Midlist Writer: Thoughts on the Horror Genre

Monday 20 October 2008

Thoughts on the Horror Genre

I just came across an interview with Del Howison, who with his wife runs Dark Delicacies, the only bookshop in the U.S. solely dedicated to horror. He has some interesting insights about the genre that are well worth a read. I've noticed that horror sections in bookshops are dwindling, and there seems to be less enthusiasm for horror novels (as opposed to horror films) among the general populace these days. Howison dismisses these fears by saying that the popularity of the genre is always fluctuating. Considering that horror has been with us since the days of the early Gothic novels almost three hundred years ago, I guess there's nothing to worry about.

He points out that there's an upturn anytime someone comes out with a great novel. Then everyone jumps on the bandwagon and a lot of tripe gets published. Just look at the all bad vampire fiction that came out after Anne Rice made it big.

The interview was conducted by Myra Calvani, a horror writer who keeps an excellent blog on the genre.

1 comment:

PSGifford said...: Dark Delicacies is about the coolest store on the planet.

PS Gifford; 20 October 2008 at 07:02

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