Why I Wrote “The Black Girl Survives in This One”

I’ve all the time been obsessive about horror. From childhood, once I bunked with my siblings and primas, we informed one another spooky tales in the course of the evening to rock ourselves to sleep. Each night we’d take turns telling tales, and the tales appeared to get scarier and scarier. When it was my evening to inform a narrative to the group, I knew I needed to deliver the perfect leap scares. I might discover myself spinning tales till my sisters’ and primas’ our bodies would tense up in concern. I knew then that horror tales have been one thing I may weave. There’s one thing about having concern tangled up in your stomach; it is like using a curler coaster and ready for the joys of the drop.

Horror has all the time been part of my life, so it felt pure for me to work on a e book like “The Black Woman Survives in This One.” My two brothers have been obsessive about the style and I used to be one of many youngest siblings, so it largely fell on them to babysit me. As with most older siblings, my brothers lived to tease me. The whole lot was a joke or a second to terrify. So it was pure for them to ask me to film nights the place we’d watch movies like “Candyman” (1992) that includes Tony Todd; “Kid’s Play” (1988), the place a white man makes use of voodoo to switch his soul to a doll to flee the police; “Evening of the Dwelling Useless” (1968), directed by Bronx native George A. Romero; and “A Nightmare on Elm Avenue” (1984). Whereas these films scared the crap out of me, I discovered myself dealing with my fears head-on, to not solely show to my brothers that I may deal with no matter they threw at me however to show to myself that I may stare within the face of hazard and survive.

As soon as I overcame my fears, I immediately began to like the gore — the leap scares have been my favourite too. I grew to become obsessive about how the actors, the film scores, and every little thing performed into the concern of every little thing. Horror is a style the place we will discover the issues that freak us out, that do not make sense, and that play on our fears. I’ve all the time discovered braveness in watching these films, and once I found slashers and the “remaining lady,” I longed to be one.

“The Black Woman Survives in This One” is an anthology assortment of quick horror tales, from ghost tales to zombie tales, from writers like Monica Brashears, Vincent Tirado, Zakiya Dalila Harris, Maika and Maritza Moulite, and others. It additionally features a foreword written by the horror luminary Tananarive Due. There’s one thing for everybody on this e book, and on the finish, the primary character — a Black lady — survives the horrors of the day. The larger message we needed to convey to readers, particularly Black women, is that regardless of the intense obstacles it’s possible you’ll face on this life, you might be robust sufficient to endure, survive, and nonetheless come out on prime. We aren’t our fears, irrespective of how society would possibly attempt to inform us in any other case.

Whereas I like the horror style, it has not been form or inclusionary for Black, Indigenous, Latine, and different individuals of coloration. So I used to be impressed to write down myself into the style, to pen a narrative that featured a Black Latina who’s fierce and equally loves the horror style. In my quick story, “Cemetery Dance Social gathering,” I pay homage to all the people who sparked my love for horror, from Michael Jackson’s well-known hit tune and music video “Thriller” to Romero’s “Evening of the Dwelling Useless.” It was the primary film the place I noticed a Black individual survive the horror of the undead, solely to be shot by a white individual on the finish. That scene stayed with me. It is haunting to imagine that as a Black individual, you would escape zombies, however you’ll be able to’t escape white supremacy.

My first e book, “Wild Tongues Cannot Be Tamed,” was a nonfiction anthology that examined various features of Latine identification, subverting myths and stereotypes about our cultures, and a dialogue on habit, racism, and anti-Blackness inside our neighborhood. It featured essays from bestselling and award-winning writers like Elizabeth Acevedo, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Naima Coster, Natasha Diaz, Janel Martinez, and others. I used to be wanting to proceed the identification dialog and amplify Black voices throughout the diaspora. So it was a simple resolution for me to wish to deal with horror subsequent, which has been so exclusionary for Black people and folks of coloration. After having a Zoom dialog with my coeditor of the anthology, Desiree S. Evans, we determined to middle Black women and have them be the “remaining lady” trope we have all the time needed to see extra of in cinema and books.

The method was fairly just like my expertise with “Wild Tongues Cannot Be Tamed,” however this time, we thought it was essential to host an open name to find new voices in horror. It was superb to obtain so many submissions; there are loads of proficient writers on the market simply ready for the publishing business to offer them the chance to inform our tales.

Writing and enhancing “The Black Woman Survives in This One” was therapeutic for my inside teen self, who went by way of a lot in highschool; at occasions it felt like I would not survive the strain of constructing new buddies, balancing schoolwork, and prepping for school programs. Writing my quick story “Cemetery Dance Social gathering” was very nostalgic as a result of I received to write down myself right into a horror comedy story I all the time needed to see. The story follows Alle, an Afro Latina from the Bronx who loves observe however was lately injured and is therapeutic so she will get again on the group and produce dwelling the win for her squad. She’s additionally class president and tasked with internet hosting the senior class get together. She decides to host it on the well-known Woodlawn Cemetery, and nicely, it is the right setting for chaos to ensue amongst youngsters with raging hormones and alcohol. Alle and her buddies undergo the gauntlet through the evening, however she survives on the finish, and that is all that issues.

That is such an essential learn for Black ladies — together with Latina readers — as a result of we by no means get to see ourselves in genres like this. Simply have a look at how all the greatest exhibits that represented us have been canceled, from “Lovecraft Nation” to “The Horrors of Dolores Roach.” Regardless that these exhibits have been badass, networks nonetheless determined that no person may relate to Leti in “Lovecraft” and Dolores, however the twist is we did, and we needed extra. I need readers to know that they matter; they belong in horror, and “The Black Woman Survives in This One” is barely the start of us inserting ourselves within the style to come back out on prime because the heroes we need to be and see ourselves as!

Saraciea J. Fennell is a Black Brooklyn-born Honduran American author from the Bronx. She is the editor and writer of the anthologies “Wild Tongues Cannot Be Tamed” and “The Black Woman Survives in This One.” Her work facilities on Black and Latine identification and has appeared on PS, Remezcla, Culturess, Refinery29, and Mitú.