British Horror

Putting together a collection of horror stories for self-publishing, I got curious about who else was out there doing the same thing. Turns out, thousands are. Who knew.

A massive amount of horror short story collections however seem to be stuff inspired by films such as "Saw". They are all about the horror of physical pain. That didn't interest me much, truth be told.

What did interest me was psychological horror, about states of fear, set in scary, creepy, terrifying situations. I wanted a bit of supernatural, I wanted hauntings, I wanted ghosts. I wanted the same experiences from the pages of a book that I got from the screen when I watched "Halloween" or "The Others" or "Poltergeist"

I also got curious about British horror. There is a lot of American horror, which is not a complaint, but I thought British horror would have a different edge. I ended up with a chap called Algernon Blackwood and so far, he does not disappoint. He is a masterful storyteller and a genius at describing chilling fearful psychological states.

I also went looking for women horror writers and found Vivienne Tuffnell's "The Moth's Kiss and other Tales". Ten superb creepy stories.

I intend to find and read other female horror short story writers, but this month I am going to start Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep". It'll be the first time I've read King's work newly published and it gives me a chance to join in fresh discussions on Goodreads.