Intro to Celebrating Black Horror History

HorrorAddicts Black History Month

Intro to Celebrating Black Horror History

By Sumiko Saulson

I’m proud to be the host of “Celebrating Black Horror History” during the month of February 2016. I would like to invite you, dear reader, to join us for an entire month of guest blogs, interviews, and offerings from the usual delightful staff here at HorrorAddicts.net that honor, highlight and celebrate the current and historical contributions members of the African Diaspora have made to the horror genre. I am excited to have so many talented guest contributors who are themselves, quite accomplished.  They include bestselling author Balogun Ojetade, Bram Stoker award winner Linda D. Addison, the prolific Crystal Connor and Kai Leaks, award-winning author Valjeanne Jeffers,  and many others.

As the author of 60 Black Women in Horror, I am no stranger to the subject of where black people stand in relation to the horror genre.  In fact, I first came into contact with HorrorAddicts back in 2013, when I was working on that very project as an ambassador for Women in Horror Month. David Watson’s 2012 article on African American horror writers was one of my reference materials when I was doing research for 60 Black Women in Horror.

This month, we will be looking at not only at authors, but black contributors to all aspects of the horror genre. We will cover topics as diverse as Lori Titus’ exploration of Black Women in Horror Comics, Eden Royce’s look at Southern Conjure Magic’s Contribution to Horror – the Realities versus the Fictitious, and James Goodridge’s  take on Real World Zombies.

We will look at the black presence (and sometimes, lack thereof) in horror films with Balogun Ojetade’s article on Early Black Horror Films of the 40s and 50s, Alicia McCalla’s perspective on Sembene in Penny Dreadful, Joslyn Corvis’s treatise on Tales from the Hood, James Goodridge’s personal perspective essay On the Dearth of Black Characters in Horror Movies, my piece From Producer to Actor: Wesley Snipes’ contribution to the Blade Franchise, Paula Ashe’s Sister My Sister: An Open Love Letter to Abby and Jenny Mills from Sleepy Hollow, and my look at Horror Legend Tony Todd.

The black presence in horror writing will also be a topic of discussion from both the author and the character points of view, with Linda D Addison’s Genesis: The First Black Horror Writers,  Kai Leaks’ essay on Author L.A. Banks’ Contribution to Horror, Bret Alexander Sweet’s Magical Realism in Toni Morrison (Beloved, Sulu, Song of Solomon), Kenesha Williams’s piece on Author Tananarive Due’s Contribution to Horror, Valjeanne Jeffers’s piece on Author Octavia Butler’s Contribution to Horror, Crystal Connor’s piece on The Inclusion of Black History in Speculative Fiction, and Nicole Kurtz ‘s article on The Representation of Black Women in The Dark Tower.

I hope you will enjoy the upcoming month of black history in horror features. Thank you for joining us.

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Sumiko Saulson’s blog “Things That Go Bump In My Head” focuses on horror fiction writing and features author interviews, writing advice, short stories and editorial pieces. She is the author of two novels in the science fiction and horror genres, “Solitude,” and “Warmth”, and a Young Adult dark fantasy series, “The Moon Cried Blood”, which was originally a novel.  Her fourth novel “Happiness and Other Diseases” will be released October 18, 2014.  She is also the author of a short story anthology “Things That Go Bump In My Head”.  She writes for the Oakland Art Scene for the Examiner.com. A published poet and writer of short stories and editorials, she was once profiled in a San Francisco Chronicle article about up-and-coming poets in the beatnik tradition. The child of African American and Russian-Jewish American parents, she is a native Californian, and was born and spent her early childhood in Los Angeles, moving to Hawaii, where she spent her teen years, at the age of 12. She has spent most of her adult life living in the San Francisco Bay Area. http://sumikosaulson.com/

African American Horror Writers Part 2

Last Febuary to celebrate Black History Month, I did a post on African-American Horror Writers which you can read by clicking here. Some of the authors in that post included L.A. Banks, Maurice Broaddus, Wrath James White, Brandon Massey, Octavia Butler, Jermiah Jefferson and a few others. Since that post went up I’ve had other authors leave comments so I wanted to expand my list. So if you’re looking for a good read I’m sure you will find something by the authors listed below.

First up, I want to mention Tananarive Due. While Tananarive is primarily looked at as a Science Fiction writer some of her novels can also be looked at as horror. In 2012 Tananarive co-wrote a zombie novel with her husband Steven Barnes.  The book is called Devil’s Wake, its set in a post-apocalyptic future where a school bus full of  young people try to escape the walking dead and human raiders as society crumbles around them. Tananarive Due is also the writer of the African Immortals series which has been compared to Anne Rice’s Vampire chronicles. The storyline is about an Ethiopian sect that traded their humanity to be immortal.

Also I briefly mentioned Andre Duza in my previous post on African-American horror writers. Andre writes hard-core horror mixed with with humor and social commentary. He has written several short stories and novels including Dead Bitch Army about a zombie woman out for revenge after the apocalypse. Another of Andre’s novels is  Jesus Freaks which takes place on Easter morning in 2015. Detective Phillip Makane woke up to a world of bleeding rain, a homicidal ghost and thousands of zombies along with two men with powers claiming to be Jesus.  Andre Duza has also written the hardcore pulp novella about dog fighting and black magic called Son of A Bitch with Wrath James White.

Just recently I heard of another author named Sumiko Saulson. She has written three novels and a collection of short stories called Things That Go Bump In My Head. One of her novels is called  Solitude which is about people who wake up and find they are all alone  in San Francisco. The story follows the characters as they try to figure out what happened as they explore the deserted city. One review I read for this book compared it to Stephen King’s The Stand and The Dark Tower. Another one by Sumiko is The Moon Cried Blood which is about a woman named Leticia who is growing up in Los Angeles in 1975 and has just discovered she comes from a long line of witches.

Getting back to the zombie theme you might want to check out George L. Cook III’s The Dead War Series. There are three books in this series, they are set in the future and tell the tale of an army battling the undead. Some of the reviews on this one say its a fun time and not to read it on a full stomach.

Another author with some good horror titles to her name is L. Marie Wood. Her debut novel is Crescendo: Welcome Home death Awaits. This one is about a man haunted by a family curse. When he dreams, people die and now he has to try to break the curse and keep from going insane. Some of her other works include Caliginy and The Promise Keeper.

Next up is Qwantu Amaru who’s book One Blood won a 2012 international book award, a National Indie Excellence award and several other honors. One Blood tells the story of Lincoln Baker a man in prison who orchestrates the kidnapping of the daughter of the governor of Louisiana. He also  resurrects a family curse which goes back to slavery. This book has received great reviews and has been recommended by Brandon Massey.

Writing more for the young adult audience is A.J. Harper. A.J. started the Night Biters series which is geared towards fans of Harry Potter and Twilight but with much more ethnic diversity and in an urban setting. The story follows 16 year old Jamilah and 14-year-old Omari who arrive in Oakland to live with their aunt and Uncle. They are given a mysterious CD that gives them information about the danger of vampires and they soon became caught up in a street war between vampire gangs.

Another Author that I need to talk about is Tize W. Clark. Tize has been referred to as the new king of horror. His first novel is called The Maze which is a horrifying journey from the streets of New York to the Mountains of New Mexico and back. Another book by a new author is The Dark Side Of Grace by M.L. Cooper. This is a paranormal romance novel about two lovers that try to uncover the truth about their family’s haunted slave past.

Keeping with newer authors, If you are into short horror fiction check out Afro-American Stories Of Fright From The Old South by Darnell Wright which also comes with a down home southern recipe. If you like psychological horror check out Abstract Murder by A.L. Peck. The description of this one says that if you like Pulp Fiction and Silence of The Lambs then you will want to check this one out. One more independent author that was brought to my attention by Sumiko Saulson is Ron Huston whose first novel is called The Rogue Prophet. This is a classic tale of good versus evil set in a place of worship. I also don’t want to forget to mention J. Malcom Stewart who wrote The Eyes Of The Stars which I have reviewed on this blog.

This is an incomplete list of African-American writers and comes mostly from comments made after my first blog post on the subject. If you’re looking for more authors check out Nerdy girl’s blog post here. If you have anyone else to add, please leave a comment.

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.