Gemma Files is a Canadian horror writer, journalist, and

film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...

. Her short story, "The Emperor's Old Bones", won the

International Horror Guild Award The International Horror Guild Award (also known as the IHG Award) was an accolade recognizing excellence in the field of Horror fiction, horror/dark fantasy, presented by the International Horror Guild (IHG) from 1995 to 2008. The IHG Awards wer ...

for Best Short Story of 1999. Five of her short stories were adapted for the television series ''The Hunger''.

Biography

Gemma Files was born in 1968 in

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

, to the actors

Elva Mai Hoover Elva Mai Hoover is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her performance as Betty Fox in ''The Terry Fox Story'', for which she garnered a Genie Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 5th Genie Awards, in 1984, and her televisio ...

and

Gary Files Gary Files is an Australians, Australian-Canadians, Canadian actor, theatre director and radio writer who has worked in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. Resident in Australia since 1976, Files is noted for the accentual versatility of ...

. Her family relocated to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 1969, where she resides today. Files graduated

Ryerson Polytechnic University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Toro ...

in 1991 with a degree in journalism. She published her first horror fiction, "Fly-by-Night" in 1993. Various freelance assignments eventually led to a continuing position with entertainment periodical '' Eye Weekly'', where she gained local repute as an insightful commentator on the horror genre, independent films and Canadian

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

. She was listed by Cameron Bailey of ''

NOW Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'' as one of the Top 10 Coolest People in Canadian Cinema for 1996. She has also written reviews for www.film.com and for the Canadian horror magazine ''Rue Morgue''. In 2000 her award-winning story "The Emperor's Old Bones" was reprinted in ''The

Year's Best Fantasy and Horror ''Year's Best Fantasy and Horror'' was a reprint anthology published annually by St. Martin's Press from 1987 to 2008. In addition to the short stories, supplemented by a list of honorable mentions, each edition included a number of retrospective ...

Thirteenth Annual Collection'' (ed. Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow). In 2010 her

Shirley Jackson Award The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards named after Shirley Jackson in recognition of her legacy in writing. These awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and the dark fantastic are presented ...

-nominated novelette "each thing i show you is a piece of my death" was reprinted in ''The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Two'' (ed. Ellen Datlow). Her short story "The Jacaranda Smile" was also a 2009

finalist. Her first novel, ''A Book of Tongues'', won the 2010 Black Quill award for "Best Small Press Chill" from Dark Scribe Magazine; it was followed by the sequels ''A Rope of Thorns'' (2011) and ''A Tree of Bones'' (2012), together comprising "The Hexslinger Series". ''A Rope of Thorns'' was considered a "powerful sequel" to ''A Book of Tongues'' by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

''. Her book, ''We Will All Go Down Together'' (about a coven of

witches Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have use ...

and

changeling A changeling, also historically referred to as an auf or oaf, is a human-like creature found in folklore throughout Europe. A changeling was believed to be a fairy that had been left in place of a human (typically a child) stolen by other fairi ...

s), was given a favorable review by

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

(NPR). Her novel ''Experimental Film'' (2015) won the

for Best Novel and the Sunburst Award for Best Canadian Speculative Fiction (Novel) in 2016. Files was married in 2002 to science fiction and fantasy author Stephen J. Barringer (with whom she co-wrote "'each thing i show you is a piece of my death""). They have one son, Callum Jacob, born in September 2004.

Bibliography

* ''Kissing Carrion: Stories'', Prime Books/Wildside Press, 2003. * ''The Worm in Every Heart: Stories'', Prime Books/Wildside Press, 2004. *The ''Hexslinger'' series: ** ''A Book of Tongues: Volume One in the Hexslinger Series'', ChiZne Publications, 2010. . ** ''A Rope of Thorns: Volume Two in the Hexslinger Series'', ChiZine Publications, 2011. . ** ''A Tree of Bones: Volume Three in the Hexslinger Series'', ChiZine Publications, 2012. ** ''The Hexslinger Omnibus (eBook Edition)'', ChiZine Publications, 2013, ASIN B00EXOT72Q (contains three new short stories) * ''We Will All Go Down Together: Stories of the Five-Family Coven'', ChiZine Publications, 2014 * ''Experimental Film'', ChiZine Publications, 2015 * ''Drawn Up From Deep Places'', JournalStone, 2018. * ''In That Endlessness, Our End'', Grimscribe Press, 2021.

References

External links

* *
(professional site)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Files, Gemma 1968 births Living people Canadian horror writers Toronto Metropolitan University alumni Canadian people of Australian descent 20th-century Canadian women writers Women horror writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers Writers from London 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian women short story writers Canadian women novelists Writers from Toronto English emigrants to Canada Women film critics Canadian film critics