Lucy Taylor is an American horror novel writer. Her novel, '' The Safety of Unknown Cities'' was awarded the

Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel The Bram Stoker Award for First Novel is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in horror writing for an author's first horror novel. Winners and nominees References {{Bram Stoker Award Firs ...

and the International Horror Guild Award for Best First Novel in 1995, and the Deathrealm Award for Best Novel in 1996. Her collection ''The Flesh Artist'' was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award (Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection) in 1994. Taylor's horror fictions do not usually feature supernatural elements, instead being

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and co ...

s about extreme human relationships.Nevins, Jeff, ''Horror Fiction in the Twentieth Century : Exploring Literature's Most Chilling Genre''. Santa Barbara, CA: Prager Publishers, 2020. (p.173). Taylor has been called "The Queen of Erotic Horror" by

Jasmine Sailing Jasmine Sailing is an author, events organizer, performer, music journalist, and editor-publisher of the magazine CyberPsychos AOD. She also organized the Death Equinox conventions in Denver, Colorado, where she resides. She debuted the CPAOD B ...

. The online ''Locus Index to Science Fiction'' (published by

Locus Magazine ''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy (genre ...

) has also categorized several of her works as "erotic horror". Original short fiction of hers appears in all five volumes of the international anthology series, ''

Exotic Gothic ''Exotic Gothic'' is an anthology series of original short fiction and novel excerpts in the gothic, horror and fantasy genres. A recipient of the World Fantasy Award and Shirley Jackson Awards, it is conceptualized and edited by Danel Olson, a pr ...

.'' She has a B.A. in philosophy. Her early writing included non-fiction travel writing.

Reception

Reviewing Taylor's book ''A Respite for the Dead'',

Peter Tennant Peter Tennant is a prolific writer of horror, fantasy and speculative fiction, and award-winning columnist and reviewer for Black Static magazine. He has also written or run review columns for genre magazines including ''Whispers of Wickedness' ...

called it "a compelling and totally engaging story, one in which the strangeness is woven deep into every line of the text."Peter Tennant, ''

Black Static ''Black Static'', formerly ''The 3rd Alternative'', is a British horror magazine edited by Andy Cox. The magazine has won the British Fantasy Award for "Best Magazine" while individual stories have won other awards. In addition, numerous stories ...

'' Magazine, January–February 2015, (pp. 89-90).

Jess Nevins Jess Nevins (born 1966) is an American author. Nevins is the author of the ''Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana'' and other works on Victoriana and pulp fiction. He is employed as a reference librarian at Lone Star College-Tomball. Comic book ...

stated that Taylor "is skilled at portraying dysfunctional human relationships and the price they demand from the innocent and the weak."

Partial bibliography

See the ISFDB listing in

external links An internal link is a type of hyperlink on a web page to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same website or domain. Hyperlinks are considered either "external" or "internal" depending on their target or destination ...

for a more complete bibliography, including works of short fiction.

Novels

* ''The Safety of Unknown Cities'' (Dark Side Press, 1995; The Mammoth Book of Erotica; Overlook Connection Press, 1999) * ''Sub-Human'' (1998) * ''Eternal Hearts'' (1999) * ''Saving Souls'' (Onyx, 2002) * ''Dancing With Demons'' (Necro Press, Ebook 2019)

Collections

* ''The Flesh Artist'' (1993) * ''Close to the Bone'' (1993) * ''Painted in Blood'' (1996) * ''The Silence Between the Screams'' (2004) * ''Fatal Journeys'' (2014) * ''Spree and Other Stories'' (2018)

Omnibus

* ''Sideshow Double #1: Sub-Human/The Colour out of Darkness'' (1998) with

John Pelan John C. Pelan (July 19, 1957 – April 12, 2021) was an American author, editor and publisher in the small press science-fiction, weird and horror fiction genres. He first founded Axolotl Press in 1986 and published several volumes by authors su ...

Chapbooks

* ''Flame Thrower / Blood Rights'' (1991) with Ann K. Schwader * ''Spree'' (1998) * ''A Respite for the Dead'' (2014)

Anthologies

* Triptych (1999) with Edward Lee and

* "The Butsudan," ''

'', Ash-Tree Press, 2007, ed. Danel Olson * "Tívar," ''

2'', Ash-Tree Press, 2008, ed. Danel Olson * "Sanguma," ''

3'', Ash-Tree Press, 2009, ed. Danel Olson * "Nikishi," ''

4'', PS Publishing, May 2012, ed. Danel Olson * "Djinn's Blood," ''

5'', PS Publishing, June 2013, ed. Danel Olson

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Lucy 1950 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers American horror writers American women novelists American women short story writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers