Defining horror fiction

Michael · Defining horror fiction

Help me out please! Within each sub-forum, discuss how you would define classic and contemporary horror fiction.

Michael

I recently stumbled on a thread in another forum, SFReader, called Horror vs. Dark Fiction. It refers to an interview with editor of Shadowed Realms Angela Challis, who discusses the definitions of "dark fiction" and "horror."

Here's the link:
http://ticonderogaonline.org/011TOL/interview011a.html

Laura Stamps

I think of horror as something that scares me, like Stephen King's books. I usually avoid horror, because I don't like to be scared. I'm an Empath, and horror is just too much for me to bear.

I also think of horror as the classics, like Bram Stoker's Dracula, which I coudn't get through because it was just too tedious and boring for me.

I will have to check out that thread at SFReader. Thanks! My favorite fantasy genre to read is dark urban fantasy, and I never think of it as frightening, yet some of my favorite dark urban fantasy authors are classified as humorous Horror. So that should be an interesting article to read.