Violent Femmes
Seems appropriate for Women in Horror Month.
I remember the time I kicked my brother in the balls. It was purely accidental—I was aiming for his leg and missed—and I was shocked that he went down so fast. It felt like I had a new and powerful weapon. He spent most of our time together punching me, calling me stupid, using my name as a swear word, or in more creative spurts, doing things like forcing me to take a bath in his dirty water because clean water was wasted on me.
My mother stepped in and said kicking him in the balls was a bridge too far. I was crushed. So instead I learned, as many girls and women do, how to endure.
In horror most women are murdered—unless they’re the final girl—so for Women in Horror Month I thought I’d focus on women who kick, or kill, and get away with it (mostly).
Nightmare Fuel
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (rogerebert.com) – Things I learned today: Uma Thurman helped concept out Kill Bill with Tarantino, and the volumes were originally envisioned as one very, very long film. That long film was released in theaters last Dec. (why was this the piece of news I missed?), and most who saw it said it changed their take. I like this review on rogerebert.com, which also doesn’t pull any punches on the behind-the-scenes revelations that surfaced during the #MeToo movement.
Yellowjackets is about cannibalism. It’s also about how we face trauma (Maclean’s) - Teenage girls. Check. Backbiting. Check. Actual biting. Check. I’m enjoying this ensemble show that explores what happens to the psyche during, and after, a real horror, and this article in Maclean’s does a good job explaining why you might want to check it out too.
The Handmaid’s Tale has become ‘more and more plausible’ (The Guardian) - When I first stumbled across The Handmaid’s Tale in high school, I instantly became a Margaret Atwood fan, and coming up in the Catholic faith, could see how the framework was already there. In her interview with The Guardian, she talks about how bonkers it seemed at the time, but also offers some hope that in our current state of sad affairs, American ornierness could make true fascism hard to land.
Are you mad?
I know a lot of folks here signed up after reading the House Call for The Mad Ophelias, and if you’d like to see where it’s going, head over to my personal Substack. I’ve revised and published the prologue and first chapter based on all the amazing feedback, and will try to unroll a new chapter (or something Mad Ophelia tangential) every week.
Writer’s Brew
The Likability Trap: Why We Need More “Nasty” Female Protagonists (LitHub)
Author Laura Leffler (Tell Them You Lied) has a great piece that explores her own struggle with likeability in real life, and how that was bleeding into her writing. By shifting to a space where her characters could, and would, be unlikable, she found new energy and focus.
“My “girls” would no longer be polite and passive and pleasing to the eye. Oh no, they were going to fight. They were going to rip up the world that had created them. They were going to get bloody.”
Amen.
Don’t Look Behind You
This Artwork Changed My Life (Artsy): Isobel van Hagen writes movingly about watching news coverage of accusations against then–Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh, seeing a striking piece of graffiti and doing a Google search, which led her to discover the work of Barbara Kruger. Well worth a read.
23 Great Women Horror Writers to Freak You Out This October (LitHub): Okay, we’re a bit past October, but what the heck, there are some great names here to bulk up your TBR list.
The Mad Ophelias: The Playlist (Spotify): Some background music to listen to while you’re reading TMO, or as you’re screaming into a pillow after watching the news. Works well either way.
Subscribe so you never miss your next descent into The Night Vault. I can’t promise you’ll come back unchanged.
Yessssssssss🖤🖤🖤thank you!
Love women who kill ❤️ cool that you have your whole novel out there serialized!