My Life in Horror, Volume 1 by Kit Power ( Bookshop.com | Amazon.com )

Independently published, 2020

ISBN-13: 978-1912578979

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

Kit Power is a UK writer and horror fan who has been writing a column, “My Life In Horror” , for UK horror review website Ginger Nuts of Horror for five years.  With a forward by Jim McLeod of Ginger Nuts of Horror, this book collects Power’s columns written for the site. Each column muses on his memories and current thoughts on a book, movie, or album that changed his life, with occasional columns that touch more on his thoughts and feelings about friendship, addiction, police corruption, mental illness, and racism. Power has a strong voice and does a good job of getting back inside the head of his childhood and teenage self as well as reflecting on his feelings and first time discoveries at that time as an adult.

It’s funny to read about some of his experiences and thoughts because, while as an American Midwesterner, my experiences growing up were very different in many ways,  his essays brought back vivid memories of my own teenage years– listening to the top 40 on the radio, reading IT at age 11 and relating to the characters in the Losers Club, the first time I heard Appetite for Destruction. There’s a very funny piece on The Lost Boys set up with Young Kit and Old Kit in dialogue about the movie, which they disagree on. I think if I hadn’t grown up in the same general time period that Power did, his stories might not have had the same resonance, but as it was, they really took me back.

Other essays took on a different meaning, as he wrote about a coverup by a corrupt police department of a tragedy that killed 96 people that took on credence with the public due to stereotypes of the victims. With Black Lives Matters protests reaching a tipping point in the United States this summer, this essay took on new relevance.

The essays are divided into loose age ranges of when Power remembers first experiencing the movies, books, and albums he’s writing about– early teens, late teens, and young adulthood. The groupings give a sense of continuity to a reader who is working through the collection from beginning to end. Having the essays collected together in one place is appreciated, as it is difficult for some to concentrate on longform writing on screen, and this gives a fuller picture of Kit than it’s possible to get from reading his columns online over time. The collected blog posts are interesting, but there’s potential for a longer story with more continuity, that would be very interesting to see.

At this time, I see this as an interesting niche title that will appeal particularly to other horror writers and horror fans, particularly Gen X, rather than a title that will go mainstream, but those who grew up loving horror, or who have been following Kit’s column, have a treat in store.

Editor’s note:  in the interests of full disclosure, I backed the Kickstarter for this book.