Amanda J Spedding is an editor, proofreader and award-winning author and graphic novelist whose stories have been published in local and international markets earning honourable mentions and recommended reads. She won the 2011 Australian Shadows Award (short fiction) for her steampunk-horror, Shovel-Man Joe, and the 2015 Australian Shadows Award (written work in a graphic novel) for her comic, The Road to Golgotha. Her grimdark tale, Child of the Emptyness, was an Aurealis Award finalist in the fantasy short story category.
She is the owner of Phoenix Editing, editor-in-chief at Cohesion Press, and pitch consultant for Blur Studios. Amanda has worked on stories from Cohesion’s SNAFU series that were optioned for the Emmy award-winning animated Netflix series Love, Death & Robots, spearheaded by Tim Miller (Deadpool, Terminator: Dark Fate) and David Fincher (Mindhunter, Fight Club, Seven).
Between bouts of editing, she is writing (and rewriting) her first novel – an apocalyptic grimdark fantasy. And short stories, oh how she loves her short stories.
Amanda lives in Sydney with her sarcastically-gifted husband and two very cool kids. And cats. She has cats. And two rabbits. We don’t talk about the rabbits.
Where’s her damn coffee?
You can contact her at:
ajspedding@gmail.com
phoenixediting@live.com
Author, editor, caffeine-addict, wannabe ninja 
This was my Facebook status response when I reposted ❤
My thoughts on this piece:
Excerpt: "February 2014 was particularly nasty when it came to WiHM. Truly terrible and disgusting things were said. The first two weeks of this February, however, were fantastic. There were blissfully positive posts and interviews, the sharing of fellow authors’ work – a real sense of community and support.
Then someone had to ruin it for everyone."
Thank you to AJ Spedding for writing this post. I really love when people write about personal experiences/thoughts/feedback, etc regarding Women in Horror Month – especially from perspectives of those running in different subsections of the horror community. So, thank you for this window!
2. WiHM has grown so much I just can't believe how much I am learning now that happened which I didn't even know about. Especially being so deeply entrenched during February.
3. She is correct: there was far less *visible* social media abuse towards WiHM this year then ANY year past.
4. The final sentence of the excerpt above "Then someone had to ruin it for everyone.”
Here is the good news: It wasn't ruined for everyone. heart emoticon Nobody has the power to ruin it for us. Nobody has that power. Period. They can kick and scream about “hags” and “cunts” and “feminazi bitches who only want self-promotion” but when a blogger or journalist takes the time to write a snarky or scathing piece on Women in Horror Month they don’t realize that they are taking an action which single-handedly morphs them into a public embodiment of why Women in Horror Month needs to exist in the first place. The anger, the confusion, the defensiveness, are all symptoms indicative of this social sickness. It is like they are walking highlighters illustraing loudly why our mission is vital.
So, I suppose I am saying that it is the discourse/the dialogue/the forming of #HorrorHags is an unexpected outcome of a bad situation and that in the end- this is a good thing. This is how change starts- discovering our clear need to join forces because of a shared experience of misogyny.
Just as one of the best quotes in history says:
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -Eleanor Roosevelt
LikeLike
Thanks for the response, Hannah. What I found when those #horrorhag words hit the ‘net was a rallying of the horror community, and that’s what it’s all about. No one is going to accept that kind of bullshit, and you WILL be called on it. I was truly hoping this February would be one without the dissent, but compared to previous years, this February showed a stronger coming-together of all within horror — and that, more than anything, is something to celebrate. 🙂
LikeLike