Horror: Stalwarts, or New Voices?

[Stewart]

I used to love horror fiction as a teen and into my early twenties, before growing out of it. Looking back I recall reading the same old authors (King, Herbert, Hutson, Laymon, Rice, Koontz, and Barker). On a recent library visit I chanced across the horror section and noticed that most of the books available there, years on, were still these old stalwarts. And I checked out a couple of nearby book stores and saw they were pretty much the same, the back catalogues of King, Koontz, Rice, taking up most of the space, along with some anthologies, and the usual Lovecraft, Dracula, and Frankenstein classics.

Is horror fiction on its last legs? Or just in a rut at the moment? I don't see many new voices hitting the book shops. They may, of course, be garnering sales elsewhere but I think book stores are where the author still needs some visibility. I don't see that happening at the moment. There's a trickle of new books, but I rarely see another by the same author for sale.

 

[lenny nero]

I think it's cyclical. Back in the early 90's there was a boom over here in the States and the market got saturated and the bottom dropped out of it in the mid 90's till around 2000, when Leisure and Pinnacle started putting out a lot of new stuff by fresh authors, e.g., Simon Clark, Jack Ketchum, Douglas Clegg, Laymon(new for the States at least), Edward Lee, R. Patrick Gates, Scott Nicholson, etc. There's also Bentley Little who puts out one book a year. In my local chain bookstores, there's quite a diverse selection within the fiction section, so at least here in the States, I don't think there's a rut, but I think we're due for one.

 

[Stewart]

Back in the early 90's there was a boom over here in the States and the market got saturated and the bottom dropped out of it in the mid 90's till around 2000

I don't think it's ever got it's ass back on over here, as what was once at least three or four book cases amongst loads of sci-fi and fantasy, has now been either reduced to less store space (and I'm talking two huge four storey book stores) or assimilated into the general A-Z (something which I'd do to all book stores, were I in charge).

when Leisure and Pinnacle started putting out a lot of new stuff by fresh authors, e.g., Simon Clark, Jack Ketchum, Douglas Clegg, Laymon(new for the States at least), Edward Lee, R. Patrick Gates, Scott Nicholson, etc. There's also Bentley Little who puts out one book a year. In my local chain bookstores, there's quite a diverse selection within the fiction section, so at least here in the States, I don't think there's a rut, but I think we're due for one.

I was always surprised Laymon made it over here first (he's another shelf clogger, still churning them out years after he died) before finally making it in America. Did he live to see it happen?

Most of those other names I've not heard of, although I have heard of Simon Clark and Bentley Little. Oh, and Ketchum. But I've never read any of them. (Well, one Little short story called The Pounding Room from one of the Borderlands anthologies.)

 

[lenny nero]

I was always surprised Laymon made it over here first (he's another shelf clogger, still churning them out years after he died) before finally making it in America. Did he live to see it happen?

No, I believe he died just as Leisure started publishing his books over here. He would've been proud, he's got a huge selection on my local store's shelf. He's one of the few newer authors that actually get reprinted, which is another thing that makes horror seem scarce, most of the new authors only get one printing run and that's it. The only ones that seem to get more than one print run are Laymon, Lee, and Little.

 

[Stewart]

Back in the 90s there was a book came out called Writing Horror Fiction by Guy N. Smith. (Sad to admit I bought it. ) Flicking through it now, it's an awful book and I really should start a thread on Guy N. Smith's writing tips, because they are either very basic or stupid.

Anyway, throughout the book he uses examples from his own books (Night Of The Crabs, Witch Spell, The Black Fedora, etc.) to talk about writing. But, looking at those titles, I've never heard of any of them. In fact, who is he? He's British, but I've never seen him in a book store. I'm sure if I were to search on Amazon, all of his books would be out of print. If he isn't known in Britain, can I assume he made it over your way?

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I've been wanting to get into horror again. It used to be my favorite genre if you will. Yet over the last year when I pick up something at the library with this sticker on the spine and flip it over to read the blurp on the back, a lot of them really just sound the same. Dare I say it's getting to be like romance in a quest for something fresh!

However, I did enjoy Saphera Giron's Mistress of the Dark. It's not something I expected to like because the writing style seems crude at best, but I guess the fact that the narrator is a woman losing her mind makes up for it.

But I guess it's good that there will always be the classics to fall back on. Sadly I never finished Dracula.