Skip to main content

Woman In Horror: Editor and Author Jeani Rector

Grave Events book cover with photo of aged human corpse.
Photo Credit: The Horror Zine



To close Women in Horror Month, I’ve asked editor and author Jeani Rector to be my guest blogger for this post. Jeani is the founding editor of the online literary journal, The Horror Zine. Her latest novel is Grave Events which released last September. She was elected Best Magazine/e-zine Editor by Preditors & Editors three times: once in 2012, again in 2013 and then in 2014. I’m proud to say she is a fellow Sacramentan and so resides in the Sacramento area.

Jeani presents us here with a very intriguing article that breaks the stereotype of horror as a man’s genre. And now heeeere’s Jeani . . . !

-------------


WOMEN IN HORROR
by Jeani Rector, Editor
The Horror Zine
http://www.thehorrorzine.com

“What’s a nice girl like you doing editing and writing horror?”

This is the reaction from some when I explain what I do. “Women in horror” is a difficult concept for some. We are perceived as more submissive than men, and…well…nice. And many do not view the horror genre as “nice.”

In reality, women in horror have been a vital life force in horror since its inception. Remember that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. And we all know the impact that Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House had on the ghost story crowd.

The concept of horror has unfortunately been stereotyped for many people by slasher and gore films.

I am not saying that slasher and gore are not horror. I am saying that slasher and gore are only one sub-genre of horror.

So let’s ask: what is horror?

People are attracted to horror books and films because it is similar to riding a roller-coaster: you get excitement and thrills, yet you know deep down that you will land safely because it is all pretend. Horror is fun without consequences.

There is something visceral and ingrained in people to seek out the morbidly fascinating. Reading a horror story or watching a film often makes us more appreciative of our own calm existence after vicariously experiencing a protagonist’s fears.

According to Glenn Sparks, Ph.D, a professor and associate head of the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University, one reason for the appeal is how you feel after the movie or book. This is called the excitation transfer process. Sparks’s research found that when people watch frightening films, their heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increases.

“After the film is over, this physiological arousal lingers,” Sparks said. “That means that any positive emotions you experience—like having fun with friends—are intensified. Instead of focusing on the fright you felt during the film, you recall having a great time. And you’ll want to come back for more.” [1]

A misconception about horror is that some people erroneously equate it with Satanism. While there are books and films that contain the concepts of Heaven and Hell (think Blatty’s The Exorcist), in no way do you see the horror genre promoting or endorsing devil worship. In fact, most of the time, good triumphs over evil in the end (think Stephen King’s The Stand).

How did horror get its start?

Filmmakeriq.com states: “Monsters, murderers, demons and beasts have been around since antiquity, and ghost stories have been told round camp fires since we learned how to talk. But the roots of filmed horror were an extension of a genre of literature that got its start in the late 1700s: Gothic Horror. Developed by writers in both Great Britain and the United States, the Gothic part of the name refers to pseudo medieval buildings that these stories took place—think of a old castle on a dark and stormy night—gloomy forests, dungeons and secret passage ways.” [2]

A good place to learn about how the horror genre came into being is the film A History of Horror (also known as A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss), a 2010 three-part documentary series made for the BBC by British writer and actor Mark Gatiss. It is a personal exploration of the history of horror film, inspired by Gatiss’ lifelong enthusiasm for the genre.

Horror is a genre in fiction, yet it comes with many sub-genres.

Here are my preferred sub-genres of horror:

Ghost: This is one of my favorites. Ghost stories depend upon atmosphere. Often in a film, the ghost is never seen, but is replaced by tension. (Drummer Boy by Scott Nicholson or The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson)

Monster: Another favorite. The monster can be made to be sympathetic or evil. The Bride of Frankenstein is a perfect example of a sympathetic monster.  In my opinion, it takes more talent to make a monster sympathetic than evil. (Jurrassic Park by Michael Crichton, Jaws by Peter Benchley, and of course Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)

Alien: Horror marries sci-fi. (The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury or the film Alien)

Zombies: Used to be part of the monster sub-genre, but are now so popular, they have their own category. Same with vampires. (anything by Joe McKinney)

Psychological: Often contains the element of surprise. When done well, this category is very effective in the tension and suspense elements. (Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris or Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane)

The above sub-genres are why a nice girl like me does what I do. These categories take talent to create good character development and an effective plot-line. They do not rely on shock but require an actual story.

Here are other sub-genres that are not my favorites but are popular nonetheless:

Splatter-punk: Gore, gore, gore, and hardcore, hardcore, hardcore. Does not rely on plot, but on shock.

Killer: Lots of stalking and usually revolves around a female victim.

Slasher: Like splatter-punk but without the hardcore. Slasher often revolves around teenage victims and doesn’t need a plot, which is why they can re-make Friday the 13th ten billion times.

What writers can be considered today’s “masters of the macabre?”

Ranker.com lists Ramsey Campbell, Clive Barker, James Herbert, Richard Matheson, and Robert McCammon as their top five. [3]

While those names certainly are deserving of the top five (especially Ramsey Campbell), I would like to include some more modern horror masters of my own:

Joe R. Lansdale: Mr. Mojo writes in a folksy, southern voice that makes you comfortable before he bites you with surprises. My favorites are The Bottoms and Lost Echoes.

Joe McKinney: McKinney is becoming the reigning King of the Zombies. Don’t miss his Dead World series.

Scott Nicholson: Just as McKinney is King of Zombies, Scott Nicholson is King of Ghosts. I loved his authentic Drummer Boy and let’s not forget his best-selling The Red Church.

Lisa Morton: This Bram Stoker award-winner writes non-fiction about the history of Halloween, but her new mystery series Netherworld is fiction at its finest; combining 19th century sleuthing with the paranormal.

John Farris: Oh my god, you have to read Son of the Endless Night. Talk about good versus evil. This one is probably the scariest book I have ever read. It is a mixture of demons and psychological terror.

Susie Moloney: No one does character development better than Susie Moloney. Her characters feel like your neighbors, or worse, your own family. Try The Dwelling, A Dry Spell, or if you like witches, The Thirteen.

Bentley Little: The beauty of Bentley is that he takes average people and thrusts them into not-so-average situations. That makes the reader think, “This could happen to me.” I like his The Association and The Haunted.

Stephen King: Well, of course, I have to include the King of Everything. I grew up on Stephen King. Favs are The Stand and Salem’s Lot. I will always prefer early King over his later stuff.

So there you have it: why a girl like me edits and writes horror like that.





-------------



Don’t forget to check out the neat work at TheHorrorZine.com! 

Until next time . . . 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Book-To-Movie: ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’

Credit: Wikimedia Commons I apologise for posting outside our regular post-day which is late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. However, I got behind on several things last week and so had to postpone the post to today.  I’ve been a reader of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books ever since I was 11. What I’ve always liked so much about the series is that, like a good horror story, the stories often take place in dark settings and involve bizarre cases. Conan Doyle’s novel, “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, definitely contains these elements. It’s a detective story that crosses over into the gothic horror genre. Several movie adaptations of the novel have been made that go as far back as a 1915 German silent film. In 1959 Hammer Studios released a version starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. As much as I’m a fan of the Hammer horror films, I have not seen that one yet. The only one that I’ve seen so far is the 1939 adaptation starring that other big name in classic Bri

Book-To-Movie: ‘I Am Legend’

A vampire similar to the ones in 2008's "I Am Legend" which starred Will Smith. Credit: Pixabay.com It’s time for another Book-To-Movie review! In a Book-To-Movie, I review a book and its movie adaptations. This month’s book and its movies based on it is I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. While vampires were no longer in in the American pop culture of the the 1950s, science fiction horror in general was. So Matheson’s I Am Legend brought the scientificising of vampires into the pulp literary scene of that era. Not too long after, in the early ‘60s, the first of three book-to-movie adaptions appeared and was renamed The Last Man On Earth which starred Vincent Price. The other two were The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston in the ‘70s and I Am Legend starring Will Smith in the 2001s. Even though each one debunked the myth of the vampire as a supernatural being, each had its own depiction of the creature. ‘I Am Legend’, The Book Set in a near post-apocalyptic fu

Book-To-Movie: Stephen King’s 'The Raft'

Credit: Pixabay.com It's the third Saturday of the month and so that means it's time for another Book-To-Movie ! In a Book-To-Movie we review a book and its movie adaptation. One of the reasons I as a horror fan don’t read a lot of Stephen King’s work is because most of it consists of novels that go more than 400 pages. I have a short attention span when it comes to reading, ironically since I consider myself an avid reader, and so I normally won’t read a work that is much more than the equivalent to a 350-page mass market paperback. The other reason why I don’t read a lot of King’s work is that, as literary scholars will tell you, a lot of his writing is poor. However, he does have some good writing in his works, especially his earlier stuff, including his short horror tales. So if I read anything by Stephen King it’s usually his short stories or novellas. One of his collections I’ve read is Skeleton Crew which includes some of his good, or at least better, fi