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7 min read
Folk tales, dark impulses, vampires and body horror… why women and marginalised writers are embracing the dark side right now.
Think of horror books and your mind might automatically go to pulpy black and red paperbacks of the 70s and 80s, but something is changing. In the last few years, horror has had a glow-up – we’re going with ‘femgore’.
Featuring eerie yet stylish covers, and often written by women (think Zakiya Dalila Harris’s The Other Black Girl, Kirsty Logan’s queer-embracing witchlit and serial killer short stories, and Sarah Pinborough’s genre-bending books) and aimed directly at a female and feminist audience, horror is enjoying a renaissance that reflects our times.
“Horror has always been such an interesting genre,” explains Natasha Qureshi, commissioning editor at Hodderscape. “It often explores pain and grief, and who better to write about it than women and the queer community? We all exist in a world where difference is dangerous and you don’t have to look too far back to see that; we’re watching it every day in the news and on social media.”
“Authors like Tananarive Due, Octavia E Butler and Silvia Moreno-Garcia have long spearheaded socially conscious horror with rich prose and twisted storytelling. Going forward, I think there will be an emphasis on more socially conscious horror that explores the Western fear of ‘otherness’, violence against women and the trans community.”
Jen Williams, author of new folk horror The Hungry Dark, agrees: “In the last few years women’s bodily autonomy has come under attack in ways that we probably thought we had in some ways dealt with – the issues around abortion in the US, for example. Things we thought were fairly concrete are being rolled back and the dystopia of The Handmaid’s Tale feels a little too close for comfort.
“Women have always been writing in this genre [after all, Mary Shelley was one of the earliest proponents of the genre with Frankenstein in 1818 while Shirley Jackson is the great-grandmother of the modern horror novel], but it feels as though the spotlight has finally been turned in this direction, and if there’s one thing women tend to do when confronted with awful things, it’s face them.
“Horror always reacts to the world around it – commercialism and zombies in the 70s and 80s, atomic horrors in the 50s and 60s – and I imagine that in 20 years’ time, it’ll be much easier to look back on early 21st century horror and pinpoint exactly what was shifting the boundaries.”
Horror always reacts to the world around it
Author Jen Williams
It’s a thought that’s underlined by Qureshi, who highlights that her newest titles are doing exactly this. “This year Hodderscape will be publishing This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings, a powerful issue-driven sapphic fantasy that takes place during the Harlem Renaissance and uses vampires to explore the real-life events of the Tulsa race massacre and the unethical experimentation on African Americans.”
“In 2025, Hodder & Stoughton will be publishing Bat Eater And Other Names For Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker, a propulsive horror thriller set in New York’s Chinatown, which explores the violence experienced by the East Asian community during the Covid-19 pandemic. I’m also excited to see more books coming from Cassandra Khaw, Alma Katsu and Jihyun Yun.”
Inspired by the rise of femgore, we’ve put together some of the most urgent titles of the past few years – and the unmissable, political-yet-terrifying reads that are due out in the next few months.
Leave your light on is our advice…
Flowers From The Void by Gianni Washington
Shop Flowers From The Void by Gianni Washington (Profile) at Bookshop, £14.99
The Hungry Dark by Jen Williams
“Some places are just bad.” Ashley Whitelam is working as a fake psychic when she becomes entangled in the search for missing children in the Lake District, a case that pulls her back to the foreboding Red Rigg House, a local legend and the ghostly figures who haunted her own childhood. Be warned: chapter 61 gave us actual goosebumps (out 11 April).
Shop The Hungry Dark by Jen Williams (HarperCollins) at Bookshop, £16.99
Chlorine by Jade Song
Weaving together themes of control, misogyny and homophobia, this is the tale of teenage swimmer Ren Yu who longs to leave behind the demands placed on her and her body and dreams of becoming a mermaid at any cost. It’s worth remembering that in the original Little Mermaid, she’s given the choice between murdering the prince or stabbing herself. These mermaids…
Mrs Jekyll by Emma Glass
The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is the inspiration for Glass’s forthcoming novel (her 2018 debut was the viscerally shocking Peach) in which school teacher Rosy Winter is grappling with a terminal illness. Facing the end of her life, Rosy begins to give in to a rising sense that something else is stirring within her (out 27 June).
Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin
Given the falling support for LGBTQ+ rights in the US thanks to hostile state legislation, it’s not surprising that a Utah conversion camp for teens is the setting for one of 2024’s angriest and most terrifying horror books. With shades of Stephen King’s It as the story moves between now and the 1990s, this is excellent for first-time horror readers (out 11 June).
Shop Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin (Titan) at Bookshop, £9.99
Into The Night That Flies So Fast by Milena Williamson
Where else could you find poetry dedicated to the true-life killing of Bridget Cleary in 1895 (her murderous husband accused her of being fairy changeling) interspersed with a lyrical tribute to Buffy The Vampire Slayer? Melding together true crime, a travelogue and a deep dive into the lies people tell to excuse their treatment of strong women, this slim book of poetry is fascinating and beautiful.
Shop Into The Night That Flies So Fast by Milena Williamson (Dedalus Press) at Foyles, £11
Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel
Warning: Just Like Mother is a triggering read, but also one that reflects an era in which women can be defined as “people who give birth” (as US senator Josh Hawley did in 2022) and declaring yourself child-free can often be met with disbelief. With a plot featuring a cult, a creepy old house and motherhood, it’s a welcome addition to the maternal horror canon of Rosemary’s Baby and The Babadook.
Shop Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel (Oldcastle) at Bookshop, £9.99
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
Nightbitch has been one of the leaders of the new female-centric horror as a new mother (see above) finds herself turning into a dog. With a satirical eye on toddlers’ groups and the loss of self that comes with motherhood, Yoder’s book is a rollicking read that mixes body horror with laugh-out-loud moments.
Shop Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder (Vintage) at Bookshop, £9.99
Woodworm by Layla Martínez (translated by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott)
Franco’s dictatorship in Spain has long been an inspiration for horror stories (see Guillermo del Toro’s film Pan’s Labyrinth or 1973 film The Spirit Of The Beehive) and this supernatural story of an outcast girl and her grandmother lays bare intergenerational horror, feminine rage and the taking back of power (out 2 May).
Shop Woodworm by Layla Martinez (Vintage) at Bookshop, £14.99
Bunny by Mona Awad
Love it or hate it (and it is a Marmite book), Bunny is Mean Girls meets a Mary Shelley fever dream. Samantha is the self-perpetuating outsider who can’t stand the rest of her MFA writing group, but can’t turn down the opportunity to join their clique. Mixing up horror and satire has never been so good… or so bonkers.
Deliver Me by Elle Nash
Deliver Me is pure jaw-dropping horror while also serving up a piercing insight into the control of women’s bodies and the expectations placed upon them. Mixing single-minded maternal desire with religion in the deep south, Nash’s ending is one you will never forget (out 27 June).
Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda
Sad girl lit meets vampire folklore? We’re in. Lyd is a 23-year-old vampire who would love to eat like a human but has been damned to pig’s blood by her self-hating mother. Working as an intern in a gallery, lost in the world and a little bit obsessed with a guy, it’s a beautifully written and reflective take on the genre.
Shop Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda (Little, Brown) at Bookshop, £9.99
A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G Summers
Taking our foodie obsession to extremes, Dorothy Daniels is a former successful food critic who’s now serving a life sentence for eating her male lovers. Gory and graphic with an eye firmly on satire (the food industry and female equality are skewered), this is the book that might just turn you vegan.
Shop A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G Summers (Faber) at Bookshop, £9.99
Youthjuice by EK Sathue
Youthjuice is the most self-explanatory of titles as 29-year-old copywriter Sophia joins an eerily Goop-like cosmetic company with a charismatic founder only to find herself sucked into a quest for total perfection. Happily standing up to NYC, beauty culture and ageing, it’s going to resonate (out 4 June).
Shop Youthjuice by EK Sathue (Renegade Books) at Bookshop, £22
Images: courtesy of publishers
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