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Haunted Houses: The Perils of Home Ownership

Some article in the Guardian that claimed horror was dead suggested that real life is fraught with enough peril–greedy corporations, mortgages, and so on. Well, okay, those things are pretty scary even without demon-worshiping CEO’s, politicians who deal with the devil, and haunted houses. Clearly, real life isn’t scary enough, though, because we keep seeing requests for books about ghosts and haunted houses. It’s actually a good time of year for ghosts. The holidays stir up memories, and with the change of the year the veil thins. So I thought I’d provide some titles for those of you who are seeking a haunting holiday– or, in the case of the readers’ advisory librarian, helping someone else find that great ghostly read. Some of these are more frightening than others, and while we have reviewed some of them here, we certainly haven’t reviewed them all (although this list is far from exhaustive)… so make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before you crack the covers open!

So now, alphabetical by the author’s last name, just a few books to guarantee that the next time you consider buying a house, you have a really good home inspection:

The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian (reviewed here)
The Jonah Watch by Jack Cady
House on Nazareth Hill by Ramsey Campbell
The Manse by Lisa Cantrell
Nightmare House by Douglas Clegg (reviewed here)
Infinite by Douglas Clegg
Abandoned by Douglas Clegg (reviewed here)
Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie (reviewed here- her answer to Henry James’ Turn of the Screw)
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (reviewed here)
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (not technically a ghost story, but I can’t resist including it)
The Dark Sanctuary by H.B. Gregory
Julian’s House by Judith Hawkes
The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
An American Haunting by Scott A. Johnson
Ghost Walk by Brian Keene (reviewed here)
The Shining by Stephen King (reviewed here)
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Harbor by John Ajdve Lindqvist (reviewed here)
The Resort by Bentley Little
The Elementals by Michael McDowell
Charnel House by Graham Masterson
The House That Jack Built by Graham Masterson
Hell House by Richard Matheson
Here I Stay by Barbara Michaels
Hell Manor by Lisa Morton (reviewed here)
The Castle of Los Angeles by Lisa Morton (reviewed here)
House of Fallen Trees by Gina Ranalli (reviewed here)
December by Phil Rickman (reviewed here)
The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoloff (reviewed here)
The Unseen by Alexandra Sokoloff (reviewed here)
The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons
A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons
Julia by Peter Straub
Ghost Story by Peter Straub
Phantom by Thomas Tessier
Cinema of Shadows by Michael West (reviewed here)
The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde (this has been made into a very enjoyable movie with Patrick Stewart as the ghost)
A Manhattan Ghost Story by T.M. Wright
Cold House by T.M. Wright

Posted on December 12, 2012 by , Reply

AAAAAAAHHHH! Horror is Dead!

At least, that’s what The Guardian says. Apparently the cool literary types haven’t reached out to touch the horror genre in a way that matters, which, according to this author, apparently means it needs to be drenched in literary theory and contemporary economic and political issues:

I’m convinced horror can raise its game. Our postmodern, capitalism-in-crisis, media-saturated world is ripe to describe it anew. Our very language seems to demand it. A mortgage, literally, is a death grip. Negative equity means being haunted by your own house. Corporations have legal personhood: they can be held responsible for criminal actions and claim “human” rights, but ironically they have no body. PR and political spin are referred to as “dark arts”.

.

To this, I can only say “Huh?” Look, if you really want to get down to the basics, great horror fiction crawls into your mind and moves in, or produces a physical, visceral response. It can be literary, but if it doesn’t do either of those things, it’s not horror. And you can call it whatever you want, but if a book does those things, you are reading a horror novel. Fear may nest in the great issues of our time, but horror is something experienced as intensely personal.

Marketing has more to do with what people are calling that book than what it actually is. I wrote about this a while back— “literary” books are seldom marketed as horror. Osama by Lavie Tidhar won the World Fantasy Award, but it gave me nightmares, and rightfully so. Chris Bohjalian doesn’t call it a horror novel, but The Night Strangers(reviewed here)still makes me uneasy. And Kelly Link, mentioned in the Guardian’s article as a refreshing literary voice in fantasy fiction, slips between genres, identifying with horror as well as sf and fantasy(read our interview of her here). And books published as horror, such as The Reapers are the Angels, by Alden Bell, can certainly be literary.

So, nope, horror isn’t dead. Can it be pulpy and commercial? Sure thing. Can it be predictable and badly written? Absolutely. Can it be original, unsettling, and downright terrifying? It better be.

Horror doesn’t die, folks. Pitch in Rise of the Guardians(which you should really see) makes that point effectively. You can banish the nightmares, but the bogeyman always rises again.

(Thanks to Rose Fox at Genreville for the link, and her spirited response).

Posted on November 27, 2012 by , Reply

Librarians – I Desperately Need Your Input!

I have been asked to write a chapter for a book on the intersection of children’s literature with horror fiction. The book’s editor wants a librarian’s perspective.  I am looking to get additional input from children’s librarians and elementary school media specialists. So far  the research I can find regarding the value of scary stories and horror fiction in engaging readers and in the library is incomplete, at best (so if you know of any academic research I can use, please let me know). I am hoping to collect some input from you here.

The topic is: Where are the scary books? The place of scary stories in reading and at the library.

If you are a school librarian in a K-8 school or a children’s librarian in a public library, or feel like you have something that you’d like to add to help shape what I write I would really appreciate it. I would be interested to read responses here.  A request for this information from the children’s librarians at my local public library was met with disinterest, and that’s part of what I am writing about, but I know that’s not representative of all children’s and school librarians! So please help, and spread the word to others if you know them.  Here are the questions I am looking to have answered:

1.) What do you think constitutes “scary books” in the elementary or children’s library collection?

2.)Do you purchase scary books and horror fiction for your elementary, middle school, or children’s collections? Why or why not?

3.) What criteria do you use when making purchasing decisions?

4.) How do you answer the question “Where are the scary books”?

5.)Where are your “scary books” physically located?

6.) What titles, subjects, or genres would you consider looking in to find “scary books”?

Anyone who would like to contact me personally about this topic, please email me at monsterlibrarian@monsterlibrarian.com and title your subject line: Scary Books for Kids.

Thank you!

Posted on November 13, 2012 by , Reply
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