Becky Siegel Spratford, ed., Why I love horror: essays on horror literature. New York: Saga Press, 2025. ISBN: 9781668205099.
The book starts with an introduction by Sadie Hartmann, author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered. Next we get the editor's opening essay to introduce the book and the writers. Hartmann describes the book as follows:
"A collection of essays penned by masters of the macabre, revealing their unique path that has led them here, to this Way Station; a place designed for you to reset from the calling of your stack of unread horror books and enjoy this time of refreshment and unity" (9).
I will admit that I had a small stack of books, including horror, that I need to read. Yet to be honest, reading this felt better than grabbing one of those books from the stack, at least for now. From there, we go right into the essays. Some of the authors featured include:
- Brian Keene.
- Hailey Piper.
- Gabino Iglesias.
- Tananarive Due.
- Stephen Graham Jones.
If you want to learn a bit more, the book also features a section about the authors at the end of the book. The editor simply asked each writer for the following:
"I gave them no further direction than this prompt: 'Write me 1,500 words or less on the topic of 'Why I Love Horror'" (15).
Each author then brings a specific perspective. Some essays may be light. Others are seriously deep, and a couple come with trigger warnings, so you are warned. Many of the essays are powerful and moving, and they may stay with you after reading, very much like a good horror tale.
Every essay opens with a paragraph or two about the author. The editor often explains why an author was chosen or highlights a theme the author will address. In addition, the editor provides an author's title if you want to start reading an author's work plus the name of a similar author to keep you reading.
When I started reading the book I thought I would browse and skip and read the essays that sounded interesting. I ended up reading the book cover to cover. The essays are great, and they draw you in with their humanity. In addition, the editor did a great job in placing them in order. The essays just flow from one to the next. The essays are just so evocative not just about horror but also about their diverse life experiences.
If you are a horror fan, this is a must-read book. If you are curious about horror, this is a good book to learn about the genre and what motivates some of its current writers to keep on writing it. The book is truly a great sampling of modern voices in contemporary horror.
This is a book I highly recommend for all libraries. You can read it at any time, but you can definitely share it, display it, and read it during Halloween season. This is one I would order for our library, and I'd even consider adding a personal copy to my own collection. For libraries, this is essential.
5 out of 5 stars.
Additional reading notes:
Another good quote from Sadie Hartmann:
"Horror has always been a way to name the unnameable and confront the things that frighten us together, as a community" (10).
From Brian Keene's essay:
"Horror, as a marketing category, always does better in times of national or global turmoil. The sales data backs up this claim, as do the trends in horror, stretching all the way back to the gothic and the pulps to now" (29).
If memory serves me right, Keene has said that before and more than once. I think I recall him saying it in his book End of the Road (link to my review).
A bit more from Keene:
"There is safety and comfort in curling up with make-believe monsters so that we can tune out the very real monsters all around us, even if only for a little while" (29).
Alma Katsu mentions genocide in their essay to make a point about who the real monsters are:
"The thing you must know is the simple physics of genocide: it's impossible to eliminate a lot of people at one time without the participation of the citizenry. That's right: genocides are mostly neighbor-on-neighbor violence, often with militias providing the muscle. Consider this your wake-up call. We're afraid of the wrong things. We are the monsters " (54).
Katsu on a good horror story:
"That's what a good horror story can give you: A way to deal with your fears. Proof that you can conquer the things that scare you. Helpful ways to deal with your monsters-- even if one of your fears is that you'll turn into a monster, too" (56).
Tananarive Due on meeting mortality at an early age:
"Meeting mortality up close in my great-grandmother's bedroom-- really understanding, perhaps from photos around the house, that she had once been a little girl just like me and that one day I would be an old woman just like her-- change my life forever.
That was my first moment of pure horror" (72).
On a side note, a first experience to serious illness and death for me was an elder aunt's last days. On the one hand, our parents wanted us kids to say good by yet they also did not want to expose us to Death too much. It was like they were trying to figure out what was just enough exposure for us kids to learn but not too much to traumatize us. Looking back and thinking about it now, having seen death a few times, I've noticed that my family at times can be a bit too protective in moments of death, who can witness such moments or not, if you are close enough to the deceased or not? In youth, Death can be horrifying, yet it is a part of life. In the end, Death will come for us all. It's that impartiality which moves me at times to do work with Santa Muerte. Death may bring sadness, but it is not to be feared. That is a key lesson, and once you learn it, much of life gets a bit easier.
Jennifer McMahon on finding monsters at the library. I found this passage to be evocative, and it made me smile as a librarian:
"I knew, just knew in my bones, that real monsters existed, that they were out there. And if I was going to find true evidence of them anywhere, it would be in the library. I loved the library. I felt at home there, surrounded by books and quiet, getting to pick up and read whatever I wanted without being questioned by a teacher or some other well-meaning grown-up" (83).
McMahon's writing advice:
"We've all heard the writing advice: Write what you know. But my own take on that, my own writing mantra, is: Write what scares you. I've realized that to get to the truly good stuff, the stuff that gets my heart racing and mind whirling, I need to tap into my fears. When I drag them out from under the bed or from inside the closet into the light of day, I can explore them safely, poke at them with long sticks, ask my fears questions and learn truths about myself in the process. And now, just as when I wrote those first stories back in third grade, it makes me feel more brave. More alive" (88).
McCleod Chapman suggestion, which I am considering to do:
"Maybe you should write your own horror autobiography. Now it's your turn. See if you can pinpoint the moment(s) where horror roots itself into your life. Where fear takes over. How you process it. Internalize-- then externalize-- those nightmares. To share your story.
Tell us...why do you love horror?" (135).
Nuzo Onoh on great horror:
"That's another great thing about horror: there's always something for every taste and everyone-- ghost and supernatural horror, slasher/gore horror, monsters and creatures horror, sci-fi and alien horror, cosmic horror, gothic horror, folk horror, dystopian horror, apocalyptic ancient disease horror, witches, vampires, werewolves, zombies, mythological creatures, everything in between. You name it, there's something there in the genre pool for every horror buff, and I am holding my own treat right now" (138).
This book qualifies for the following 2025 Reading Challenge:
No comments:
Post a Comment