Happy Birthday To These 8 Horror Authors Born in February
The shortest month of the year that sometimes grabs an extra day for itself
Who can’t like a month that has a day encouraging us to eat ice cream for breakfast?
FearSome Fiction would like to wish everyone born in February a very happy birthday.
Join us in using any excuse to eat cake by celebrating the births of the following 8 horror authors born in this second month of the year.
Contents
Victor LaValle
Happy birthday to Victor LaValle who was born on 3 February 1972 in Hawaii, USA.
Victor LaValle is an award-winning American author of horror fiction.
Seven interesting facts about Victor LaValle
- He spent his childhood in Queens, New York.
- His mother emigrated from Uganda and raised Victor as a single mother.
- He’s an associate professor at Columbia University.
- His family has a history of schizophrenia and bipolar disease crossing three generations.
- When he first started writing in doughnut shops, he wore his headphones. But after a while, he realized that all the people coming in and out were varied and interesting examples of humanity, so he took his headphones off and started listening and watching.
- He was into heavy metal music for a long time, then he added hip hop to his musical tastes.
- Rapper Mos Def named his 2009 album after the Victor LaValle 2002 novel The Ecstatic.
A couple of Victor LaValle books to check out
The Changeling (2017)
“This fairy tale begins in 1968 during a garbage strike. In February New York City’s sanitation workers refused to pick up trash for eight straight days.”
When Apollo Kagwa was just a child, his father disappeared, leaving him with recurring nightmares and a box labelled ‘Improbabilia’.
Years later, Kagwa is a successful book dealer. He met and fell in love with Emma, a librarian. Now married, with a baby, the pair settle into their new lives as parents, but exhaustion and anxiety start to take their toll.
Emma’s behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, until one day she commits an unthinkable act, setting Apollo on a wild and fantastical quest through a suddenly otherworldly New York, in search of a wife and child he no longer recognizes.
Apple+ TV is filming season one of The Changeling.
The Ballad of Black Tom (2016)
“People who move to New York always make the same mistake. They can’t see the place.”
Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table and keep a roof over his father’s head. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops.
But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.
One of NPR’s Best Books of 2016, winner of the Shirley Jackson Award, the British Fantasy Award, the This is Horror Award for Novella of the Year, and a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and Bram Stoker Awards.
Arinn Dembo
Happy birthday to Arinn Dembo who was born on 3 February 1970 in Pennsylvania, USA.
Arinn Dembo is an American author of poetry and short fiction. She is also known for her work writing background fiction for video games and as a develop and reviewer of computer games.
Seven interesting facts about Arinn Dembo
- She lives in Canada.
- She worked on background fiction for the role-playing game Fort Zombie, amongst other games.
- She has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology with a minor in classical civilizations and a master’s degree in classical archaeology.
- She was President of SF Canada.
- She has a Substack newletter called The Dembo Jam that she calls her ‘digital notebook.
- She sold her first short story in 1996 to the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
- In 2006, she had cameo acting roles in two low-budget horror movies: Jesus H. Zombie and Cannibal Sisters.
A couple of Arinn Dembo books to check out
Monsoon and Other Stories (2012)
“It was June in Maharashtra, and the monsoon would not come. The whole district lay panting in the heat, the burning sky clapped tight overhead like the lid of a tandoor oven.”
Monsoon and Other Stories is a collection of short stories.
This collection includes the prize-winning short story “Monsoon“, as well as other tales and poems first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror, the Vancouver Courier, and the Manitoba Humanist.
Ichthys (2012)
“The room was found at 4:00p.m., just minutes before the swing shift whistle. The great drill suddenly hit a wall of stone.”
In the Roman catacombs, you are what you eat.
A chilling tale of archaeological horror, set in the twisting tunnels beneath the city of Rome.
Basil Copper
Happy birthday to Basil Copper who was born on 5 February 1924 in London, England.
Basil Copper was an English author of horror and crime fiction, as well as a journalist and newspaper editor.
Seven interesting facts about Basil Copper
- He was interested in historic films and had almost 1,000 titles in his private archive in 1977.
- Seven years after the death of August Derleth, he revised and edited Derleth’s Solar Pons detective series of 70 short stories and 1 novel. Solar Pons was a character modelled on Sherlock Holmes.
- He wrote 7 novella collections and 1 novel in the Solar Pons series.
- During the Second World War, at the age of 17, he served in the Home Guard and ran his local newspaper’s branch office. He then joined the Royal Navy and served as a radio operator during the D-Day operations.
- He didn’t like the term ‘horror’, so he referred to his stories as macabre and supernatural.
- He served as President of the Crime Writers’ Association in 1981‑1982.
- Basil Copper suffered from Alzheimer’s before dying at the age of 89 on 3 April 2013.
A couple of Basil Copper books to check out
The Great White Space (1974)
“There are those – and they have been many – who were inclined to dismiss my theories as the ramblings of a man in fever. Certainly, the circumstances surrounding the Great Northern Expedition were such as to drive a sensitive person into mindless idiocy.”
Frederick Plowright, a well-known scientific photographer, is recruited by Professor Scarsdale to accompany his research team in search of “The Great White Space,” described in ancient and arcane texts as a portal leading to the extremities of the universe.
Plowright, Scarsdale, and crew embark on the Great Northern Expedition, traversing a terrifying and desolate landscape to the Black Mountains, where a passageway leads to a lost city miles below the surface of the Earth.
But the unsettling discoveries they make there are only a precursor of the true horror to follow. For the doorway of the Great White Space opens both ways, and something unspeakably evil has crossed over – a horrifying abomination that does not intend to let any of them return to the surface alive.
Necropolis (1980)
“It was January, the very bleakest time of year, hoar-frost covering the railings in a film of silver, yellow fog rolling in from the river, and cab-horses slipping and slithering over the setts. It had been abominable weather for the past month and promised to last for a month more.”
Private detective Clyde Beatty, a rival of the great Holmes, has been hired by Angela Meredith to inquire into her father’s suspicious death. As Beatty’s investigation unfolds, the danger intensifies: more murders ensue, and attempts are made on his life. It is clear there is more to Mr. Meredith’s death than meets the eye, and it may have something to do with the brazen robbery of a fortune in gold bullion.
The clues lead Beatty to the eerie Brookwood Cemetery, where fatal secrets lie hidden in the catacombs beneath a city of the dead.
Richard Matheson
Happy birthday to Richard Matheson who was born on 20 February 1926 in New Jersey, USA.
Richard Matheson was an American author and screenwriter of horror, science fiction, and fantasy fiction.
Seven interesting facts about Richard Matheson
- As a kid, he thought he wanted a musical career.
- He was 8 years old when his first short story was published in the Brooklyn Eagle, a local daily newspaper.
- He wrote 16 episodes for the Twilight Zone.
- One of his best-known books is I Am Legend (1954) and he wasn’t overly impressed with the movie adaptations of the book, which include The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971), and I Am Legend (2007).
- He wrote The Shrinking Man (1956) in a cellar of a rented house in Long Island.
- He wrote Duel after he was tailgated by a truck as he returned home from a game of golf after hearing of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He also wrote the adaption for the Steven Spielberg made-for-television movie of the same name.
- Richard Matheson died at home on 23 June 2013 at the age of 87.
A couple of Richard Matheson books to check out
I Am Legend (1954)
“On those cloudy days, Robert Neville was never sure when sunset came, and sometimes they were in the streets before he could get back.”
Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth, but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child on Earth has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville’s blood.
By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn.
Hell House (1971)
“It had been raining hard since five o’clock that morning. Brontean weather, Dr. Barrett thought. He repressed a smile. He felt rather like a character in some latter-day Gothic romance.”
For over twenty years, Belasco House has stood empty. Its shadowed walls have witnessed scenes of unimaginable horror and depravity. Two previous expeditions to investigate its secrets met with disaster, the participants destroyed by murder, suicide, or insanity.
A new investigation brings four strangers to the forbidding mansion who are determined to probe Belasco House for the ultimate secrets of life and death. Each has his or her own reason for daring the unknown torments and temptations of the mansion, but can any soul survive what lurks within the most haunted house on Earth?
August Derleth
Happy birthday to August Derleth who was born on 24 February 1909 in Wisconsin, USA.
August Derleth was an American author of cosmic horror, poetry, historical fiction, crime, and science fiction.
Seven interesting facts about August Derleth
- In 1938, he received the Guggenheim Fellowship in the field of Fiction. The fellowship is an annual grant given to those “who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts”.
- He founded Arkham House in 1939 to publish the work of H. P. Lovecraft, Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood, A. E. Coppard and others.
- He started writing fiction at the age of 13.
- He was a voracious reader and his personal library held over 12,000 books in later life.
- He had forty rejected stories before his first one, Bat’s Belfry, was published in Weird Tales in 1926.
- As well as writing, he served as clerk and president of his local Board of Education, parole officer, lecturer, literary editor, and organized a Men’s Club and a Parent-Teacher Association.
- August Derleth died on 4 July 1971 of a heart attack at the age of 62.
A couple of August Derleth books to check out
Quest for Cthulhu (1958 & 1962)
Contains two books: Mask of Cthulu and Trail of Cthulu.
Eleven stories based on the creations, characters, and mythical places originally created by H. P. Lovecraft.
Dwellers in Darkness (1976)
A collection of 17 short stories.
Elliott O'Donnell
Happy birthday to Elliott O’Donnell who was born on 27 February 1872 in Bristol, England.
Elliott O’Donnell was an English author of ghost fiction.
Seven interesting facts about Elliott O’Donnell
- He claimed to have seen a ghost when he was 5 years old.
- He claimed to have been strangled by a ghost in Dublin.
- His father was a Reverend who travelled to Abyssinia and died there. It’s presumed he was robbed and murdered but nothing was ever proven.
- He believed that for several months following his father’s death, his father appeared as a poltergeist in the family home. Following his mother’s death, the servants claimed they heard footsteps and saw an apparition of her on the landing.
- He worked on a cattle ranch in America, was a policeman in Chicago, a schoolteacher, trained for acting on the stage, and served in the British army during World War 1.
- He lectured and did radio and television appearances talking about the supernatural.
- Elliott O’Donnell died in a nursing home in England on 8 May 1965 aged 93.
A couple of Elliott O'Donnell books to check out
Scottish Ghost Stories (1911)
Several years ago, bent on revisiting Perthshire, a locality which had great attractions for me as a boy, I answered an advertisement in a popular ladies’ weekly. As far as I can recollect, it was somewhat to this effect: “Comfortable home offered to a gentleman (a bachelor) at moderate terms in an elderly Highland lady’s house at Pitlochry. Must be a strict teetotaller and non-smoker. F.M., Box so-and-so.”
A collection of 17 short stories available from Project Gutenberg.
The Sorcery Club (1912)
“It was most certainly rain that drove Leon Hamar to take refuge in a second-hand bookshop; for so deep-rooted was his aversion to any literature saving a financial gazette or the stock and shares column of a daily, that nothing would have induced him to get within touching distance of a book save the risk of a severe wetting.”
Three clerks find themselves on the verge of starvation until one of them discovers a strange old book in a junk shop. The book dates back several hundred years, and is an account of the history of the lost civilisation of Atlantis and a practical guide to Atlantean black magic.
They contact mysterious entities, who offer them a pact: if the three of them can abstain from marriage and from quarrelling with one another for a certain amount of time, they’ll be granted a succession of powers. If they hold to this agreement for the full time, they will keep the powers for the rest of their lives. If they break the agreement, they have to accept the consequences.
Available from Project Gutenberg.
Susie Moloney
Happy birthday to Susie Moloney who was born on 27 February 1962 in Manitoba, Canada.
Susie Moloney is an award-winning Canadian author of horror fiction.
Seven interesting facts about Susie Moloney
- As a kid, she watched TV shows and then rewrote the plots into stories.
- She wrote a practice novel called Escape of the Minotaur to prove to herself that she could sustain an idea for that long.
- Her mother loved horror movies and would often wake Susie and her brother up to watch with her if she was scared.
- She’s appeared on the covers of Chatelaine and Scarlett Magazine.
- She’s obsessed with Bonnie and Clyde.
- In 2020, she was the Writer in Residence at the Edmonton Public Library.
- She started her writing career as a journalist and wrote a news magazine TV show for three years.
A couple of Susie Moloney books to check out
The Dwelling (2007)
“There was what looked to be a tombstone at the front of 362 Belisle, glaring morbidly in the gray morning light. A grim shrine to something passed over, Glenn hoped fervently that it wasn’t opportunity.”
362 Belisle Street is a homeowner’s dream. A nice neighborhood, close to schools, new hardwood floors, unique original detail. So why won’t this charming property stay off the market? Perhaps the clawed feet of the antique bathtub look a little too threatening. Or maybe it’s the faint hospital-like smell of the room off the top of the stairs. It’s possible that the haunting music that pours out from under the steps keeps the residents awake at night.
It doesn’t take long for a young couple with big dreams of wealth and success to realize they’re not welcome in their new house. After a ghostly seduction and a violent confrontation, the property is once again for sale.
Next comes a divorcée and her unhappy young son looking for companionship. After they find some playful young friends, the property’s on the market again.
Then comes a drunk writer who can’t settle down in this house because it has a mind, and a heart, of its own.
Things Withered (2014)
Short story collection.
A middle-aged realtor trying to get ahead any way she can.
A bad girl pays for cheating with a married man.
A wife with a dark past lives in fear of being exposed.
The bad acts of a little old lady come home to roost.
A young man with no direction finds power behind the wheel of a haunted truck.
From behind the pretty drapes of the average suburban home, madness peers out.
Leanne Frahm
Happy birthday to Leanne Frahm who was born on 28 February 1946 in Brisbane, Australia.
Leanne Frahm is an Australian award-winning author of short speculative fiction.
Seven interesting facts about Leanne Frahm
- Her father was an American GI and her mother came from a middle-class Australian family.
- She travelled with her mother on a ‘war brides’ ship at the end of World War 2 to America.
- She returned with her mother and brother to Australia and never saw her father again after she turned eight.
- In Grade 6 at school, she rewrote some Aesop’s fables in modern-day language and her teacher was impressed.
- If she liked a science fiction movie, she’d go home and write and illustrate the story.
- She didn’t start writing seriously until she was in her mid-thirties.
- She had successful surgery to remove brain tumour that was affecting her writing and speech. A remaining symptom includes losing or mixing up words.
A couple of Leanne Frahm books to check out
Bonescribes: Year’s Best Australian Horror – 1995 (1996)
Leanne Frahm’s horror story Entropy was nominated for the 1995 Aurealis Award for Best horror short story. Entropy is published in this anthology.
Borderline (1996)
Collection of five short stories.
- Ithaca Week: Every year, John Humphries must rebuild his resort on the last unpolluted beach on Earth.
- Olivetruffles: Mr Olivetto finds the ultimate food in his basement.
- The Lamadium Affair: Humanity investigates the hermaphrodite inhabitants of Lamadium for the first time.
- Borderline: A thing from another dimension appears on old-timer Jack’s doorstep.
- On the Turn: Saph and Reg wait impatiently for the tide to turn. And keep waiting…
Published: 7 February 2023
