Summer Scares Resources

Click here to immediately access the Summer Scares Resource page so that you can add some professionally vetted horror titles into your reading suggestions and fiction collections for all age levels.

Saturday, October 3, 2026

31 Days of Horror: Day 3-- The Current State of Horror (With Backlist Access)

I love the title above because it seems to be a contradiction. However, if you are a regular reader of RA for All, it most certainly is not; in fact, it is 100% on brand for me.

Every year I work on updating you all on the current state of Horror. And each year, when a new update is published, I archive past information.

All of this is available with one click on this page (in the right gutter):Archive of Becky's Lists, Articles, and Presentations [updated October 2026].

I have copied the content from that page here below so you can have even easier access as we begin this journey together. But first, I wanted to pull out the link at the bottom to my 2026 update to my program: Horror Readers' Advisory: How to Help Your Scariest Patrons. This one I do not keep an archived version on the blog, only the most current one.

However, all of the content I use to make that program every year is here, below. From my "best of the year" compilations going back to 2012, all of my LJ interviews, and my July LJ Horror Genre Previews going back to 2018, it is all there for you to travel in the wayback machine. 

As I discuss on the general blog all the time, the backlist is where we do our best work (tag for all backlist related posts are here). What is the backlist? It is all the books that are not on your news shelf right now. Yup every single one of those books back in the stacks. It is that easy to define it.Those titles that are begging to go home with a reader, but because there are so many of them, those readers are overwhelmed and cannot find them.

And quick note, which do you have more of...books on the new shelf or books in the stacks? Of course books in the stacks and it isn't even close. So why do we focus more attention on the shiny new books? Because they are shiny and new. But, your investment is in the books in those stacks. Let's get the best return on our taxpayers investment and get those books back out into the hands of readers.

That backlist is where you make your mark on patrons. It is how you find them that book they end up loving but would have never checked out without your help. And focusing on books from the last 8 years is a good place to start. Books that ended up on lists like the ones I have cataloged here are also great.

Pulling these books out for display is a great way to remind readers that they exist. Using these lists to find under the radar (but still vetted by an expert, me) to find suggestions, to put on lists, to have displayed in the building or featured online, all of this is important as we serve readers.

The new books, they all have their spotlight on the new shelf. They should be avaiable but they are not your only options.

Thus, here is my page highlighting both the current state of Horror and the backlist all in one place, all the time, on this website: Archive of Becky's Lists, Articles, and Presentations [updated October 2026].

Click here or see below. And most importantly, start suggesting horror to every one right now. October is when people who are new to the genre find authors and titles that they will grow to love, some will become full on horror fans all year long, and others will appreciate that you gave them a spooky option this October. 

And as always, I am here to hold your hand.

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

Archive of Becky's Lists, Articles, and Presentations [updated October 2026]

Over the years I have created many annotated lists of horror books worth your time. This page will serve as an archive of those pre-blog lists and as a repository for any new lists.

I used to take over the now defunct Library Journal Readers Shelf Column:
    I often include an Interview with my Library Journal Horror Review Columns which appear 4x a year [beginning in 2020].
    Here are some of the articles I have written:
    I have a column in The Lineup at least 4x a year. You can click here to see all of my content on that site.

    Here is the link to the 2026 update to my program: Horror Readers' Advisory: How to Help Your Scariest Patrons.


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