For this week's spotlight on Women in Horror, we will be shouting out some of those disturbingly dark and quiet ladies of the genre!
Horror is a wonderful genre that is filled with so many variations of horror that any reader can find a style that suits them. Quiet horror often includes ghost stories, gothic-style stories, psychological horror, or paranormal stories where the blood and gore are often implied rather than shown and the violence is toned down to be not so graphically displayed and, in your face, while still keeping the horror of the moment intact.
The ladies listed below are experts at their craft and are a great place to start exploring this stye of horror. I personally have read books by every lady on this list and have been able to meet or converse with many of them as well. They are incredibly talented, delightful to engage with, and have been nothing but kind.
This list is just a sampling and is by no means exhaustive. There are so many wonderfully talented women writing horror that I would need a hundred hours to list them all but start your journey with these and seek out others from there!
Gwendolyn Kiste - Gwendolyn Kiste is the three-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rust Maidens, Reluctant Immortals, Boneset & Feathers, and Pretty Marys All in a Row, among others. Her short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in outlets including Lit Hub, Nightmare, Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Vastarien, Tor Nightfire, Titan Books, and The Dark.
She's a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and her fiction has also received the This Is Horror award for Novel of the Year as well as nominations for the Premios Kelvin and Ignotus awards. Originally from Ohio, she now resides on an abandoned horse farm outside of Pittsburgh with her husband, their excitable calico cat, and not nearly enough ghosts.
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Ania Ahlborn - Ania Ahlborn is a Polish-American author known for her work in the horror and thriller genres. Born in Ciechanów, Poland, she moved to the United States when she was young.
Ahlborn began her writing career by self-publishing her first novel, Seed, before gaining recognition for her distinctive voice in horror. Her novels often explore dark and psychological themes, captivating readers with her ability to create chilling atmospheres and complex characters.
One of her notable works, "Brother," garnered attention for its intense narrative and psychological depth. Her storytelling style often blends elements of psychological horror, suspense, and a keen understanding of the dark intricacies of human nature. She has earned praise for her contributions to both the horror and psychological thriller genres, and her novels have resonated with readers who appreciate atmospheric, character-driven, no-holds-barred fiction.
Originally hailing from Albuquerque, New Mexico, she has lived in Portland, Oregon and Greenville, South Carolina. She currently resides outside of Raleigh, North Carolina with her husband, son, and standard schnauzer.
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Stephanie Ellis - Stephanie Ellis writes dark speculative prose and poetry. Her novels include The Five Turns of the Wheel, Reborn, The Woodcutter, and The Barricade, and the novellas, Bottled and Paused. Her short stories appear in the collections The Reckoning and Devil Kin.
She is a Rhysling and Elgin Award nominated poet and has written the collection Foundlings (with Cindy O’Quinn), Lilith Rising & Mason Gorey (both with Shane Douglas Keene) and Metallurgy, as well as appearing in the HWA Poetry Showcase. She can be found supporting indie authors at HorrorTree.com via the weekly Indie Bookshelf Releases.
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Cindy O'Quinn - Cindy O'Quinn is an Appalachian writer from the beautiful mountains of West Virginia, where she was steeped in folklore from an early age. She now lives and writes about scary happenings on the old Tessier Homestead located in the woods of northern Maine.
Her work has been published in the Shirley Jackson Award winning anthology, THE TWISTED BOOK OF SHADOWS. Cindy's story, "Lydia", from the anthology was a 2019 Bram Stoker Award Nominee. She's also been published in HWA Poetry Showcase Vol V, Nothing's Sacred Vol 4 & 5, Speculative City, Space & Time, and others.
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Katherine Silva - Katherine Silva is an ace Maine horror author, a connoisseur of coffee, and victim of cat shenanigans. Her favorite flavors of the genre mix grief and existentialism which she combines with her love of the New England wilderness in her works.
She is a two-time Maine Literary Award finalist for speculative fiction and a member of the Horror Writers of Maine, The Horror Writers Association, and New England Horror Writers Association. Katherine is also editor-in-chief of Strange Wilds Press and Dark Taiga Creative Writing Consultations. Her latest book, Undead Folk, releases May 1st.
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L. Marie Wood - L. Marie Wood is a Golden Stake Award-winning author, a MICO Award-winning screenwriter, a two-time Bram Stoker Award® Finalist, a Rhysling nominated poet, and an accomplished essayist. She writes high concept fiction that includes elements of psychological horror, mystery, dark fantasy, thriller, and romance. Wood has won over 50 national and international screenplay and film awards. She is also part of the 2022 Bookfest Book Award winning poetry anthology, Under Her Skin.
Wood has penned short fiction that has been published in groundbreaking works, including the anthologies Sycorax's Daughters and Slay: Stories of the Vampire Noire. Her nonfiction has been published in Nightmare Magazine and academic textbooks such as the cross-curricular, Conjuring Worlds: An Afrofuturist Textbook. Wood is the founder of the Speculative Fiction Academy, an English and Creative Writing professor, a horror scholar, and a frequent contributor to the conversation around the evolution of genre fiction.
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Elizabeth Broadbent - Elizabeth Broadbent is a speculative fiction author from the American South. She’s the author of Ink Vine (Undertaker Books) Ninety-Eight Sabers (Undertaker Books) and Blood Cypress (Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2025), as well as Naked & Famous (ELJ Editions, 2023). Her long career as a journalist included bylines in The Washington Post, Time, Insider, The Huffington Post, and many more.
Her fiction has published by Penumbric, Tales to Terrify, Haven Speculative, If There’s Anyone Left, The Black Beacon Book of Horror, and many others, including a three-story arc in Hyphenpunk. Her poetry has appeared in The Cafe Irreal and Antipodean SF.
Broadbent lives in the snarkiest city in America with her patient husband, three sons, two cats, German Shepherd, and Sumter County Dog Goblin.
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Rebecca Cuthbert - Rebecca Cuthbert writes dark fiction and poetry. Her books include IN MEMORY OF EXOSKELETONS (poetry, Alien Buddha Press); CREEP THIS WAY: How to Become a Horror Writer with 24 Tips to Get You Ghoulding (Nonfiction, Seamus and Nunzio Productions); SELF-MADE MONSTERS (hybrid feminist horror, Alien Buddha Press); DOWN IN THE DARK DEEP WHERE THE PUDDLERS DWELL (spooky children's book, Malediction and AEA Press); and SIX O'CLOCK HOUSE & OTHER STRANGE TALES (literary horror stories/dark fiction, Watertower Hill Publishing).
Her poem "Still Love" has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Best of the Net Award (Nocturne Magazine); her story "Grafting" was nominated for Best of the Net (Miniskirt Magazine). Other notable publications include "No Rest Nor Relief For You With Me Dead," (Shakespeare Unleashed, Monstrous Books and Crystal Lake Publishing); "The Quilting Circle of Bygone Gardens," (Soul Scream Antholozine, Seamus and Nunzio Productions); and "Falling to Pieces," (We're Here: Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2022, Neon Hemlock Press).
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Wendy Dalrymple - Wendy Dalrymple loves to explore the beauty in horrific things. When she’s not writing femme-focused #pinkhorror, you can find her hiking with her family, painting (bad) wall art, and trying to grow as many pineapples as possible. Follow her everywhere @wendydalrymplewrites.
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Leigh Kenny - Leigh was born and raised in the garden county of Wicklow, Ireland. She lives by the Irish Sea with the love of her life, two wonderful boys, a black Labrador, and a three-legged cat that hates people. You can find out more about Leigh’s work and any upcoming releases on her social media: LeighKennyWrites
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Amanda Headlee - Amanda Headlee is the author of Till We Become Monsters, Madness and Greatness Can Share the Same Face, and several short stories. Her work is often influenced by the fear born from humanity’s insignificance in comparison to the vastness of the universe. She has been known to speak endlessly about cosmic horror and psychology when rounds of chai tea are involved.
As a wandering wonderer, Amanda spends her free time riding one of her many bikes or hiking the Appalachian Mountains. She shares her Pennsylvania abode with a plethora of exotic plants and a horror-loving pup named Sprout.
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Jennifer Anne Gordon - Jennifer Anne Gordon is an award-winning author and popular host of the Vox Vomitus podcast. Her novel Beautiful, Frightening and Silent won the Kindle Award for Best Horror/Suspense for 2020, Best Horror 2020 from Authors on the Air, and a finalist for American Book Fest’s Best Book Award- Horror, 2020. It also received the Platinum 5 Star Review from Reader’s Choice as well as the Gold Seal from Book View.
Her latest novel Pretty/Ugly won the Helicon Award for Best Horror for 2022, as well as the Gold Medal from Literary Titan. Jennifer is a member of Mystery Writers of America, the Horror Writers Association (where she served on the jury for the Stoker Awards), and is a A&E chair of the New England Crime Bake Committee.
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R.J. Joseph - R. J. Joseph is an award winning, Stoker™ and Shirley Jackson awards nominated, Texas based writer who earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and who must exorcise the demons of her imagination, so they don't haunt her being. A lifelong horror fan and writer of many things, she joyously discovered and embraced writing in the academic arena about three important aspects of her life: horror, Black femininity, and popular culture.
She has had works published in various venues, including the Halloween 2020 issue of Southwest Review and The Streaming of Hill House: Essays on the Haunting Netflix Series. Her horror collection, Hell Hath No Sorrow like a Woman Haunted, was released in August 2022 by The Seventh Terrace.
When she isn't writing, reading, or teaching, she can usually be found wrangling her huge, blended family of one husband, five adult sprouts, six teenaged sproutlings, five grandboo seedlings, and one furry hellbeast who sometimes pretends to be a dog.
R.J. is also an instructor at The Speculative Fiction Academy, a co-host of the Genre Blackademia podcast, and the editor of a novella series with RDSP. Film/TV rep: Karmen Wells, The Rights Factory.
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MJ Mars - MJ Mars is a geek, ghoul, and horror enthusiast living in Lancaster, UK. Her debut novel, The Suffering, was published by Wicked House in 2023. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find MJ playing pool, trying to skateboard (badly), or listening to rock music. She owes every success to her mis-spent youth.
Short story collection, We’ve Already Gone Too Far out now! Coming in 2025: The Fovea Experiments, a second novel to be published by Wicked House. MJ is currently working on a sequel to The Suffering.
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