Tags

Horror Tag

Created by Alex @HeyLilThrifter on Twitter and Hey Little Thrifter on YouTube. The original video and list of questions can be found here.

I realize that this is a BookTuber tag, but I am not much for making videos, so I thought that I would participate in a written form instead!

Without further ado…. Here we go!

Question 1: How and when did you get into horror? The earliest memory of horror that I have is from around third grade. I read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz and it terrified me! I didn’t see a true horror movie until I was in middle school – for some reason my parents were okay with me reading horror, but not watching it. Go figure. I don’t know if it was necessarily the first, but the first horror movie that I remember and that stuck with me was The Exorcist. It was scary and I loved it and it made me a horror movie fan for life.

Question 2: What was the first horror book that you read? It was Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz. I can remember checking it out over and over again from the school library, as well as its sequels. I also read the Goosebumps series when they came out – they were fun, but not really scary. From there, I moved onto R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series, Scholastic’s Point Horror titles, Christopher Pike, L.J. Smith, and V.C. Andrews.

Question 3: What horror-related goodness can we expect from your channel? Nothing from a channel, but on this blog you can expect to find book reviews and tags such as this one. Hopefully before the end of the year, you can expect to find a vintage horror review section and some Best of/Top 5 type articles for different horror genres/tropes.

Question 4: Do you have any favourite themes or subgenres within horror? I have quite a few! My number one would be a tie between haunting and possession stories. Following close behind would be creature features, slashers, cosmic, and comedic horror. I enjoy extreme horror, but have to take breaks in between. I also enjoy Halloween/fall, winter, survival, and oceanic themes. There are not many themes that I dislike.

Question 5: Name an underrated horror novel or author. I am going to list a few lesser-known authors: Kristopher Triana, Bracken MacLeod, Rio Youers, Chad Lutzke, Mary SanGiovanni, Matt Hayward, Somer Cannon, and Kelli Owen. These are names you may be familiar with, depending on your horror circles, but they represent a broad range within the genre and are all fantastic writers.

Question 6: Name an overrated horror novel or author. I only have one – Anne Rice. Granted it has been many years since I’ve tried to get through one of her books, but I have set aside far more than I have ever finished reading.

Question 7: Recommend three of your favourite horror novels. This is a really hard one… Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite, Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez, and A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay.

Question 8: Recommend a book for someone who is new to the horror genre. This is also a hard one because it depends on the person and their likes/dislikes. A few of my go to picks might be: Bird Box by Josh Malerman, Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry, Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link, or The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. I don’t consider any of these to be straight horror, although they do have horrific elements… kind of horror adjacent, if you will. They make for a pretty good litmus test as to whether or not the reader is prepared for something heavier.

Question 9: Are there any book to film adaptations that you particularly loved or hated? I love Kubrick’s The Shining, but not as an adaptation of the book – I like them each in their own right. I also really enjoyed It (2017), Jaws, and Re-Animator. I didn’t hate Bird Box or Annihilation, but the books were far better.

Question 10: How do you discover new, or new to you, horror books? Mainly through Twitter, BookTube, and Bookstagram. I also get a lot of recs from The Books of Horror Facebook group and from scouring the shelves at new/used bookstores.

Question 11: What was the last horror book that you bought? Mama by Ruby Jean Jensen in an auction.

Question 12: What horror book is at the top of your wishlist? I have three vintage titles that I would love to get my hands on: Chainsaw Terror by Nick Blake, Joyride by Stephen Crye, and Let’s Go Play at the Adams’ by Mendal W. Johnson.

13: (Optional) Tag some people. I think just about every BookTuber that I watch regularly has participated in this. It would be awesome if some more bloggers, reviewers, or authors wanted to jump in!