be afraid, be very afraid....

Over the last few years I have noticed a bit of a change not just in what I read but also in the way I read. Notably has been a consistent shift towards reading, and enjoying, horror fiction. I'm not talking blood and guts and gore (think any one of the Saw movies - that's really not my cup of tea at all), but more along the lines of deep and scary and profoundly terrifying. 
I've always enjoyed reading thrillers, but I think the first tale which tipped me towards reading 'horror' was 'The Book of Lost Things' by John Connolly. There is this one scene in this book where I found myself so engaged with the main character that when I could see the bad thing coming I found myself saying "no, no no" out loud - trying to warn David not to take the bad man's hand, that the bad man was very, very, very, very, very bad. That moment left me breathless, my heart was pounding so hard - it felt like that very same moment when you are abseiling and you move from standing upright to leaning out over the cliff edge completely perpendicular and you simply cannot see where to put your feet only you know you must move and so you reach your foot out into nothingness, trusting that you will find rock. That moment. That one fearful moment when it could all go horribly, horribly wrong. Wow. I had finally read a book which gave me an adrenalin rush - the adrenalin rush of fear.

Just as with abseiling I was obviously hooked from then on.

Alfred Hitchcock was the master of film noir and horror - think the shower scene in Psycho

So I devoured Dean Koontz and Darren Shan, and actually challenged myself to read Stephen King who I had steered clear of at all times previously (blame a very bad experience seeing 'Misery' at the movies ... *shudders*). I sought out lists of horror writers and found my library had compilations of short horror stories - Blood and other Cravings and Teeth: vampire tales. What struck me most when I read these stories was how clever the writing was, how excellent the use of language to quickly engage and terrify. I came to admire the quality of writing which seemed to be required to tell a good horror story. Like with any good story the writing must also be good (and the writer therefore somewhat talented), but horror writing seemed to require a higher level of skill than I had struck previously (and I am someone who reads all types of fiction). I found myself reading more and more horror fiction not just for that adrenalin rush of fear but to simply enjoy the clever use of language and the high quality of writing skill which was displayed.

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe that horror fiction is the absolute best and only genre you can read - or that writers of other genres are any less talented or less skilled or that their use of language is poor. No, I admire all writers and enjoy most genres. My point is more that horror fiction deserves to be treated fairly as a genre, that what it offers is not simply blood and gore and guts but a quality of tale that reaches in under your skin without you even noticing until you are suddenly aware how deeply affected you are by the turn of events .... and how clever the author has been on insisting that you keep reading, that you turn the next page, that you peer under the bed and into the dark shadowy corners and look the monster in the eye.


My favourite 'scary' writers include:
Algernon Blackwood
Bram Stoker
Edgar Allen Poe
H. P. Lovecraft
Richard Matheson
Wilkie Collins
John Connolly
Dean Koontz
Peter Straub
Darren Shan
Stephen King
Neil Gaimain
Ellen Datlow
Kaaron Warren
B. R. Collins

My favourite 'scary' games include:
Alan Wake
Bioshock

My favourite 'scary' TV shows and movies include:
The X-Files
Twin Peaks
The Woman in White (1948)
Psycho
Rear Window
(basically most Hitchcock movies fit the bill here)
and seriously, any Doctor Who episode is bound to give you a good scare every now and then

Short stories

Recently I picked up two volumes of short stories - Blood, and other cravings (a collection of short Horror fiction) and Teeth, vampire tales (a collection of short Horror fiction themed around, obviously, vampires), both edited by Ellen Datlow. My selection of these two books was not because I like to read Horror (I would generally say that I don't) but because I was curious to know just how much Horror fiction we have within the library's collection (not a lot). Searching for some good Horror authors led me to these two volumes and me being me I decided to read them.
I am so glad I have.

What makes these two volumes stand out is the superb quality of the writing. Each story is so short and so precise and flirts around the theme so cleverly that to read them is a treat. Yes, they detail the macabre and scary but you are left so enthralled by the writing and the skill of presentation that the content lies secondary to the experience. These volumes feature the work of Margo Lanagan, Kaaron Warren, Elizabeth Bear, Melissa Marr, Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, Tanith Lee, Cassandra Clare and Holly Black among so many others. These two books are shining examples of very clever storytelling and a worthy addition to the reading lists of anyone who is entranced by the rewarding experience of reading something that has been excellently written (and are willing to step outside the themes to have that experience).

CatyJ