My essay “Saints and Shape-Shifters” is now live on The Horror column for Cultural Daily!
The idea came to me at 3:00 in the a.m. I’m friends with several Black women horror writers who are Christian. I wanted to examine how we reconcile our faith with the gory, “demonic” subject matter we write about.
Black women are considered the backbone of the Black church so not only do we have this complicated relationship with a patriarchal institution that often subjugates us, we are further stigmatized by writing about murder, the undead, witchcraft, vampires and other “evil” topics, which, ironically, liberates us to challenge injustice and advocate for the marginalized — tenets at the heart of Christianity.
I hope you give “Saints and Shape-Shifters” a read and share your thoughts!