Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction

First up, if you don't want your TBR list to expand, you'd be better off avoiding this book.
This is a wonderful, engaging, inspiring book detailing women writers who have taken the lead in horror and/or speculative fiction from the very earliest of days.
Each woman is portrayed beautifully as an amazing and intriguing person, with details added about where to start reading their works and why their writing is important to the genre and literature as a whole. Flowing on from that are suggestions for further, similar books by other authors, as well as movies and TV shows.
The enthusiasm for all the works mentioned is obvious and it creates a compulsion to track down and devour everything, hence why you shouldn't read it if you're not show more looking to expand your TBR list.
Some of these writers I had read, others I knew of, but many were new names to me. I have a very long list of works to track down, now, but I am utterly grateful that a resource such as this has been created.
This book is a treasure! show less

Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction from Lisa Kroger and Melanie R Anderson is a fun and quick introduction to not just the pioneers but the history of women writers in the genre(s).

This isn't written as an actual history since it focuses on the writers themselves rather than creating a coherent and comprehensive narrative. I think this works better for a light popular introduction. This is not even remotely an academic book but it does do much more than just provide a reading guide. An academic work would potentially get bogged down in the minutiae of creating a complete timeline without gaps while a reading guide would have focused on the works rather than the authors. There is certainly show more connections made between authors as well as between works, which does provide some history without getting trapped into making a narrative. After discussing each writer, reading suggestions are made both for that author as well as similar writers and works, usually from the same time period.

The last section looks forward and speculates about what the future holds. This is a fun section as well as possibly introducing some new names.

Like any list, and this is essentially a long annotated list, there will be writers we would have preferred to have seen included as well as ones we question their inclusion. That is part of what makes lists fun since there is no definitive way to claim a name "should" or "should not" have been included, well, unless we think we are THE authority on the subject. If any of us are that delusional, then maybe instead of reading this fun book you should write your own since your authority is certainly acknowledged by all, right? Okay, maybe not, talk to your therapist.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes to read in the genre(s) and might want some background on the writers of the past, present, and future. Whether a couple of your degrees are in this area or you simply enjoy knowing literary history, this book should remind you of much you've likely forgotten and offer some new tidbits as well as reading suggestions.

Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads First Reads. show less

With its eye-catching cover and compellingly strange sketches and drawings, Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction attracts attention from its opening pages. From there, the authors Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson proceed to thoroughly entertain and inform those curious enough continue reading about this underexplored topic. Providing historical context, fascinating biographical background and a plethora of reader's advisory information, Monster She Wrote is mandatory for anyone who seeks a deeper understanding of these genres that are typically assumed as dominated by their male authors. Kröger and Anderson's chronology starts with Margaret Cavendish in the 17th century and the advent of show more speculative fiction and gothic tales, culminating with recent releases—many of which that have sought to revive, expand and modernize some recurring feminist themes over the centuries. The book is divided into eight sections, each with an introduction to a time period or emerging trend accompanied by defining characteristics; a quick bio of its most relevant female writers with recommended reading lists; and suggested supplemental materials related to each. Also sprinkled within are quotes and asides that discuss how women's voices, changing roles and male counterparts contributed to each moment in the genre's history. With their witty and colloquial tone, it is obvious that the authors are both well-informed and passionate about the subject matter. Monster, She Wrote can be enjoyed sequentially or browsed in any order for those seeking to explore the origins of some exceptional horror/speculative fiction or add substantially to their TBR list.

Thanks to the authors, Quirk Books and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. show less

This book is a fun rundown of women writers of the weird and scary and the ways that the horror genre can hide transgressive and radical ideas, giving women a voice about topics/issues they might not otherwise be able to talk about. I've read a good number of these, but still ended up adding more than 60 titles to my TBR. It can get a teensy bit tedious to read this straight through, but I enjoyed it in sections and with a notebook by my side.

Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction by Lisa Kroger is a 2019 Quirk Books publication.

Just in time for Halloween, Monster, She Wrote, will give you a host of books to add to your Fall/Winter reading list!

This book is also a tribute of sorts and is a reminder of the major contributions that women have made to the horror, Gothic, and science fiction categories. These pioneers of horror fiction were trailblazers, creating some of the most thought-provoking and spine-chilling literature ever written, and influencing many authors in the future.

Personally, as a big fan of Gothic literature, I was familiar with many of the names listed in the book- at least half of them, but some background information and show more biographical details were new to me. The author also provided a recommended reading list along with each author profiled, which gave me plenty of new authors and books to try. Some of these authors are lesser known, but have an impressive body of work to explore.

I’m grateful to Lisa Kroger for giving these writers the long overdue credit they deserve, and for reminding me of authors and books I had forgotten about.

There is plenty of history introduced in this book, as well as many interesting stories about the featured writers, and of course, this is also a ‘book about books’ and who can pass that up?

The book is well organized, well researched, with a terrific presentation that made it easy to follow, and held my interest, while avoiding pointless minutiae. I fully intend to hunt down the books on the recommended reading list- especially the Gothics! - And I will use this book as a reference in the future.

There is a little something in this book for everyone- no matter what horror sub-genre you prefer. Not only that, it is informative, entertaining, and even inspirational, serving as a reminder that we owe these great writers a debt of gratitude. They have helped pave the way for female writers today who must bravely compete in a mostly male dominated genre and, with a few notable exceptions, still struggle for the same respect. show less

I have always avoided scary things but love books, so this was a wonderful read that introduced authors and books in a way that helps me decide if I want to read them. The authors here did an amazing job with research, and the history here is fascinating. I loved learning about more recent authors too as this truly covers the 1700s to about 2018 or so.

I was excited to read about this book last year, and pleased to receive it as a Christmas present, but I’m afraid I found myself disappointed on two fronts: content and design. The latter problem first: where most books on the copyright page include dates or something similar, this one says “printed in China,” which could be the culprit. Regardless, I adore non-fiction books with footnotes, but while this book *has* such notes, it’s not actually indicated on any given page, for example by sub-scripts - that is, one must go to the footnotes and look at what page number said note is referencing, and even then the pages don’t always match. Then too, sometimes the “note” is actually just a word-for-word repeat of the main show more text. Moreover, two chapters are printed *twice* within this volume, which is just bizarre. As for the content, I just found that there were too many authors discussed in too short sketches; I would have preferred either a longer book with more biographical material or a book with fewer authors included so that the reader would get more in-depth information on those authors. As a quick reference guide to a lot of female writers (many of whom I did not know), this volume is fine; I just really expected a lot more from it than the book has to offer. A pity. show less