Darkeva's Dark Delights

WiHM Feature #9: Poppy Z. Brite

Poppy Z. Brite

Notable quote:

To be honest, I never really had a special interest in vampires. They sort of slimed their way into my first novel because they were an essential icon of goth culture at the time—they’re kind of passé now, I think—and after Lost Souls was a success, people expected me to be much more interested in them than I was.

(From an interview in Vice Magazine, “Poppy Z. Brite Is The King/Queen Of New Orleans” by Amy Kellner, 2008)

I went back and forth a little bit, debated, asked a few people what they thought, and ultimately decided to include Poppy Z. Brite on my list of the top 20 women that I chose to feature during Women in Horror Month this year, because although Poppy self-identifies almost completely as male rather than female, Poppy was still female at the time of publication of most of the notable works below.

Although known for featuring more male characters, Poppy Z. Brite has been, without a doubt, one of the most influential figures to women writing horror and as an influence on the genre in general, and with good reason. Works like Lost Souls and Drawing Blood are some of the most praised works in the genre, and fans of horror with a gothic sensibility continue to discover them even to this day, a testament to their lasting impact.

Interesting interviews:
Bookslut (2004)
DarkEcho Interview (1998; originally from OMNI Magazine)
Vice (2008)
The Of Blog (2004)
Interview conducted by Rain Graves
Seven Mag

What to Read First: Brite’s work is very diverse, and many novels can be considered stand-alone. Depending on where your interests rank, if you’re big on vampires, I would recommend Lost Souls, or if you’re more into short story collections, start with Wormwood. Drawing Blood is also a great place to start.

Notable Works:
For a more complete bibliography, visit this link:
Lost Souls (1992, Dell)
Wormwood (short story collection) (1993, Dell)
Drawing Blood (1993, Dell)
Exquisite Corpse (1996, Touchstone)
Wrong Things (with Caitlin R. Kiernan) (2001, Subterranean Press)
The Devil You Know (short story collection) (2003, Gauntlet Press)
Liquor (2004, Three Rivers Press)
Prime (2005, Three Rivers Press)
Soul Kitchen (2006, Three Rivers Press)

Fun Facts:
* Born Melissa Ann Brite
* Native of New Orleans, Louisiana
* Has done a Crow-inspired take off set in New Orleans called The Crow: The Lazarus Heart (1999, Harper Entertainment)
* Loves UNC basketball and is a huge fan of the football team the New Orleans Saints
* Passionate about rescuing cats
* Became one of the first New Orleanians that began to re-populate the city after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina
* First story was written (dictated into a tape recorder) at the age of 3 and started submitting stories at the age of 12
* Fan of John Kennedy O’Toole, J.D. Salinger, and Neil Gaiman, among many others
* Wrote a biography of rock singer Courtney Love
* Wrote an interesting and morbid eulogy for William Burroughs

Career Highlights:
* First published short story was “Optional Music for Voice and Piano,” published in THE HORROR SHOW (which became defunct in 1988)
* Edited collections Love in Vein (1994, Harper Prism) and Love in Vein II (1997, Harper Prism)
* Has been nominated for a slew of major awards for horror and fantasy fiction, including the Bram Stoker Award, the Lambda Award,
* Won an International Horror Guild Award for Best Anthology for Love in Vein
* For a complete award bibliography, visit this link

Current projects: Sadly, Poppy Z. Brite has taken a hiatus from producing new material for the time being.

Visit Poppy’s blog here, and A Beginner’s Guide to PZB.

2 Comments

WiHM Feature #7: Sandra Kasturi

Posted on February 5, 2012 by darkeva

Sandra Kasturi

Notable quote:

Take criticism well, and think about it carefully. Lucius Shepard once said that “criticism is a gift.” There are people who have been in the biz a lot longer than you, and you might actually learn something if you just sit still and listen. I’m always pleased to meet and talk to people who have been in the industry (on the writing or publishing side of it) longer than I have, because I figure they can teach me something, and tell me how to improve! Remember, agents and publishers are not out to get you–they’re not in it to destroy young writers. They’re probably dying to read a decently written manuscript!

(From “Six Questions for Sandra Kasturi” interview by Jim Harrington, July 27, 2010) –

Poet, writer, editor, Colloquium organizer–Sandra Kasturi wears all of those hats and more in her day to day. She’s one of the most important women currently involved in the horror genre, at the helm of Canada’s ChiZine Publications (with co-publisher and husband, Brett Alexander Savory), an ardent supporter, promoter, and enabler of some of the best dark fiction out there. She’s received all kind of praise from such genre luminaries as Peter Straub, Phyllis Gotlieb, and Adam Getty, among others, and with good reason. Her own writing is marvellous and unique, but through her continued efforts, ChiZine continues to be a top publisher and a force to be reckoned with in the horror and dark fantasy genres. Not only do they produce beautiful, limited edition hardcovers for collectors (their trade paperbacks also look like works of art, with many amazing design features, such as a mock knife slash on the back cover of Tom Piccirilli’s Every Shallow Cut (2011), but they truly are publishing some of the best writers out there, both established veterans and newcomers. Sandra is also one of the kindest and most knowledgeable people in the field, a true gem, and great fun to be around should you be so lucky

Interesting interviews:
Six Questions For… (2010) (particularly useful for those of you planning to pitch to Sandra at World Horror Convention 2012 in Salt Lake City this year)
Innismouth Free Press (2011)
Blood and Vegetables (2011)
Coilhouse (2011)
Totally Tesseracts (2010)
Books on the Radio (2011)

What to Read First: The Animal Bridegroom

Notable Works:
The Animal Bridgeroom (Tightrope Books, 2007)

Sandra’s prose and poems have also found their way into some of the following anthologies:
Evolve (Edge Books, 2010)
Stars as Seen from this Particular Angle of Night (Bakka Collection) (Red Deer Press, 2003)
Tesseracts Nine (Edge Books, 2005)
Tesseracts Fourteen (Edge Books, 2010)
Chilling Tales (Edge Books, 2011)

Fun Facts:
* Born in Estonia
* Canadian
* Alumna of the University of Toronto
* Noted for her own poetry and has published three poetry chapbooks
* Neil Gaiman wrote the introduction to her poetry collection The Animal Bridegroom
* Also writes freelance book reviews, which have appeared in the Globe & Mail and the National Post
* Proprietor of Kelp Queen Press
* Joined Chizine Magazine in 1999
* Considers John Langan’s House of Windows to be scary
* More modern writers she’s a fan of include Justin Cronin and Tana French
* Chose the name Kelp Queen Press because of a running joke between her friends one day on a trip when she emerged from swimming in a lake with kelp all over her.
* Created a children’s TV show with Jason Taniguchi called Sinister Horde that ultimately got shelved, but is still a project that is dear to her

Career Highlights:
* Co-publisher of Chizine Publications
* Co-organizer of the Toronto SpecFic Colloquium and the Chiaroscuro Reading Series
* Founder of the CZP/Rannu Fund for Writers of Speculative Literature
* Co-editor (with Halli Villegas) of the yearly series Imaginarium: Best Canadian Speculative Writing
* Founding member of the Algonquin Square Table Poetry Workshop and the Bellefire Club.
* Recipient of a Bram Stoker Award for her editorial work at ChiZine: Treatments of Light and Shade in Words

What she’s working on now: In addition to her work with Chizine and the Toronto SpecFic Colloquim, Sandra is working with co-editor Halli Villegas on the 2012 Imaginarium: Best Canadian Speculative Writing, as well as her own poetry manuscripts and novels.

Follow Sandra on Facebook and Twitter.

WiHM Feature #6: Nancy Kilpatrick

Posted on February 5, 2012 by darkeva

Nancy Kilpatrick

Notable quote:

“…[H]orror is an outsider’s realm. It’s a realm for rebels. It’s an old-boys network because boys are rebellious and like to push the death envelope. Plenty of girls are rebels and also like pushing envelopes but they are, in the end, girls, and they are not taken as seriously. Our culture…does not easily make room for women. Somehow, the old chestnuts have still not been crushed: Men have to support a family so they need a career. Women are supposed to have children and, if they write, it’s a sideline.These attitudes permeate certain genres like horror. In other genres, for example mystery, there are a lot of published women writers and best-sellers. But although mystery deals with blood and death, it is not as in-your-face as horror. It’s not outsider art. And horror has a very small share of the market compared to mysteries. Everyone has heard the view that women write a different type of horror than men do, less edgy, less visceral, less powerful, perhaps more psychological. That, I don’t believe….a well-written story by a person of either gender is going to reach inside a reader of either gender even if they haven’t had the experience because when we talk about horror we’re talking about an emotion, and emotions are universal. We’ve all felt, for example, fear.”

(Responding to the question about why there are fewer women writing horror than men, taken from an interview with Little Miss Zombie, 2011)

Nancy Kilpatrick is known and respected in the Canadian genre fiction community both for her work as a writer and as an editor, and with good reason. Her work is darkly reflective of man’s inner dark nature, shown back to us in the form of vampires and other macabre creatures. She’s also one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet within the horror community, and you can usually bump into her at conventions and festivals. In addition to horror, Nancy also writes dark fantasy, mystery, and erotica, has done novelizations of films before, and continues to edit anthologies. When Nancy is not writing, she travels planet earth–the Great Curio Cabinet–in search of cemeteries, ossuaries, catacombs, mummies and Danse Macabre artwork.

Interesting interviews:

ScifiGuy.ca (2010)
Love Vampires (2011)
“An Interview Concerning the goth Culture and its Inhabitants Therein, with Horror Writer Nancy Kilpatrick as Our Guide” Recounted by J. Lynn Fraser
Little Miss Zombie (2011)
SF Signal (2010)
Authors Compare (2011)
Horror Bound (2010)
Hellnotes (2010)

What to Read First: For Nancy’s novels, “Child of the Night” is the best place to start, and for the anthologies she’s edited, “Evolve” is a good place to start, but I would also recommend “Outsiders,” which stood out for me.

Notable Works:
Novels
Child of the Night (1996)
Near Death (1994)
Reborn (1998)
Bloodlover (2000)
Dracul: An Eternal Love Story (1998)
Cold Comfort (2001)
Eternal City (2003) (with Michael Kilpatrick)

Anthologies Edited:
In the Shadow of the Gargoyle (1998) (with Thomas S Roche)
Graven Images (2000) (with Thomas S Roche)
Outsiders: 22 All-New Stories From the Edge (2005) (with Nancy Holder)
Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead (2010)
Evolve 2: Vampire Stories of the Future Undead (2011)
Tesseracts 13 (with David Morrell) (2009)

Non-Fiction:
The Goth Bible (St. Martin’s Press, 2004)

To learn more about Nancy’s wonderful and prolific work, visit this link.

Fun Facts:
* Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
* Moved to Canada in 1970 and calls Montreal, Quebec home
* Often cited as Canada’s “literary queen of the undead,” or Canada’s answer to Anne Rice
* Has an encyclopedic knowledge of the goth subculture, so much so that St. Martin’s Press published her non-fiction guide, The Goth Bible in 2004.
* Has been a fan of horror movies and books since she was a kid
* Also writes erotica under the pennames Amarantha Knight and Desiree Knight
* Cites the novel Perfume by Patrick Suskind as one of her favourites
* Creates gothic jewelry
* Some of her Power of the Blood vampire novels have been digitized and can be found as e-book versions here
* Big fan of classic vampires as depicted by Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, etc, and also loved Barnabus Collins on the television series “Dark Shadows” (soon to be a big screen adaptation starring Johnny Depp)
* A fan of more modern vampire fare, as well, such as the “Blade” and “Underworld” films
* Teaches online writing courses for George Brown University throughout the year

Career Highlights:
* Published the very comprehensive and essential guide to goth subculture, The Goth Bible (St. Martin’s Press, 2004) and has a companion site here
* Edited Evolve, the first ever all-Canadian, all-vampire, all-original stories anthology.
* She has won an Arthur Ellis award for best mystery
* She has been a Bram Stoker Award finalist three times
* Five-time Aurora Award finalist

What she’s working on now: Nancy is busy at work putting together another anthology for Edge Books, Danse Macabre, which is scheduled to come out later this year, and is also working on a fifth book in the Power of the Blood vampire world, a futuristic horror/science fiction novel, and a supernatural mystery series among other things.

Find her on Facebook here, and visit her website here.

2 Comments

WiHM Feature #5: Sephera Giron

Posted on February 5, 2012 by darkeva

Sephera Giron

Notable quote:

In University, I declared myself a horror writer to my creative writing class and learned that cliques and mockery occurs in University as well as high school. Horror writers were lower on the totem pole than romance writers. Poets were the top. Horror poetry was not palatable to my fellow students, but my teachers, one of whom was bp nichol, always seemed curious about what I would come up with next.

(From Fearzone’s author interview with Sephera Giron by Richard Hipson, 2008)

I distinctly recall the first time I met Sephera, which was at Toronto’s annual Word on the Street festival years ago when I was doing my undergraduate studies. I was also working on my third novel at the time, and stumbled upon her name in the Ad Astra Convention guidebook from that year. She has such a beautiful, exotic name that I wanted it for my main character and told her as much, to which she was (thankfully) excited. When I read her novel Mistress of the Dark, I was blown away. Here was a woman who was writing horror just as gory and violent as the guys, but with forethought and subtlety, conveying a damaged but ultimately sympathetic female main character who I still remember years later. Although well known in Canada and in the horror community, I still think more people need to be exposed to the fantastic work she’s doing in the genre, and it’s always a treat to bump into her at events.

Necon is taking some of her backlist titles and bringing them back in e-book form, so if you haven’t read Sephera’s work or aren’t sure where to start, the recently digitized editions of her work are an excellent place to begin.

Interesting interviews:
Eternal Night (2000)
Fearzone (2008)
Little Miss Zombie (2011)

What to Read First: House of Pain or Mistress of the Dark

Notable Works:
House of Pain (Leisure Books, 2001)
The Birds and the Bees (Leisure Books, 2002)
Borrowed Flesh (Leisure Books, 2004)
Hungarian Rhapsody (Orion Publishing, 2008)
Mistress of the Dark (Leisure Books, 2005)

Fun Facts:
* Canadian
* Alumna of York University
* Writes both horror and erotica
* Also has a background in stage, film, and music
* Is of Spanish and Finnish heritage
* Is a professional tarot card reader
* Holds certificates in Reiki and Touch for Health
* Considers some of her favourite female writers in the genre to be Elizabeth Massie, Poppy Z. Brite, Mary Shelley, and even Emily Dickinson
* Big fan of rock band The Who
* Child of classical musicians
* Played Ruby, the wife of the cult leader Zachary in “Slime City Massacre.”

Career Highlights:
* Winner of the 2009 MARTY (Mississauga, ON Arts Council) Award (video)
* Has headed the Canadian chapter of the HWA for several years
* Recipient of the Silver Hammer Award in 2009 for outstanding service to the HWA.

What she’s working on now: Sephera continues to publish within anthologies, both Canadian and international, including Campus Chills (2011), and she just released a new e-book, The Witch’s Field. She’s also working on a short story collection for Necon E-books.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter, and SFFNet.

Here’s a clip of Sephera reading from “Teacher’s Pet”:

WiHM Feature #4: Monica S. Kuebler

Posted on February 5, 2012 by darkeva

Monica S. Kuebler

Notable Quote:

I think it’s becoming ever more acceptable for women to go into untraditional fields (from science and computing to genre writing/filmmaking). There’s also been a lot of celebration of geek culture lately, making it that much easier to be female and a die-hard genre fan. But that said, I’ve worked in the horror biz for almost a decade now and I can honestly say that I have never found it anything less than totally welcoming to me as a woman. If there’s a boys’ club going on somewhere, I haven’t been affected by it, but then again I was a tomboy growing up and before working in horror I worked in another male-dominated industry, so perhaps I’ve built up a certain immunity to it.

(When asked about whether the atmosphere of the horror genre is more welcoming to women now; from an interview with Dark Media Magazine, “DarkMedia Interviews Monica Kuebler,” January 2012).

Monica S. Kuebler is one of the most influential and important women in horror, and not just in Canada. Her work with Rue Morgue Magazine and Burning Effigy Press, the chapbook micro press that she founded, is some of the most ground-breaking and fearless of things happening within the horror genre. She’s published such writers as Richard Gavin, Ian Rogers, and Lee Thomas, to name a few, and was invited as a guest to last year’s Killercon III convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. To top it all off, this busy lady is one of the nicest you’ll ever meet and always has words of encouragement for those looking to get more involved in the genre. One of my favourite women of horror, I think we will have many more amazing things to see from Monica in the coming years.

Interesting Interviews:
Dark Media City Profile (2012)
Dreadfully Anticipated (2012)
Industry Interviews – Burning Effigy Press (2011)
Planet Fury (2010)
Fearzone (2008)

What to Read First: Bleeder, a YA horror novel Monica is currently excerpting online.

Notable Works:
Bleeder

Fun Facts:
* Canadian
* Has a background as a spoken word artist and performance artist
* Managing editor of successful horror magazine Rue Morgue
* Publisher of Burning Effigy Press
* Has also done modelling work
* Instituted a Children’s Horror Literature feature to Rue Morgue
* Favourite horror writers include Stephen King and Clive Barker
* Authored four chapbooks and the co-wrote the 2002 poetry collection Some Words Spoken (with Cynthia Gould).

Career Highlights:
* Featured in Pretty Bloody: The Women of Horror (2009)
* Featured in The Real Vampire Files (2010)
* Became managing editor at Rue Morgue Magazine.

What she’s working on now: upcoming trilogy with first novel The Cold Ones (set in the same world as Bleeder) and her second poetry collection, The Sick and the Beautiful.

Find her on Twitter and her blog.

WiHM Feature #3: Jovanka Vuckovic

Posted on February 5, 2012 by darkeva

Jovanka Vuckovic

Notable Quote:

I’d love to think that there will be total equality in the horror community some day but there will always be those lug heads that make it difficult for us. The guys who feel they need to comment about a woman’s appearance on message boards or ask for nude photos. That happened to me quite a lot. Some people are just ignorant and that will unfortunately never change. The trend here is objectification. Whether you make a horror movie, run a magazine, write horror fiction or make horror music, there will always be that handful of people out there that want to reduce your value as a contributor by making comments about the way you look while they’re commenting on what you do. This rarely happens to men. Their work is judged solely on the merits of the work….It’s great to see more women who believe they don’t have to take their clothes off to be a contributing member of the horror community.

(From an interview with Fatallyyours.com by Sarah Jahier, February 17, 2010)

Jovanka Vuckovic is like the patron saint of women in horror. Fearnet called her the DieVinci of the genre. In many ways, I feel as though she paved the way for more female horror journalists, fought to ensure that Rue Morgue Magazine (which she helmed until 2009) gave serious coverage to other women in the field, and inspired me to get further into the genre. Her portions of the documentary, Pretty Bloody: The Women of Horror (2009) were among the most interesting. One of my favourite parts is when one of her former co-workers described the hilarity that ensued when he saw men talking down to Jovanka at conventions, questioning her cred, only to get his ass kicked when he saw just how encyclopedic her knowledge is. She’s an inspiration to us all, and although no longer involved with Rue Morgue, continues to be one of the most influential and amazing women in horror, period.

Interesting interviews:
Fatally Yours (2010)
CinemainCTV (video interview) (2008)
Horrornews.net (2010)
Fearnet (2011)
Bloody Disgusting (December 2005)
Axwound Zine (2008)
Blood and Vegetables (2011)

What to Read First: Zombies: An Illustrated History of the Undead (2011, St. Martin’s Press)

Notable Works:
* The Captured Bird (film)
* Pretty Bloody: The Women of Horror (2009)

Fun Facts:
* Canadian
* Married to tattoo artist and Redeemer lead singer Shane Faulkner.
* First film that scared her as a child was “The Masque of the Red Death” as well as “The Exorcist.”
* Studied forensic anthropology
* Worked for the CBC for years as a digital effects artist
* Blade Runner is her all time favourite film
* Some of her favourite people to meet through Rue Morgue include Guillermo del Toro and Clive Barker
* Is also involved in film-making

Career Highlights:
* Helmed Rue Morgue Magazine until 2009
* Won a Gemini award for Best Visual Effects when she worked at CBC
* Gaining a lot of film festival buzz and attention for The Captured Bird

What she’s working on now: planning more books, both fiction and non-fiction. “I can’t stop writing,” she says. “It’s in my blood.”

Find Jovanka on Twitter and on her blog.