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Women in Horror Month: “She’s a librarian, ok?”

Hi, my name is Kirsten Kowalewski, and I am a librarian.

I am currently living in a state where the governor just attempted to use tax dollars to start a state-run news service and is recommending cutting library funding. The past two weeks have also been the culmination of a year of hostility from the governor and the state board of education toward our elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, who is, like me, trained as a librarian and school media specialist and is a certified teacher.  The state legislature is stripping her of her powers and assigning them to the state board. When Indiana Senate president David Long was asked about it, he implied that she wasn’t up to the job. “She’s a librarian, ok?” This has left me steaming.

The Librarian Avengers are putting you on notice, Mr. Long.

So, what’s all this got to do with women in horror?

A number of awesome librarians have contributed to promoting the horror genre and keeping this website alive. Many of them are women, and all of them are amazing. I have been lucky to work with Becky Siegel Spratford (author of The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror Fiction), Patricia O. Mathews (author of the reader’s advisory guide Fang-tastic Fiction), Lucy Lockley (also known as the RAT Queen), Kelly Fann, Julie Adams, and others, and to connect through the site with Heather Whiteside Ward. If you want horror fiction to thrive, and its audience to grow, you’ve got to have the librarians on your side, and (whether it’s right or not) a lot of librarians are women.

In conclusion, I give you Evie Carnahan, Librarian Most Likely To Break A Mummy’s Curse:

 

 

Don’t underestimate the librarian. It could be your last mistake.

Posted on February 2, 2015 by , Reply

Women in Horror Month: What We Don’t Say

It’s Women in Horror Month once again!

Today I thought I’d provide some timely food for thought.

This has been on my mind lately. In every family, in every house, in every neighborhood, there is so much we don’t see, and so much we don’t say. Sometimes what is happening is right in front of us, but still, there’s no way to know, even if you’ve had a million conversations with someone, exactly what is happening behind closed doors.

Delilah S. Dawson says it well in a recent blog post:

“The thing is, looking at someone, you have no idea what struggle they’re going through or what they’ve experienced. You don’t know which thin girl is sad, which fat girl thinks she’s fucking awesome, which person is wrestling a devil or kicking ass in ways they never dreamed of. You don’t know who fights depression or social anxiety, who has cuts all up their thighs, or who is going home to another inescapable black eye. Everyone is fighting a fight you can’t see, and most of us are hiding it behind a smile.”

The domestic is the source of so much horror in women and by women.

Sometimes what’s even worse is the horror you don’t see, that is hidden in the spaces between the words.

 

Posted on February 1, 2015 by , Reply

Book Review: Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle by George Hagen

Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle by George Hagen

Schwartz & Wade, 2014

ISBN-13: 978-0385371032

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook, audio download

 

Once humans and ravens were friends, and then one day a desperate raven, told he could achieve immortality by eating human flesh, betrayed a human friend and transformed into a murderous valraven, an immortal bird with an insatiable appetite for gore, but otherwise identical to ordinary ravens.  Unable to tell the difference, human/raven relationships dissolved.  Now, the only way to tell the difference between an ordinary raven and a valraven is by asking a riddle.

This is the background of Gabriel Finley’s story.  Gabriel’s parents have both mysteriously disappeared, leaving with his loving but distracted Aunt Jaz, and a lot of unanswered questions.  When his father’s childhood diary appears, Gabriel begins to discover answers to some of those questions. The desire of the valravens for immortality has tainted his family, which has always had a special relationship with ravens. It is up to Gabriel, Paladin (his new raven friend), and a motley group of companions, to save Gabriel’s father and the world.

The journey Gabriel must take requires all of his wits, for the only way a raven or his companion can be identified as trustworthy is by solving riddles. And there are obstacles in the way—runaway writing desks, thieves, bullies, owls, and tyrannical houseguests. Gabriel’s father taught him to love riddles, though, so he has a fighting chance.

There is so much that feels familiar about Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle.  The boy who leaves home on a quest to find a parent and save the world; travels through a strange, underground world; animal companions; solving puzzles and riddles; selflessness that saves the day. All these are familiar tropes in a children’s fantasy adventure story, and at times certain aspects reminded me of other books I’ve read: Gregor the Overlander also includes an underground quest to save his father, and animal companions; Chasing Vermeer takes place in a modern school setting, with puzzles and riddles a major part of the story; A Wrinkle in Time depends on selflessness and love to save the day. None of those books are really like Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle, though; instead, Hagen has successfully taken the familiar and made it new, giving us a fresh take. Children aged 9-12 and Harry Potter readers looking for their next fix won’t want to put down this Gothic-touched, magical, contemporary fantasy. Highly recommended.
 
 
Contains: Some gore, violence
 
 
Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on January 28, 2015 by , Reply
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