Women in Horror: Interview with Angela Yuriko Smith
Angela Yuriko Smith is a third-generation Uchinanchu-American and an award-winning poet, author, and publisher with over 20 years of experience in newspaper journalism. Publisher of Space & Time magazine (est. 1966), a Bram Stoker Awards® Finalist and HWA Mentor of the Year for 2020, she offers free classes for writers at angelaysmith.com.
What inspired you to start writing?
This is always a hard question for me. I don’t remember a time when words weren’t really important to me. My mom taught me to read before Kindergarten. I loved Ranger Rick magazine and any other thing with words. This included pieces of paper garbage that would blow against the fences and random packages of shampoo, salad dressing and Exlax.
My definitive a-ha moment when I suddenly decided to write came sometime in the 70s. I was reading a comic book that featured a villain with literary powers and he was whooping all superhero butts in attendance with language. At one point he says something to the effect of ‘words make up everything, therefore the person that can control words can control everything.” Mind blown, I read that page over and over. The idea that I could control the words instead of just passively reading them was a game-changer moment. I was old enough to realize I probably wasn’t ever going to get superpowers like flight or being bulletproof, but I could control words. The villain was right. They make up everything, including the comic that inspired me.
I wrote my first story about a man who buys a house but goes mad when he keeps hearing babies crying. When he hangs himself from the rafters “they” decide to tear the house down and find the walls were full of baby skulls. Somehow “they” discerned the previous house owner had been a serial killer and hid the tiny corpses in his walls. This must have been around second grade because my second-grade teacher was really bothered by my story. At the time I was obsessed with the Alfred Hitchcock anthologies so I’m sure a very similar story exists in one of them.
What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?
It was the perspective of the outcast that runs through the genre that appealed to me. I didn’t fit in with the other kids or teachers. I dressed from the discount rack, read too much, read the wrong books, cut my own bangs, had a broken front tooth, a weird name, broken nerd glasses and I would trade my brownie for spinach in the lunchroom. I didn’t have a chance at regular friendships but in horror, I was hardly alone. I found outcasts like myself all over the pages. Some were victims that became empowered like “Shadow, Shadow on the Wall” by Theodore Sturgeon. Others were monsters, often misunderstood. I could identify with Frankenstein when I was chased and bullied. I could wish for Dracula’s powers to destroy my enemies. In horror, the weak often aren’t… they just haven’t discovered their potential yet. As a lonely, awkward girl that resonated.
Do you make a conscious effort to include female characters and themes in your writing and if so, what do you want to portray?
I don’t make a conscious effort but I do often write from the female perspective because it’s my perspective. It has been pointed out to me that I have a number of vicious, small girls that kill people sprinkled throughout my work. I think empowerment appeals to me. As a child, I acutely felt a lack of ownership of both myself and my situations. As an adult, it’s liberating to think children can be in control. One of my all-time favorite characters was originally genderless and remains nameless. As a nickname, I refer to them as “popped guy.” It’s the first-person POV in the Bitter Suites books. Originally there was no gender and no physical description for that character. I added a paragraph to specify it was a male and included a description because I felt like I ought to. As I finish the third book I think I’ll take that paragraph out. Originally, that character was supposed to be the reader, regardless of gender. This is why they are never named (until the last line of the upcoming third and final book). I was unsure of myself as a writer at the time. I have more confidence now to write it as it should be.
What has writing horror taught you about the world and yourself?
Horror has taught me that we are more resilient than we think we are. Horror warns me to not take things at face value—people can be monsters, monsters can be beautiful, and ugly is what you do, not what you look like. It’s taught me to be unafraid because the fear is usually unwarranted, but be ready to act if it is. It’s also taught me anyone can be a monster but we don’t have to remain that way. Finally, any monster can be defeated—so don’t be one.
How have you seen the horror genre change over the years? And how do you think it will continue to evolve?
I’m a fan of evolution. Growth is awkward and unattractive as it develops but it’s essential. I can only speak from my perspective, but when I was first reading horror there wasn’t a lot of diversity. Everyone used a vanilla base and then horror elements were mixed in like toppings. On one hand, you could have The Succubus by Kenneth Rayner Johnson—vanilla plus Red Hots and some Spanish Fly—on the other hand you had Edgar Allan Poe—vanilla with dark chocolate ribbons running throughout like arteries. Both are delicious, but sometimes vanilla doesn’t cut it. Today I see a vast landscape for horror with every shade of fright playing across it. Not only do we have all the sub-genres like body, psychological, supernatural, slasher, folk, zombie, paranormal, bizarro… but we have these coming from all cultures and orientations. As the world emerges from a very real horror situation, I think our often overlooked genre is receiving some wide stream respect and appreciation.
How do you feel women have been represented thus far in the genre and what hopes do you have for representation in the genre going forward?
I think overall, the horror genre has been very welcoming to women in horror as a whole. Of all the genres, ours understands alienation and hidden capabilities. I blame social norms for our lack of representation. Even today the mass media tries to impress on us what good girls are like, and they usually don’t scare people if they want to get a date. By and large, the media tries to tell us what we should aspire to be and it doesn’t involve picking up hatchets. That’s a good way to break a nail. Younger girls are often encouraged to write something nice and thought of as disturbed if they don’t. That is our hill to climb, but once we step over the hurdle, the horror community is eager to have us.
I believe we move towards a future of celebrating individuals as they are rather than tearing them down for what they aren’t which is why there are more female voices in horror now than ever before. Society tries to tell us we are gentle, but few things are more frightening than an angry mother. Society tries to tell us we should faint at the sight of blood, but once a month many of us spend a week cleaning up the equivalent of a murder scene several times a day. Social norms don’t want us to connect with the shadow feminine… the dark parts of us that respond to the moon and conjure life from carnage… but we are connecting. Society is getting an attitude adjustment.
Who are some of your favorite female characters in horror?
My all-time favorite would have to be Claudia from Anne Rice. While she isn’t exactly terrifying to the reader she is remorseless and without pity for her victims all while being adorable. Also adorable, but absolutely terrifying is Baby in House of a Thousand Corpses. Easily the scariest of her serial killer family as she sings and slashes her way into our nightmares. Carrie White in Stephen King’s novel is another favorite. I always read that story as a metaphor for the transition of a girl to womanhood, and into her untapped power.
Who are some women who write horror you recommend our audience check out?
I could list 100 and still leave three times that out. Of newer writers, I would recommend Alina Măciucă from Romania. I had the pleasure of publishing her in Space & Time and she has some well-written, highly imaginative disturbed work. If you are looking to be disturbed, Sumiko Saulson has got you covered. Amy Langevin is another favorite I’ve discovered recently. Any of the authors in Black Cranes including Lee Murray, Christina Sng and Geneve Flynn. I’ve recently read work I loved from Cindy O’Quinn, Carol Gyzander and Kyla Lee Ward… this is the toughest question because there are so, so many. The best place to start is in the HWA Facebook group. Ask, and you will get amazing long lists and lots of appreciation.
What is one piece of advice you would give horror authors today?
Be authentic. We can sometimes get caught in a rut of what defines horror, and it can often be the vanilla ice cream I mentioned earlier… nice but bland. Do a little digging into yourself and find the parts that you don’t mention in polite conversation. Those are what you want to pull out and pin to the page. Don’t try to write like Stephen King. We already have one of him. Write like you. That’s who we need to read.
And to the women who write horror out there who are just getting started, what advice would you give them?
Be honest with yourself with why you want to do this and then act on that with intention. If you want to write horror to be the next great then learn to be great. Take classes and read books on craft. Hone your skills. If you want to write horror to make income then research the markets, study marketing, and the best ways to put out a professional product and maximize returns. If you want fame, put yourself out there. Volunteer, do the social media, attend the things. No reason is more valid than another but if you don’t take steps toward that goal, whatever it is, it probably won’t happen.
