31 Days of Horror: Day 1-- Let's Explore the Scariest Genre Together

Each year 31 Days of Horror grows in readership. While some of you are here all year long, even when this blog is limited to my weekly #HorrorForLibraries giveaways, each year I get many new people joining in on the spooky blog-a-thon fun.

First things first, if you have never encountered 31 Days of Horror before well, I have been doing this event since 2011. That means we are closing in on 350 posts that use the 31 Days of Horror tag. 

[Side note, it all began inauspiciously with this post. Nothing special, just a basic post about  the appeal of Horror, but 11 years of content started with one post. Very humbling. ]

The entire idea of 31 Days of Horror, began as a way to help library workers during the time of year when they need the most help with Horror. However, I did not want this series to become a list of lists either. 

From that desire to give you something original and useful was born a concurrent series entitled Why I Love Horror. In this series, that runs mostly, but not only, during October, I reach out to people in the Horror world and invite them to contribute essays written for you-- the general library worker. These invited people are told to share why they love horror as a creator and fan in 1500 words or less. This year I have quite an exciting lineup planned.

My goal with the "Why I Love Horror" series is to expose you to people you should know about AND give you even more context for appeal. I can give you all the examples in the world of why people enjoy feeling scared when they read, but until you hear from actual fans, fans who also create Horror, it is hard to understand, especially for the vast majority of you who don't enjoy Horror for yourselves. 

Over the years I have had many people contribute to the Why I Love Horror series from up and comers [some of whom have gone on to become big names] to firmly established authors to folks who love horror in the library world. 

You can click here to see them all. "Why I Love Horror" is also a searchable tag any time, just like 31 Days of Horror.

"Why I Love Horror" is an excellent resource to help you help readers, and it is Horror RA resource you cannot find anywhere else. However, it is not the only way you can use this blog as a resource now and all year long.

I will also be continuing my newer tradition of featuring a small Horror press as well. This year in order to highlight the concerted effort of bad actors trying to erase the existence of LGBTQ voices from our libraries, I will be focusing on a trusted Horror press, Lethe Press, whose mantra is "We're Queer and Weird and you better be okay with that." I will have 5 days of posts featuring some of the press's current authors and a giveaway.

However, this blog is not just about my October content. It stands as a resource on Horror, not only to offer you a free update to my book, but also as the most important resource for working with Horror readers in libraries all year long.

I have more than tags for you to use to access content. If you look in the right gutter of the blog, under the cover of my book, there is a list of pages you can find on here. That list is on EVERY page, so you don't have to worry about a huge link tree to find them. Access is easy, intuitive, and FREE

The pages with their direct links are:

• Summer Scares Resources and FAQ
• Third Edition Bonus Content: More Subgenre Annotations
• Horror Resources 
• Best Independent Horror Publishers for Libraries
• Horror Awards
• Archive of Becky's Lists Articles and Presentations
• Summer Scares Archive [direct link but it is also on the FAQ page linked above]
• Horror Reviews Index

In the spirit of being THE Horror for Libraries resource, I make sure each page lists the last time it was updated in the title. I curate the information and stand behind it.

Throughout the month, I will be diving into a few of these pages in more detail in conjuction with other posts. But they are ready NOW for you to explore and use anytime.

So while this October you may be more focused on my 31 Days of Horror daily posts and Why I love Horror content, please know those pages with links are there all year long to help you find, display, and promote horror.

This blog should be the first place you go for all of your Horror RA, Collection Development, and Programming needs. I get no extra money from you visiting here. I keep this blog up for me as much as all of you. It is a record of all of the information I am using to stay up to date too.

So poke around the site today, later this month, in a few months, whenever you need it. We will have a lot of fun for the rest of October, but I am always here for all of your Horror for Libraries needs

And remember.... your Horror loving patrons are not monsters; they just like to read about them.

Let me hold your hand as we explore the scariest genre together.