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AAAAAAAHHHH! Horror is Dead!

At least, that’s what The Guardian says. Apparently the cool literary types haven’t reached out to touch the horror genre in a way that matters, which, according to this author, apparently means it needs to be drenched in literary theory and contemporary economic and political issues:

I’m convinced horror can raise its game. Our postmodern, capitalism-in-crisis, media-saturated world is ripe to describe it anew. Our very language seems to demand it. A mortgage, literally, is a death grip. Negative equity means being haunted by your own house. Corporations have legal personhood: they can be held responsible for criminal actions and claim “human” rights, but ironically they have no body. PR and political spin are referred to as “dark arts”.

.

To this, I can only say “Huh?” Look, if you really want to get down to the basics, great horror fiction crawls into your mind and moves in, or produces a physical, visceral response. It can be literary, but if it doesn’t do either of those things, it’s not horror. And you can call it whatever you want, but if a book does those things, you are reading a horror novel. Fear may nest in the great issues of our time, but horror is something experienced as intensely personal.

Marketing has more to do with what people are calling that book than what it actually is. I wrote about this a while back— “literary” books are seldom marketed as horror. Osama by Lavie Tidhar won the World Fantasy Award, but it gave me nightmares, and rightfully so. Chris Bohjalian doesn’t call it a horror novel, but The Night Strangers(reviewed here)still makes me uneasy. And Kelly Link, mentioned in the Guardian’s article as a refreshing literary voice in fantasy fiction, slips between genres, identifying with horror as well as sf and fantasy(read our interview of her here). And books published as horror, such as The Reapers are the Angels, by Alden Bell, can certainly be literary.

So, nope, horror isn’t dead. Can it be pulpy and commercial? Sure thing. Can it be predictable and badly written? Absolutely. Can it be original, unsettling, and downright terrifying? It better be.

Horror doesn’t die, folks. Pitch in Rise of the Guardians(which you should really see) makes that point effectively. You can banish the nightmares, but the bogeyman always rises again.

(Thanks to Rose Fox at Genreville for the link, and her spirited response).

Posted on November 27, 2012 by , Reply

Librarians – I Desperately Need Your Input!

I have been asked to write a chapter for a book on the intersection of children’s literature with horror fiction. The book’s editor wants a librarian’s perspective.  I am looking to get additional input from children’s librarians and elementary school media specialists. So far  the research I can find regarding the value of scary stories and horror fiction in engaging readers and in the library is incomplete, at best (so if you know of any academic research I can use, please let me know). I am hoping to collect some input from you here.

The topic is: Where are the scary books? The place of scary stories in reading and at the library.

If you are a school librarian in a K-8 school or a children’s librarian in a public library, or feel like you have something that you’d like to add to help shape what I write I would really appreciate it. I would be interested to read responses here.  A request for this information from the children’s librarians at my local public library was met with disinterest, and that’s part of what I am writing about, but I know that’s not representative of all children’s and school librarians! So please help, and spread the word to others if you know them.  Here are the questions I am looking to have answered:

1.) What do you think constitutes “scary books” in the elementary or children’s library collection?

2.)Do you purchase scary books and horror fiction for your elementary, middle school, or children’s collections? Why or why not?

3.) What criteria do you use when making purchasing decisions?

4.) How do you answer the question “Where are the scary books”?

5.)Where are your “scary books” physically located?

6.) What titles, subjects, or genres would you consider looking in to find “scary books”?

Anyone who would like to contact me personally about this topic, please email me at monsterlibrarian@monsterlibrarian.com and title your subject line: Scary Books for Kids.

Thank you!

Posted on November 13, 2012 by , Reply

Why StoryBundle (and HumbleBundle) Makes Sense

I wrote about StoryBundle a while back. It seemed like a pretty neat idea– get five or six DRM free books for a price you set, and determine for yourself how much of what you paid should go to the company, the authors, and a charity of their choice, for a limited time. StoryBundle is on their second bundle now, which is a “Halloween Horror” bundle that includes titles by Joseph Nassise, Weston Ochse,  Jon F. Merz,  among others, and, if you’re willing to meet a minimum price, two additional books.

I did not try out the first StoryBundle, and I just learned about this one. But not that long ago, Publishers Weekly ran an article about HumbleBundle, which sounded like the same kind of thing, I went to the site to see if it was. HumbleBundle is pretty similar– the difference seems to be that the authors included in StoryBundle’s bundles are indie authors whose names the average mainstream reader might not recognize, but the authors included in the current HumbleBundle are much more well-known (and are getting a heck of a lot more publicity). Kelly Link, an author I love, contributed two titles to the bundle, and I saw the names of a couple of other authors I had not read but was kind of interested in trying out. So I purchased the HumbleBundle. Thirteen books and comics for whatever I want to pay, with the option to contribute some of the money to the Electronic Frontier Foundation? I’m there. And it is a good deal not just for me (not just for the price but because I’m trying new things) but for at least some of the authors of the books in the bundle. I had never read anything by John Scalzi, although I’d heard his name. His book Old Man’s War was included in the bundle, and it was fantastic. It is, of course, the first book in a series, though, so now I’m going to have to seek the others out. That works out to be a pretty good strategy! I’m now reading a book by someone I had never heard of at all, Lauren Beukes, and it’s amazing. Authors and publishers need to take a close look at how well this model is working. For anyone who isn’t really well read in a particular genre and is interested in trying it out, this kind of opportunity, either through HumbleBundle or StoryBundle is golden. Over a million people have purchased the HumbleBundle now… that’s a lot of customers, and most of them must be satisfied, or people would stop buying the books.  If you are a horror fan looking for some great Halloween reads, check out the books at StoryBundle.com– chances are you’ll find something you like.

Posted on October 23, 2012 by , Reply
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