Books tagged with: trauma

Although Graham never seems to have reached the dizzy heights of other horror writers he has been a very prolific writer over the years, and has seen a few of his works hit the silver screen. However, forever in the shadow of the likes of Herbert, another British horror novelist, these movie adaptio...

Dolores Claiborne is a horror novel by the master of the genre Stephen King. I got Dolores Claiborne (DC) as a gift over half a year ago, but after having read The Regulators I haven't really felt like reading any King. Having read about DC in alt.books.stephen-king, I definitely didn't want to rea...

Geralds Game is a novel by the master of Horror, Stephen King. This is the first Stephen King book (please notice that I wrote book and not story) I have read that really doesn't have anything supernatural in it. Not that I missed it, GG is still a terrific story. The story starts off with...

Probably one of my favourites of the late Mr Herbert’s novels. The haunted was written at the end of a very successful decade of writing. Everything about the Haunted book is quintessentially Herbert and quintessentially English. Herbert gets everything right with this book, there is no padding, no...

A debut novel from an aspiring novelist. The book reached number 6 on the London Times fiction best seller list. A traditional tale of a haunted house. And already reading this. You feel like you are. Reading the novel. I’m sorry Christopher but I’m honestly not sure how you managed to create the ra...

Cannibals ate Stan’s hands and legs. A psychopath cut Barbara open and carved pictures on her bones. They and other people with similarly intense and unbelievable experiences attend group therapy sessions at the center of Daryl Gregory’s novella We Are All Completely Fine. At the start of the story...

Final Girls asks the question what happens after the horror film has ended. How does the fastest and smartest girl cope after the horror ends? Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with her student friends 10 years ago. She was the only one to return, surviving a horror film level massacre. On doing...

Sound can be powerful, get the tone right or the volume loud enough and you can cause real damage. There are skyscrapers that have been built that hum when the wind perfectly hits the building to make it vibrate. The worse thing that happens here is an annoying sound when the win...

Your love of a movie genre can often depend on your age. The current crop of kids is growing up in a Golden Age of Superhero films, but when I was an impressionable teenager, it was all about the horror films. Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare...

Fans of slasher films will recognise many of the rules that make up the genre. The Final Girl will win the day at the last moment when she realises her own strength. This character will be a bastion of good and innocence, but those around her will not. The rocker, goth, cheerleader, geek – all...

There are places on the planet that are scary enough on their own. You would never find me plunging the depth of the deepest oceans or spending the night in an abandoned greenhouse somewhere in a wild forest. There are dangers aplenty without any monsters, ghoulies or manifestations. Add to this lis...

As an adult it is easy to forget how exhilarating hide and seek was when you were a child. That crackling of electricity in your chest as you huddle in a hiding place waiting to get caught. The heightened senses as you hear the footsteps of the seeker drawing closer. The sense of relief as they walk...

A group of adults tormented by their past when a carnival worker changed their lives forever. Sound familiar? No not It, but Ronald Malfi’s Black Mouth, the author’s own take on how the memories of youth haunt the present. This is dark horror with glimpses of the supernatural, but also p...

It is amazing what can inspire a writer. A little thought worm can drill itself into their head and the only peace to be found is to write the thing out. Ron Capshaw’s inspiration for The Stage Mother’s Club seems to be the author’s fascination with all the failed stage Mums who co...

The mind is a powerful tool. It can make a person do spectacular things but can also be their undoing. A trauma earlier in life can impact your day to day living. Perhaps talking to someone would help, be it a friend or a professional? Neviah is a counsellor who has a unique way of unpicking people&...

Children’s TV shows will always have an evocative place in your memory, especially those half-remembered tales from when you were young. Your cognitive powers had not yet full formed, so your memory of the show comes in snatches like magic. For me it will always be Wizbit. I picture a strange...

Horror comes in many shapes and sizes. The horror could be on this plane of existence, a creature that stalks you and your family through generations. It could be even closer to home, the horror of the mundane, the terror of ordinary people willing to do anything to achieve their goals, even if this...

Like every genre, there are several aspects to Horror that you can focus on. My preference is the supernatural, something big and scary, preferably not overexplained. There is another subgenre, one that is arguably far scarier. I call it the horror of the mundane. Those killers that live among us, t...

I have had my fill of Vampires. They are the Primadonna of the undead world hogging all the limelight with their films and TV shows. They are also all over books. One of my family member’s entire book collection is just vampires. What about the other supernatural beings? A vampire's erstwhile...

I come from a large family and there is a special way that you can wind one another up. Years of experience and knowledge comes in handy when you are trying to annoy someone, you may not have seen each other for ages, but one shared experience can bring it all back in an instant. In a healthy family...

I enjoy a retelling of a classic tale from an unfamiliar perspective. I have read about Sherlock Holmes from the point of view of almost everyone he ever met. I have read about Beowulf written by his niece. King Authur, Robin Hood, many others, but never a character as dark as Sweeny Todd. The Demon...

I would not call myself a skeptic, but a super skeptic, I just cannot begin to believe that ghosts exist, but that does not stop me from enjoying a good ghost story, or even a good old-fashioned ghost story. The Haunting of William Thorn by Ben Alderson has very modern characters and relationships,...

I read so much genre fiction and have seen so many horror movies that I don’t scare easy. My brain automatically remembers all the behind-the-scenes make-up specials and director commentaries; I know it is not real. However, back in 2005 the last film that scared me was about a group of female...

When is a vampire not a vampire? When it is a Gul. These strange creatures are part of everyday life in this version of Brazil, the secret for the humans who want to survive is to stay at home after curfew, lest they be eaten by Guls or taken for enemies of the state by the Fascists who run the coun...