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Horror fiction

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This article is about the genre in fiction. For the same genre in film, see Horror film.
"Horror story" redirects here. For other uses, see Horror Story (disambiguation).
"Supernatural horror" redirects here. For the film genre, see Supernatural horror film.

Count Dracula, a vampire who emigrates from Transylvania to England and preys upon the blood of living victims, in the poster for the film Dracula (1931)
vampire, face of little green man, feather pen (quill) and fire-breathing dragon – to the right of that are scripted words "Speculative (over) Fiction"
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Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length ... which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing".[1] Horror is intended to create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the reader. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for larger fears of a society.

History

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Before 1000

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Athenodorus and the ghost, by Henry Justice Ford, c. 1900
An illustration for Andrew Lang's story "Athenodorus confronts the Spectre"

The horror genre has ancient origins, with roots in folklore and religious traditions focusing on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic, and the principle of a thing embodied in a person.[2] These themes manifested in stories of beings such as demons, witches, vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. Some early European horror stories were told by Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans.[3] Mary Shelley's well-known novel Frankenstein (1818) was greatly influenced by the story of Hippolytus, whom the god Asclepius revives from death.[4] Euripides wrote plays based on this story, Hippolytos Kalyptomenos and Hippolytus.[5] In Plutarch's biographies Parallel Lives, in the account of Cimon, the author describes the spirit of a murderer, Damon, who himself was murdered in a bathhouse in Chaeronea.[6]

Pliny the Younger (61 to c. 113) tells the tale of Athenodorus Cananites, who bought a haunted house in Athens. Athenodorus was cautious since the house seemed inexpensive. While writing a book on philosophy, he was visited by a ghostly figure bound in chains. The figure disappeared in the courtyard; the following day, the magistrates dug in the courtyard and found an unmarked grave.[7]

Elements of the horror genre also occur in Biblical texts, notably in the Book of Revelation.[8][9]

After 1000

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The Witch of Berkeley legend, by the historian William of Malmesbury, has been viewed as an early horror story.[10] Werewolf stories were popular in medieval French literature. One of Marie de France's twelve lais is a werewolf story titled "Bisclavret".

A Print of Vlad III
Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for the character Count Dracula.

The Countess Yolande commissioned a werewolf story titled "Guillaume de Palerme". Anonymous writers penned two werewolf stories, "Biclarel" and "Melion".

Much horror fiction derives from the cruellest personages of the 15th century. Dracula can be traced to the Wallachian prince Vlad III, whose alleged war crimes were published in German pamphlets. A 1499 pamphlet published by Markus Ayrer is most notable for its woodcut imagery.[11] The alleged serial murders by Gilles de Rais have been seen as the inspiration for the French folktale "Bluebeard".[12] The motif of the female vampire is most notably derived from a real-life noblewoman and murderer, Elizabeth Bathory; this helped to facilitate the emergence of horror fiction in the 18th century, such as through László Turóczi's book Tragica Historia (1729).[13]

18th century

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Horace Walpole wrote the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764), initiating a new literary genre.[14]

The 18th century saw the gradual development of Romanticism and the Gothic horror genre. This genre drew on the written and material heritage of the Late Middle Ages, finding its form in Horace Walpole's seminal and controversial novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764). The first edition was published disguised as an actual medieval romance from Italy, discovered and republished by a fictitious translator.[14] Once the novel was revealed as modern, many found it anachronistic, reactionary, or simply in poor taste, but it proved immediately popular.[14]

Otranto inspired several other novels: Vathek (1786) by William Beckford; A Sicilian Romance (1790), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), and The Italian (1796) by Ann Radcliffe; and The Monk (1797) by Matthew Lewis.[14] A significant amount of horror fiction from this era was written by women and marketed toward a female audience; a typical scenario of this fiction involved a resourceful woman threatened in a gloomy castle.[15]

19th century

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The writer Mary Shelley painted by Richard Rothwell (1840–1841)

During the 19th century, the Gothic tradition developed into the genre that modern readers call horror literature. Influential works and characters that still resonate in fiction and film saw their genesis in multiple works:

Each of these works created an enduring horror icon that is re-imaginined later for the page, the stage, and the screen.[16]

20th century

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A proliferation of cheap periodicals around the turn of the century led to a boom in horror writing. For example, Gaston Leroux serialized his Le Fantôme de l'Opéra before it became a novel in 1910. One writer who specialized in horror fiction for mainstream pulps (such as All-Story Magazine), was Tod Robbins, whose fiction deals with themes of madness and cruelty.[17][18] In Russia, the writer Alexander Belyaev popularized these themes in his Professor Dowell's Head (1925), in which a mad doctor performs experimental head transplants and reanimations on bodies stolen from the morgue. This story was first published as a magazine serial before being turned into a novel. Specialist publications later emerged to give horror writers an outlet; prominent among these were Weird Tales[19] and Unknown Worlds.[20]

The writer H. P. Lovecraft in 1915

Influential horror writers of the early 20th century made progress in these media. In particular, the horror author H. P. Lovecraft, with his enduring Cthulhu Mythos, transformed and popularized the genre of cosmic horror. In addition, M. R. James is credited with redefining the ghost story during that era.[21]

The serial murderer became a recurring theme. Yellow journalism perpetuated this phenomenon, as did the sensationalizing of several murderers, such as Jack the Ripper, and (to a lesser degree) Carl Panzram, Fritz Haarman, and Albert Fish. This trend continued in the era after World War II, partly renewed after murders committed by Ed Gein. Inspired by these murders, Robert Bloch wrote the novel Psycho in 1959. The crimes committed in 1969 by the Manson Family influenced the slasher theme in horror fiction of the 1970s. In 1981, Thomas Harris wrote the novel Red Dragon, introducing the character Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The sequel to that novel, The Silence of the Lambs, was published in 1988.

Early cinema was inspired by many aspects of horror literature, and it started a strong tradition of horror films and subgenres that continues in the 21st century. Graphic on-screen depictions of violence and gore were commonly associated with slasher films and splatter films from the 1960s and 1970s; until that time, comic books such as those published by EC Comics in the 1950s satisfied readers' search for horror imagery that the silver screen could not provide.[22] (A notable example of such comics was Tales From The Crypt.) This imagery made the comics controversial, and as a consequence, they were frequently censored.[23][24]

The modern zombie story, dealing with the motif of the living dead, recalls works including H. P. Lovecraft's stories "Cool Air" (1925), "In The Vault" (1926), and "The Outsider" (1926), in addition to Dennis Wheatley's story "Strange Conflict" (1941). Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend (1954) influenced a genre of apocalyptic zombie fiction as exemplified by the films of George A. Romero.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the enormous commercial success of three books–Rosemary's Baby (1967) by Ira Levin, The Exorcist (1971) by William Peter Blatty, and The Other (1971) by Thomas Tryon–encouraged publishers to release many other horror novels, thereby creating a "horror boom".[25][26]

Stephen King
The writer Stephen King in 2007

One of the most famous horror writers of the late 20th century is Stephen King; he is known for the novels Carrie, The Shining, It, Misery, in addition to several dozen other novels and about 200 short stories.[27][28][29] Starting in the 1970s, King's stories have attracted a large audience, for which he received an honorary National Book Award in 2003.[30] Other popular horror authors of the period included Anne Rice, Shaun Hutson, Brian Lumley, Graham Masterton, James Herbert, Dean Koontz, Richard Laymon, Clive Barker,[31] Ramsey Campbell,[32] and Peter Straub.

21st century

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Best-selling book series about the 21st century exist in genres related to horror fiction, such as Kitty Norville (2005 onward) by Carrie Vaughn; these blend werewolf fiction with urban fantasy. Horror elements continue to expand outside the genre. The alternate history horror in Dan Simmons's novel The Terror (2007) sits on bookstore shelves next to genre mash ups such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009), in addition to historical fantasy and horror comics such as Hellblazer (1993 onward) and Mike Mignola's Hellboy (1993 onward). Horror also serves as a central genre in complex modern works such as Mark Z. Danielewski's novel House of Leaves (2000), a finalist for the National Book Award. Like Danielewski, many authors have opted to publish their works online, with notable examples including the novel Ben Drowned by Alex Hall and the story Candle Cove by Kris Straub.

Many horror novels have been written for children and teens, such as R. L. Stine's Goosebumps series and The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey. Moreover, many movies for young audiences use horror aesthetics and conventions (especially animations, such as ParaNorman). These can be collectively referred to as children's horror.[33] Although it is uncertain why children enjoy these movies (which seems counterintuitive), it is theorized that grotesque monsters fascinate children.[33] As a tangent, the internalized impact of horror television programs and films on children has not been extensively researched, especially in comparison with the related topic of violence in these media. The research to date is generally inconclusive about the impact of horror media on children.[34]

Characteristics

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One defining trait of the horror genre is provoking an emotional, psychological, or physical reaction of fear in readers. One of H. P. Lovecraft's best-known statements about the genre is that "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown" (the first sentence of his seminal essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature").[35] Science fiction historian Darrell Schweitzer has stated that "In the simplest sense, a horror story is one that scares us" and "the true horror story requires a sense of evil, not in necessarily in a theological sense; but the menaces must be truly menacing, life-destroying, and antithetical to happiness."[36]

In her essay "Elements of Aversion", Elizabeth Barrette describes the need that some people have for horror stories in the modern world. She notes the "fight or flight" reaction of our ancient ancestors, which was necessary for survival. WIth the development of civilization, human life became significantly calmer, at the cost of some restlessness. To address this, people told each other horror stories after dark, in an effort to entertain and to frighten. But such stories provoke not only fear and revulsion, but also insight; the best horror surprises an audience and generate new understanding. Such stories recall dangers in the modern world, stimulating a useful degree of caution.[37] Similarly to how people seek the controlled thrill of a roller coaster, modern readers seek feelings of horror and terror to gain a sense of excitement. Barrette notes, however, that horror fiction is an atypical genre where readers seek art requiring them to confront uncomfortable or challenging ideas and images.

There are many theories as to why people enjoy being scared. For example, Chelsea Whyte states that "people who like horror films are more likely to score highly for openness to experience, a personality trait linked to intellect and imagination."[38]

It is widely accepted view that the horror elements of Dracula's vampirism are metaphors for sexuality during the repressed Victorian era.[39] But this view is only one of many interpretations of the Dracula character. Jack Halberstam proposes a number of these views in his essay "Technologies of Monstrosity: Bram Stoker's Dracula". For example, he writes about social class:

[The] image of dusty and unused gold, coins from many nations and old unworn jewels, immediately connects Dracula to the old money of a corrupt class, to a kind of piracy of nations and to the worst excesses of the aristocracy.[40]

Illustration from an 1882 issue of Punch magazine: An English editorial cartoonist conceives the Irish Fenian movement as akin to Frankenstein's monster, in the wake of the Phoenix Park killings.

Halberstram here views Dracula as a manifestation of society's increasing perception of the aristocracy as an evil and outdated class to be overcome. In the novel, a group of protagonists uses the newest technologies of the period (such as the telegraph) to quickly organize, share, and act on new information—this leads to the vampire's destruction. This interpretation is one of Halberstram's many potential metaphors, whose focus ranges from religion to antisemitism.[41]

Noël Carroll's book Philosophy of Horror postulates that in a modern piece of horror fiction, the "monster", villain, or more-inclusive menace must exhibit the following two traits:

  • A menace that is threatening—physically, psychologically, socially, morally, spiritually, or some combination of these.
  • A menace that is impure—that violates the generally accepted schemes of cultural categorization. "We consider impure that which is categorically contradictory".[42]

Scholarship and criticism

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In addition to the essays and articles mentioned above, scholarship on horror fiction is almost as old as horror fiction itself. In 1826, the gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe published an essay distinguishing two elements of horror fiction, "terror" and "horror." Whereas terror is a feeling of dread that takes place before an event happens, horror is a feeling of revulsion or disgust after an event has happened.[43] Radcliffe describes terror as that which "expands the soul and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life," whereas horror is described as that which "freezes and nearly annihilates them."

Modern scholarship on horror fiction draws upon a range of sources. In their historical studies of the gothic novel, both Devendra Varma[44] and S. L. Varnado[45] refer to the theologian Rudolf Otto, whose concept of the numinous was originally used to describe religious experience.

A recent survey asked how often people consume horror media:

To assess frequency of horror consumption, we asked respondents the following question: "In the past year, about how often have you used horror media (for example, horror literature, film, and video games) for entertainment?" 11.3% said "Never," 7.5% "Once," 28.9% "Several times," 14.1% "Once a month," 20.8% "Several times a month," 7.3% "Once a week," and 10.2% "Several times a week." Evidently, then, most respondents (81.3%) claimed to use horror media several times a year or more often. Unsurprisingly, there is a strong correlation between liking and frequency of use (r=.79, p<.0001).[46]

Awards and associations

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Achievements in horror fiction are recognized by numerous awards. The Horror Writers Association presents the Bram Stoker Awards for "Superior Achievement"; these awards are named in honor of Bram Stoker, author of the seminal horror novel Dracula.[47] The Australian Horror Writers Association presents the annual Australian Shadows Awards. The International Horror Guild Award was presented annually to works of horror and dark fantasy from 1995 to 2008.[48][49] The Shirley Jackson Awards recognize outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and dark fantasy. Other important awards for horror literature are subcategories of general awards for fantasy and science fiction, for example, the Aurealis Award.

Alternative terms

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Some writers of fiction normally classified as horror dislike the term, considering it too lurid. Instead, these writers prefer the terms dark fantasy or Gothic fantasy for supernatural horror,[50] and psychological thriller for non-supernatural horror.[51]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Cuddon, J.A. (1984). "Introduction". The Penguin Book of Horror Stories. Harmondsworth: Penguin. p. 11. ISBN 0-14-006799-X.
  2. ^ Jackson, Rosemary (1981). Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion. London: Methuen. pp. 53–5, 68–9.
  3. ^ "Even Ancient Greeks and Romans Enjoyed Good Scary Stories, Professor Says". phys.org. Archived from the original on 13 October 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  4. ^ Though the sub-title of Frankenstein references the titan Prometheus, none of the ancient myths about Prometheus is itself a horror tale.
  5. ^ * Edward P. Coleridge, 1891, prose: full text Archived 12 April 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ * John Dryden, 1683: full text Archived 12 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Pliny the Younger (1909–14). "LXXXIII. To Sura". In Charles W. Eliot. Letters, by Pliny the Younger; translated by William Melmoth; revised by F. C. T. Bosanquet. The Harvard Classics. 9. New York: P.F. Collier & Son.
  8. ^ Beal, Timothy (23 October 2018). "Left Behind Again: The Rise and Fall of Evangelical Rapture Horror Culture". The Book of Revelation: A Biography. Lives of Great Religious Books. Princeton: Princeton University Press (published 2018). p. 197. ISBN 9780691145839. Retrieved 9 April 2021. Taken together with the rapture and tribulation themes in evangelical apocalyptic horror movies, this zombie connection testifies to the variety of ways that Revelation feeds into deep, largely repressed correspondences between religion and horror in contemporary culture.
  9. ^ Pippin, Tina (1992). Death and Desire: The Rhetoric of Gender in the Apocalypse of John. Wipf and Stock Publishers (published 2021). p. 105. ISBN 9781725294189. Retrieved 9 April 2021. If these books were arranged in a bookstore, one would find all the women writers under 'science fiction.' The Apocalyse, on the other hand, would be found under 'horror literature.'
  10. ^ Livermore, C. (2021). When the Dead Rise: Narratives of the Revenant, from the Middle Ages to the Present Day. D.S. Brewer. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-84384-576-8. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  11. ^ Raymond T. McNally and Radu R. Florescu (1972). "In Search of Dracula." Houghton Milton. Pages 8–9.
  12. ^ Kiernan, Dr. Jas. G. "Sexual Perversion, and the Whitechapel Murders." The Medical Standard: IV.5. G. P. Engelhard and Company: Chicago.
  13. ^ in Ungaria suis cum regibus compendia data, Typis Academicis Soc. Jesu per Fridericum Gall. Anno MCCCXXIX. Mense Sepembri Die 8. p 188-193, quoted by Farin
  14. ^ a b c d "The Castle of Otranto: The creepy tale that launched gothic fiction" Archived 3 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine. BBC. Retrieved 15 July 2017
  15. ^ Richard Davenport-Hines (1998). Gothic: 1500 Years of Excess, Horror, Evil and Ruin. London: Fourth Estate.
  16. ^ Christopher Frayling (1996). Nightmare: The Birth of Horror. London: BBC Books.
  17. ^ Brian Stableford, "Robbins, Tod", in David Pringle, ed., St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers (London: St. James Press, 1998) ISBN 1558622063 (pp. 480–1).
  18. ^ Lee Server. Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers. New York: Facts On File, 2002. ISBN 978-0-8160-4578-5 (pp. 223–224).
  19. ^ Robert Weinberg, "Weird Tales" in M.B Tymn and Mike Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1985.ISBN 0-313-21221-X (pp. 727–736).
  20. ^ "Unknown". in: M.B. Tymn and Mike Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines. Westport: Greenwood, 1985. pp.694-698. ISBN 0-313-21221-X
  21. ^ "Medieval Studies and the Ghost Stories of M. R. James By Patrick J. Murphy". www.psupress.org. Archived from the original on 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  22. ^ Hutchings, Peter (2008). The A to Z of Horror Cinema. The A to Z Guide Series. Vol. 100. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-8108-6887-8. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  23. ^ Collins, Max Allan (28 February 2013). "11 Most Controversial Comic Books" Archived 18 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine. HuffPost. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  24. ^ Hansen, Kelli (1 October 2012). "Banned Books Week: Comics and Controversy" Archived 7 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine. University of Missouri. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  25. ^ "Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby (1967), Thomas Tyron's The Other (1971), and William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist (1971) were all released within a few years of one another...and their immense combined sales indicted to many publishers that horror was now a profitable marketing niche." Simmons, David, American Horror Fiction and Class: From Poe to Twilight. London: Palgrave Macmillan 2017 ISBN 9781137532800 (p.119)
  26. ^ Pringle,David, "Rosemary's Baby", in Pringle (ed.) Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels. London, Grafton, 1988. ISBN 0246132140 (p.103-5)
  27. ^ Barone, Matt (8 November 2011). "The 25 Best Stephen King Stories" Archived 7 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Complex. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  28. ^ Jackson, Dan (18 February 2016). "A Beginner's Guide to Stephen King Books" Archived 7 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Thrillist. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  29. ^ Richard Bleiler, "Stephen King" in: Bleiler, Ed. Supernatural Fiction Writers: Contemporary Fantasy and Horror. New York: Thomson/Gale, 2003, ISBN 9780684312507. (pp. 525-540).
  30. ^ Hillel Italie (18 September 2003). "Stephen King receives honorary National Book Award". Ellensburg Daily Record. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2010. Stephen King, brand-name writer, master of the horror story and e-book pioneer, has received an unexpected literary honor: a National Book Award for lifetime achievement.
  31. ^ K.A. Laity "Clive Barker" in Richard Bleiler, ed. Supernatural Fiction Writers: Contemporary Fantasy and Horror. New York: Thomson/Gale, 2003. ISBN 9780684312507 (pp. 61–70).
  32. ^ K.A. Laity, "Ramsey Campbell", in Richard Bleiler, ed. Supernatural Fiction Writers: Contemporary Fantasy and Horror. New York: Thomson/Gale, 2003. ISBN 9780684312507 (pp. 177–188.)
  33. ^ a b Lester, Catherine (Fall 2016). "The Children's Horror Film". The Velvet Light Trap. 78 (78): 22–37. doi:10.7560/VLT7803. S2CID 194468640. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  34. ^ Pearce, Laura J.; Field, Andy P. (2016). "The Impact of "Scary" TV and Film on Children's Internalizing Emotions: A Meta-Analysis". Human Communication Research. 42 (1): 98–121. doi:10.1111/hcre.12069. ISSN 1468-2958.
  35. ^ "Golden Proverbs". Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  36. ^ Schweitzer, Darrell, "Why Horror Fiction?" in Windows of the Imagination. Berkeley Heights, NJ : Wildside Press, 1999. ISBN 9781880448601 (p. 64, 67).
  37. ^ "Elements of Aversion". Archived from the original on 28 February 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  38. ^ Whyte, Chelsea (9 February 2019). "The benefits of being scared". New Scientist. 241 (3216): 8. doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(19)30224-6. S2CID 126647318.
  39. ^ Stephanie Demetrakopoulos (Autumn 1977). "Feminism, Sex Role Exchanges, and Other Subliminal Fantasies in Bram Stoker's "Dracula"". Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 2 (3). University of Nebraska Press: 104–113. doi:10.2307/3346355. JSTOR 3346355.
  40. ^ "Technologies of Monstrosity" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  41. ^ "Lecture Notes for Dracula". Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  42. ^ "Horror Stories". Dating Ghosts. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  43. ^ Mrs Radcliffe, "On the Supernatural in Poetry Archived 8 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine", The New Monthly Magazine 7 (1826): 145–52.
  44. ^ Devendra Varma, The Gothic Flame New York: Russell & Russell, 1966.
  45. ^ S. L. Varnado, "The Idea of the Numinous in Gothic Literature," in The Gothic Imagination, ed. G.R. Thompson (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1974).
  46. ^ Clasen, Mathias; Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, Jens; Johnson, John A. (July 2020). "Horror, personality, and threat simulation: A survey on the psychology of scary media". Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences. 14 (3): 213–230. doi:10.1037/ebs0000152. S2CID 149872472.
  47. ^ "The Bram Stoker Awards". Horror Writers Association. Archived from the original on 10 March 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  48. ^ "IHG Award Recipients 1994–2006". HorrorAward.org. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  49. ^ "IHG Award Recipients 2007". HorrorAward.org. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  50. ^ Brian Stableford, "Horror", in The A to Z of Fantasy Literature (p. 204), Scarecrow Press, Plymouth. 2005. ISBN 0-8108-6829-6.
  51. ^ Brian Stableford, "Non-supernatural horror stories tend to be psychological thrillers, often involving criminals of an unusually lurid stripe." "The Discovery of Secondary Worlds:Some Notes on the Aesthetics and Methodology of Heterocosmic Creativity", in Heterocosms. Wildside Press LLC, 2007 ISBN 0809519070 (p. 200).

Further reading

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[edit]
Library resources about
Horror fiction
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