8/12/26
Got up at 3:38am yesterday, so that I could write that piece about Reggie Bannister and then focus on OPERATION LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK (the codename Chris Golden and I are using for our current work in progress). Worked on that until 5pm, with a 20 minute break for lunch and a 20 minute walk in the woods. Back at it again this morning. Am hopeful to have it done by tonight. In the meantime, I continue to ignore all text messages, voice mails, and emails that are not directly related to this project.
Chris and I work very well together, as far as anthologies go. He excels at copyedits and making sure all the contracts are signed and everyone gets paid. I excel at assembling the stories in a cohesive order — finding a natural flow. That will be especially important with this book. With our previous efforts — THE DRIVE-IN: MULTIPLEX and THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: NEW TALES OF STEPHEN KING’S THE STAND — the roadmap already existed. All i had to do was make sure the stories followed it. With this project, there is no roadmap, so putting together the puzzle is more of a challenge.
Speaking of anthologies…
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Women In Horror Year: Day 101
Slash-Her edited by Janine Pipe and Jill Girardi
21 women from across the world came together to evoke their inner Lizzie Borden and re-invent the slasher. Some embrace the tropes; others rip them to shreds. These powerful tales are provocative, contemporary and need to be told. Featuring own voices, you will discover the pen is mightier than the machete.
Serial killers, revenge, lust and even the supernatural are just some of the elements in SLASH-HER.
Like the authors, these stories are strong.
They are bloody and they pack a punch.
Are you ready?
For the longest time, say from about 2001 and up until a few years ago, I was burned out on Slashers as a subgenre of horror. I know that friends like Bryan Smith and the departed J. F. Gonzalez take that sentiment as sacrilege, but it is what it is. The trope felt tired and stretched thin to me, with only an occasional moment of true brightness and creativity (Jason X being a fine example). There were three things that finally brought me around again — the things Stephen Graham Jones and Kristopher Triana were doing with the tropes and the subgenre, and this anthology of slasher stories written exclusively by women, including Christine Morgan, Kenzie Jennings, R.J. Joseph, Somer Canon, Laurel Hightower, Stephanie Rabig, Holly Rae Garcia, Red Lagoe, and many, many more. With such a line-up, you can bet there are plenty of both Splatterpunk stories and a few Extreme Horror tales, but there are also stories that are neither. Regardless of the brutality or gore factor, most of the stories subvert and challenge the staid Slasher tropes, making for an engaging and thrilling read that will win over even the most jaded horro fan (myself included).
Slash-Her is available in paperback and eBook from Kandisha Press.
