Graveyard Shift Sisters

Tony Todd. Naturally, everyone and their great grandmother twice removed thinks Candyman; with good reason. He was the iconic Black boogeyman from the 1990s that was sorely missed from the horror pantheon since the hey day of Blacula. From the mind of Clive Barker's short story " The Forbidden ," Candyman is a story rooted in white supremacist violence and injustice that molded a mildly sympathetic monster, but for all intent is still murderous without remorse. That deep voice and charisma has undoubtedly won over a massive amount of fans that show up in droves to see him at conventions to this day, each I'm sure, having their own enthusiastic experience about the first time they saw Todd in that long fur-lined coat.

By Eden Royce ( @EdenRoyce ) Disclaimer:   A few days before this post was to go live, I found out from Janet Eckford, the author of the collection Whispers in the Dark, that her contract with her publisher was over and she was removing the book from sale. Since this was after I’d read the collection and interviewed her, I was at first needless to say, surprised, then disheartened. I asked her if she’d found another publisher, but she said she didn’t have immediate plans to re-publish. She asked if that would pose a problem. Honestly, I wasn’t sure.   I wanted this series of posts on women writers in horror to be a way of recognizing what we as women of color are doing in the industry (and possibly making a book sale or two.) Also, me going on and on about a book that the readers of this blog can’t buy is a bit of a bait and switch. After discussing it with Ashlee Blackwell, the founder of Graveyard Shift Sisters, I decided to move forward with posting this book review an

Our rare but roaring #SciFiSunday 5 Questions series continues with Nicole Givens Kurtz. Member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, Nicole is an award winning author of the science fiction/cyberpunk series, Cybil Lewis , a dystopian tale that follows the unfolding of political corruption that becomes a dangerous adventure for the title character. Additionally, Nicole writes stories within the horror genre, nodding towards her upcoming published work, "Sweet Tooth" in The Big Bad: An Anthology of Evil and "Reanimated" in Athena's Daughters Volume II . It was really great to talk to this dreamer and a hard worker who's teaching, writing, and making the convention circuit!

What happens with a brown girl from Queens goes on a monstrous misadventure through an oven portal? Speculatively focused publishing company  Rosarium  is happy to announce a new comic book series from Micheline Hess  titled, Malice In Ovenland ! Lily Brown is a bright, curious, energetic young girl from Queens, New York. She lives with her mom and loves reading and writing and spending time with her friends. But she hates cleaning! So, when her mom forces her to stay home for the summer instead of going off to some fun soccer or riding camp, Lily fumes. She wanted excitement and adventure. She didn't want to do chores. Little did she know that the greasy oven in the kitchen was going to give her more excitement and adventure than she could possibly handle. About Micheline: Born and raised in NYC, Micheline Hess does design at a prominent ad agency in Chelsea and spends her spare time developing graphic novels, short stories, and interactive iBooks for kids. She has al

Like so many slasher powerhouses, the would-be icon is the star of the show and a resourceful final girl commonly outshines the numerous characters/victims that pass through sequel after sequel. There is absolutely no better example of this than Friday the 13th . Hardcore fans however, do have their standouts outside of those two archetypes along with their memorable lines. Here, I take great joy in highlighting buried Black (female) characters that are too easily overlooked. But I cannot fault an audience: they're not made to shine. But to me, they sparkle.

Bonnie Smith ( @BonBonfaboo ) put the work in this past Women in Horror Month by utilizing Twitter and Instagram to highlight women working in the horror genre she appreciates. One of those women was writer/filmmaker Nicole Renee Simmons. California native (Oxnard specifically) and Los Angeles Film School graduate, Nicole has wasted no time developing her talents in the genre. She writes for Movie Pilot , hosts a horror web series, and has been a script supervisor on numerous projects, a production assistant, and a producer. Nicole is most recently taking up space in Studio City working hard on multiple projects and luckily, she was able to find the time to introduce herself to the Graveyard Shift Sisters community.

In bittersweet fashion, I am thankful to have been pinged about filmmaker Rae Shaw's project, The Repass but sadly, too late in its Indiegogo campaign to stretch out the opportunity for social media shares in order to help Shaw and her crew to surpass their monetary goal. More akin to the southern gothic , I can with honestly confess that The Repass looks to be one of the most compelling and complex supernatural films with care to the Vodou tradition I've been teased with in a long time.

Looking for fresh stories with multicultural characters from newly published writers in science fiction/fantasy in 2015? Mia Mitns , the new science fiction writer on the block is a Spelman graduate currently residing in Texas. She currently has two published projects under her belt. Her latest, Tea Leaf: What Lies Beneath is an urban fantasy tale with plenty of action/sci-fi with a twist of romance: