Deadman’s Tome is home to Book of Horrors, a horror anthology loaded with terrifying horror short stories that’ll chill you to the bone!
Too Taboo For Horror
Horror strips away the layers of comfort and expose characters and the reader to life-threatening scenarios. This requires the author to pull from what he or she fears, and more often than not we as human species share a common thread of fears. We don’t like it when our comfort is removed. We don’t like it when our safety is undermined. We definitely do not like it when our life or the life of a loved one is at stake!
Horror isn’t a genre for lovey-dovey and good feelings. You don’t snuggle with a Stephen King novel for comfort. No, you snuggle up to horror because you want to feel the sense of dread, because you want the re-assurance that your life could be bad, but isn’t. Horror exists for one purpose and that purpose is to exploit our fears! But at what cost? To what degree do we allow horror fiction to shine light on the things we fear?
- What about murderous mothers that kill their young? Read Confession by Clive Carpenter
- What about discovering your husband helps in the sex slave trade? Read Snowflower by L.K. Scott
- What about that fatal child hit and run that won’t stay buried? Schrodinger’s Dilemma by Dan Lee
- What about locked in a room with a prostitute that intends to kill you? Turbo Slut by Mr. Deadman
I do not believe at all that there is a topic too taboo for horror to explore. Whether it be gruesome violence, brutal torture, or even rape, it’s all fair game, as long as it’s merited. The power in horror is being able to exploit our deepest and darkest fears, and relevance to those deepest and darkest fears is essential. Some might argue that some might be motivated to imitate certain taboo topics and therefore it should be banned. But I argue what sense does that make? Death and violence is potent throughout horror, and we enjoy the tension and the suspense without ANY study showing a relation between violent media and rate of violent crime. Friday the 13th has been seen by millions and yet we do not see millions of Jason imitators, not even a good dozen.
Some might say that horror shouldn’t explore certain topics because it may offend people. How do you expect to exploit people’s fears without offending them to some degree? Good horror makes us uncomfortable. Good horror challenges our sensibilities, right?
Maybe I’m wrong. Let me know what you think.
