A little Halloween topic, just out of curiosity:
Can anyone think of any mainstream-successful female horror writers aside from Anne Rice? (It took me a while to come up with her, because I tend to classify vampire fiction as distinct from horror the way Stephen King and Peter Straub write it, although I'm not sure why.)
I know there must be female horror writers out there, writing the kind of genre books that don't hit the bestseller lists (the same way I write low to midlist romance, and no one know who the hell I am except, like, my mom and my husband), but I can't think of any who have hit it really big. Am I missing people?
Laurell K. Hamilton? Though if she's classified as horror, it might be for unintentional reasons. And that's still vampire fiction.
Yeah, I forgot about her, too. And even there, she's got a big "Vampire Fiction" tag in my head. I don't know why it's different, but I can't seem to shake that classification.
I don't know why it's different, but I can't seem to shake that classification.
Because you can write about vampires without it being a horror story?
Poppy Z. Brite, Nancy Collins?
Because you can write about vampires without it being a horror story?
Oh. Well, yes!
Never heard of Nancy Collins, Todd. Poppy Z. Brite is a good example, but not as mainstream as I was thinking.
On reflection, I realize both do a lot of vampire stuff. (Nancy Collins - not sure of the spelling at this point - wrote "Sunglasses at Night" among other books and stories).
Never heard of Nancy Collins, Todd. Poppy Z. Brite is a good example, but not as mainstream as I was thinking.
The only female horror writer I can think of that doesn't do vampire stuff is Caitlin. R. Kiernan. And while Caitlin has done well, I know she hasn't hit any best seller lists.
Shirley Jackson?
Joyce Carol Oates has a couple pretty good short stories that turn up in horror anthologies, and then there's Whassherface that wrote The Yellow Wallpaper.
