Category: History of Horror
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Going Back to Horror’s Roots
A good case can be made that science fiction and horror were born together during a retreat in May 1816 and two of Britain’s great poets were there for the occasion. The poets were Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Lord Byron’s doctor, John William Polidori, and Mary Godwin, who later married Percy Shelley, accompanied…
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Subterranean Terror And Adventure
I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for a story or novel set somewhere beneath the earth’s surface. I suppose I can lay this odd predilection of mine squarely on Jules Verne’s doorstep. After all, what kid, especially a young boy, hasn’t read A Journey To The Center Of The Earth? My first exposure was a…
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Why Are Vampires Scary?
As a writer of vampire horror, I find it useful to take a look at what makes them an effective source of horror. This is not necessarily intended to be a definitive or exhaustive list. Also, just because I cite a book under one category doesn’t mean it won’t fit under other categories as well.…
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Cosmic, or Lovecraftian, Horror
Cosmic horror is largely, if not solely, the creation of HP Lovecraft. Of whom Stephen King said he “has yet to be surpassed as the Twentieth Century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale.” There are certain themes that differentiate Lovecraft’s brand of horror from other horror subgenres. Let’s take a look at some of…
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Poetry & Horror
POETRY & HORROR or Poe & Lovecraft My name is Dr. Thomas Davison, and I love poetry. Have you ever noticed that in our western culture, we tend to identify ourselves with our careers? When meeting or introducing someone, we usually include that person’s job in the introduction. For example, “This is Tom; he is…
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A Woman’s Place…
Allow me to update an old proverb for the twenty-first century: A woman’s place is in a horror story. And I suppose it always has been. Back in the beginning, in the days of writers like Poe, Stoker, and their contemporaries, her function was either to die to demonstrate the awful nature of the beast,…
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Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories
There’s something about the long, dark nights just as autumn turns into full-fledged winter that seems especially suited to spooky tales. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons the Victorians were especially fond of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve. Of course, one of the most famous ghost stories of Christmas is none other than A…
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Seabury Quinn: The Man Who Saved Weird Tales
…and saved weird fiction. Really? Weird Tales and weird fiction owe their existence to one man? The Unique Magazine? The magazine of HP Lovecraft? Actually, Weird Tales wasn’t the magazine of HP Lovecraft. Sure, he submitted stories to WT and had them published (and a few rejected). But HPL actually disdained the commercial press and…
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Updating Baba Yaga
I think it’s safe to say that many of us first encounter scary stories through fairy tales and folklore. Whether it be the wolves, ghosts, or trolls of the Brothers Grimm or banshees, werewolves, and vengeful witches of folklore, many of us have been kept awake at night worrying that one or more of these…
Threads that Bind 