"This Horror Book Isn't Scary"
And Other Such Nonsense
I co-own a horror subscription service called, Night Worms. We’re one of the largest buyers of horror, both indie and mainstream. I wrote a Bram Stoker Award-winning book about horror called, 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered. I read and recommend horror books every day. I surround myself with horror both recreationally and professionally.
I’m starting to hate the word, “scary”.
So few horror books are genuinely scary to me. If I told you which ones scared me, your first reaction would be to weigh your experience against mine and think, “That’s not scary.” Or maybe we would agree on a few. You would think, “Yeah, that scared me too.” But our experience with the book does not determine its genre.
Horror is infinitely more than just scary.
Horror can make readers feel…
Anxious, Alarmed, and Appalled.
Horror can be…
Dreadful, eerie, unsettling, shocking, creepy, gruesome, menacing, dreadful, or spooky.
Horror books can have light supernatural, paranormal, and/or magical realism elements but go heavy on realistic fears like isolation, abandonment, psychic trauma, grief, loss, or hopelessness.
Horror can be a mind-fuck.
Horror can be speculative, experimental, or literary.
Horror can be loud or quiet.
Horror can blend with other genres for a cocktail that tastes like fantasy or sci-fi with just a splash of horror or it can be horror-forward with a hint of romance or the zest of a historical setting.
Your definition of horror using whatever criteria or standards you have, is your own. Horror books are horror books with our without your approval.
“This book isn’t horror because it isn’t scary.”
OPINION. (and a bad one because it blends a lie with a truth)
“This is a horror book, but it didn’t scare me.”
FACTS.
I don’t know what’s worse, people who tell others what’s horror and what isn’t based on their specific and personal measure of horror or the readers who engage with those reviews with some version of, “Now I’m not going to read it because you said it isn’t horror and it wasn’t scary.”
One man’s “NOT SCARY” is another man’s “HOLY SHIT!”
The only way to know where you’ll land, is to read it for yourself. LaVar Burton taught us that.
Horror is a wonderful rainbow and scary is only ONE of the colors! Thank you for pointing out all the other hues where horror shines.
Completely agree with everything said! Horror isn't a one size fits all, scariness isn't either and it's it's unfair thing to measure horror against in most instances. Few of my favourite horror works have anything similar to a jump scare and yet I can't get some images or ideas out of my head. Horror is something more persistent, more burrowing that won't leave you alone regardless of how hard you try... just as it should be.