If the new movie Get Out is the first time you’ve heard of some Black folks creating media in the horror genre, then you seriously need to take your butt to the nearest online bookstore and check out Linda Addison’s work. Linda is most well known for her horror poetry, which has earned her multiple Bram Stoker Awards given out by the Horror Writers of America. My favorite collection is How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend, but her contribution to Four Elements is a close second.

Linda produces the kind of writing that draws you in whether you’re particularly into poetry or not, and even if you’re not so big on mainstream horror. Just listen to her read “Precious” to get what I mean (scroll down a ways).

Eden Royce, who is way more eloquent than I can hope to be, said this about How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend:

…her poetry is moody and melodic; the meter weaves a dimly lit path and you feel compelled to follow. The verse itself is seductive, almost playful—the picture of elegant disturbia. The prose included in the book is a combination of sub-genres, and you get a taste of homespun magic along with science fiction-laced Gothic horror.

You should read this excellent interview with her in the HWA’s Women in Horror Month series, then pick up a copy of one or all of her poetry collections, then visit her website for a list of other places to find her stuff, and also check out Sycorax’s Daughters, a horror anthology of fiction & poetry by African-American women (some new, some known), edited by Addison, Kinitra Brooks PhD, and Susana Morris PhD.