February is African American History Month here in the United States. In 2013, when this series began, it was also Women in Horror Month (WiHM) which is now celebrated by many in March during Women’s History Month. In 2013, as an Ambassador for Women in Horror Month, Sumiko Saulson put together the original book 60 Black Women in Horror at the the intersection of the two. Over the next five years, the world of women writing horror from the African Diaspora nearly doubled. and 100+ Black Women in Horror, a 2018 update, containing 109 biographies, was born. Now, in 2023, five years after 100+ Black Women in Horror, with the assistance of Kenya Moss-Dyme the list is once again being updated, to include over 40 new names compiled in a new book, 150 Black Women in Horror.
Here is the combined list of 150, listed alphabetically, in batches of 10. Here are the fourth 10 of them.
Lexi Davis
Paranormal romance novelist Lexi Davis’ cautionary tale “Are You My Daddy?” graced the pages of Dark Dreams III. Her debut novel, Pretty Evil, about three guys on the wrong side of a female demon, was nominated ”Best First Novel” African American, Romantic Times Book Club Reviewer’s Choice Awards. Her second novel, The After Wife is about Nia Youngblood the daughter of a witch who promised her hand in marriage to a demon named Rephaim. Unfortunately she’d have to die to marry him, in the afterlife. www.lexidavis.com
Dahlia DeWinters
Self-described “Writer of romance, speculative fiction and horror, sometimes all three” Dahlia DeWinters has horror shorts in the notable black horror anthologies Black Girl Magic: Horror Edition and CID’s Forever Vacancy. Her novels include the southern gothic horror novel Tea and Tomahawks, the zombie-themed paranormal romance Loving Among the Dead, and the paranormal romance Reluctant Magic. She also writes horror reviews for her blog, The Sultry Scribe. bohowriterchick.com
Amber Doe
Amber Doe is an artist, poet and author. She wrote The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, a short horror story in Sycorax’s Daughters. She has been published in the Finnish art journal Hesa Inprint three times; By Sixteen for their Phobia issue and Moon in Cancer and This will hurt for their Harvest Issue. Both pieces are related to the longer piece The Last of the Red Hot Lovers published in Sycorax. She was born in Washington DC, raised in Philadelphia PA and an Indian reservation outside of Charlotte, NC. Amber earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College. amberdoe.co
Tananarive Due
Stoker Award nominee Tananarive Due is an NAACP Image Award and an American Book Award winner. The New York Times called her novel My Soul to Keep “Riveting, and masterfully researched.” A highly prolific writer, her impressive body of work includes over a dozen titles, written alone or in collaboration with her husband, Steven Barnes. Taking on everything from supernatural viruses to zombies to vampires, she is a trailblazer in that she is one of the first African American purely genre horror writers.
www.tananarivedue.com
WC Dunlap
WC Dunlap draws her inspiration from the complexities of a Black Baptist, middle class upbringing by southern parents, and all that entails for a brown skin girl growing up in America. Equally enthralled by the divine and the demonic with a professional background in data & tech, she seeks to bend genres with a unique lens on fantasy, fear, and the future. Her writing career spans film, journalism and cultural critique, previously under the byline Wendi Dunlap. You can find her writing in FIYAH, Lightspeed, Podcastle, and Nightmare. Carnivàle is her first long-form fiction which will be published by Broken Eye Books. Her short story “March Magic,” appearing in the award-winning anthology Africa Risen, is on the 2022 Locus Recommended Reading List. WC Dunlap holds a BA in Film and Africana Studies from Cornell University. She is the proud mother of a young adult son and two British Shorthair familiars. wcdunlap.com
Janiera Eldridge
Eldridge writes horror, thriller, dark paranormal, and mystery novels and released her first novel, Soul Sisters in 2012. Since then, she has written Dark Expectations, and Good Ghost Gone Bad, making Soul Sisters a vampire fiction trilogy. She reviews books and interviews authors for her horror blog. Find her online at her website at www.janieraeldridge.blogspot.com or on Twitter @lazenbeauty
Chikodili Emelumadu
Chikodili Emelumadu was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire and raised in Nigeria. Her work has previously been shortlisted for the Shirley Jackson Awards (2015), the Caine Prize for African Literature (2017) and a Nommo award (2020). In 2019, she won the inaugural Curtis Brown First Novel prize for her novel Dazzling.
Ann Fields
Her most recent novel is a welcome addition to the horror genre. Fuller’s Curse is about an African American family with a terrible legacy; the mysterious legend of BlackHeart, and a curse that is causing members of this family to die horrible deaths, one by one. She is also the author of several romance titles on Arabesque under the pen name Anna Larence and has been writing since 1996. http://annfields.com/
Penelope Flynn
Penelope Flynn creates mixed genre adult-targeted speculative fiction and illustrations featuring elements of dark fiction, horror, suspense, science fiction, fantasy, and erotica and erotic romance. Her works are included in the Dark Universe anthologies, Steamfunk, Scierogenous II, and SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire. She authors the Sci-Fi/Horror/Erotica mash-up series, the Chronicles of Renfields, and co-edits and contributes to the Blerdrotica Black erotica anthology series. She is a member of the Horror Writer’s Association and has joined the faculty of the Speculative Fiction Academy. She has appeared on panels for World Fantasy Con, WorldCon, MultiverseCon, Blacktasticon and the FAMU Literary Forum. Penelope Flynn moderates and co-hosts the weekly podcast, Discussions From the OTHERhood and heads Prolific Hybrid Multimedia.
Stephanie Freeman
Four-time #1 Bestselling Hybrid Author, Stephanie M. Freeman began her writing career when Simon and Schuster published her first novel, Necessary Evil. Stephanie is a member of the Cavalcade of Authors and Naleighna Kai’s Tribe Called Success, a collective of New York Times, USA Today and Essence Magazine National and International Best-Selling Authors. Her Diamonds, Blood and Shadows series and books 10 Days of Pleasure and Queen of Shadow Bay are fan favorites. She co-wrote Knight of Bronzeville with National and International Bestselling Author Naleighna Kai and 40 Days of Pleasure with Bestselling Author Martha Kennerson. Stephanie is featured in the Powerhouse Voices of Clubhouse and both The Write Stuff and The Marketing Stuff and hosts the popular Club House Event called Murder, Mayhem and Mysteries (and the people who love them), and Books and Beyond, a podcasting platform where readers meet some of today’s National and International Bestselling Authors. https://stephaniemfreemanauthor.com/
Black Women in Horror 