Literature

Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway by Cherie Currie is about to hit bookshelves tomorrow, March 16th, 2010. Cherie Currie, with her signature Bowie haircut and fishnet stockings, was the groundbreaking lead singer of ’70s teenage all-girl rock band The Runaways. At the tender age of fifteen, she joined a group of talented girls — Joan Jett and Lita Ford on guitar, Jackie Fox on bass, and Sandy West on drums—who could play rock like no one else.

Arriving on the Los Angeles music scene in 1975, they catapulted from playing small clubs to selling out major stadiums, headlining shows with opening acts like the Ramones, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, and Blondie. Currie lit up the stage with the provocative teen-rebellion songs “Cherry Bomb,” “Queens of Noise,” and “Born to Be Bad,” riding a wave of hit songs and platinum albums, all while touring around the world...

SFSite (the 'home page for science fiction and fantasy literature') and Locus Magazine (the website for the 'leading news and review magazine for science fiction and fantasy') have posted lists of sci-fi and fantasy literature they decided were the 'best' of 2009. Not surprisingly, SFSite mostly chose titles written by men. Locus did a little better.

SFSite had only one novel, "Boneshaker" by Cherie Priest, on their top ten list. There were 21 Honorable Mentions, three of which were by women, including Catherynne M. Valente's "Palimpset", "Year of the Flood" by Margaret Atwood and "The Red Tree" by Caitlin R. Kiernan. You can see them all here...

As part of Eternal Press and Damantion Books month long celebration of Women in Horror, Kristin Battestella's The Vampire Family is on sale at the EP website until Feb 28th.

Let the snow outside pile up! It's the perfect time to snuggle up and read of vampire Antonio's chilly early years where he uses these very same frosty and wintry elements to dispose of his own mother! Fans might also want to re-read their copy of The Vampire Family in expectation of this year's sequel FATE and FANGS: A Collection of Tales from The Vampire Family Edited by Professor A. James.

Lisa Mannetti's (The Gentling Box) latest book, 51 Fiendish Ways to Leave Your Lover will be out on March 2nd from Bad Moon Books. Illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne, 51 Fiendish Ways will make an excellently disturbing coffee table item and conversation starter. This grim little book seems to combine wit, wisdom, and gruesome death in a fun way. Yes, *fun*.

Lisa Mannetti is the author of The Gentling Box and numerous short stories. Glenn Chadbourne is a freelance artist who has done notable work for Cemetery Dance and Stephen King.

Crescent Moon Press, a small female-oriented publisher, will release All Hallows Blood, a dark paranormal thriller by Raven Corinn Carluk, this month!

Mourning her mother on Halloween, Keila O’Broin, psychic warrior and last of her line, isn’t prepared for dead teenagers to ask her to avenge them. Compelled by her family creed, Keila combats the vampiric serial killer, despite her atrophied powers. But defeating one killer is only the start of her adventure. Into her life walks Varick Eitenhauer, centuries old undead master of Portland. The vampire tells her she will now help him defeat his rivals in a battle to control the city, and he will accept no refusals. Surrounded by desire and danger, the only way to succeed is to rise from her past like a phoenix from its ashes...

Steph Murray, Marlene Castricato, and Hannah Karol founded Crescent Moon Press in 2007 to publish quality, out of the box sci fi, paranormal, and fantasy novels with romance or romantic elements. www.crescentmoonpress.com

Damnation Books, a new small press and e-publisher, has announced that they will be attending the Women in Horror convention at the end of the month. “We are very excited to be able to recognize the achievements of women in this genre,” said Gilchrist. “And will further celebrate by putting all horror titles by women authors on sale for 25% off through the month of February at our sister company Eternal Press."

Doors opened last September, and owner Kim Richards, says, “Both of us love dark fiction books and movies. While working for an epublisher, I noticed how most of the epubs don’t have much horror, vampires of the monsterous kind, stories with a darker edge to them. For a reader who enjoys the darker stuff, you have to search their catalog a bit to find them. There are also few publishers of horror fiction who also produce ebooks. We saw a hole and had to fill it. It’s our goal to become THE place for dark fiction.”

Damnation Books has consistently offered books by talent such as Yolanda Stetsfos, Amy Grech, and Michele Acker. With many more great female authors (and artists!) in the lineup, this small press continues to impress.

The 2009 Bram Stoker Awards for horror literature have some incredible nominees on this year's ballot!

Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan for Superior Achievement in a Novel; The Black Act by Louise Bohmer for Superior Achievement in a First Novel; Blanket of White by Amy Grech for Superior Achievement in a Short Fiction; Poe and Lovecraft Unbound, both edited by Ellen Datlow for Superior Achievement in a Anthology; and Morbid Curiosity Sings the Blues edited by Loren Rhoads for Superior Achievement in a Nonfiction are all contenders.

We're super excited about this new Canadian vampire anthology Evolve edited by Nancy Kilpatrick (Canada's literary 'Queen of the Undead'.)

Kelley Armstrong, Tanya Huff and twenty-two other Canadian dark fantasy and horror writers re-imagine the future of vampires in this first Canadian all-vampire anthology of original fiction!

Women's eNews correspondent Sarah Seltzer pointed out in an article online that women authors have had a great year. She points out several genre accomplishments that we should be applauding in the literary world. Namely, Sarah Waters' novel The Little Stranger, which "uses a ghost story taking place in a mansion to explore deeper themes such as class and life after a war," and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, which "continued to provoke debate and move copies thanks to new film adaptations." Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood "navigates a post-apocalyptic future with two female survivors."

American Indian writer Louise Erdrich's is noted for The Plague of Doves, the story of an unsolved murder and its consequences for residents of an Ojibwe reservation and a nearby town in North Dakota. Another mention is Suzanne Collins, who "garnered considerable attention and sales" for "Catching Fire", the second installment of The Hunger Games, her popular dystopian sci-fi series.

Have any of you ever read Women Who Kill? Perhaps one of the only nonfiction books out there on female serial killers and violent murderers (the other being Carol Ann Davis's Women Who Kill: Profiles of Female Serial Killers?)

The author, Ann Jones, will be speaking in New York City tonight! From Lizzie Borden to Jean Harris to Aileen Wuornos, Ann Jones's bestselling Women Who Kill investigates how and why women have murdered throughout American history, and what their cases reveal about prevailing social prejudices and legal practices...