The Current State of Horror Fiction
There are undoubtedly numerous reasons why readers might enjoy horror fiction, but one frequent suggestion is that supernatural events suggest the possibility that existence does not necessarily have to be entirely rational and logical. If the Devil and evil exist, then so too must God and goodness. If we feel constrained by rules imposed by society or nature, then it is possible in horror fiction to imagine a reality in which those rules can be overthrown. If ghosts exist, then death is not the end of self awareness. The appeal of fiction whose purpose is to generate fear is undeniable. We do not ride rollercoasters because they will make us feel safe. The best of supernatural fiction shows us a reality in which what we believe to be absolute truth can be denied, and if that is the case, then anything at all is possible. Perhaps most important of all, if we become truly immersed in a story drenched with strong emotion, even if that emotion is fear or revulsion, then it is much more difficult to set it aside than otherwise.
Although horror fiction has been popular in Europe for centuries, it enjoyed its most successful years in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. Inevitably, public tastes changed and a surfeit of mass produced, generic tales of possessed children, vengeful ghosts, and small town horrors led to a major downturn during the late 1980s. For more than a decade, horror fiction became increasingly the province of the smaller publishers and until recently none of the major imprints had a designated “horror” line, although they occasionally published supernatural fiction under other guises. The most popular authors who survived the crash continued to write and sell successfully, but Stephen King, Dean R. Koontz, Anne Rice, and a few others were simply best selling authors whose work was perceived as rising above its genre, and in fact all three have written novels outside the horror field. Other, less prominent writers, turned to other subject matter, stopped writing altogether, or saw their work marketed as “thrillers”.
Cemetery Dance Magazine (1988-present)
Horror fiction has made something of a comeback during the past few years, although it still depends heavily on the small press and the internet. The best known print magazines are Cemetery Dance and Weird Tales, both published bi-monthly. Much of the most effective horror fiction consists of short stories, and mass market publishers have largely eliminated single author collections because they do not sell as consistently well as do novels. It is not clear whether this reflects a change in attitude of the reading public or whether it has become a self fulfilling prophecy. Whatever the cause, the small press now publishes the vast majority of single author collections. Some of the major publishers have begun to label occasional releases as horror, but as of this writing only Leisure Books has a dedicated horror line. They publish primarily newer writers in the field and many of their titles were previously released in small press editions.
One branch of horror fiction has a very strong overlap with contemporary fantasy. Typically these novels feature a highly competent female protagonist in a contemporary urban setting, either our world or one very similar to it. Their opposition is generally some form of supernatural evil, most frequently involving vampires or werewolves and other shape changers, although some of these mythical creatures might actually be allied with the protagonist. These novels are published as dark fantasy, urban fantasy, or paranormal romance. Depending upon how one defines the difference between fantasy and horror, it is possible that this has become the most popular form of modern horror fiction. In some of these series, vampires and other supernatural creatures are accepted by the public as part of everyday life, suggesting that they are fantasy rather than horror, although they often contain classic horror motifs. Others are more clearly set in our reality, with entire cultures of vampires or other mythical beings living secretly among us, sometimes clearly evil although the current trend is to make them as varied in motive and basic nature as are the human characters.
Given the importance of short fiction, it is not surprising that many of the best books in the genre for 2008 were anthologies or collections. The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008, edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin J. Grant continues to be a reliable sampling of the best of literary horror and fantasy. Datlow also edited an excellent original anthology this year, Inferno. Stephen Jones has selected a different but no less entertaining sampling for his The Best New Horror 19. Peter Straub brought together a talented team of writers for an anthology designed to suggest the future of horror children, Poe’s Children. Canadian small press publisher Ash-Tree books continues to turn out interesting collections of new and classic horror stories, but unfortunately these limited editions are not widely available.
Stephen King's Just After Sunset
Several single author collections are of particular note in 2008. Stephen King’s Just After Sunset brings together most of his more recent stories in a collection of stories that vary greatly in theme and which generally avoid the explicit tone of much of his earlier fiction. David Niall Wilson’s Ennui and Other States of Madness, Stephen Mark Rainey’s Other Gods, and Brian Lumley’s The Taint and Other Novellas are all workmanlike collections exploring the various preoccupations of the horror field and each maintains a consistent level of quality. Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan, was reintroduced to horror readers with The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard.
There were also a few notable novels, the most impressive of which was Stephen King’s Duma Key. King seems to have gotten his second breath after producing a couple of lackluster novels and last year’s Lisey’s Story and this year’s title are both notably better. Duma Key is set on an island off the coast of Florida and involves a typical King mix of strange events, deeply drawn characters, and an inevitable rush to a confrontation. Bentley Little has carved out a little niche for himself in which familiar components of contemporary society – department stories, vacation resorts, university campuses – are abstracted from the ordinary and those who stray within their reach are subject to supernatural or sometimes just very strange forces. Part of his formula is isolation from the outside world, to the point where his characters sometimes cease to act rationally, as though they’ve forgotten how society actually functions. This is the case in The Academy in which a local school suddenly switches from public to charter, apparently at the behest of the principal, who institutes a new set of draconian policies which intimidate students, teachers, and parents alike. Naturally, things are even more worrisome than surface events suggest.
F. Paul Wilson seems to be bringing his Repairman Jack series closer to its conclusion in By the Sword. A nefarious cult is trying to breed its own version of the Messiah, but that’s only one of the dangers he faces in this very complex twelfth book in the series. Jack’s popularity is in part due to his outsider status. He has dropped out of established society and adopted a unilateral libertarian existence in which he pays no taxes and obeys only those laws with which he agrees. Wilson’s monsters tend to be non-traditional, sometimes human. Mario Acevedo makes use of more familiar supernatural creatures, but gives them a unique twist. Vampires were once the best known symbol of evil in horror fiction, but for the last decade they have been just as likely to appear as the hero, or at worst a troubled, contradictory personality. Acevedo introduced his recurring vampire detective, Felix Gomez, in the lightly humorous The Nymphos of Rocky Flats back in 2006. This year saw his third outing, The Undead Karma Sutra, which has a more serious tone. Gomez is on a quest to find a manuscript that will supposedly increase his paranormal powers in an adventure that involves kidnapping, aliens, and some mildly explicit sex.
Delirium Books, a small press publisher of expensive limited edition hardcovers, has begun a program of more affordable trade paperback reprints of some of its titles. This should make at least some of that imprint’s better offerings more widely available. Delirium published two very good novels in 2008. Dominion by Greg F. Gifune is a suspenseful psychological thriller whose protagonist has sunk into a deep depression following the death of his wife in an automobile accident. He begins to receive anonymous phone calls and observe things on his computer which do not seem possible. Technology and the supernatural have interfaced and the borders between the living and the dead are no longer absolute. Daemon by Harry Shannon bears some similarities. The protagonist is divorced in this case but still has feelings for his ex-wife, who is killed while working as a security officer. His outrage and grief grow even stronger when her corpse is mutilated at the local morgue, and he eventually assembles a team to hunt down the creature that has been despoiling the dead.
There was a veritable flood of paranormal romance/urban fantasy novels this year, at least several dozen different series ranging from obvious fantasy to very dark supernatural tales. One of the best of these was Lord of Bones by Justine Musk, second in a series about two people who travel the world tracking down demonically possessed people. Jeanne C. Stein’s Legacy, fourth in the Anna Strong series, pits a relatively benign vampire against a particularly nasty werewolf in a battle over the estate of a mutual acquaintance. Lilith Saintcrow, having brought her Dante Valentine series to a conclusion, released the first three titles in the Jill Kismet series, starting with Night Shift, with a heroine whose vocation is battling supernatural creatures and forces allied with evil. Other writers with notable series in this vein include Kat Richardson, L.A. Banks, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Kelley Armstrong, Kim Harrison, Charlaine Harris, and Karen Marie Moning, most of whom added new titles in 2008.
Simon Holt's The Devouring
Young adult horror fiction was dominated by Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, part of her series of vampire romances for teenagers and the Demonata series by Darren Shan, but horror fiction for younger readers has yet to produce as many interesting writers as has young adult fantasy. The best novel in this category during 2008 was The Devouring by Simon Holt, in which a magical book contains the key to preventing disasters when disembodied demons enter the world and begin possessing children. Only a handful of titles were published for younger readers. Although the Goosebumps name has been revived by R.L. Stine, it has not enjoyed the same degree of popularity that it did during the 1990s.
The future of horror fiction as a separate genre seems more problematic than ever. The field has been dominated by the same half dozen writers for more than twenty years, and while some of the newer names like Brian Keene, Tim Lebbon, and Cherie Priest are undeniably talented, none of them have demonstrated as broad an appeal as have Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, and other established writers. The short fiction market remains healthy but primarily in specialized venues, magazines and anthologies which have a limited readership and which receive minimal exposure. The proliferation of dark urban fantasy has diverted some authors into that category and blurred the distinction between the two forms. It is probable that the horror genre will change even more in the years to come.
Recommended Titles:
Although short horror fiction is frequently more successful than full length novels, 2008 was particularly weighted in that direction with a large number of excellent collections.
The Undead Karma Sutra by Mario Acevedo
Inferno, edited by Ellen Datlow
The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008, edited by Ellen Datlow, Gavin Grant, & Kelly Link
Dominion by Greg F. Gifune
The Devouring by Simon Holt
The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard by Robert E. Howard
The Best New Horror 19, edited by Stephen Jones
Duma Key by Stephen King
Just After Sunset by Stephen King
The Academy by Bentley Little
The Taint and Other Novellas by Brian Lumley
Lord of Bones by Justine Musk
Other Gods by Stephen Mark Rainey
Underground by Kat Richardson
Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow
Daemon by Harry Shannon
Legacy by Jeanne C. Stein
Poe’s Children, edited by Peter Straub
Ennui and Other States of Madness by David Niall Wilson
By the Sword by F. Paul Wilson
– Don D’Ammassa has been reading science fiction since 1960 and reviewing it since 1970. He edited the Hugo nominated fan magazine Mythologies and has written scores of articles about the field for encyclopedias and other publications. He is also the author of several science fiction novels and dozens of short stories, including Narcissus, Haven, and Scarab. He has very eclectic tastes and savors the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, Robert A. Heinlein, Theodore Sturgeon, and H.P. Lovecraft, each in its own way. He is also the author of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror, and The Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction.
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