right,\u201d and I think it\u2019ll be podcast in early March. (It has creepy sea lions in it!) I also have a slightly spooky science fiction novel coming out this summer. It\u2019s called An Oath of Dogs<\/em>, and it features corporate cover-ups, murder, creepy alien beings, and some very scary dogs.<\/p>\n

\"Sycorax's<\/a>Lori: I have a lot on my plate. This month (January) I will have a new novel out called Blood Relations<\/em>, about a religious cult and their enemies, who practice magic. There have been disappearances of young people in town, and the local sheriff struggles to solve the mystery before something worse happens. I will also be promoting The Art of Shadows<\/em>, the second book in The Marradith Ryder Series. In this installment Marradith is tasked with finding Rafael Castillo, her missing boss. But as it turns out there are bigger enemies around than the one who abducted him. My plans are to write the third installment of Marradith\u2019s story this year. But first, I have a new story I have already started on which I want to complete. Meanwhile I am also doing my usual ghostwriting work and some editing for author Kody Boye. Also, [I have a story in the anthology] Sycorax’s Daughters<\/em>, along with a lot of other, great female black authors.<\/p>\n

\"Spook<\/a>Eden: Spook Lights 2: Southern Gothic Horror<\/em> was just released in January 2017. I\u2019m working on a novelization of one of the stories from my first collection, Spook Lights<\/em>. I have a story in Sycorax\u2019s Daughters<\/em>, a collection of horror fiction and poetry by black women authors coming out this month (February 2017) and one in Shadows Over Main Street 2<\/em> (publication date TBD).<\/p>\n

Scarlett: I’ve done copy editing and proofreading for two upcoming Woodbridge Press releases (Explorations: First Contact<\/em> at the end of January, and Heart Blade<\/em> by Juliana Spink Mills, coming in February.) I’m terrifically pleased with both of those and I think they’ll be phenomenal. I’ve also just written another episode of The Lift, for you podcast fans, that will drop later this year, and I’m hoping this is the year I get a good novel\/long novella plot dropped in my brain.<\/p>\n

Any final thoughts on Women in Horror Month for 2017 (or any thoughts about your plans for Women in Horror Month for the years to come)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kristi: We’re here every other month<\/span> of the year as well. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Miracle: I hope that Women in Horror Month continues to receive hot attention by the industry and readers. One day, I also hope that there will no longer be just one month dedicated to women horror authors because there will be so many women involved in so many media vehicles, which will become the norm. I\u2019m very grateful that a few doors have opened for some women, but it sure would be nice if all the doors opened for anyone who wish to transform her dreams into reality and to become visible by all.<\/p>\n

\"Sanitarium\"<\/a>K.Z.: A lot of people are still wondering if women really have a place in horror. Let\u2019s show them that we do. WIHM is a start. Soon, hopefully, it won\u2019t take a month-long celebration every year for people to recognize that women have and always will have a place in the genre.<\/p>\n

Wendy: I always see people complain about the need for Women in Horror month\u2014and about the need for Black History month, Indigenous Peoples Day, etc. Yes, it sucks that white male cultural products get the lion\u2019s share of attention. It sucks that we need to have special occasions to call out the contributions of other kinds of creators. But I know I\u2019ve learned a lot from these kinds of promotional activities. Working on Lightspeed and Nightmare\u2019s Destroy series taught me more about women, LGBTQ, and people of color working in my field that I learned in a lifetime of library use. So I\u2019m glad these things exist. They\u2019re a great way to help people broaden their genre experience. And heck, they\u2019re fun, too!<\/p>\n

Lori: I just hope everyone will take the time to sample work from some of the excellent women writers who grace the genre.<\/p>\n

Eden: I\u2019m just so pleased at the success Women in Horror Month continues to achieve and I love chatting with the women authors and artists I meet and delving into their work. For Women in Horror Month in the years to come, I want to be able to promote more of their work as well as release more of my own.<\/p>\n

Scarlett: I’m going to spend this year’s WiHM reading a lot and finding new favorites. In years to come, I hope to be more physically involved. We’re voices to be heard. We’re the future.<\/p>\n

Tremendous thanks to these eight fantastic authors for being part of my Women in Horror Discussion. Please read their work, now and every other month of the year. The horror genre is so much stronger thanks to their contributions! <\/strong><\/p>\n

Happy reading!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to the fourth and final part of our Women in Horror 2017 Discussion! To close out our month-long series, these amazing authors and I chat about their hopes for the future of horror as well as what each of them has planned for the coming year! And once again, if you need to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-2377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-interviews","tag-women-in-horror-month"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2377"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5228,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377\/revisions\/5228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}