13 female horror writers you should read

Tomb of Dion Fortune at Glastonbury, Somerset (Image by Robert B. Osten)

7.) Dion Fortune

Unlike some of the other writers on this list, Dion Fortune was a genuine occultist and ceremonial magician. She was a co-founder of the Fraternity of the Inner Light, an occult following that was based on teachings supposedly brought forth by spiritual beings known as the Ascended Masters.

Fortune was also a prolific writer and published many articles, nonfiction books, and novels that focused on the occult. All of this is especially notable considering her Victorian upbringing in an upper middle-class English family and her later education at the University of London. She is now recognized as one of the most significant early practitioners of modern magic. Her novels would lead to later developments in magical theory and pagan practice, including modern Pagan groups such as Wicca.

She is now recognized as one of the most significant early practitioners of modern magic, along with other practitioners such as Gerald Gardener and Aleister Crowley. Her novels would lead to later developments in magical theory and pagan practice, including modern Pagan groups that include Wicca.

Given her sincere beliefs, you might fairly argue that Fortune isn’t a horror novelist in the same vein of other authors on this list. However, her fiction deals with the uncanny in a way that neatly fits with many of the themes explored by female authors both before and after Fortune’s lifetime. Perhaps most powerfully, many of her novels focus on strong, capable female protagonists.

Where to start
Author Alan Richardson called Fortune’s book, The Goat-Foot God, “the finest occult novel ever written”. In it, Hugh Patson teams up with impoverished artist Mona Wilton to seek out the Greek god Pan. Over the course of the novel, the two grow closer while closing in on the mystery of the ancient god.