March is Women in Horror month, and I am currently doing a daily spotlight over on my personal blog which you can find at the link at the end of this post, but there are far too many great ladies writing horror to just keep it to 31 spotlights for the month!
Today, I'm going to showcase a bunch of incredible female authors that are writing splatterpunk and extreme horror (as well as other subgenres)! This list is by no means complete or in any particular order but is just a sampling of what I have recently read, seen out in the wild, or have reviewed at some point.
Check these ladies out, seek out others, and enjoy the ride!
Sarah DeRosa- Sarah DeRosa can be found deep within the Michigan forests, where she was raised. Her fascination with horror was ignited by the chilling tales of the Goosebumps series as well as the forbidden thrill of watching the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise at a very impressionable age.
When she is not weaving dark tales or delving into the depraved worlds of other writers, she prefers to get lost wandering the haunting wooded trails with her husky, Big Pollo. She has an affinity for indulging in the sinister delight of poutine and loves playing in the rain.
Find her books here:
Judith Sonnet- Judith Sonnet writes a wide variety of horror fiction. From extreme horror (No One Rides For Free) to Splatterpunk (Psych Ward Blues) to cosmic horror (The Home) to quiet horror (GASPS) and even erotic horror (Hot Musket)! But her favorite thing to write about . . . is zombies! (Torture the Sinners!, Hell: City of the Killing Dead, Blood and Brains, and Low Blasphemy.)
She's an anthologist, fiction curator, and collector. Judith Sonnet is a trans woman, and she currently lives in Utah, where she hoards vintage books, black and white monster movies, kitschy adult films from the 70s and 80s, and old Halloween decorations. You can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and Letterboxd, where she interacts with her readers.
Find her books here:
Bridgett Nelson- Once an operating room registered nurse, Bridgett Nelson so enjoyed playing with human organs, she decided to turn her macabre interest into a horror writing career. She loves bubble baths (because nothing says spooooky writer like orange-scented bubbles), hates not knowing what’s swimming in the water with her, lives for Halloween season (but loathes chainsaw-wielding dudes in haunted houses), adores her West Virginia University Mountaineers, is very pro-Oxford comma, and thinks bananas are absolutely disgusting.
Her first collection, A Bouquet of Viscera, is a two-time Splatterpunk Award winner, recognized both for the collection itself and its standout story, "Jinx." She is also the author of Poisoned Pink, What the Fuck Was That?, Sweet, Sour, & Spicy, and her first novella, Red Inside, is now available!
Find her books here:
Rayne Havok - Rayne lives in the Arizona desert, free to leave her house whenever she wants, she chooses not to risk death by sweltering sun demons. Instead, she stays safely indoors with a computer and all the words she knows, slapping them together in any which way she chooses in the moment.
Often gory, sometimes erotic. She loves the limitless boundaries of writing and tends to push them toward extreme. She loves hearing what you think, so leave a review! Reach out to her on Goodreads or TheRayneHavok@gmail.com
Find her books here:
Christine Morgan- Christine Morgan divides her writing time among many genres, from horror to historical, from superheroes to smut, anything in between and combinations thereof. She's a future crazy-cat-lady and a longtime gamer, who enjoys British television, cheesy action/disaster movies, cooking and crafts. Which latter two led the Bizzong! podcast to refer to her as "The Martha Stewart of extreme horror," so, make of that what you will!
She is the author of multiple novels, including the Splatterpunk Award Winning LAKEHOUSE INFERNAL. Her short stories have appeared in dozens of anthologies, as well as several collections. An active member of the extreme horror and bizarro communities, she also reviews and takes on the occasional editing/proofreading gig.
Find her books here:
Kenzie Jennings- Kenzie Jennings is an English professor residing in the sweltering tourist pocket of central Florida. She is the author of the Splatterpunk Award nominated books Reception and Red Station (Death’s Head Press) as well as the collection Always Listen to Her Hurt under her imprint, Blistered Siren Press.
Find her books here:
Carietta Dorsch- Carietta Dorsch has loved horror movies since she was a little girl watching them at a way too earlier age and loves even more to share her love of horror with her writing. She also writes poetry, romance, and true crime.
Find her books here:
Rebecca Rowland- Rebecca Rowland grew up in Western Massachusetts but spent her early adult life in the Boston area, and most of her fiction is set in those locations. She is a Shirley Jackson Award finalist for her second fiction collection and an editor of seven horror anthologies, one of which earned a Bram Stoker Award nomination.
She is an Active member of the Horror Writers Association and her writing genres of choice are psychological, transgressive, and art house horror heavily influenced by Joyce Carol Oates, A.M. Homes, and Chuck Palahniuk. Rebecca is represented by Becky LeJeune at Bond Literary.
Find her books here:
Eve Harms-Eve Harms is a writer of horror and bizarro fiction. Her trans body horror novella TRANSMUTED was featured in Sadie Hartman’s award-winning book 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered, and her other work has appeared in publications such as Vastarien Literary Journal, under Rayna Waxhead, and Creepy Catalog, under Kendra Temples.
In addition to her love for storytelling, her belief in art and the power of self-expression feeds her passion for zines, the creative commons, and the work of independent creators. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her children's book illustrator spouse and two cats.
Find her books here:
Megan Stockton- Megan Stockton is an indie author who lives in rural Middle Tennessee with her husband and two children. She primarily writes dystopian, horror, thriller, and science fiction/fantasy novels that are character-driven and immersive. She is known for delivering works that are raw, thought-provoking, brutal, and cinematic.
Find her books here:
Ali Seay- Writer of horrory things, clumsy runner, gluten free baker, Goonie, awful singer. Author of Go Down Hard (Grindhouse Press) and To Offer Her Pleasure (Weirdpunk Books). Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. Also writes the dirty as Sommer Marsden. Baltimore native. Lives with a herd of strange people a.k.a. her family.
Find her books here:
Shannon Bradner- Shannon resides in a one-stoplight town in Virginia with her husband. Her first love was reading. When not being a bookworm or writing her own stories, she tries her best to hermit with her husband and cats.
Find her books here:
Monica J. O'Rourke - Monica J. O'Rourke has published more than one hundred short stories in magazines such as Postscripts, Nasty Piece of Work, Fangoria, Flesh & Blood, Nemonymous, and Brutarian and anthologies such as Horror for Good (for charity), The Mammoth Book of the Kama Sutra, and The Best of Horrorfind. She is the author of Poisoning Eros I and II, written with Wrath James White, Suffer the Flesh, and the brand-new collection, In the End, Only Darkness.
Watch for her new novel, What Happens in the Darkness, later this year from Sinister Grin Press. Monica works as a freelance editor, proofreader, and book coach. Her website is an ongoing and seemingly endless work in progress, so find her on www.facebook.com/MonicaJORourke in the meantime.
Find her books here:
Michelle von Eschen- Michelle von Eschen (early works written as Michelle Kilmer) is an American author of quiet, literary horror. Her work includes the novel When the Dead and the novella Mistakes I Made During the Zombie Apocalypse, four short story collections: Last Night While You Were Sleeping, When You Find Out What You’re Made Of, Once Upon a Time, When Things Turned Out Okay, and Old Farmhouses of the North.
She is a co-author of The Spread which she wrote with her twin sister, and a co-editor of GIVE: An Anthology of Anatomical Entries. Michelle has also written The Murk of Us, a nonfiction prose and poetry collection documenting the horrors of the toxic empath/narcissist relationship. Her short stories are featured in several anthologies including Roms, Bombs, and Zoms from Evil Girlfriend Media, A Very Zombie Christmas from ATZ Publications, and Jolly Horror's Don't Cry to Mama and Accursed.
Michelle is a lover of the macabre who prefers Earl Grey tea, October, people who say goodbye on the phone, and her dreams are so real she can’t figure out what has really happened to her. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys weightlifting, dark beer, web design, singing and playing guitar, and watching horror movies. She lives in England with her husband, horror author Jonathan Butcher.
Find her books here:
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