Reading Widely for the Scare

As I mentioned in my last post, now is the time of year when I get my freak on, booky style. I consume all things horror. The Good, The Bad, and the Really Really Really Bad. I have in years past, stuck to my staples; Clive Barker, Stephen King, Bram Stoker. All are fantastic wordsmiths of horror! All are old white dudes.

I occasionally dabble in Paranormal Romance, with a re-reading of Frankenstein thrown in, but I run into the same problem. Mary Shelley, Patricia Briggs, and J.R. Ward are all fantastic writers, but they are all white women. And there is nothing wrong with that! I myself am an older Millenial white librarian. I can relate to those stories. They're like comfort food. Hot chocolate for my soul. 

That is not to say that a white writer cannot write a non-white character, and do it well. Perish the thought! I love Patricia Briggs's Mercy Thompson. She's like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Harry Dresden had a half-Native American coyote shifter love child!

But I realized that there is a whole world of horror and paranormal fiction out there, that my fingers don't readily dance to on the bookshelf (That's literal BTW. I'm weird that way). I realized this year that I need to expand my repertoire. 

It all started with Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older.

You guys, Sierra Santiago is ALL THE THINGS! She's a strong, flawed, vulnerable, black latina painter from Brooklyn, who finds strength within herself to embrace a destiny, that is concealed from her by EVERYONE SHE HAS EVER MET! 

Yes, I was shouty with the run-on sentence. But feels!

This is not exactly horror, more paranormal mystery. But there are zombies! The full-on Haitian Voodoo kind, not the viral outbreak kind. There are also ghosts, spectral possessions, and the greatest terror of all, malevolent cultural appropriation! Way to get political with your villain Mr. Older! I tip my hat.

I found Shadowshaper on a YA booklist from Book Riot written by Kelly Jensen. She's one of my favorite book reviewers. So I gave it a shot. If you enjoy paranormal themes, well written characters, and language put to the page like a painting, you should give it a shot too.

After reading Shadowshaper, I really got into the idea of reading horror from perspectives that differ from my own; reading more widely, in other words. The simplest thing I could think of was to start with writers of different backgrounds and races from my own. Turned out to not be so simple. According to my research, only something like 11% of novels published in the US each year are written by people of color. Break that down into genre fiction, and the number gets smaller.

There is, of course Octavia Butler, who was and is a goddess in the field of horror. (She passed away in 2006) But I couldn't think of anyone else! So I started researching 'horror writers of color' and found these lists.

• YOUR 25 FAVORITE AUTHORS OF COLOR
• Black Women Horror Writers
• Speculative fiction by writers of color
• I GOT YOUR WEIRD RIGHT HERE: 100 MUST-READ STRANGE AND UNUSUAL NOVELS (this is not solely a POC list, but it has some great entries)

My first port of call was Nalo Hopkinson's Sister Mine.

Hopkinson's Makeda is now one of my favorite protagonists ever! She spends her whole life in the shadow of her twin sister Abby. This is challenging, because her family is peopled with gods, and she's the only one without magic. Makeda struggles to pull away from her sister's influence, and create a genuine human life for herself.

The 'haint' that follows Makeda is one of the most layered monsters I've ever read about. It's grotesque and tortured and heavily tragic. There are so many shades of Frankenstein going on in this story! The narrative is like hot chocolate with a hint of chili pepper. Yum!

My scary reading season will still feature old standards. I re-read Cabal, Carrie, and Dracula almost every year. But this year I'm going to throw in some different perspectives. Here's my TBR POC Writers Reading List.

Ring by Koji Suzuki- I admit, I saw the movie first. But I have read the first chapter of Ring, and I am hooked already.

Fledgling by Octavia Butler- A vampire story by the aforementioned goddess of horror.

Voodoo Dreams: A Novel of Marie Laveau- I'm not gonna lie. After Shadowshaper, I now have a thirst for Voodoo zombies in my horror reading. This got 3.8 stars on Goodreads, so I'm willing to give it a shot.

Salsa Nocturna: Stories by Daniel José Older- I'm a big fan of anthologies and Mr. Older already has me hooked. I'm looking forward to getting this hold in from the library.

The Last Final Girl by Stephen Graham Jones- I can't get enough of meta-horror. The description of this book references Cabin in the Woods and Tarantino. What's not to love?

And maybe just one more to round out the year...

Loups-Garous by Natsuhiko Kyogoku- I'm all about werewolves right now. I blame Patricia Briggs, Sarah McCarty, and Teen Wolf for bringing back this obsession. I'm really hoping that there are actual werewolves in this story, and that it scares the pants off me! If the cover is any indication, I won't be disappointed.

Side Note:If you're into werewolves, I highly recommend a little known millenium era TV series called Wolf Lake. Pre-Vampire Diaries Paul Wesley as a teenage alpha-male werewolf, and Sherman Blackstone are everything!