I’ve been into horror for a long time. I’m that guy. The one who remembers fun, nasty little things and lets them come tumbling out at social gatherings with all the grace of damp flatulence. I’ve always been that guy.
My favorite kind of horror is bleak and miserable and full of dead protagonists, inevitable loss, children and pets who don’t quite make it through to closing time. The Ruins, Cujo, I Am Legend. Is The Road horror? If it is, throw it on the pile. If it has that bitter sting I’ll probably latch onto it like a fungus.
But horror is a lot of other things, and I like them too. Shades of it show up in every sort of story, from Doctor Seuss (What the hell *would* you do if you met a Jibboo? And look what they found in the park, in the dark…) to Doctor Strangelove, in fantasy and romance and science fiction and even most nonfiction. It’s the universal undercurrent in why we tell stories at all. Because death waits to obliterate us. Terrible things can and do happen. And will happen to you.
But that’s okay.
It is.
It’s fascinating. It’s beautiful. It’s sometimes freaking funny. Other times, well, not so much. It can raise the stakes to the highest level. It can go anywhere. Literally anywhere. And it’s at its best when it comes close to home. People who pretend there’s no literary merit to horror haven’t paid attention to the core foundation of the classics, because Faulkner and Hemmingway danced with the same ideas as Ketchum and King.
I can’t promise to upkeep this blog all that frequently as I prefer to spend my nights agonizing over projects that will make me irritable for years or at least months at a stretch, but I’ll try to now and again! Mostly recommendations for movies, books, fun stuff. Fun, nasty little things. Thanks to the work from MazeBridge on the website design.
In other news, my first novel, The Eater of Gods, is coming out soon! Will post details to the News page as it all finishes up.