Sep 25 2008
Find Horror Outside the Genre
Like everything else, 90% of horror fiction is crap but that last 10% is pure gold. But some of the best horror fiction out there won't be found in the horror section. Granted, I have a broader definition of horror than most. I don't think you need supernatural elements or the usual tropes to write a powerful horror story. I don't think horror fiction has one emotional effect (fear) at its heart, but a wealth of other powerful emotional touchstones to explore. (grief, guilt, redemption, hedonism). As such, I would consider the work of Jim Thompson as much akin to the best horror fiction out there today, even though their are no monsters besides the human animal let loose in his stories.
Tom Piccirilli wrote horror fiction for years before his work started to be shelved in a bunch of different bookstore locations, including mystery and westerns. He's won awards in almost all of the fields he's played in, showing that, if you work your arse off, you can cut it as a writer of many genres. Recently, crime fiction has been his most popular and successful genre work. I started reading The Dead Letters in Austin, Texas, while my lady was attending and participating in a video game conference (and she did an amazing job).
Damn. It may be in the mystery section, but this novel is as much a horror novel as one of crime. Its as if Piccirilli took the best things he learned about horror writing (and he wrote some great horror-labled stuff, including The Night Class which I also enjoyed) and shoved it into a literary crime novel.
Such an example proves a few things. Cross genre writers can make it if they work like hell and play it smart, and, if they are like Piccirilli, use what they've learned in each genre to make for more interesting, compelling, and innovative fiction in another genre.
Huzzah, I say. Huzzah.
JSR
Tom Piccirilli wrote horror fiction for years before his work started to be shelved in a bunch of different bookstore locations, including mystery and westerns. He's won awards in almost all of the fields he's played in, showing that, if you work your arse off, you can cut it as a writer of many genres. Recently, crime fiction has been his most popular and successful genre work. I started reading The Dead Letters in Austin, Texas, while my lady was attending and participating in a video game conference (and she did an amazing job).
Damn. It may be in the mystery section, but this novel is as much a horror novel as one of crime. Its as if Piccirilli took the best things he learned about horror writing (and he wrote some great horror-labled stuff, including The Night Class which I also enjoyed) and shoved it into a literary crime novel.
Such an example proves a few things. Cross genre writers can make it if they work like hell and play it smart, and, if they are like Piccirilli, use what they've learned in each genre to make for more interesting, compelling, and innovative fiction in another genre.
Huzzah, I say. Huzzah.
JSR
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