Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature edited by Becky Siegel Spratford
Big thanks to Saga Press and NetGalley for sharing an advanced
copy of Beck Siegel Spratford’s amazing collection of horror writers’ essays on
their love of horror appropriately titled Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature. This book was amazing! I loved hearing from so many
incredible writers whose work I admire, have wanted to read, or just discovered
because of this incredible anthology. First, this book is a must read for any
horror fan—whether you are a horror literature fan or even a horror movie fan.
Many of the entries from the authors provide background and motivation for why we
are attracted to dark, forbidding stories that challenge and frighten us. I was
nodding my head in agreement while reading many of the essays, finding commonality
among the different perspectives that all pointed to outsider status, anxiety
and fear, social ills, dysfunction, and especially in finding horror through
early experiences with scary stories, comics, television shows, and films. While
I try to find something that I can relate to in every book I read, I don’t know
if I’ve ever encountered a book where I felt like I was saying “That’s me!” after
every page.
Becky Siegel Spratford, the editor of this anthology, has
done an incredible job of assembling an all-star cast of horror writers, but
more importantly, she’s expertly arranged the essays into a compelling order
that progresses from early encounters with monsters to real life terrors and
horrors to acknowledging how horror can help us through horrible times. Siegel
Spratford is a librarian by training who eventually started working with the
Readers’ Advisory, a program that suggests books to readers. Maybe it’s
something we take for granted when we go to the library, but I’ve always
thought it was cool to see what the librarians were reading and recommending
for readers. I usually don’t have a problem finding books I want to read, but
it is a great service for my kids. Interestingly, Siegel Spratford recognized
the importance of asking why—not just recounting what the book was about, but
rather what made the book so enjoyable and readable. She gives a great example
of how this question functioned for Stephen Graham Jones’s The Only Good Indians,
probably my favorite book by him (although The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is
a close second). She explains that exploring the why led her to create the Readers’
Advisory Guide to Horror, and her interest in horror led to asking writers
to share entries for an October blog on “Why Horror?” She provided these
authors with a simple prompt and word length, and then includes a great introduction
and recommendations for these authors’ books—for which I am so grateful.
The book is easily read, and it’s one that I will definitely
want to revisit. I also see some of these essays as being great teaching tools
in asking students to think deeply about their own personal interests or “Why”
questions. It’s an assignment I’ve taught before, trying to craft my own
examples—why running? Why horror movies? Why metal? – as well as using student
samples. However, I loved the variety and creativity in these essays. Grady
Hendrix’s “Why I Love Horror” was so strange and unsettling about a discovery
in his father’s freezer—I’m not sure how true it is, but that was the whole point
of why horror. This sounds like something that could happen. Did it? That’s
what makes horror so unsettling. I also loved Clay McLeod Chapman’s “Why I Am
Horror” in which he recounts the varied examples from his younger days of why
he drifted into horror, and how some experiences with horror challenged his
perspective and understanding of the truth. I think that the earlier essays
about monsters probably appealed to me the most. I was that kid who loved books
about cryptids and creatures and watched shows like In Search Of… and Ripley’s
Believe It Or Not. I had these Time Life books about all aspects of the
unknown and mysterious events and creatures. It was funny that John Langan
brought up spontaneous human combustion, because I remember being terrified of
that phenomenon when I was younger after reading about it in one of these Time
Life books. I think I even saw the pictures he referenced in his essay. I was
just always drawn to both being scared but also intrigued by these mysterious circumstances.
Also, monster movies were definitely a big part of my young life, something
that I watched with my dad when I was really young, and continued to stay up
late on Saturday nights after Saturday Night Live to watch Saturday
Night Dead. Like a lot of the writers, these movies led to other worlds of
horror including comics and Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Peter Straub. I’m
also not sure if it was partly a generational aspect of growing up in the 80s,
but I had a used book/comic store up the street from my house where I spent a
lot of time and money discovering weird tales and Poe and Lovecraft comic
adaptations. There were also 2 video stores nearby, and both had pretty good
horror selections. Cynthia Pelayo, whose amazing book Loteria I recently
read (and loved), talked about how the video store provided her with an early
entry to horror, in which she ended up exploring the entire selection.
Similarly, Clay McLeod Chapman talks about how “Each sleeve had its own horror
story to tell.” I remember one summer trying to rent all of the banned films
with a friend—Make Them Die Slowly, I Spit on Your Grave, Faces
of Death…. Just trying to really push boundaries. However, there were all
kinds of great covers and boxes that called out to perspective viewers to dare
themselves to be scared for a few hours. I could totally relate to this, and it’s
something that I feel like younger generations really missed out on. Even as an
adult, I miss that time where I could just spend a summer day binging on different
horror movies.
One of the more powerful essays was more like a story by
David Demchuk. I was blown away by the story he recounts hearing from his
uncle. It’s a powerful kind of allegory, but also illustrates the didactic power
of horror and how its visceral nature allows us to feel a broad range of
emotions. Similarly Stephen Graham Jones who ends the anthology, presents some humorous
yet compelling reasons why he chose horror, noting how it might be the oldest
of the genres. I also loved how many of the authors noted how important horror
is for society—to serve as like a barometer and a kind of critique of society,
where it can help us to recognize not only the horrors that are happening, but
also what might come if we don’t make changes. Alma Katsu, who worked in
intelligence tracking genocide and atrocities around the world acknowledges the
power of horror and darkness to teach us important lessons. Other authors also
offered the necessity of horror as a way to help us acknowledge and appreciate
the light and good in the world. There were so many great ways to consider
horror and what we can learn from it in this collection. I loved reading other
pieces by authors whose books I’ve read within the last year or so—Gabino Iglesias,
Tananarive Due, Alma Katsu, Clay McLeod Chapman, Victor LaValle, Nuzo Onoh, Grady
Hendrix, Cynthia Pelayo, and Stephen Graham Jones, as well as encountering some
writers on my TBR list (John Langan, Rachel Harrison, Mary SanGiovanni, David
Demchuk). This was such a great collection! I also couldn’t imagine the contributions
that some writers who either couldn’t contribute or had their work cut might
have added. Siegel Spratford mentions a few in the “Acknowledgements”. I hope
maybe she can create another edition later to include some of these writers. Nevertheless,
this was such a fun, entertaining, and enlightening read. I loved reading about
all of these authors’ experiences with horror- what influenced their movement
to the dark side and what has kept them there. Highly recommended!
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