Nightmare Magazine Issue 25, Women Destroy Horror! Special Issue
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Issue 25, October 2014
Women Destroy Horror! Special Issue
FROM THE EDITORS
Preface
Wendy N. Wagner
Editorial, October 2014
Women Destroy Horror! Editors
ORIGINAL SHORT FICTION
This Is Not for You
Gemma Files
Sideshow
Catherine MacLeod
Unfair Exchange
Pat Cadigan
The Inside and the Outside
Katherine Crighton
It Feels Better Biting Down
Livia Llewellyn
REPRINT SHORT FICTION
Martyrdom
Joyce Carol Oates
Black and White Sky
Tanith Lee
. . . Warmer
A.R. Morlan
NOVELLA EXCERPT
Linden Manor
Catherine Cavendish
NONFICTION
Artist Spotlight: Five Women Artists Who Are Destroying Horror Art
Galen Dara
Artist Gallery
Carly Janine Mazur, Reiko Murakami, Sam Guay, Shelby Nichols, and Stacy Nguyen
Interview: Joyce Carol Oates
Lisa Morton
Interview: Jessica Sharzer
Lisa Morton
An Historical Overview of Classic Horror Novels
Lucy A. Snyder
Baby Got Backbone: What Makes Strong Women Kick in Horror Films and TV Shows
Maria Alexander
Women Destroy Horror! Roundtable Interview
Lisa Morton
The H Word: The H is for Harassment (a/k/a Horror’s Misogyny Problem)
Chesya Burke
Women’s Short Horror Fiction: An Historical Overview
Jessica Amanda Salmonson
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHTS
Gemma Files
Catherine MacLeod
Katherine Crighton
Livia Llewellyn
Joyce Carol Oates
Tanith Lee
A.R. Morlan
MISCELLANY
Coming Attractions
Stay Connected
Subscriptions & Ebooks
Kickstarter Backers
Special Issue Staff
About the Editors
© 2014 Nightmare Magazine
Cover Art by Carly Janine Mazur
www.Nightmare-Magazine.com
www.DestroySF.com
FROM THE EDITORS
Preface
Wendy N. Wagner
Welcome to issue twenty-five of Nightmare Magazine!
You may have noticed that this issue is a little heftier than usual—that’s because it’s Women Destroy Horror!, a special double issue that celebrates the women writing and editing horror. It’s all part of the exciting Destroy project that includes Women Destroy Science Fiction!, an all-SF special double issue of our sister-magazine, Lightspeed, and Women Destroy Fantasy!, which launches this month at sibling site Fantasy Magazine. All of this fantastic women-powered fiction is brought to you by an amazing group of Kickstarter backers.
For this issue, we’ve brought on a special guest editor to run the show: the multi-award-winning Ellen Datlow. She and Nonfiction Editor Lisa Morton have lined up an impressive array of chilling reads.
I’m delighted and honored to help bring you this very special project. If you enjoy this issue and would like to learn more about the Destroy projects (Women Destroy Science Fiction!, Women Destroy Fantasy!, and, of course, Women Destroy Horror!), visit our special Destroy projects website at DestroySF.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Wendy N. Wagner, Managing Editor of Nightmare, grew up in a town so small it didn’t even have its own post office, and the bookmobile’s fortnightly visit was her lifeline to the world. Her short fiction has appeared in magazines and anthologies including Beneath Ceaseless Skies, The Lovecraft eZine, Armored, The Way of the Wizard, and Heiresses of Russ 2013: The Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction. Her first novel, Skinwalkers, is a Pathfinder Tales adventure. An avid gamer and gardener, she lives in Portland, Oregon, with her very understanding family. Follow her on Twitter @wnwagner.
Editorial, October 2014
Women Destroy Horror! Editors
Ellen Datlow, Guest Editor
Once upon a time, women not only dominated horror, but invented it. How can this be, you might wonder—it’s obvious that horror has been men’s domain forever! Well, no. Ghost tales and the gothic were written by women for decades before the horror boom of the 1980s. Jessica Amanda Salmonson’s essay, reprinted here from her ground-breaking anthology What Did Miss Darrington See? provides a useful overview of the historical participation and importance of women in horror.
For almost fifty years, hundreds of stories by women in the early years of horror, and their authors, were mostly forgotten. If not for the heroic efforts of Salmonson and such small presses as Ghost Story Press, Strange Company, and Ash-Tree Press, their names might have died out. I’ve been reading horror since I was a kid, and I knew nothing of these women and their writings as I grew up. All I knew of were Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bram Stoker, H. P. Lovecraft.
Women and children have traditionally been the victims of horrific events in fiction because of their vulnerability. But everyone is vulnerable in the right (or wrong) situation, and reading about a big burly man threatened by the supernatural or by human monsters has been proven to be just as potent a premise, if not more. And whichever gender is in peril, both male and female authors can and do deliver the scares. I get tired of hearing that women write a certain type of story while men write another. Having read hundreds of horror stories during my career, I don’t find this true.
Are there fewer women than men writing horror? From my unscientific perspective of a professional reader of horror short fiction for almost thirty years I’d say yes. Are there fewer women editing horror? Yes, but that’s been changing since I’ve been in the field.
Some of the most influential writers of horror have historically been women: Mary Shelley, Shirley Jackson, Flannery O’Connor, and Anne Rice.
Several writers featured within write in more than one subgenre of the fantastic and grotesque, so are often not “counted” as women who write horror.
Pat Cadigan has won the Hugo and the Arthur C. Clarke awards for her science fiction and has been nominated for multiple awards in science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
Joyce Carol Oates writes on everything from boxing (in her nonfiction) and literary fiction to mystery and horror and has won awards in all those fields.
Tanith Lee might be best known for her lush fantasy fiction, but she also writes science fiction, and her horror packs a wallop.
A.R. Morlan has written science fiction, fantasy, erotic fiction, and horror throughout her thirty year career.
After the rousing success of the Kickstarter for Women Destroy Science Fiction!, I was approached by John Joseph Adams, publisher/editor of Nightmare Magazine, about editing a “Women Destroy Horror!” issue. Unlike the never-ending brouhaha about women destroying science fiction, there have been few overt complaints about women destroying horror. Aside from the occasional testosterone-fueled diatribe from those who seem to think that one-third of a table of contents of stories by women equals a majority by them. Or by those who have gotten negative reviews of their fiction by women. But how could I refuse this opportunity to showcase horror writers whose work I love and who happen to be women?
There’s a totally unexpected
commonality to three of the eight stories I’ve acquired for this issue that I won’t give away. But the tones, characters, and modes of storytelling are so different that I suspect you readers won’t mind. In any case, I hope you’ll enjoy all the stories and will seek out more fiction by their authors.
A big thank you to John Joseph Adams and to all the fiction contributors. Also to Lisa Morton, who in editing the nonfiction has brought together a group of powerful female voices expressing their diverse experiences of working in horror. And a final shout out to Wendy Wagner for her herding skills and her advice.
• • • •
Lisa Morton, Nonfiction Editor
When John Joseph Adams invited me to be the nonfiction editor for the special “Women Destroy Horror!” edition of Nightmare, I (of course) accepted, and immediately thought about what I wanted. At the top of my wish list were interviews with Joyce Carol Oates and American Horror Story’s Jessica Sharzer, and I remain flabbergasted that both accepted (and grateful, especially given the wonderful and revealing answers they provided).
But I also had a list of things I didn’t want. Well, okay, not a list, exactly, because there was only one item on it: I didn’t want any sort of overview of contemporary female horror authors. My reasons for this:
There were an awful lot of these lists floating around in February, now apparently known forever as “Women in Horror Month.”
There are always a lot of these lists floating around, especially whenever the question of women writing horror arises.
There are so many talented female authors currently working in the genre that it would be virtually impossible to provide any sort of comprehensive list.
There’s not much to learn from a name on a list.
However, I had one reason sitting firmly atop all the others for why I didn’t want to include one of these lists: They always smack to me of desperation.
If that sounds harsh, let me explain: First, these lists usually come in response to either another list of “All-Time Greatest Horror Writers” that fails to include a single female name, or they’re an answer to yet one more shortsighted all-caps-using cave-dweller shrieking into the cyber-ether, “BUT WOMEN CAN’T WRITE HORROR.”
Now, I certainly understand the intention to school these fools; heck, I’ve probably done it a time or two myself. But—and I can say this as a woman horror author who has appeared on a few of these lists—at some point it becomes tiresome. Yes, the ego boost is nice . . . yes, anything that brings attention to these voices is great . . . but how long do we have to keep doing this? I’m willing to bet every woman writer in the genre would prefer to be discussed alongside her male peers, not in some segregated list stuck off by itself somewhere. I’m sure Mary Author would rather see a thoughtful review of her work or a comparison to Joe Writer than another catch-all list that will probably mean nothing to anyone who is not one of the authors named in the list.
Yes, I know women are under-reviewed in all genres, including mainstream fiction. Yes, I know these are idealistic dreams that are still off in some perfect future. But I hope this helps to explain why I chose not to include that “there are lots of great women writing horror right now” list.
I did, however, believe it was important to talk about contemporary female writers, as long as it was done with some depth and wasn’t attempting to be in any way comprehensive. Hence, you’ll find a roundtable interview herein with four intriguing writers: Linda Addison, Kate Jonez, Helen Marshall, and Rena Mason. Beyond the fact that I love their work, I did have particular reasons for choosing these four writers: I knew Linda would provide insight as both an author and poet, and also as an African American writer; Rena fascinated me because she seems to have gone from zero to sixty (winning the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel for her superb The Evolutionist) in mere seconds; and I knew that both Kate and Helen were not only acclaimed authors but also had experience with two of the best genre publishers out there (Omnium Gatherum and Chizine, respectively). I think this interview accomplished what it set out to do: Provide an eye-opening look into the experience of being a female horror author.
For the articles, I wanted to look at women in horror from three different perspectives. First, Lucy A. Snyder contributed a wonderful historical overview of women writers in the genre—this is no mere list, but a thoughtful and informative work that ingeniously segues into a discussion of just how we should define the term “classic.”
To cover female characters (as compared to their creators), I approached Maria Alexander, who I know as not just a splendid writer, but also a genuine asskicker in her own right (Maria is an accomplished swordswoman). I asked Maria to write something about the portrayal of horror’s action heroines in film, and I couldn’t be happier with the resulting piece, which deftly dissects the ways in which filmmakers and writers rightly (and wrongly) approach the creation of protagonists.
And lastly, I hoped to provide a more personal look at the special trials a woman writer might face in the genre, and Chesya Burke sent back an extraordinary piece that had me squirming and flinching in both horror and (unfortunately) recognition.
I’d just like to offer a final word of thanks to John, to Wendy Wagner, and to all the fantastic talents I’ve mentioned above who agreed to take part in this special issue of Nightmare. Now, if you really want to support women writers in horror, finish reading the rest of this magazine and then go out and buy some of their books. Unless you’re that Neanderthal screaming into the internet wind who just isn’t interested in hearing another point of view, I’m betting you won’t be disappointed.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Ellen Datlow (Guest Editor) has been editing sf/f/h short fiction for over thirty years. She was fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and SCIFICTION and currently acquires and edits stories for Tor.com. She has edited more than fifty anthologies, including the annual The Best Horror of the Year, Lovecraft’s Monsters, Fearful Symmetries, Nightmare Carnival, The Cutting Room, and Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells (the latter two with Terri Windling). Forthcoming are The Doll Collection and The Monstrous. She’s won multiple World Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards, and the 2012 Il Posto Nero Black Spot Award for Excellence as Best Foreign Editor. Datlow was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for “outstanding contribution to the genre;” she has been honored with the Life Achievement Award given by the Horror Writers Association in acknowledgment of superior achievement over an entire career and the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award for 2014, which is presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to the fantasy field.
Lisa Morton (Nonfiction Editor) is a screenwriter, author of nonfiction books, award-winning prose writer, and Halloween expert whose work was described by the American Library Association’s Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening.” Her short fiction has appeared in dozens of anthologies and magazines, including The Mammoth Book of Dracula, Dark Delicacies, The Museum of Horrors, and Cemetery Dance, and in 2010 her first novel, The Castle of Los Angeles, received the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel. Recent books include the graphic novel Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times (co-written with Rocky Wood, illustrated by Greg Chapman), and Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween. Also recent are the novellas Summer’s End and Smog, and the novel Malediction. A lifelong Californian, she lives in North Hollywood and can be found online at lisamorton.com.
ORIGINAL SHORT FICTION
This Is Not for You
Gemma Files
Art by Shelby Nichols
Three potential sacrifices, just as Phoibe’d predicted, blundering through the woods like buffalo in boots. Mormo broke cover first, naked and barefoot, screaming, with the boys following after, whooping and hollering, straight into the gauntlet, too lust-drunk to see where they were going. Pretty little thing, tha
t Mormo, with a truly enviable lung capacity; the best lure they’d had by far in all the time Gorgo’d been attending these odd little shindigs, and swift enough to keep a good two lengths between her and her closest pursuer as she danced around the tiger-pits. No sooner did this thought register, however, then with a few more steps—plus one wild, deer-like leap—she was gone from sight, entirely: up over the deadfall, rustling the same bushes Gorgo and her girls hid behind, leaving the men in her wake, too shocked not to keep coming.
One took a thyrsus to the knee, so sharp Gorgo heard it crack, and pitched headlong, folding up, rolling. More blows caught him from several angles, breaking bones, tearing flesh; he flipped, bellowing, then gave a moaning “whuff!” as Iris came down right on top, astride both hips, club inverted to crack his breastbone and pop at least one lung, squeeze heart against ribcage, bruise liver beyond repair. His skull met a log back-first, brain slammed hard, eyes rolling up; was probably out long before Iris’s partners (Scylla, Polyxena) could get on him too, their hands rock-full, looking to make like Cain.
To his left, meanwhile, another lucky winner got Deianira’s spear across the top of his ear and recoiled, flinching away only to run straight into Charis’s strong grip instead. They were about the same height, but Charis had him from behind, choking him so hard he started to lift off the ground, kicking wildly. He tore at her arm with both hands, drawing blood, ‘til she finally threw him down with enough force that Gorgo heard his nose pop, or maybe a cheekbone—then heel-stomped him between the shoulder blades, holding him pinned even as he flailed, trying his level best to swim away. One armpit made a beautiful target for Deianira’s next thrust, a goring stab that went in far as she could reach, and the pain made him rear back far enough for Gorgo to slash her scythe across his throat.
The spike of her own kill-pleasure came quickly after that, hot and red and sweet. It was good, but over so soon; just enough to make her want more, something better. Longer.