Friday, July 12, 2013
Rachael Swirsky - Interview
There's an interesting interview with short story writer Rachael Swirsky here. In talking about her new story in Apex she mentioned that several horror editors told her that they received stories in a genre they called "kill the bitch stories". Now that statement really struck home for me because it's very prevalent in the crime genre. Writers are always ready to sacrifice the female characters, but even when the female is doing the killing, she's considered the bitch. I find it odd that no matter whether the female character is killed or doing the killing she's always tagged as a bitch. I wonder why that is?
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2 comments:
Yeah, I hate these stories. I tried to spin this idea around a few times, with "Black-Eyed Susan," "Train," and "Gunplay."
Revenge is always about the avenger, not the victim. Stories that overlook that are missing the point, to me. Even Vachss's Burke series made it clear that he did it because he could never get back at the freaks who hurt him as a kid, and he never explained "why" to the targets.
Revenge is always a good way into a story, Thomas, but I've found the most satisfying stories aren't about killing but getting even in way that hurts worse than death. I think it's more satisfying knowing that the person who did wrong will suffer for a long, long time. :)
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