Rage with Me

When I was asked to write the foreword for this anthology, I had mixed emotions. I absolutely love the editors of Speculation Publications. They're brilliant authors and fine editors. The book is called INCUBATE: a horror collection of feminine power. I was honored to be asked, but the topic was a PTSD trigger for me. After the SCOTUS decision to deny reproductive health care rights to half the population, I was enraged, having spent a portion of my young life campaigning for the ERA. It brought up in me all the sordid and shameful indignities I had experienced growing up, which I won't detail here. I doubt it's anything other women haven't suffered.

Then I read the anthology. I kid you not, every single story is a gem. Sharp insights, poetic wordplay, deeply moving character portrayals. I'm not going to discuss them in any detail because they have to be experienced. Just know that if you also feel the rage I feel at being denied full human rights to exist, you need to read this. 

This isn't a "I hate men" collection; it's a beautiful paean to the power of women to endure, in all senses of the word. Imaginative writing, from every angle of oppression our societal systems have wielded, clearly depicts the everyday slams against women, girls, even infants, and raises those victims up--not as heroes, but as morality lessons. While this is a horror anthology, I found myself mostly cheering. I found inspiration. I was deeply moved by these authors' ability to find hope in situations I myself found hopeless as a child and teen, before I heard Alice Paul speak at Douglass College, before a wise professor enlightened me about the relationship between "nice, polite behavior" and "victim behavior"; before I found my voice, my inner strength, and my courage to endure.

Read this book. It's great horror, but it's also an important book. Buy it for your daughters' sake, your granddaughters' sake, and your own.