Welcome to the Fantasy Hive and our Women in SFF feature! 

Women writing Horror has received some long-awaited attention recently, so we’re thrilled you could all join us for this round-table interview on the genre.

Firstly, as a means of introduction, can you briefly describe your story in three sentences or less?

SARAH LANGAN (SL): A Better World is about physician Linda Farmer and her family, who run out of options in the near, dystopian future, and move to a cloistered company town where they hope they’ll be safe from the falling apart world. But it’s a strange town, with odd customs and even odder inhabitants. When a local woman commits an unspeakable act, Linda can’t help but ask why, and the more she learns, the deeper into danger she pulls herself and her entire family.

DELILAH S. DAWSON (DSD): Guillotine is about a struggling fashion design student from humble means who accepts a date with a total jerk because his mother runs the biggest fashion magazine in the world. When Dez Lane lands an invite to the Ruskin family Easter weekend on their private island, she thinks she’ll finally have her foot in the door and get a taste of how the 1% lives. But the Ruskins do not treat their servants well— understatement of the year– and Dez is soon on the run for her life.

RACHEL HARRISON (RH): So Thirsty is about Sloane Parker, a discontented woman gifted a birthday trip with her longtime best friend/troublemaker extraordinaire Naomi. Sloane anticipates a lowkey weekend, but Naomi is tired of watching Sloane let life pass her by. When Naomi orchestrates a wild night out with a group of fun, hot, mysterious strangers, things take a terrifying turn that changes their lives literally forever.  

HAILEY PIPER (HP): My upcoming modern gothic All The Hearts You Eat follows Ivory Sloan in the small town of Cape Morning, where one summer day she discovers the body of local teenager Cabrina Brite washed ashore. Soon Ivory begins seeing Cabrina at night, a soul in distress, as do Cabrina’s friends, and everyone who spots her is trying to make contact. If only they knew what else might be listening, waiting for an invitation from the world of the living.

Tell us a bit about your main character? What’s driving them?

SL: Linda’s loyal to her husband and kids. For them, she sacrifices her fulfilling but low paying medical practice and moves to Plymouth Valley. But she’s the kind of person who pokes at things– asks questions and turns over rocks. She can’t abide secrets or silence. She’s a kind of human heart detective, unable to stop herself from cutting through the fake smiles, to the dark inside. So, in a town with terrible secrets, a town that ignores the horror of its founding, asking questions is dangerous. 

She’s a lot like me! I cannot let anything sit!

DSD: Dez will do anything to succeed in fashion– or so she thinks. Raised by a single mom who cleans Vegas hotels, Dez is learning that someone with her pedigree simply can’t grab an internship or byline without connections. All she wants is a chance to speak to Marie Caulfield Ruskin and prove herself, to earn her spot at the table. Dez is determined, sharp, hard working, tenacious, and ready to sacrifice for what she wants. But there is one thing she won’t sacrifice, which is her humanity. She thinks she’s vying for a job, but by the end, she’s fighting for her life.

​​RH: Sloane isn’t driven, in the beginning of the novel. She’s someone who is very risk-averse, who tries to temper her expectations to avoid disappointment. She likes her routine, likes to have some semblance of safety and control. She doesn’t prioritise her feelings. She suppresses her desires as a means of self-preservation, not realising she’s not actually protecting herself; she’s inflicting damage. She has a strong moral code and can be rigid. But there’s hope for her to loosen up.  

HP: I think Ivory’s loneliness is part of what drives her connections with others and her need to help Cabrina. From pocketing a poem with grim implications to trying to contact a ghost, Ivory firmly believes she can help Cabrina’s soul find peace, only to come upon a presence far more dangerous than a dead girl. Not an enviable position to be in!

How do you think you’d fare if you were in your protagonist’s shoes? How brave are you when it comes to things that go bump in the night?

SL: I can’t say. I know I’d like to pretend I’m amazing and brave and kind. But who knows?

I remember watching Babadook and thinking: they ended this movie on too bright a note. When the mom doesn’t fight the monster about ⅔ through the story, that’s the end. They’re all dead. Because I know very well that I’d go bananas if a monster that wanted to hurt my kid was in my house. I’d take it out or die trying– no problem. That’s easy.

It’s the smaller, less obvious threats that scare me. Would I listen to hints that something very bad was happening? Or would I keep working because it was inconvenient to do otherwise? I think most people tend to keep their heads down and stay on schedule. It could rain frogs and we’d go: okay, but I have to go grocery shopping. It takes a while before the bad thing– the danger sinks in. I think that’s where I might mess up. I’d be oblivious to the threat upon me unless it grabbed me and shouted. Which is what happens to Linda– it grabs her and shouts. She’s got no alternative but to investigate, though doing so risks her life and family.

DSD: Difficult to say, because what happens to Dez on the Ruskins’ private island is absolutely bonkers. I think of myself like a cockroach that will always find a way to survive; I believe lots of people who grew up with domestic violence or undergo traumatic experiences feel that way. If I survived that, I can survive anything! The great thing about writing Dez is that once the violence starts, at every turn, she just does exactly what I would do. I made Dez a lot like me for this reason. She’s the kind of girl who sees things going sideways at dinner and quietly kicks off her stiletto heels under the table, getting ready to run.

RH: I think I would react very similarly to how Sloane reacts to her circumstances. Sloane is brave when the situation requires it, though she’s reluctant and keen to complain. I’ll be brave if I have to be, but I’m not going to be happy about it. I’d rather avoid danger. Too much hassle.

HP: Not great? I don’t that I would’ve gone poking into things as deeply as Ivory, however, I can definitely relate to wanting to help someone and making a mess of things in the process. It’s nice to think I’m brave, but sometimes I’m alone at night and my brain goes “Hey, remember those things from The Descent?” and suddenly every shadow has me on edge.

Who are the most significant women in SFF who have shaped and influenced your work? 

SL: Ursula LeGuinn, Kate Wilhelm, Kelly Link, Karen Russell, Emily St. John Mandell, Angela Carter, Shirley Jackson, Cat Ward, Liz Hand, and so many more!

DSD: Some of the women who have influenced me the most are the writers who made me say, “Wait, we’re allowed to do that??” I read Earth’s Children by Jean Auel and thought, WAIT, we’re allowed to have women heroes who invent everything? I read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon back in 1999 and thought, WAIT, we’re allowed to mix deeply researched history and hot romance? I read Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris and thought, WAIT, we’re allowed to write Southern vampires? I love writing that shakes up the status quo of my brain and reminds me that we don’t need permission to do anything!

RH: Shirley Jackson is Mother. I’m currently very inspired by Alexis Henderson, Carmen Maria Machado, Erin E. Adams, Kristi DeMeester, CJ Leede, Liz Kerin, Erika T. Wurth. I could go on!

HP: Without a doubt Ursula K. Le Guin, whose writing is so beautiful it brings me to tears. Also Carmen Maria Machado, Marjorie Liu, Sara Tantlinger, and Eugie Foster.

Just for fun, how would you pitch your book as a 1-star review?

SL: “Pure evil. I’m worried that just by reading it, I invoked the antichrist. Also, the antichrist appeared to me and it had nothing to do with my enormous surf-n-turf dinner at my local opium den. Also, the copy I received arrived with a folded back cover.”

DSD: Disgusting, gory wish fulfilment murder porn for poor people who don’t know their place. The rich deserve your loyalty and appreciation. Not fit to wash the windows of my Cybertruck or paper the bottom of the cage in which I house my collection of rare albino peacocks.

RH: “Could have done without the metaphor.”

HP: “Totally inaccurate. This is not how real vampires are and it’s obvious the author did zero research.”

What drew you to Horror? Have you always been a fan of the genre, or did you just start writing something dark?

SL: I’ve always been a fan, and have been writing it since I was a kid. I’ve always loved the fantastical – it’s how I view the world. 

DSD: I’ve been a fan of Horror ever since I bought the book Ghost Cat from the Scholastic Book Fair in second grade, ever since I learned about the green ribbon, ever since I almost drowned because my mom was too invested in reading Pet Sematary and I realized that if it was that good, I had to ‘borrow’ it from where she’d hidden it from me. One of the first five books I ever wrote was Horror, and I still love the way it creeps up on me, from an artistic perspective.

RH: I’m a scaredy cat so it took me a while to come around on the genre. Horror made me feel too much and it took me some time to embrace that as a good thing. I really discovered my love of the genre through my college roommate, Maria. She showed me The Orphanage, and that movie changed my perspective on the genre and as a result changed my life.  

HP: Initially the creatures. You could always tell me in for a horror book or movie with a creature. As I started identifying with these creatures and feeling the genre out around them, my interests expanded to horror as a whole. Now I love it for its intense emotions, its potential for healing, or at least being understood. 

Can you briefly describe what defines Horror for you? Do you have a favourite or least favourite trope?

SL: Horror doesn’t flinch. It unhinges the reader from rigid beliefs and offers new insights, shedding light on all those bad things we’d prefer not to think about. And maybe they’re not so bad after all, once we get a good look at them. Then again, maybe they’re far worse than we feared.

DSD: Horror is… anything scary in a way that makes me more freaked out than sad. I’ve realized that in many of my horror stories, there is a lot of sympathy for the bad guy, whether it’s a ghost that’s been wronged or a group of people intent on massacring those who would enslave them.

RH: Horror is a mirror in harsh light. It reveals something terrible and true. And I’m here for most tropes, love a trope, except for the nagging girlfriend/wife.

HP: I’m relieved everyone else has brilliant answers, because honestly I’m not sure I can define it. This genre is so steeped in feelings that sometimes horror isn’t even a whole piece of art but a corner of it, one some might not notice and yet it’s haunting you.

Do you think the Final Girl trope has had its day? Or are you always looking for ways to freshen up this trope?

SL: It’s not my thing so I can’t judge it in any direction. But I do want to mention that grown women ought to be called women.

DSD: There’s always room for another Final Girl.

RH: As long as the Final Girl has agency and is a complex character, I’m here for it.

HP: I think if there will be slashers, there will be final girls, and hopefully they’re fleshed-out characters. So I guess the question beneath that is, have we had enough slashers for a while?

Recommend us your favourite horror written by a woman! Any hidden gems?

SL: You’re going to have to indulge me with a few: The Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson), Last House on Needless Street (Cat Ward), and Bunny (Mona Awad).

DSD: Yes! I just listened to the audiobook of Bunny and loved it! I’ve recently enjoyed books by Zoje Stage, Hailey Piper, Kiersten White, and Rachel Harrison– and I loved Sarah’s A Better World! And I really think that Cherie Priest deserves a lot more attention for her modern Southern Gothic horror tales.

RH: American Rapture by CJ Leede, Such A Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester, House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson, White Horse by Erika T. Wurth, Jackal by Eric E. Adams, Come Closer by Sara Gran

HP: I’m always up for making these recommendations! A recent favorite I highly recommend is The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim. You should also check out Midnight Rooms by Donyae Coles, Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin, and So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison. 

Those are all just this year! There are so many brilliant horror books by women every single year. The Cipher by Kathe Koja and The Between by Tananarive Due are both must-read classics from the 90s. Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth, Skin Thief by Suzan Palumbo, Sundial by Catriona Ward. Oh, definitely read Jackal by Erin E. Adams! And Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt. And Crossroads by Laurel Hightower will ruin your day. I could go on endlessly.

What’s your favourite scary movie?

SL: “Nightmare Alley” by a mile!

DSD: Jennifer’s Body. I also have a soft spot for the Scream franchise, as my husband and I saw Scream on our first date back in 1996 and have seen every Scream sequel in the theater since then..

RH: The Orphanage, still. Always.

HP: I have a deep love for A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS; it’s a comfort movie.  THE THING (1982) feels like a stock answer, but it’s such a masterpiece. And my wife and I watch THE WICKER MAN (1973) every May. That’s probably enough; I could go on endlessly with this too.

If you were to have your story adapted, what medium would you choose—anime, Netflix series or feature length film? Who would you cast for your main character? 

SL: I think the medium matters less than the content. A feature or limited series or continuing series would all work– what matters is that it’s good! Regarding directors, I love Jane Schoenbrun, Karen Kusama, Diablo Cody, and David Fincher. I’m a big Zemeckis fan. They’d all have different visions and those visions would be wonderful.

DSD: For Guillotine, a feature length film. I’d love to see it in the hands of Emerald Fennell, Bryan Fuller, Ryan Murphy, or Edgar Wright.

RH: I’d go for a TV series to give the story enough room to breathe. As far as casting, I could see Emma Stone as Sloane. Put that on out into the universe.

HP: I’m torn. An anime would make the monster effects work seamlessly with everything else, but I’m not sure it’s ideal for this particular book. A TV series would give it room to breathe, but that would probably be trapped on streaming. So I’ll say movie. I think a clever screenwriter and director could make it all click together for a 2-hour film. There are so many talented people working in movies, I know it can be done! As for casting Ivory, maybe Samara Weaving.

Finally, what is the one thing you hope readers take away from your writing?

SL: That they want to read everything I’ve ever written!!!!

DSD: Yes, that, 100%! Also, I tend to write my books through the lens of a female survivor, so I hope women who read my books feel seen and empowered.

RH: It’s my hope that my readers can relate to something in my work, that it helps them feel less alone in the world. And that it’s entertaining. Here for a good time.

HP: I look at my stories as invitations to conversation. So I hope people feel something emotional from that conversation. Lend me your heart, let me mistreat it, I promise to hand it back in one piece.

Thank you so much for joining us for Women in SFF!

SL: Thank you!

DSD: Thanks so much!

RH: Thank you!

HP: Thank you so much for having us!

Sarah Langan –  A Better World – Available now 

Sarah grew up on Long Island and got her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, and also received her Master’s in Environmental Health Science/Toxicology from New York University. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughters, and rabbits.

She’s received three Bram-Stoker awards for her fiction, and her work has often been included in best-of-the year lists and anthologies. She’s a founding board member of the Shirley Jackson Awards, and works in both film and prose.

Sarah Langan | Add to Goodreads | Available now

Delilah S. Dawson – Guillotine – 10th September 2024 

Delilah S. Dawson is the New York Times bestselling writer of Star Wars: Phasma, Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire, Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade, The Secrets of Long Snoot, The Perfect Weapon, and Scorched; Disney Mirrorverse: Pure of Heart, Midnight at the Houdini, Bloom, The Violence, the Blud series, Servants of the Storm, the HIT series, Wake of Vultures and the Shadow series (as Lila Bowen), and a variety of short stories in anthologies such as Death & Honey, Robots vs. Fairies, Hellboy: an Assortment of Horrors, Violent Ends, Carniepunk, Three Slices, and Last Night a Superhero Saved My Life. With Kevin Hearne, she is the co-writer of the Tales of Pell series. Her middle grade works include Mine, Camp Scare, and the Minecraft Mob Squad series.

Delilah S. Dawson | Add to Goodreads | Pre-order here

Rachel Harrison – So Thirsty – 10th September 2024

Rachel Harrison is the National Bestselling author of BLACK SHEEP, SUCH SHARP TEETH, CACKLE, and THE RETURN, which was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Her short fiction has appeared in Guernica, Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, as an Audible Original, and in her debut story collection BAD DOLLS. She lives in Western New York with her husband and their cat/overlord.

Her next novel, SO THIRSTY, is out September 10th from Titan.

Rachel Harrison | Add to Goodreads | Pre-order here 

Hailey Piper – All The Hearts You Eat – 15th October 2024

Hailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth, A Light Most Hateful, The Worm and His Kings series, and other books of dark fiction. She is also the author of over 100 short stories appearing in Weird Tales, Pseudopod, Cosmic Horror Monthly, Cast of Wonders, and various other publications. Her non-fiction appears in Writer’s Digest, Library Journal, CrimeReads, and elsewhere. She lives with her wife in Maryland, where their occult rituals are secret

Hailey Piper | Add to Goodreads | Pre-order here