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 thirteenth 10 of them.
Kiini Ibura Salaam
Her dark fantasy and horror short stories appeared in the anthologies Dark Matter and Mojo: Conjure Stories. Her anthology “Ancient, Ancient” includes otherworldly stories rooted in science-fiction, dark fantasy, magic and horror like “Wings, Nectar, & Ancestors” and was named one of the Best Fantasy and Science Fiction Books of 2012 by Jeff VanderMeer. www.kiiniibura.com
Andrea Vocab Sanderson
Andrea Vocab Sanderson is a singer, songwriter, spoken word poet, host, emcee, hip hop artist, and community activist. She contributed the short horror story “Thirsty for Love” to Sycorax’s Daughters. She has recorded several albums of spoken word and hip-hop poetry, including Wind Song Poem; Sessions in Fligh; Speak of Woes; Her Hercules; Cradle of Silence; Son of David; Thoughts of Pain; Grind ‘Til I Bubble; Truest Reflection; and Spit Fire. www.rawartists.org/andreavocabsanderson
Cinsearae Santiago
Cinsearae Santiago writes under Cinsearae S. She is a dark paranormal romance and horror writer, the creator of the dark paranormal romance/horror series, Abraxas and Boleyn, Tudor Vampire. She is the Editor/Publisher of the award-winning magazine, Dark Gothic Resurrected. She received the Author’s Site of Excellence Award in December 2007 from Preditors and Editors, the Golden Horror Award from Horrorfind.com, and is a Cover Artist for Damnation Books. bloodtouch.webs.com
Carolyn Saulson
(February 24, 1948 – January 14, 2019) The author of Living A Lie: Tales of Intrigue, Homelessness and Telepathic Power; the comic book Living A Lie; and the plays “The Strange Case of Dr. Henriette Jekyll” and “Song of Solomon: A Love Story”. Her works have appeared in Writer’s Muse Magazine and Tale of an Iconoclast: The Carolyn Saulson Story. Co-Author of Profiles in Black published by the Congress of Racial Equality in 1978, one of the first Black Who’s Who guides in America. She was the lead singer of the Afrocentric gothic band Stagefright, and co-founder of the media arts non-profit Iconoclast Productions, the San Francisco Black Independent Film Festival and the African American Multimedia Conference.
Sumiko Saulson
Sumiko Saulson is the author of three horror-genre novels, including the science-fiction/horror novel Solitude, the young adult dark fantasy/horror novel The Moon Cried Blood, and the dark humor tinged ghoul-and-zombie gorefest Warmth. She has released a short story anthology: Things That Go Bump in My Head. Her short stories have appeared in a variety of periodical publications. sumikosaulson.com
Nicole D. Sconiers
Nicole D. Sconiers is a Los Angeles author and screenwriter. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in The Absent Willow Review; Clutch; Inglewoodlandia and other publications, and she penned several exclusives for Dr. Phil. She contributed the short horror story “Kim to Sycorax’s Daughters. She is the author of the short story collection Escape from Beckyville Tales of Race, Hair and Rage. nicolesconiers.com
Nisi Shawl
James Tiptree, Jr. Award winner and World Fantasy award nominee Nisi Shawl writes science-fiction, horror, and dark fantasy. Her short story Deep End is a terrifying vision of dystopic future colonialism. Her collection Filter House contains horror stories, including “Wallamelon”, and the 2005 Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror award-winner “Cruel Sista.” “Maggies” was her contribution to Dark Matter. www.nisishawl.com
Cherene Sherrard-Johnson
She contributed “The Quality of Sand” to the horror anthology Dark Matter: Reading the Bones. Her other writings include “Mistress, Reclining” (Winner of the New Woman’s Voices Award Finishing Line Press, 2010); Portraits of the New Negro Woman: Visual and Literary Culture in the Harlem Renaissance (Rutgers UP, 2007); and Dorothy West’ s Paradise: A Biography of Class and Color (Rutgers UP 2012). cherenesherrardjohnson.wordpress.com
RaShell R. Smith-Spears
Author and poet RaShell R. Smith-Spears wrote “Born Again” for Sycorax’s Daughters and “Losing Her Religion” for the anthology Mississippi Noir. She has written the academic papers “Even Our Women are Warriors: The Black Woman as Warrior in LA Banks’ Vampire Huntress Legend Series;” “Everybody’s Mama Now: Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day as Discourse on the Black Mother’s Identity;” “Bondage: Slavery, Marriage, and Freedom in Nineteenth Century America: A Review;” “What Looks Like New: Cleage’s Narrative Call for Social Change;” “Pearl Cleage and Free Womanhood: Essays on her Prose Work;” and “Locating the Self: The Role of Place in Walker’s Jubilee and Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind.”
www.facebook.com/RaShell-Smith-Spears-Writer-1390560764495274/
LC Son
Known for her Amazon Best Selling Short Story, With Hearts Like Fire and the epic series starter, Beautiful Nightmare, L.C. Son is the happy wife of more than twenty years to her high school sweetheart and the loving mom of three. LC believes life finds the most interesting ways to throw dark fantasy into her real life. As a current Lupus warrior, she likes to joke about the irony of living with an illness that is both rooted in the word wolf while also limiting her time in the sun. Finding such duality in her own life allows LC to pull from a deep place of creativity to affectionately write about the monsters who live in her head. Presently, she’s working on the next installment in the Beautiful Nightmare series where you’ll find an abundance of vampires, wolves, and all manner of things that go bump in the night. Find her online at Instagram: author_l.c.son, Facebook LCSonBooks, and at her website: www.lcsonbooks.com
Black Women in Horror 