I have a gripe with the constant violence against women and prevalence of sexism in thriller or horror novels. I'd like to take a break from all the rape and general victimizing of women in these kinds of media, so I'm asking for recommendations without the traditional helpless female victim, generally without the women taking the brunt of it, and possibly with strong female characters who aren't reduced to the fact that they're female or reduced to roles such as being the wife or the mother, to change it up.
I like psychological thrillers or horrors, gore is welcome as well.
by Free_Environment_524
6 Comments
The Troop (gore aplenty);
Starve Acre (atmospheric folk horror);
Maplecroft (cosmic horror with Things from the Sea, great female protagonist)
The Dead Zone (horror moments more than straight horror)
The Reapers Are the Angels (great zombie novel, great female main BUT threat of SA)
13 Bullets/99 Coffins/Vampire Zero — MC is tough lesbian state trooper, vampires are creepy AF, gore
The Haunting of Hill House
The Bone Key/A Theory of Haunting by Sarah Monette— some of the most frightening horror I’ve read, more a tribute to MR James/Blackwood
No One Will Come Back For Us (stories, creepy/cosmic horror)
Strange magic by Syd Moore
If you’re into a scifi surreal horror type book, I would heavily recommend Annihilation !!!!!! Which is by Jeff Vandermeer.
It follows a mission of 4 women- a biologist, a surveyor, an anthropologist, and a psychologist- who are selected to explore a mysterious place termed “Area X” by the government, where strange happenings occur, mysterious plant and animal life have taken over the land, and the prior missions who were sent in all either never came back or came back mysteriously, very different from how they went in.
I was so pleasantly surprised. This male author can really write women so well!!!! There was no objectification, no gendered violence, etc. (there’s definitely a degree of violence but it’s not at all based in sex or gender)
Preach. I hate reading about SA.
The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher is pretty solid
I don’t mind it being part of a story, but I don’t need to read or watch what is basically violent pornography. I would much rather movies and television have a giant black screen with text that said “and then SA happened”. I just don’t want to see or read graphic descriptions of it.
That and animal abuse. It makes Nick Cutters books so hard to read even though i love them