If a pivotal scene is horrific, and the consequences of that scene dictate a character’s motivations or actions for the rest of the book (e.g., The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, 2002), should that not fall under horror’s wide embrace? And how about Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847), and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847) should these be considered two of the all-time classical horror novels? Then there is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938). I’m a believer that horror is more than a genre, it’s an emotion, and as such, it can appear in almost any book written about the human condition. I realize that my definition of horror will perhaps vary from others, and that is okay, too. This is just an honest attempt to even my ledger, and hopefully to help out others like me, a little bit ignorant to the truth of the horror genre. I know names will be missed, both historically and contemporary that is unavoidable and completely unintentional, and there are likely to be many names here that others have known about for some time. It is merely a summary of those I know of already or have discovered this past year, and those I intend to read in the future. This is not supposed to be a concise and complete history of all female horror novelists (and note that I said novelist there short stories are not covered) even I’m not foolish enough to agree to that undertaking. Now let me first clarify a few things before we go on.

To outline what follows, this article will firstly cover a select number of writers I consider the most important to the horror genre, past, present, and future, and then end with two lists (a Recommended Reading list, and a Still to Read list).

So I made a goal to only read novels by female writers during 2014 and to write an article covering this for next year’s Women in Horror Month. I was also asked by my writer friend Gillian Polack to write a post on any female artist I admired for Women’s History Month that following March, but due to my crazy schedule at the time, I couldn’t get it done. It wasn’t until I started chatting to him for a Roundtable that I realized my mistake!

I’m embarrassed to admit that for many years, I thought Kim Newman was a woman. And often, I don’t know if the writer is male or female it doesn’t matter to me. Heck, when I’m selecting a book, I don’t really consider the author unless I’m a fan of theirs it’s more what the story sounds like. It’s just that somehow, over the years, I had tended towards male writers. Those who know me know I’m anything but sexist. About eighty percent of them were by male writers. In January 2014, I ran a Horror Roundtable for the HWA called Sexism in Horror, and after that discussion, I went to my bookcase and considered the novels I owned.

Blood Autumn by Kathryn Ptacek