Monster, She Wrote

Ultimately focuses too much on contemporary authors. I don't think many people picking up a book on a relatively niche topics wouldn't know Anne Rice, or even Kathe Koja, or Shirley Jackson. I'd rather it focused on older and lesser known classic authors and gave each more space instead of talking about authors horror fans will already be familiar with.

Overall I enjoyed this. The book is broken up by time period/type of writing, and so some sections were more interesting to me than others. I really enjoyed the early sections and the chapter on domestic spaces. The last section about current writers was interesting as well.

There are some fact-checking errors that I noticed, but since I don't even know most of these women, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more. That said, I enjoyed this and have added a number of these titles to my various wish lists.

Good fun, super fast read which I'll be returning to in the future for recommendations.

Brimming with context and cross references, Monster, She Wrote is almost a reference guide, but its conversational tone and quirky illustrations stop it from getting too dense. Kröger and Anderson walk us through different eras of horror literature, beginning in the 1600s and ending with speculations (no pun intended) about the future of speculative fiction. I appreciated the short chapters; that makes a book like this easier to get through, at least for me. I also appreciated the diversity in examples—beyond featuring non-white and non-straight women writers, I liked seeing contemporary works linked to classics, adult linked to YA, and frequent mention of on-screen adaptations. Trying to shove the above into dichotomies is boring and disheartening. Kröger and Anderson contend that different eras and formats not only overlap, but derive from one another meaning and inspiration. I do wish there had been more examples from the early eras set outside of Europe, but this is a common qualm I have with nonfiction. Monster She Wrote reminds me vaguely of [b:a book 23130413 Provocations A Transnational Reader in the History of Feminist Thought Susan Bordo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1409807904l/23130413.SX50.jpg 42678123] I read in a college class, but most will probably find this one far more fun.

Oh, aaaaarrrggg. This is one of those non-fiction books I just need to own. I took copious notes, exploded my TBR list, and filled my Kindle to bursting with so many horror stories (they were just laying around, in the public domain, waiting for someone like me to come along and scoop them up). Not to mention that I now want to buy a new house just to wallpaper the rooms with the illustrations from this book. So I can sit in there and read MORE books by female horror writers.
So many new authors.....at the same time, I was kind of proud of how many I had already read.
This book is win.