The Monster She Wrote Podcast

A list of black-owned independent bookstores:

https://lithub.com/you-can-order-today-from-these-black-owned-independent-bookstores/ 

An archive of black women in horror:

https://www.graveyardshiftsistersarchive.com 

The black horror documentary on Shudder called Horror Noire:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/feb/07/horror-noire-documentary-black-horror 

A link to the Nightlight Pod website, which features audio horror by black writers:

https://nightlightpod.com

Today we have a special guest joining us. Jill E. Anderson is a professor of English in Nashville, TN. She's currently at work on her book about domestic horror narratives from the Atomic Age, and, like us, she’s a big fan of Shirley Jackson’s work, especially her 1958 book The Sundial, which will be the topic of today’s discussion.

The novel begins with a mother returning home with her family from the funeral of her son, a son she most likely murdered in order to have controlling interest in the family home and property. What follows is a darkly comic domestic novel about a deeply dysfunctional family facing a possible apocalypse. Complicating matters is that the end of the world has been predicted by a ghost who will only speak to the most vulnerable and unreliable member of the family, but no one wants to ignore an opportunity to gain points and shore up power in the New Order. The apocalyptic prophecy is most likely a grand delusion. But what if it’s not?            

Also discussed: dream casting and Lizzie Borden 

Jill and Mel have a book coming out soon on Shirley Jackson, more information here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/shirley-jackson-and-domesticity-9781501356667/

 Tananarive Due’s The Good House details the history of the Toussaint family and their house in Sacajawea, Washington, the titular “Good House,” which has been in the Toussaint family for three generations. After the death of Elijah Goode, the house passed into the hands of Marie Toussaint, a practitioner of voodoo, who used her skills to heal a young girl’s possession. The powers that exist in the space of spirits around the Good House are not all good, however, and for present-day protagonist Angela Toussaint, Marie’s granddaughter, the house holds a painful past. First, her mother’s death haunts her, and then, tragedy strikes when her teenage son, Corey, shoots himself in the home’s basement. Now, Angela is back at the Good House, hoping to sell the home and rid herself of old demons. Unfortunately, before she can do that, she has to learn about the past, and she has to face the destructive spirit that was awakened twice: first, by her grandmother’s anger and then again by Corey’s curiosity.

Recommendations: Acorn TV's Deadwater Fell and Charlaine Harris's Harper Connelly series

Discussed: https://www.tor.com/2018/03/08/uses-of-enchantment-tananarive-dues-the-good-house/

Good News: https://bookshop.org

In The Gilda Stories, first published in 1991, Jewelle Gomez draws a lush portrait of Gilda, a woman who was turned vampire in the mid-nineteenth century. With the character of Gilda, Gomez challenges the traditional trope of the vampire, as Gilda is a woman of color and a lesbian, but also one who is interested in both a moral code and female empowerment, especially as that concept shifts over the decades. Gomez’s novel also offers an interesting look at America’s past, present, and future, as Gilda travels through time. The story begins in the midst of slavery in Louisiana, as a young girl (the soon-to-be-named Gilda) escapes her bonds. She is aided by women at a brothel, who take care of the young girl and eventually introduce her to the vampire life. The novel then progresses to take readers on a trip through time, seeing such places as turn-of-the-century life in new city San Francisco, a hair salon in 1950s Boston, the theatre scene in 1971 New York City, and a glimpse into 2050.

Octavia E. Butler published science fiction from the 1970s until her death in 2006. She studied at the Screenwriter’s Guild Open Door Program and the Clarion Science Fiction Writers’ Workshop, where she met other science fiction writers, like Harlan Ellison, and began publishing her stories, the first of which was 1971’s “Crossover.” She influenced numerous women of color currently writing science fiction and fantasy such as Jewelle Gomez, N. K. Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor, Nisi Shawl, and Nalo Hopkinson, to name a few. She was the first science fiction writer to win a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, one among many awards and honors she received, including multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and a Locus Award. She is probably best known for her 1979 novel Kindred and her 1985 novella “Bloodchild,” both of which are often taught in literature classrooms. Her novels Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998) are eerily prescient explorations of post-apocalyptic dystopia. Her final novel Fledgling (2005) was her take on vampires and the topic of today’s discussion.   

Oyinkan Braithwaite’s 2018 novel My Sister, the Serial Killer is the story of two sisters, Korede and Ayoola, who live in Lagos, Nigeria. Korede is a hard working nurse, who cares deeply about her patients and her family, in particular her sister, who she feels protective of after a difficult childhood. It could be a sweet family novel, except for the small fact that Ayoola can’t stop killing her boyfriends. And dutiful Korede is always there to help her clean up the mess. Life, however, becomes much more complicated when Ayoola begins dating a doctor at Korede’s hospital, someone Korede has deep romantic feelings for. And so begins the story of My Sister, the Serial Killer. 

Interview with Braithwaite from Politics and Prose:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcfCcOfpF08&app=desktop

We decided this week to revisit podcast favorite Daphne du Maurier, specifically her story “Kiss Me Again, Stranger,” which first appeared in her collection The Apple Tree in 1952 (the UK version; the US version was released in “The Birds and Other Stories” in 1963).

TV Episode of Suspense (1953)

To our listeners, 

Our hearts are with all of you in this crazy time. Most of us are at home, social distancing in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. We hope our podcast is bringing a bit of joy and fun into your life right now. 

Stay safe!

From, Lisa and Mel

“This is the true story of a man and a gun and a car.” 

Actually, this is the true story of Ida Lupino, called early in her career the English Jean Harlow, who is thought to be the first woman to direct a film noir, and one with an all-male cast, no less. She also was the only woman to have directed an episode of The Twilight Zone, with the episode “The Masks,” and the only person--male or female--to have both directed and starred in an episode of The Twilight Zone with “The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine,” both episodes are personal favorites of ours. 

Episode Notes:

Billy "Cockeyed" Cook

More female film directors from Hollywood history listed here and here. 

Please rate and review us, or better yet, tell a friend. 

Our social media is @MonsterWrote on Twitter and Instagram. Our email is [email protected]. This episode was produced and researched by Lisa and Mel. Theme music is “Misconception” by Nicolas Gasparini. 

In this episode, Mel and Lisa discuss Daphne du Maurier's short story "The Birds" and examine the Hitchcock adaptation. 

Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson are the authors of Monster, She Wrote, available now through Quirk Books or your favorite book retailer. 

Theme Music by Nicolas Gasparini.