February. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, if you discount those pesky other months and boil the whole year down to just the first two. Hey, at least it’s short.
February does have one thing going for it, however. Women in Horror month, an annual celebration of, well, women in horror.
As they themselves say:
Women in Horror Month (WiHM) is an international, grassroots initiative, which encourages supporters to learn about and showcase the underrepresented work of women in the horror industries. Whether they are on the screen, behind the scenes, or contributing in their other various artistic ways, it is clear that women love, appreciate, and contribute to the horror genre.
From Mary Shelley to Anne Rice, female horror writers have been around for generations. This month is all about celebrating female horror writers and strong female leads in horror stories.
Now in its ninth year, this is a multinational event which sees women from across the different horror related arts — filmmakers, writers, actresses, producers, bloggers, and everything else besides (last year there were even events held in SecondLife) get together for events both online and in the real world to discuss all things horror. This is, needless to say, pretty chuffing awesome.
One such event is being held online by the excellent S.K. Gregory, author of Daemon Persuasion, over at her blog. She’s interviewing a different female author (or male author with female leads in their horror works) every day in February. Already this month there’s been interviews with the likes of Fiona Hogan, Suzi Albracht, Rita Kruger, and S.K. Gregory herself, and there are interviews with Pamela K Kinney, Alathia Morgan, and Yolanda Olson and loads more coming up over the month. There are already some fascinating discussions about representation, the female perspective, and the future of the genre going on. Oh yeah, and I’ll be dirtying up the place on Monday, talking about Blood on the Motorway (as if I ever talk about anything else).
So, if you’re looking for a new horror read, and you want to support up-and-coming women in the horror genre, head over to the blog, bookmark it, and check back every day. Or if you’re interested in what else is going on for Women in Horror Month, head to the main site to see if there are any events near you. Or check out the hashtag #WIHM9 over on the twitter dot com for a refreshing break from all the Nazis .
