Horror Aficionados discussion
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Article: The high-brow readers who opt for low-brow novels when choosing their ebooks
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Tressa wrote: "At my favorite used bookstore—the huge 2nd and Charles—I asked how come there was no horror section and the guy said because horror isn't so cut and dried and it would be confusing and take a lot o..."Some variety of the truth would have been so much more refreshing than that crock of bullshit. That's beyond ridiculous.
Ya know, I'm not sure the ISBN has anything to do with the book's subject matter. Gah, you'd think I'd know more about them working in a library since 1989.11811, I know! Hello! If the cover is black, it's horror! I'm actually only half joking on that one. But it seems like it would be more difficult to separate mysteries from general fiction. Mysteries are all over the place these days and are not so cut and dry as in the days when Agatha Christie was still queen. It's just one more institution not caring about horror.
Tressa wrote: "Ya know, I'm not sure the ISBN has anything to do with the book's subject matter. Gah, you'd think I'd know more about them working in a library since 1989.11811, I know! Hello! If the cover is b..."
When I worked in the library during High School (98/99 oh so long ago) the librarian there had told me part of the coding (as well as a little classification label next to the ISBN) mark how to classify the book.
Oh, well it probably does, then. Guess it's one of those things I maybe knew at one time and forgot or just never paid attention to.
It's one thing for fantasy and sci-fi to sometimes be grouped together, but I've also seen horror right next to or mixed in with these genres.
Oh, I agree. But still, it's just odd that some people would think a horror is near enough to a sci-fi or fantasy that they're interchangeable.
I think it could be a matter of perceptions. Fantasy can be such a generalization if you just look at the word itself. Anything fiction that has "fantastical" elements, like paranomal or horror, has probably been (mis)classified as fantasy at one time or another. One would think that persons working in the book industry would be a little more educated about genre classification.....
11811 wrote: "A lot of categories at my local B&N boggle my mind but none are as infuriating as the total lack of a horror section. Its just mixed in with general fiction and impossible to browse. Needless to ..."My major problem with them myself. I have asked about this and have never gotten an answer. They have so many categories in the stores, some of which are redundant, and ignore Horror. Doesn't make sense at all.
My B&N puts horror in the "Fiction and Literature" racks. That would seem like a compliment, but it's really because they won't create a separate section for it like Borders used to do and they don't know where else to put it.
Regarding the article in question here, people just love their opinions. Especially if they have an audience.
Jason wrote: "Regarding the article in question here, people just love their opinions. Especially if they have an audience."Isn't that the truth! I just love to hear myself type!
Everyone's opinionated. It makes to so much more when the opinionated guy or gal has a big audience. Then everyone's opinion comes out. lol
Tressa wrote: "I hate the perception people have of horror, like it's all that badly-written crap that was churned out in the '80s. Like they all have the same dull, slasher plot with cardboard characters being p..."This is the problem all genres have with people who don't like them. Romance gets dissed as being formulaic, thrillers get dissed as being unbelievable or too violent, horror as being just about blood and gore. I don't criticize other people's preferred genres because I really don't like people making assumptions about mine. There are good and bad books in all genres, and then there's personal taste. For example, I love Keith Alblow's forensic psychiatry series -- it's very dark and gritty (some horror fans who like crime fiction might like these books) so I loaned them to my mom, thinking she'd love them (we like a lot of the same books.) But she doesn't, thought they were too violent and depressing (the protagonist is very flawed, a recovering drug addict who sometimes fails at that, a temper, etc.) And my mom won't read anything supernatural. But even though she never liked Stephen King, she always bought me his new hardcover when I was growing up because she knew I loved him.
They seemed to be doing a pretty good job of it in the 80s. Also doesn't the ISBN factor in how they classify the books?