Women in Horror Month is here again, that annual celebration that shines the spotlight on the contributions of all the female creators—writers, artists, movie directors, producers, special makeup artists, special effects experts, etc.—who’ve brought thrills and chills to generations of fans around the world.
To join in on the celebration, later this month Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts, will be publishing The Mortal Immortal, a tale of longevity gone wrong, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author and creator of Frankenstein!
In the meantime, you can always purchase SWC’s previous Women in Horror title: White Fell—The Werewolf, by Clemence Annie Housman. Originally published in 1896 as The Were-wolf, it’s regarded by scholars as perhaps the first feminist werewolf story.In it, a beautiful woman named White Fell wanders into a snowbound village—and into the hearts of twin brothers, one of whom immediately becomes smitten by her. The other brother, however, soon grows suspicious of the enigmatic White Fell. Where did she come from? Why does she always carry an ax? And is her sudden appearance somehow related to the recent sightings of a bloodthirsty wolf in the area? He may come to regret being so inquisitive…
There’s also the Illustrated Classic Carmilla, J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s nineteenth-century vampire love story that features great black-and-white illustrations by Eliseu Gouseia, the artist for Lorelei: Sects and the City, A Princess of Mars, and the Pandora Zwieback comics. In Carmilla, a young woman named Laura is so desperate for a friend that when a woman her age practically turns up on the doorstep of the castle owned by Laura’s father, she thinks her prayers for companionship have been answered. But as she comes to realize, Carmilla isn’t as interested in making friends as she is in spilling blood. Regarded by literary scholars as one of the earliest lesbian vampire tales, Carmilla was an influence on author Bram Stoker in the creation of the vampire brides in his seminal novel, Dracula, and remains a popular character in fiction to this day.
White Fell—The Werewolf and Carmilla are available in print and digital formats, so visit their respective product pages at StarWarp Concepts for further information. If you enjoy tales of horror and empowered women, be sure to give them a read!