31 Days of Horror: Day 14 -- Becky's Favorite Horror Resources

Now that we have been going for two weeks, and everyone is getting in the horror groove [even the most timid amount us], I thought now was a good day to remind you of my favorite resources that you can use all year long to help your scariest readers.

I maintain a "Horror Resources" page at all times here on the blog. The title line always notes the last time it was updated [month.year].

I try to keep that page as streamlined as possible but there is still a lot of information there, and I realize it can be overwhelming to those of you who are already less confident helping horror readers. To make it easier, I have a short comment about what this resource does best, and I have called out my favorites if you need even quicker access to a resource.

Below I have posted the content of that page to highlight it today, but it is always one click away in the right gutter, "Horror Resources."

Finally, while it is listed at the end of the Horror Resources page, the Summer Scares program has it's own page. It is filled with essays, lists, and of course, the first 9 vetted titles from 2019's inaugural Summer Scares program.

Over the last few days of this month, I will be highlighting Summer Scares in more detail with a wrap up of 2019's activities and the announcement of 2020's program.

In the meantime, check out some of my favorite horror resources and remember to use them all year long.

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

Here is a list of my favorite horror resources. This list is always being updated, so please send me your favorites by leaving a comment.


Horror RA Print Titles:

• The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror, 2nd edition by Becky Siegel Spratford
• The Best Horror of the Year edited by Ellen Datlow (annual publication)
• Danse Macabre by Stephen King. This book may be old, but it is still the best book to turn to if you want to understand why people love horror.
• Paperbacks from Hell: A History or Horror Fiction from the 70s and 80s by Grady Hendrix. This is exactly what the title says, but here is my longer review.

Horror Web Resources: By no means is this a comprehensive list of every horror resource available; rather this list focuses on the resources that will be the most relevant to you, the general library worker, to use to help leisure readers, from those who are hardcore horror fans to those who want to give the genre a try and everyone in between. Those marked with “***” are the ones I think are the most useful for your work with leisure readers and for collection development.

• Booklist: August is always the Spotlight on Horror issue. Use this link to pull up all of their horror content including the annual top 10 horror list. [For full disclosure, I am the most prolific horror reviewer at Booklist]
• BookRiot: An online community and resource on all things books. Horror gets plenty of attention here.
• Fantastic Fiction: This is a great general fiction resources that has a lot of content on horror authors and titles. It also compiles awards won, short stories, and author web pages.
• Ginger Nuts of Horror: One of the best independent places for all things horror. UK based. 
• ***Goodreads***: That link takes you into the main page for horror. From there you can find links to many books, related genres, and tons of readers talking about the books they love. Don't tell me your horror readers won't talk to you at the desk; they are talking to you on Goodreads. Go "listen" to them.
• The Horror Fiction Review: Reviews, editorials, archives, interviews. Very thoughtful and well organized
• ***The Horror Show with Brian Keene***: a nonfiction podcast that includes weekly horror news, interviews with authors, a book club, and more. The most fun way to stay on top of everything happening in horror now.
• ***The Horror Writer's Association*** and specifically their page for Librarians.
• See also their monthly Seers Table monthly column by the diverse works inclusion committee. 
• ***Ladies of Horror Fiction***: The best place to find reviews and a directory of women in horror. Multi-platform too.
• ***Nightmare Magazine's "The H Word" Column***: a monthly column by writers about the genre. Click here for more by me about this column.
• ***The Seers Table***: The Horror Writers Association's column by the Diverse Works inclusion committee that presents a monthly list of women, authors of color, and LGTBQ horror writers that you should know about, read, and collect for your libraries.
• ***This is Horror***: My favorite overall horror resource- podcast, reviews, features. Just go and look for yourself.
• Tor.com: The online home for the Speculative Fiction publisher. This site is full of information about horror and not just from the authors they publish.

Horror Publishers are also a resource. Click here for my list of the best ones for libraries.

And, for access to all of the Summer Scares resources, lists, and vetted titles click here for its page.