African American Horror Writers

With February being Black History Month I thought it would be nice to do a blog post talking about African American horror writers. I knew of four writers when I started this post but managed to find  more as I was writing. I’m sure there are quite a few more out there that I missed, so if you know of any others please leave a  comment on the end of this post.

The first author I want to talk about and probably the most popular is L.A. Banks. L.A. Banks was born in Philadelphia. She has written under several different names, has written in multiple genres and has won many literary awards. L.A. Banks is the author of the Vampire Huntress series of novels and comics. There are 12 novels in this series along with one graphic novel and a YA novel. Some critics have called her work: “fresh, hip, fantastic and far superior to Buffy.” Some of her vampire novels include Minion and The Awakening.

L.A. Banks has also written a series of six werewolf novels called the Crimson Moon series. Some of the titles include Never Cry Werewolf and Left for Undead. L.A. Banks was also the co founder of The Liar’s Club, a networking group for professionals in publishing and other aspects of entertainment. Sadly L.A. Banks died of adrenal cancer in 2011. You can find out more about her career at leslieesdailebanks.com.

Next up is Maurice Broaddus, he was born in London, England but now lives in America. He graduated from Purdue University and is a senior writer for Hollywoodjesus.com. Maurice has written in several genres, his horror novels include: Devil’s Marionette and The Knights of Breton Court: King Maker. Maurice now live in Indianapolis Indiana and is part of the Indiana Horror Writers Association. You can learn more about him at mauricebroaddus.com.

The next author I want to talk about is Brandon Massey, he was born in Waukegan, Illinois in 1973 and has published three novels a year since  1999. Brandon loved watching horror movies growing up and he was a life long reader. He then decided that he wanted to start telling his own stories and became a horror writer. Some of his novels include: Thunderland and Covenant. Brandon has also edited two collections of short stories by African American Horror writers called: Dark Dreams and Voices From The Other Side: Dark Dreams 2. To learn more about Brandon Massey go to: brandonmassey.com.

Next on the list is Wrath James White. Wrath is a former MMA fighter and hard core horror author.  In 2011 Wrath wrote a book of dark poetry called Vicious Romantic which was nominated for an HWA Bram Stoker award and a movie just went into production based on his novel The Resurrectionist.  some of his other works include Succulent Prey and Population Zero. Wrath James White also has a great blog which I’ve been reading for the last 5 years where he talks about politics, religion and anything else that he finds worthy to talk about, to check it out go to wordsofwrath.blogspot.com.

Jermiah Jefferson is another author who like L.A. Banks has written a series of vampire novels. Jermiah grew up listening to disco music and watching horror movies. She also loved to daydream and read. She has written non fiction, erotica and has written four books in the Voice of Blood vampire series. Some of her works include Wounds and A Drop of Scarlet. For more information about her go to: jemiah.com.

The authors above were authors that have written more then one horror novel but there are also some authors that have only one horror novel or is a writer of horror flash fiction or poetry that I wanted to mention also. One writer that I have to mention is Octavia Butler. Octavia wrote mostly science fiction throughout her life but she did write a vampire novel called Fledgling. Another great science fiction writer that has written some novels that could be considered horror is Tananarive Due; one of her horror novels  is called Joplin’s Ghost.

Another author I want to mention here  is Angella C. Allen who edited a vampire anthology by African American Horror Writers called: Dark Thirst. I also can’t fail to mention Michael Boatman who wrote a book about monster hunters called The Revenant Road which I will be reviewing on this blog in the next week or so. Last but not least is Andre Duza who has written a book about a zombie woman out for revenge against a serial killer called Dead Bitch Army. Once again, this is an incomplete list if you know of any authors that I forgot to mention please leave a comment.