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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 Kirsten, Reply

MonsterLibrarian.com’s Top Picks for 2011- Adult Books

Well, we’re not churning out 5,000 reviews a year like Kirkus Reviews, but our volunteer reviewers worked hard in 2011, reading and reviewing close to 300 books- some good, some bad, and some that were really extraordinary pieces of writing and storytelling.

With a new year beginning, it’s time for the Monster Librarian, in consultation with contributing reviewers, to reflect back on the past year’s reading and reviewing. We didn’t get out a list of the top picks for 2010, but now we’re back now, with our Top Picks for 2011. Each book on the list below was reviewed in the past year, although not all the books were published in 2011. If the book made a Top Picks list in the past, it won’t be on this year’s list (Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson, was first reviewed in 2009 and made the list that year, so it’s not on this year’s list).

Books that made this list were chosen by our reviewers as exceptional examples of compelling writing, creativity, and original illustration or presentation. Many of them provided considerable food for thought as well as entertainment value. The choices were made only from books reviewed for the site, so there are many fine titles that do not appear here. The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for 2011, listed below, have not been ranked in any order. You’ll find a list for each age group: Adult, Young Adult, and Kids. Below you’ll find our list of Top Picks for Adult Fiction in 2011. I’ll post the lists for young adult and children’s books shortly.

Note for librarians and readers: As with all recommended reading lists, not all of The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for 2011 will be appropriate for or appreciated by every reader. Please take the time to check out reviews of these titles at MonsterLibrarian.com before making a decision about reading them or recommending them to others.

The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for 2011

Titles for Adults

A special mention goes to Lisa Morton’s The Samhanach, which three of our reviewers independently chose to review. All three reviewers highly recommended this book. And now, the list.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim, by Mark Twain and W. Bill Czolgosz

Allison Hewitt Is Trapped: A Zombie Novel, by Madeleine Roux

Bedbugs, by Ben H. Winter

Bigfoot War 2: Dead in the Woods, by Eric S. Brown

Bone Marrow Stew, by Tim Curran (limited edition available only from Tasmaniac Publications)

Crucified Dreams, edited by Joe R. Lansdale

Cuckoo, by Richard Wright

Dust, by Joan Frances Turner

Draculas: A Novel of Terror, by Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson

Enclave, by Ann Aguirre

Eternal Unrest: A Novel of Mummy Terror, by Lorne Dixon

Ghost Story: A Novel of the Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher

Graveminder, by Melissa Marr

How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf, by Molly Harper

In Extremis: The Most Extreme Short Stories of John Shirley, by John Shirley

Our Lady of The Shadows, by Tony Richards

Smile No More, by James A. Moore

Sympathy for the Devil, by Justin Gustainis

That Which Should Not Be, by Brett J. Talley

The Anatomy of Evil, by Dr. Michael Stone

The Last Werewolf, by Glen Duncan

The Night Strangers, by Chris Bohjalian

The Pumpkin Man, by John Everson

The Reapers Are the Angels, by Alden Bell

The Samhanach, by Lisa Morton

The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities: Exhibits, Oddities, Images, and Stories from Top Authors and Artists, edited by Jeff and Ann Vandermeer

Wormfood, by Jeff Jacobson

Zombie, Ohio: A Tale of the Undead, by Scott Kenemore

Zone One, by Colson Whitehead

Stay tuned for part two of our Top Picks for 2011!

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Kirsten, Reply

All Hallows’ Read- Join the Party!

Here’s a new tradition I can get behind- All Hallow’s Read, first proposed here by Neil Gaiman. What do you do to participate? Give someone a scary book this Halloween, or at least the week of Halloween. October 25 was the All Hallow’s Read Book Drop, a day to leave a scary book in a random location for the next person who sees it. Of course, you could do this any day, so don’t let the fact that the date has passed stop you. Even if you don’t feel like leaving a book for a random stranger, you can always send one to a friend, or a kid, assuming that you like them, pick something appropriate, and end up encouraging them to read more. Or you could even do a round robin. Hey, however you want to do it is great! Post below and tell me what book you gave or how you celebrated All Hallow’s Read, and I’ll randomly pick a winner for a signed copy of The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian, who I just met yesterday, and whose book, so far, is very cool. Give a book this Halloween, or in the words of Spook House Dave, share a scare!