Persephone shines

The Women of Persephone mass signing was great. Each of the women had a lot to say about writing, horror and life in general. Barbara Ferrenz kept the discussion going with lots of thought-provoking topics. I was particularly interested in Tina Jens’ comments about how horror helps us cope with life, deal with fear and find heroes. Elizabeth Massie’s story about being a sensitive child who would cry the day after x-mas for the trees that no one bought really resonated with me. I think many drawn to horror are very attuned to the small horrors of life.

Linda Addison, Laura Anne Gilman, Barbara Ferrenz,
Tina Jens, Elizabeth Massie, Karen E. Taylor

Another interesting theme was the horror of family and home. (karenetaylor) described how her characters often struggle to find home. I think our society sees women as the keepers of home and family, even as authors. For instance Laura Anne Gilman mentioned that a story she’d written about a family tearing each other apart highly offended a reader, not because of what happened in the story but because it was written by a woman.

Liz Mandeville-Greeson, Viki Rollins, Linda
Addison, Laura Anne Gilman, Barbara Ferrenz

As always it was great to see Linda Addison and hear about her experiences as both a female author and a black author. Viki Rollins had an interesting perspective on horror and theology and blues singer Liz Mandeville-Greeson showed how writing ties in to other arts like music and painting.

The event was great and it was also good to scope out the place for the Horror Writers Workshop/Panel that we’re arranging in October. We also got a chance to hang out with Ron Malfi and show him the proof for The Fall of Never. I think he was really happy with it which is so satisfying!