From pretty girls in high heels to the well-toned ladies that kick butt, there is no shortage of female characters in horror, science fiction and dark fantasy. Girls of Gore is a column intended to highlight the feminine side of these genres. For each column, I’ll be picking a different female character to sit in the spotlight, regardless of whether or not she was created by a male or female. Some of these feminine characters I’m sure you’ll recognize right off the bat, some you might not.

While there are countless female characters to choose from, I’d like to kick this series off right by letting the world’s “first” female, Eve, take the spotlight. As the first female character in the Bible, many series have been inspired to offer their interpretation of the mother of all humanity. In a series of books dubbed “The Menagerie,” co-authored by Christopher Golden ^[1] (Soulless) and Tom Sniegoski ^[2] (Remy Chandler Series), Eve is still the mother of all humanity — but she’s also the mother of all vampires, too. A vampire herself, Eve is a vampire huntress who seeks redemption for her sins by killing her “creations.” Vampires fear her, but so do a few mortals and demons, too. As part of “The Menagerie,” Eve is just one of several supernatural characters that work together to fight the forces of darkness. Eve is one of the “good girls” so to speak, and she is definitely fighting the good fight.

^[3]I just got done reading Crashing Paradise ^[3], which heavily focuses on Eve’s character, her past and the literal “storming” of the Garden of Eden. (Yes that Garden of Eden.) In the book, you find out about what happened to Eve after she was kicked out from the Garden. Exiled, she was found by the demon Abaddon who committed countless acts of violence against her, including rape. As a result of the tragic experience, Eve was turned into a vampire. Admittedly, I felt pretty uncomfortable reading about her experiences, because there’s some things in horror that immediately turn me off. However, in Eve’s case I felt myself rooting her on and I sympathized with her character. You see, Eve ends up being a “Big Darn Heroine” in this book, who doesn’t need to be rescued. She never gives up and even when it seems like the chips are stacked against her, she’s not afraid to show emotion.

I happened to like this particular fictional interpretation of Eve, because the foundation of her mythical character remains the same. In this version, Eve was both tragic and seductive. She did eat the apple from the Tree of Knowledge, but there were consequences to her actions. Even though she had her part to play, she didn’t remain a victim, never to be seen or heard from again. Instead of remaining a hapless vampire who’s destined to be “evil,” once she regains self-awareness she rises up to seek her full potential regardless of the odds stacked against her. In Crashing Paradise ^[3], I’d also like to point out that Eve’s character growth is an important part of this book. She is definitely changed by the experiences she goes through in this story, and I feel that the internal struggles she deals with help her to become an even stronger female character.

I feel that Eve is the perfect character to hold the honor of being FlamesRising.com‘s first “Girl of Gore.” Not only is she a heroine who’s the mother of both humanity AND vampires, she’s not afraid to show her feminine side. To me, the best part about that even though she’s addicted to fashion, she doesn’t need to wear high heels or a full face of makeup to show what it means to be a woman.

For more about Eve, read The Menagerie character guide ^[4].

Monica Valentinelli