GABY TRIANA: That we will continue to kick ass. Stories by women show another side of humanity. It\u2019s not just about having different body parts. It\u2019s a whole alternative worldview that\u2019s just as important as the mainstream white, male POV, and we are not all the same. My hope is also that women don\u2019t have to fake writing in the style of men anymore to be taken seriously. They can be whoever they are\u2014feminine, masculine, in-your-face, subtle, romantic, jarring, suggestive, intellectual, weird… whoever they happen to be\u2014and still command the literary stage.<\/p>\n
LISA KR\u00d6GER: I hope that women in horror find so much success that we don\u2019t need a special month to highlight our work.<\/p>\n HYSOP MULERO: I kind of hope that women in the genre do some sort of crazy takeover, even if just for a season or week or a day. It would be amazing to see us collectively or even singularly transcend or kind of push horror into our overall literary landscape. In short, I want to see us create magnificent storms story by story and book by book.<\/p>\n EVE HARMS: I hope to see more BIPOC women in horror read and celebrated.<\/p>\n NICOLE GIVENS KURTZ: My hope for the future of women in horror is the inclusion of women from all demographics, especially Black and Hispanic women. I mean a full embrace and lifting up of those stories. I loved how Black Cranes<\/em> won the Stoker last year. I would love to see works by Black women and trans women also find that level of recognition.<\/p>\n LEE MURRAY: What I hope, Gwendolyn, is that one day we shouldn\u2019t need<\/em> a Women in Horror month, that we won\u2019t need<\/em> to band together and scream, \u201cHey, we\u2019re over here and we\u2019re writing lovely horror\u201d because we\u2019ll already be visible<\/em>. Because there will be a healthy coven of undead<\/em> women writers who come to mind whenever the word \u2018horror\u2019 is whispered. A host of articulate women writers who are making a living<\/em> writing horror and talking about horror. When, instead of being a subversive act, women writing horror becomes the norm and we are a welcome part of the horror landscape. I can\u2019t wait for the moment when I\u2019ll scroll to one of a myriad of horror sites on social media where the question \u201cWho is your favourite horror writer?\u201d is posted on a near-daily basis, and see women writers listed in the top ten comments, and not simply as an afterthought. In October 2019, Jeff VanderMeer (author of Annihilation <\/em>and former co-editor of Weird Tales<\/em>) wrote [this] post on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hear, hear, Jeff. I agree. Let\u2019s have future top tens loaded with fabulous women writers of horror. How about Alma Katsu, Kaaron Warren, Gwendolyn Kiste, EV Knight, Kate Jonez, Thersa Matsura, Lee Franklin, or Kate Maruyama, for example? I could go on and on\u2026<\/p>\n What’s next for you? What projects are you currently working on, and what work do you have coming out soon?<\/strong><\/p>\n GABY TRIANA: The first part of 2022, I\u2019ll be finishing my 5-book paranormal women\u2019s fiction series, which I write under the name Gabrielle Keyes. After that, I have a new horror novel in the works. 1950s Havana, Cuba, haunted house on a hill, palm trees, family secrets, ghosts, a woman fighting societal expectations, a family of mobsters and sugar kings fighting for control, the Catholic church, witchcraft, those who dabble in both, history, psychological horror, and a monster or two terrorizing the island. Can\u2019t wait to get started.<\/p>\n HYSOP MULERO: I\u2019m currently going through another round of edits for a dark\/horror middle grade manuscript that I\u2019ve completed. I\u2019m also in the process of finishing my second short story collection that will include the \u201cThis Is You\u201d series and a few other pieces that I\u2019m really excited about! Not to mention my thrill for \u201cThis is You on Lust\u201d to be included in Pluto In Furs Volume 2<\/em> from Plutonian Press. I have a few other TBAs, and WIP\u2019s for 2022! I plan on attending Necronomicon in Rhode Island this year, along with a few other cons and events. I\u2019m active on both Instagram as @wordslinger.co<\/a>, and my website www.threadedburlap.com<\/a> should you want to check out my events and daily musings.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Monster-She-Wrote.jpeg\")
<\/a>MELANIE R. ANDERSON: That books and stories and poems and scripts with new ideas and angles keep coming for us to enjoy (and analyze)! As an educator, I also hope we can keep sharing the stories of women in the past who got the ball rolling, so to speak, and whose names may have been forgotten.<\/p>\n<\/a>KATHRYN E. MCGEE: My hope is that women continue to do what they\u2019re doing by creating great work in the genre. There really is an incredible wealth of brilliant art to be read and watched. I\u2019d love to see horror by women become increasingly recognized. I\u2019d love to see as many women in positions of leadership as possible, publishing horror books and producing, writing, and directing horror film and TV. Some of the most supportive, fascinating, and thoughtful people in my life are other women horror writers and I hope we\u2019re all able to keep writing and achieve a broad audience. The future of women in horror feels very bright, indeed.<\/p>\n