13 female horror writers you should read

Linda Addison (Image by Chris Lamb)

13.) Linda Addison

Linda Addison is a bit of an exception to this list. While she writes fiction, it’s most often in the form of poetry rather than prose. Don’t let the form fool you, however. In Addison’s hands, a poem can be a real work of terror.

Though Addison graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a B.S. in Mathematics, she has made literature her lifelong work. She became the first African-American to win the Horror Writers of America Bram Stoker Award for superior achievement in poetry, for her 2001 collection Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes. She’s since won the same award three more times. Linda Addison has also appeared in multiple anthologies featuring works by African-American speculative fiction writers, including Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction, Dark Dreams, and Dark Thirst.

Addison also writes prose pieces and crosses genres into speculative fiction, though her work is always lyrical and poetic regardless of its specific form. All told, she has published hundreds of stories, poems, and articles throughout her career. If you want your horror to sound more like a song, then check out Addison’s work.

Where to start
How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend. From the title poem:

"One day you blink and you have no breath, memories of your life fade like a dream, all you see is red sky, ash under your feet and in their burning arms you cannot cry."

Next: 11 Banned Books by Women to Read Right Now

Clearly, this does not include all of the other female horror authors that are out there. However, if you start reading at least these authors, you’ll be sure to understand that the best horror doesn’t necessarily come from the desks of men. Happy reading!