Poppy Z. Brite, Nancy Collins?
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
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.
Shirley Jackson?
Oh, good one.
Shirley Jackson. There you go.
Caitlin Kiernan's debut, Silk, looks really good, Jilli. I may have to get my hands on that.
I guess I'm wondering if there will be any other really mainstream successful horror writers of either gender at this point. Stephen King certainly isn't writing strictly *horror* at this point, but he's earned his audience over the years. Same with Straub. Horror simply isn't as big as it was in its heyday, although I wish it were. I wish there was more *good* horror, like The Haunting of Hill House or Floating Dragon or The Exorcist. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place, though. I've been wanting to read The Ruins, which is supposed to be fantastic.
Silk is fantastic, Amy. Actually, I think all of Caitlin's work is good; she's one of the few writers who can creep me out. I can't read her books after dark anymore.
I recently read The Ruins and was disappointed. It seemed long and drawn out and nothing really original. Maybe for those familiar with horror stories/movies it's been done.
It used to be there were no female science-fiction authors or female fantasy authors. Now I would say that women are prevalent in fantasy and well-represented in sci-fi...maybe the same will happen in horror.
I wish horror would have a renaissance too. Maybe we need a less horrifying real world for that to happen.