Jill Girardi is a woman of horror that is near and dear to my heart (Cliché, I know, but sometimes a cliché is accurate!). She’s not just an awesome horror writer, but she fully supports and lifts up other women who have chosen to write in this historically male dominated genre. Jill was the first person to believe in me enough to give me the opportunity to transition from writer to published writer. When someone helps another person on that level, helping them believe that dreams actually can come true—well, nothing beats that. Jill Girardi is proof that one person really can make a difference.
Jill Girardi is the founder of Kandisha Press, an independent horror publisher which supports women horror writers around the world. She is also the author of multiple short stories, which feature her own brand of dark humor, beasties, and out of this world, nefarious creatures of her own design. Jill is also the best selling, award-nominated author of the Hantu Macabre series.
Jill Girardi is well known and loved among the horror community at large. She is extremely talented and a truly kind person. I am honored to have worked with her and hope to continue to do so. Her Twitter handle is @jill_girardi
So, after a long hiatus accompanied by multiple day job changes which resulted in massive life disarray, I am making my triumphant return with a review of an excellent anthology that seems to have been overlooked by the masses.
Lydia Prime edited this anthology and also has a story within its pages. The incomparable, Ramsey Campbell, introduces the stories inside with an insightful foreword.
The writers were asked to come up with stories that expressed who they are as authors. Many of them explore the true demons that haunt humanity. Alcoholism, death, lost love, and cowardice are themes that many of us have experienced first hand. Horror as a genre often utilizes monstrous beings to represent our greatest fears and weaknesses.
Some of these stories, like a great many horror stories, straddle the lines of horror/sci-fi/dark fantasy. This is one the things I love most about horror. It colors outside the lines.
There is a Stephen Kingish, leave you guessing, element to many of these tales, which is another thing I love about this genre. It encourages deeper thought after the story ends and I think many writers are drawn to it because of that. There is always more to the story, thus more that can be written.
I highly recommend this book, a five star read for sure!
So, tell me, how have I not read any of Shirley Jackson’s work? I vaguely was familiar with her name, but had no idea of her inspiring work in the horror genre. I had heard of the Netflix series, The Haunting of Hill House of course, but had no idea it was written by a woman of horror.
I haven’t watched the series yet though, because I recently watched this one:
I have to take a break between well done ghost stories if I want to get any sleep at night. Couldn’t look in mirrors for awhile after watching The Haunting of Bly Manor, and also didn’t realize how many mirrors there were in my house until I watched that series…
So why, have I not read Shirley Jackson? When it comes to famous authors, am I like a lot of people and only focused on the male ones? Especially when it comes to horror? And the funny thing is that according to Shirley Jackson’s Wikipedia page, great male writers like Stephen King and Neil Gaiman, count her among their influencers.
So, The Haunting of Hill House, is apparently “considered to be one of the best ghost stories ever written.”-Wikipedia
Ghost stories are my favorite in the horror genre, so of course, I’ve downloaded it on my Kindle and it will be my next read.
It saddens me that because of the time period in which she lived, Shirley Jackson was held back by society. Mainly, societal expectations for women, it seems. Although through her writing, she made much more money than her professor husband, he controlled the finances and she was given an allowance. Also, he apparently strayed quite often with his students. Shirley suffered from a great amount of anxiety and was prescribed barbiturates by her physician. She also battled alcoholism. I’ve read many counts of women in the past who weren’t allowed to reach their full potential and turned to drugs or alcohol. She died at the young age of 48. She contributed so much, but one has to wonder how much more she might have been accomplished if given a loose rein.
Why are writers so afraid? Well maybe I should just speak for myself, even though I know I’m not the only one. My journey as a writer began in Lancaster, Texas in seventh grade. A few of us were talking to our home room teacher before the bell rang for the period to begin and he asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. I don’t remember what the others said. I didn’t really know what I wanted to be, but I thought, well I really like to read, so I said, writer. I actually said (thinking I was funny), “Well it requires a pen.” The teacher looked at me and he said, “What does that mean?” So then I said, “I want to be a writer.” His response was, “Wouldn’t that require a typewriter?” So then I just felt stupid…as usual.
I really answered writer because I thought it was my only option. At the time, I was convinced that I had no talent for science or math. My original dream was to be a jockey because I wanted a job that involved being around horses. I grew too tall, though. For a brief amount of time, I thought I could be a horse trainer, but there were no horses to train in the apartment complex where we lived. All my knowledge of horse related jobs came from Walter Farley’s, Black Stallion series of books. So…writing seemed like a reasonable alternative to the jockey/horse trainer dream.
In spite of being embarrassed regarding the pen vs. typewriter debate, I let the idea of becoming a writer gestate inside my brain. I had written a couple of stories in elementary school. One was about fishes (although my mother said that it’s incorrect to write fishes since fish is both singular and plural. I later found out that I was correct because there were different species of fish in the story.), the other was in the Greek mythology genre. I don’t remember what either story was about.
So, a few days, a week or maybe a month later, I say to my mother that I want to be a writer. She responds, “You can’t be a writer. You don’t know anything.”
Well, as you can imagine, I didn’t write stories for many years. Why would I? I didn’t know typewriters were necessary for writing and in fact, I didn’t know anything at all. So, I spent the next several years reading a lot of books, watching a lot of TV, and not writing at all.
So, fast forward to now. All that happened fortyish years ago, but it still sticks with me. I’ve had a couple of horror stories published; one with Kandisha Press and the other in the Sirens Call eZine. So you would thing that would make me believe I am actually a writer. It did for a minute, but then the fear sets in again. A lot of writers say the voices in their head stop them from creating. But for me, it’s not imaginary. My own mother said, “You can’t be a writer. You don’t know anything.” That kind of thing sticks with a person. Your mother is supposed to be the person who loves you most and believes in you more than anyone else in the universe.
A lot of shitty stuff happened in my childhood and I’ve been told by many people that I should write about that. But, I don’t want to. I want to be creative and original, not rehash old garbage. I’m just touching on it in this post, because I’m trying to shake off my chains. I haven’t written in months. I am drowning in depression. I think that when creative people don’t create, that lack of release turns inward and poisons our bodies and souls.
Maybe I don’t know anything, but I’m going to write anyway.
“From deep within the wild Welsh countryside, Catherine McCarthy spins dark yarns that deliver a sting in the tail.
She is the author of the collections Door and other twisted tales, Mists and Megaliths, and also the novella, Immortelle (published by Off Limits Press July 2021): a Gothic tale of grief and revenge, set on the West Wales coast.
Her short stories and flash fiction have been published in various places online and in anthologies, including The British Fantasy Society Horizons, Flame Tree Press, Kandisha Press and Curiosities.
In 2020 she won the Aberystwyth University Prize for creative writing for her magical realism story, The Queen’s Attendant.
Having traded the challenges and rewards of teaching for the hurdles and merits of writing, Catherine McCarthy now lives with her illustrator husband in a two hundred year old cottage in West Wales amidst spectacular, story-inspiring countryside.
When she is not writing she may be found sewing in her ‘Garden Beehive’ or wandering the coast path, complete with picnic, sun-cream and just enough money for ice-cream.“
Catherine McCarthy is well known among women of horror and can be found engaging in many a Twitter conversation. Her books have rave reviews on Amazon and she has an avid following of devoted readers.
“Alyson lives in West Yorkshire, UK with her husband, teen son and four rescue animals. Her fiction has been published widely in print anthologies – DeadCades, Women in Horror Annual 2, Trembling with Fear 1 &2, Coffin Bell Journal 1, Stories from Stone, Ellipsis, Rejected (ed. Erin Crocker)and in many ezines, but most often on the Horror Tree site, in Siren’s Call.
She performs at open mics, teaches, edits and hangs out with her dog on the moor in all weathers.”
Alyson is a prolific writer and most recently wrote a little ditty for:
She also has a story in the Kandisha Press anthology, Don’t Break the Oath, where my debut story “The Trial of Jehenne de Brigue” can be found. I’m so honored to be in an anthology which includes a talented writer like her and so many others more talented than me! These Women of Horror, inspire me to continually improve my craft.
Janine’s bio on Kandisha Press (but she has been up to so much more since):
JANINE PIPE – Press Agent, Author, Red Sox Fan, Best Frightening Fiend.
“Janine Pipe is a Horror lover and writer who was first introduced to the genre by her ghost story telling dad – and she hasn’t looked back since. Citing Glenn Rolfe and Hunter Shea as her favourite current writers and mentors, she likes to shock, and create twists and turns. There is usually a lot of gore and plenty of swearing … She is very thankful to her biggest cheerleaders, her husband and daughter. She reviews for Scream Magazine and is a friend of Nightworms.
You can find several of her short stories at Kandisha Press, the charity anthology, Diabolica Britannica, 25 Gates of Hell, and Campfire Macabre from Cemetery Gates Media. She is currently writing a splatterpunk vampire hunter novella and an 80’s slasher. You will also find her podcasting with fellow Brit and indie author, Lou Yardley on Cryptids, Crypts and Coffee or buddy read reviewing and interviewing with Ben Long on her YouTube channel.”
“Hello everyone! I haven’t used this page for updates in *checks watch* 15 years (High Five if you get that reference) but I noticed several new likes over the last couple of weeks so thought I’d do a quick couple of posts.
I released my debut short story collection Twisted: Tainted Tales just over a year ago and it continues to do pretty well so thank you for any and all support with that.
Earlier this year I co-edited Slash-Her for Kandisha Press featuring 21 slasher tales told by women.
Jill Girardi of Kandisha Press is very special to me because she was the first person to consider a story of mine worth publishing. She is the chief cook and bottle washer at Kandisha Press where she along with her crew, publish horror anthologies written entirely by women. She is currently taking a break from that though so she can focus on her own writing. Jill has earned a break since she has already published five anthologies through her press.
Jill is the author of Hantu Macabre, (Published by Fixi Novo) the best-selling novel featuring punk rock paranormal detective Suzanna Sim and Tokek the toyol. The book was shortlisted for the 2019 Popular/The Star Readers’ Choice Awards. Suzanna and Tokek will also be taken to the big screen, as a full-length film based on the characters is set to start shooting in 2021, with former MMA Fighter Ann Osman starring as Suzanna.
Jill has several short horror stories published (many of which feature various small, wicked creatures) and will soon begin working on the next volume in the Hantu Macabre series. She currently lives in New York where she is the editor of the Kandisha Press Women of Horror Anthology books.
I’m going to try to share something every Wednesday (because that’s my off day from thankless/soul-sucking job) that represents a fellow woman horror writer. Women of Horror, let me know if you have a blog or website so I can follow and share. 🙂
First up: Lydia Prime:
“Lydia is that friendly monster under your bed waiting for you to stick a limb out from beneath the covers. When she’s not trying to shred scraps of humanity from the unsuspecting, she writes stories and poems of the horror and dark fiction variety. Her work can be found on Pen of the Damned, as well as The Ladies of Horror Picture-prompt Challenge on Spreading the Writers Word. Additionally, she has had several pieces published in issues of The Sirens Call eZine.
Take a walk through her mind and check out some of her creatures.
Above all, the most important thing to remember is that the fruity beverages can be found on the left. Don’t be afraid, you couldn’t possibly get lost in here, could you?” (Copied from her website about page.)
So I finally read a Dean Koontz book. I started with Watchers because several people in my circle said that it’s his best. Well it is entertaining, but incredibly simplistic. Everyone is too wonderful in this book. Well, there’s one guy that’s so awful that I would cringe when he showed up, but all the other wonderful people make up for that one guy. There’s a guy that’s sad that his wife died to the point of being suicidal, but he gets over that pretty easily. And a girl who was basically locked up from society her entire childhood and early adult life by a crazy aunt, but she gets over that pretty quickly too. Oh yeah, and of course she doesn’t realize how beautiful she is… Then there’s a guy who’s marriage is suffering, but not because he’s having affairs or anything. He just works too much. But forget all that simplicity and just read it for the dog, the wonderful dog!
I don’t get why people categorize Dean Koontz with Stephen King. Maybe because they’re both rich horror writers? Stephen King doesn’t allow any of his characters to be this wonderful and sappy though. Even the heroic ones have bigger issues than just being introverted or workaholics and such. It’s like how holy roller Christians group Satanists and Athiests. Not the same thing at all.
Anyway, I’m not giving up on Dean Koontz yet. I acquired this whole collection of his books from a friend:
Anyone want to suggest which one I read next?
As for Watchers, I give it 3 stars. It gets that many because it is a very entertaining read and if you’re a dog lover, you’ll love it just for the awesomeness that is Einstein, the Golden Retriever! Oh and of course there is a cool monster, but I feel sorry for him. Kind of like a Frankenstein’s monster sort of scenario.
Multiverse Dream 