"Monster, She Wrote" is a work by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson that shares the stories of women who pioneered horror, speculative fiction and strange fiction, and who made it great.
In this book, you will meet celebrated icons such as Ann Radcliffe and V.C. Andrews, as well as forgotten writers such as Eli Coltor and Ruby Jean Jensen, and today's vanguard as Helen Oyeyemi.
"Monster, She Wrote" is a celebration of women's contributions to these literary genres, and an invitation to explore the rich tradition of horror fiction, speculation and the strange, from its origins to the present.

While this wasn’t the best book on the subjecy, it’s a great primer for those with little experience in the genre.

I wish I'd had this book when studying Gothic literature at university. It's a fascinating and accessible deep dive into the female writers of horror and speculative fiction which will leave you with a whole new understanding of the genre and a TBR pile as long as your arm.

Not what I was expecting (I was expecting scholarly ,,, more depth); book provides a short bio for each author ... I wanted more detail. Maybe the problem really is, given the era in which these women were writing ... and women were not "important" ...

Not sorry to own a copy; a fast reference tool which leads to more reading.

Terminei a leitura de Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction com uma lista enorme de literatura escrita por mulheres para ler. Dia desses, um rapaz entrou em contato comigo com perguntas a respeito do Oscar e de como a premiação odeia filmes de terror, isso porque, no início do ano, escrevi um artigo sobre o tema (que foi excluído, junto de outros cinquenta e poucos textos, do site onde havia sido originalmente publicado, por isso, não posso linká-lo aqui). Enquanto escrevia as respostas para as questões do rapaz, me peguei pensando que não é apenas na Academia que o terror é deixado de lado. E que, mesmo quando o gênero é aceito, a aclamação vai para mãos de homens. Mulheres, ainda que sejam prolíficas e tenham obras de qualidade, acabam sendo esquecidas pela história, com poucas exceções. Por isso, a importância do resgate das obras e das memórias dessa mulheres, e é aí que entra o quanto amei esse livro.

Escrito por Lisa Kröger e Melanie R. Anderson, o livro foi publicado no ano passado, pela Quirk Books e, ainda que não tenha sido traduzido para o português, vale a leitura. As autoras não nos apresentam apenas uma lista de mulheres a serem lidas, mas nos fazem refletir sobre suas vidas, trajetórias dentro da escrita e sobre a condição da mulher na sociedade, tanto no âmbito profissional quanto fora dele.

É incrivelmente frustrante perceber que vários dos nomes que elas compilaram para a publicação foram esquecidos, ainda que tenham alcançado certo sucesso em seu tempo. Os nomes de escritores da época, entretanto, permanecem sendo lidos, pesquisados e lembrados.

"Peharps the weirdest tale is how we've managed to forget the women who created such amazing stories."

Cabe a nós fazer a nossa parte para que as mulheres sejam lidas - tanto as clássicas quanto as contemporâneas.

An essential tome that I wish was three times the size.
A lovely illustrated history that’s sure to inspire the next generation of women to dominate the genre.

Fans of mysteries, thrillers and chillers should not miss Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction, by Lisa Kroger and Melanie R. Anderson. I practically read this straight through, but it can be picked up and enjoyed whenever you have time. It's an encyclopedia-like compilation of women authors who've published in these genres.

I found many authors I'd never heard of before, like Margaret "Mad Madge" Cavendish, who wrote sci-fic stories 150 years ago, and I added several titles to my list of "to-be-read" novels. I also found many popular favorites, including Daphne du Maurier and Shirley Jackson. It was interesting to see how Kroger and Anderson traced the evolution of stories from Gothic ghost stories to science fiction and more.

I received a complimentary digital review copy, so unfortunately, the illustrations did not reproduce well on my Kindle. I'll probably buy a physical copy, just so I can enjoy those too. Recommended for those who like speculative works and scary stories.

I was familiar with some of the pioneers featured in this book, but others were new to me... and now I want to read some of the books mentioned in this tome.

I loved this smart, fascinating look into the lives of the women who wrote famous monster narratives so much that I went out and bought it in hard copy when it came out. I tell everyone I know to read it. Fantastic.

A wonderful and timely compendium of the women of horror that I found struck the perfect balance between academic/informative and accessible/fun.

This book was archived before I was able to download it. The excerpt was intriguing however and I would consider picking it up in the future.

Found this absolutely fascinating, extremely well researched, and I learned a lot about the background to some of my favourite books.

I enjoyed this book. I wish there had been more inclusion of bame authors. It has introduced me to a few new writers though.

RATING: 4 STARS
2019; Quirk Books

I love the cover of Monster, She Wrote. I picked up the book from the library just to see how the book was put together. I liked the hardcover aspect of the book, and the artwork is great throughout the book. The book looks at a few women writers that made the sci-fi/horror/fantasy fiction popular in their own right. I enjoyed learning about authors I have known and ones that I just heard about. This book has added to my tbr list, so be aware!

***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***

Absolutely incredible and inspiring, and, dare I say it, empowering! Reading this book I felt like I wanted to take up a pen and write. This is an incredible book for everyone, but especially for young girls and women who wish to write.

A great deep-dive into the history of SFF by female writers. Lots of fun extracts, and quick and informative biographies of the writers. I discovered a few I hadn't heard of, which I added to my TBR. Highly recommended for fans of historical books or quiet publications like Persephone Books.

I was alerted to this gem by a fellow book blogger and swiped it from NetGalley before it was archived. I must say, I was not disappointed. Though I read very little fiction, I found the women covered in this book, and the sub-genres of horror that they are the masters of, to be incredibly interesting and thoroughly researched.

Mary Shelley is typically the first name that comes to mind when one thinks of master horror writers. Frankenstein remains one of the best novels of all time (fight me, I dare you.) Yet there are so many women who are lesser known, who were writing at an even earlier time than Shelley, who contributed great work to the various sub-genres exhibited here. We hear about so many, those who wrote/write speculative fiction, science fiction, Gothic horror, straight-up ghost stories, psychological thrillers, and more.

The amount of information contained in this book is actually quite staggering when you consider the fact that it is not a massive tome. Not only do we get numerous detailed biographies of the selected authors, we are offered up their 'not to be missed' works, as well as additional stories, books, and novellas that we should look into in that particular sub-genre. That last bit is actually rather dangerous if you already have a fairly extensive TBR, and you typically read the works in these categories. You will easily fall down the rabbit hole and add one hundred new books to your list.

The authors truly do a fantastic job of showcasing the female authors and it might surprise you to find out how many there are, when horror is unfortunately stereo-typed as a male-dominated genre. Yet here we are introduced (or reminded of) women who were writing as far back as the 1600s, and privy to the obstacles they faced in getting published to begin with. As the authors move through the centuries, authors are grouped together either by period that they wrote in, or sub-genre, or both. I think this was an excellent way to present the information, as it truly provided a big-picture. When you take a step back, you will be amazed at the breadth of information before you.

If these are genres you usually read, then not only will this be a great source of information about authors you are already familiar with, but it will be an impressive reference for discovering other authors and works you are not yet familiar with.

"Monster, She Wrote" is a delightful collection of biographies, showcasing a number of female horror-heroes throughout history in bite-sized chunks. Feel free to jump around the book, and not read it start to finish. At the end of each sketch are reading suggestions. This book also doubles as a reference work -- a potential checklist of speculative fiction you're going to want to read, and maybe even engage in some healthy competition among friends. Or, it's the perfect guide for what might end up being the coolest book club on the planet. Wonderfully researched, engaging, and a lot of fun!

Despite the picture some have tried to paint, women have always played a huge part in the history of speculative fiction and horror. Monster, She Wrote is a guide to the work of dozens of female authors who have penned strange, macabre, and terrifying tales over the last several hundred years—introducing us to both the women themselves and their work.

Monster, She Wrote is divided into eight vaguely chronological sections, each of which focuses on a specific group of authors, beginning with “The Founding Mothers,” moving through “The Women Who Wrote the Pulps” and “Haunting the Home,” and ending on “The Future of Horror and Speculative Fiction.” Within these sections, each author gets a short but detailed biography and a reading list that highlights the best of their work and other related books you might enjoy if you like them. Quotes from their books are also scattered about to give you a taste of their writing style.

Dotted throughout the book are other short sections with titles like “Spotting the Gothic,” “Horror vs. Terror,” and “The Ghost Story: A Christmas Tradition.” These sections appear in black, gravestone-shaped blocks that, along with occasional black and green ink illustrations, add to the gothic feel of the whole collection.

Spanning everything from the writers of the earliest gothic novels to classic ghost stories and popular pulp fiction, this collection of biographies covers such a wide variety of authors that there is sure to be something that appeals to all fans of genre fiction inside it. In fact, my biggest complaint about Monster, She Wrote was that it added so many books to my want-to-read list! While none of the biographies are long enough to really delve deeply into the lives of these women, there is enough here to pique interest and encourage you to seek out more knowledge for yourself.

When it comes to horror, sci fi and fantsy, female writers are often overlooked, despite the fact that women founded the genres we know and love today and have been integral to how they have developed over the last few decades and even centuries.

Monster, She Wrote is a much needed look at the women who have been writing gothic, horror and sci fi fiction throughout history, from the very first woman to write in this vein, Margaret Cavendish in the 1600s, right through to modern day authors. Of course we get the famous names like Mary Shelley, Shirley Jackson and Anne Rice, but this collection is so much more than that, highlighting the many overlooked authors who have contributed to the genre such as Regina Maria Roche, Amelia Edwards, Dion Fortune and many others.

The exploration is well structured, generally looking chronologically at different movements through time, such as the 'gothic' writers of the Victorian era, or the pulps of the 20th Century. This helps to give a broader understanding of how these genres have developed, and influenced writers who have followed. Also the structure of exploring writers lives then having a 'must read' and 'also try' section is a great way to learn more about the women behind the novels, even for those more obvious authors, and getting a sense of where to start with reading them. There were entire movements and genres I hadn't been aware of like the 'weird western' and it was incredibly interesting to see where horror, gothic, ghost stories and sci-fi overlap and intersect. The collection also did fairly well in avoiding the trap of focusing only on straight, white women, managing to highlight a more diverse range of authors in a set of genres that are so heavily dominated by white males.

The book is also wonderfully illustrated, making it a wonderful keepsake and a book you will continuously use for reference. My TBR doubled after reading this and I am sure I will revisit it to find titles and recommendations in the future.