Last week, I posted about five male Weird Fiction writers that are, in my opinion, too much of a “secret”.  Today, I’m listing women writers in that same category.  This isn’t a “Top Five” list, or a “Best Of” list — it’s a short list of great Weird Fiction writers that I feel should get more attention.

Also, from now on, every Sunday I’ll be posting a “Weird Fiction and/or Lovecraftian Author of the Week” — one each week.  If your favorite writer wasn’t mentioned in last week’s post or today’s post, then odds are I’ll be mentioning them in the future.  Look for that every Sunday, beginning this coming weekend.

Posting about one author at a time will create a greater focus on them.  If you have a suggestion, please feel free to email me at lovecraftezine@gmail.com .  If you want to nominate yourself, that’s fine too.

So without further ado, here are Five Women Authors You Should Know About:

Livia Llewellyn – The only problem with Livia Llewellyn’s work is that we need more of it!  Her Lovecraftian short story Take Your Daughters to Work is a classic.  You’ll find it in her collection Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors.  It’s a wonderful collection; if you want something different, pick this one up.

Ann K. Schwader – Ann is the Lovecraftian poet.  W.H. Pugmire wrote the following about Twisted In Dream: The Collected Weird Poetry of Ann K. Schwader: “I cannot praise this book too keenly.  It has stirred my imagination remarkably.  And like the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods that it evokes – it has made me dream.”  Pick up Twisted in Dream here.  I’ve published Ann four times in The Lovecraft eZine; you can read those stories for free: The Queen’s Speech, The Winds of Sesqua Valley, Fiesta of Our Lady, and Desert Mystery! Gas & Go!.

Anna Tambour – I enjoyed Anna’s story Sincerely, Petrified in Lovecraft Unbound so much that I wrote to her, asking if she’d be willing to send me a story sometime.  Fortunately for me and for the readers of Lovecraft eZine, she did, and the result was magnificent: The Dog Who Wished He’d Never Heard of Lovecraft.  And after you read that, pick up Crandolin, and go from there.

Allyson Bird – I’ve known about Allyson for some time, but only recently have had time to read any of her work.  I just finished Bull Running for Girls, and I highly recommend it; what a haunting collection of stories.  Her writing cast a spell on me from the very first story, The Caul Bearer.  Take this line, for example: A cold, grey mist crept in from the sea towards the huddled houses of the small village and then wound its way up each street…  Get Bull Running for Girls here.

Gemma Files – The Worm in Every Heart — what a great title!  This is Gemma’s second collection.  Her first was Kissing Carrion, where she “takes us into a world of black magic and bleak desire. A world where obsession is stronger than death. Where body, soul, time and space itself, are all fluid and treacherous. Where living houses dream longingly of oblivion, and vampires ache for more than simply blood. A world where the only escape from the darkness within is to embrace it…. A world not so very different from our own.”

Tune in this coming Sunday for our very first “Author of the Week”.