I’ve always been obsessed with horror. Since childhood, when I shared a bed with my siblings and newborn sisters, we would tell each other spooky stories in the middle of the night to lull ourselves to sleep. Every night we took turns telling stories, and the stories seemed to get scarier and scarier. When it was time to tell a story to the group at night, I knew I had to deliver the best jump scares. I found myself spinning stories until the bodies of my sisters and the newborn girls tensed with fear. I knew then that horror stories were something I could weave. There’s something about the dread that tightens in your stomach; it’s like riding a roller coaster and waiting for the thrill of falling.
Horror has always been a part of my life, so it felt natural to write a book like “The Black Girl Who Survived This.” My two older brothers were obsessed with the genre and I was one of the youngest so they mainly left babysitting duties to me. Like most siblings, my brothers lived to tease me. Everything is either a joke or a scary moment. So it was only natural that they would invite me to the movies, where we would watch movies like Candyman (1992) starring Tony Todd; “Child’s Play” (1988), in which a white man uses voodoo to transfer his soul to a doll to hide from the police; “Night of the Living Dead” (1968), directed by Bronx native George A. Romero; and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984). While these movies scared me, I found myself facing my fears head-on, not least to prove to my brothers that I could handle anything they threw at me. me but also to prove to myself that I can stare down danger and survive.
After overcoming my fear, I immediately began to love gore – jump scares are also my thing. I was haunted by how the actors, the film’s score, and everything led to fear of everything. Horror is a genre where we can explore things that scare us, that make no sense, and that play on our fears. I always found courage watching these movies, and when I discovered the killers and the “final girl”, I longed to be one of them.
“The Black Girl Who Survived This” is a collection of short horror stories, from ghost stories to zombie stories, by writers such as Monica Brashears, Vincent Tirado, Zakiya Dalila Harris, Maika and Maritza Moulite, among others. other. It also includes a foreword written by horror creator Tananarive Due. There is something for everyone in this book, and in the end, the main character – a black girl – survives the horrors of the day. The bigger message we want to convey to our readers, especially Black girls, is that despite the serious obstacles you may face in this life, you are still strong enough to endure endure, survive and stay on top. We are not our fears, no matter how much society tries to tell us otherwise.
While I love the horror genre, it is not kind or inclusive to black people, indigenous people, Latinx people, and other people of color. So I was inspired to write about the genre, to write a story about a fierce black Latina who also loves horror. In my short story, “Cemetery Dance Party,” I pay homage to all the people who sparked my love of horror, from Michael Jackson’s famous song and music video.” Thriller” to Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead”. It was the first movie in which I saw a black man survive the horrors of the undead, but end up being shot by a white man. That scene stayed with me. It is haunting to believe that as a Black person you can escape zombies, but you cannot escape white supremacy.
My first book, “Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed,” is a non-fiction collection that examines diverse aspects of Latinx identity, debunking myths and stereotypes about our culture, and dialogue about addiction, racism, and anti-blackness in our communities. It features essays by bestselling and award-winning writers such as Elizabeth Acevedo, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Naima Coster, Natasha Diaz, Janel Martinez and others. I am eager to continue the conversation about identity and amplify Black voices across the diaspora. So it was an easy decision for me to want to tackle horror next, which has been so foreign to Black people and people of color. After a Zoom chat with my anthology co-editor, Desiree S. Evans, we decided to focus on Black girls and make them the “ultimate girls” we’ve always wanted to see more in movies and books.
This process was quite similar to my experience with “Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed”, but this time, we thought it was important to organize an open call to explore different voices. said new in horror. It was great to receive so many entries; There are so many talented writers out there waiting for the publishing industry to give them the opportunity to tell our stories.
Writing and editing “The Black Girl Survives in This One” healed my inner teenager, who had been through a lot in high school; sometimes I feel like I won’t be able to handle the pressure of making new friends, balancing schoolwork, and preparing for college courses. Writing my short story “Cemetery Dance Party” was very nostalgic because I got to write myself into a horror comedy that I always wanted to see. The story follows Alle, an Afro Latina from the Bronx who loves track and field but was recently injured and is recovering so she can return to the team and bring victory to her team. She is also the class president and is tasked with organizing the senior class party. She decides to hold it at the famous Woodlawn Cemetery, and it’s the perfect setting for the chaos that ensues among teenagers with raging hormones and alcohol. Alle and her friends go through the night’s ordeal, but in the end she survives, and that’s all that matters.
This is an important read for Black women — including Latina readers — because we never find ourselves in genres like these. Just look at how all the best shows that represent us were canceled, from “Lovecraft Country” to “The Horrors of Dolores Roach.” Even though those shows were great, the networks still decided that no one could relate to Leti from “Lovecraft” and Dolores, but the bottom line is we did and we wanted more. I want readers to know that they matter; they belong to the horror genre, and “The Black Girl Survives in This One” is just the beginning of us inserting ourselves into the genre to become the heroes we deserve to be and see ourselves as. as such!
Saraciea J. Fennell is a black Brooklyn-based Honduran-American writer from the Bronx. She is the editor and author of the anthologies “Wild Tongues That Can’t Be Tamed” and “The Black Girl Who Survived This.” Her work focuses on black and Latinx identities and has appeared on PS, Remezcla, Culturess, Refinery29 and Mitú.
