Home » Posts tagged "horror genre" (Page 33)

Haunted Houses: The Perils of Home Ownership

Some article in the Guardian that claimed horror was dead suggested that real life is fraught with enough peril–greedy corporations, mortgages, and so on. Well, okay, those things are pretty scary even without demon-worshiping CEO’s, politicians who deal with the devil, and haunted houses. Clearly, real life isn’t scary enough, though, because we keep seeing requests for books about ghosts and haunted houses. It’s actually a good time of year for ghosts. The holidays stir up memories, and with the change of the year the veil thins. So I thought I’d provide some titles for those of you who are seeking a haunting holiday– or, in the case of the readers’ advisory librarian, helping someone else find that great ghostly read. Some of these are more frightening than others, and while we have reviewed some of them here, we certainly haven’t reviewed them all (although this list is far from exhaustive)… so make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before you crack the covers open!

So now, alphabetical by the author’s last name, just a few books to guarantee that the next time you consider buying a house, you have a really good home inspection:

The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian (reviewed here)
The Jonah Watch by Jack Cady
House on Nazareth Hill by Ramsey Campbell
The Manse by Lisa Cantrell
Nightmare House by Douglas Clegg (reviewed here)
Infinite by Douglas Clegg
Abandoned by Douglas Clegg (reviewed here)
Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie (reviewed here- her answer to Henry James’ Turn of the Screw)
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (reviewed here)
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (not technically a ghost story, but I can’t resist including it)
The Dark Sanctuary by H.B. Gregory
Julian’s House by Judith Hawkes
The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
An American Haunting by Scott A. Johnson
Ghost Walk by Brian Keene (reviewed here)
The Shining by Stephen King (reviewed here)
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Harbor by John Ajdve Lindqvist (reviewed here)
The Resort by Bentley Little
The Elementals by Michael McDowell
Charnel House by Graham Masterson
The House That Jack Built by Graham Masterson
Hell House by Richard Matheson
Here I Stay by Barbara Michaels
Hell Manor by Lisa Morton (reviewed here)
The Castle of Los Angeles by Lisa Morton (reviewed here)
House of Fallen Trees by Gina Ranalli (reviewed here)
December by Phil Rickman (reviewed here)
The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff (reviewed here)
The Unseen by Alexandra Sokoloff (reviewed here)
The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons
A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons
Julia by Peter Straub
Ghost Story by Peter Straub
Phantom by Thomas Tessier
Cinema of Shadows by Michael West (reviewed here)
The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde (this has been made into a very enjoyable movie with Patrick Stewart as the ghost)
A Manhattan Ghost Story by T.M. Wright
Cold House by T.M. Wright

Posted on December 12, 2012 by , Reply

Alan Moore’s Neonomicon Banned!

Alan Moore's NeonomiconWell, here we go again. Alan Moore’s graphic novel Neonomicon has been removed from the shelves of the Greenville Public Library in Greenville, South Carolina after a parent challenged it (The parent in question apparently thought from looking at the cover that it was a child’s murder mystery. WHAAT? In my wildest dreams I would NEVER guess this was the cover of a child’s murder mystery). But wait, there’s more to this story. The library’s internal review committee voted to keep it on the shelves. Access Manager Barbara Yonce was quoted as saying “it was purchased on the basis of being an award winner and on the reputation of the author, but then with further consideration, we decided that those qualifications were outweighed by some of the disturbing content of the item.” The library director, Beverly James, decided to overrule the committee’s recommendation based on her own personal reaction, and told the media the removal was based on the committee’s recommendation. Her words (from the Greenville Journal):

‘Neonomicon’ was added to the library’s collection based on the reputation of the author as one of the most outstanding writers in the genre and the fact that the book won the 2011 Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writer’s Association in the graphic novel category. Nonetheless, had we known in advance about the disturbing material contained in the book, it is unlikely we would have added ‘Neonomicon’ to our collection. For that reason, we have withdrawn it from the library’s collection.

Winner of the 2011 Bram Stoker Award? Maybe that should have been a clue to possible disturbing content. The Stoker doesn’t go to graphic novels about adorable fuzzy bunnies, unless they have sharp knives and are chasing you (like our own Horatio) Taking it off the shelf in the adult fiction section? Not cool. A LIBRARY DIRECTOR overriding her committee’s recommendation to keep the book? I have no words for that.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFFE) have joined forces to advocate for the restoration of Neonomicon to the Greenville County Public Library System. For more information about that, and to see the letter they wrote, click here.

 

Posted on December 6, 2012 by , Reply

What Was I Scared Of? and Other Dreadful Tales

I’ve come to see that there is often a difference between what is marketed as children’s horror and what they find truly unsettling. Horror is an atmospheric medium, so illustrations and artwork(even those you might not expect) can terrify on their own or interact with language to create a sense of dread. Following R.L. Stine’s philosophy, it can be written to be so fantastical that it’s a thrilling scare, easily separated from the real, with a billboard on it letting kids know “Hey, this is scary!” Or, it can tap into real fears, but in unreal ways (some, I am sure, that the author never imagined), as this article suggests. The comments are surprising (or maybe not). What’s even more interesting is the adult perspective on reading these books not just as children but to them. The Story of Babar, for instance, is mentioned multiple times in the comments as scary and unsettling to both children and adults reading to children because of the scene in which Babar’s mother is killed, but I don’t remember that at all. From looking at the comments, it’s clear that what inspires dread or fear is often very individual… but certain authors and books do stick out. The Velveteen Rabbit, Love You Forever, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Der Struwwelpeter, The Giving Tree, Curious George, The Five Chinese Brothers, and The Runaway Bunny top the list, and it seems that the works of Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, and Hans Christian Andersen should be handled with care.

Here are some of the titles (not specifically listed above) that people mentioned. Did, or do, any of these disturb you or your child?

The Little Match Girl, The Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen, and The Robber Bridegroom by Hans Christian Andersen
Madeleine by Ludwig Bemelmans
The Secret Garden and A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Olivia by Ian Falconer
Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
The Duel by Eugene Field
Only One Woof by James Herriott
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
I Stink! by Kate McMullan
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parrish
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury
The Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Roly Poly Pudding by Beatrix Potter
Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
The Cat in the Hat, I Had Trouble Getting to Solla Sollew, and What Was I Scared Of? from The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss
Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, Kenny’s Window and Higgelty, Piggelty, Pop! There Must be More to Life! by Maurice Sendak
A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
The Starry Messenger by Peter Sis
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and The Amazing Bone by William Steig
Goosebumps books by R.L. Stine
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Mama? by Jeanette Winter
The Lonely Doll by Dare Wright

If none of these fit the bill for you or the kids you know, which ones did, and why? Comment below and let me know!

Posted on November 30, 2012 by , Reply
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