Week 6: Assignment 3

Horror
I selected Horror in the Fiction Genre.  I read some horror - King, Straub, and Koontz but it is a field that I do not know much about - the subgenres.
The first subgenre I selected was Psychological Horror, and I found several websites on Google that discussed films and books,  www.slideshare.net/media blog had a great slide show on topic and www.myanimelist.net gave me the the manga horror genre.  On a many of the blogs there was a lot of discussion about old horror films and books like Dracula, Shining, etc.  The Manga horror genre was the one that had many websites with people talking about the best manga or new authors coming out.  Several series mentioned were:  Demon Warrior - Koji; Pandora - Ang, Peter J. Uzumaki:  Spiral into Horror - Roman, Jungi.  It seemed that the Manga horror got the most discussion with fans giving the ones that they thought were the best like Junji, Ito.

Another subgenre was Occult, websites found again on Google were: www.horrorfactor.com had great definitions and terms like splatterpunk; www.tsauthorcentral.wordpress.com had articles on authors and new titles coming out.  On both websites people were commenting on new books, were they dark fantasy; erotic horror or extreme horror. Appeal factors were settings, and strange things happening in everyday settings. Authors mentioned:  Fables of the Reconstruction by Jones, Hunter S; Breed by Novak, Chase; and This Book is Full of Spiders by Wong, David. The book by Wong is soon to be made into a movie and it is the sequel to John Dies at the End.  The Occult Detective is a subgenre that is also popular among readers - Butcher, Jim-  Dresden Files is an example.

Gothic Horror was the last subgenre selected.  Again I found the websites on Google:  www.eeribooks.com
which gave a history of the Gothic - they listed Castle of Otranto by Walpole, Horace as the 1st Gothic Horror and described other books - My Heart Laid Bare by Oates, Joyce C. and Heart-Shaped Box by Hill, Joe.  Another site is www.teenreads.com which gave recommendations and blurbs of new books.
Death Watch:  Undertaker Trilogy by Berk, Ari; Madman's Daughter by Shepherd, Megan, plus others. Everyone agrees that setting/location is a very important part of the story and that romance can play a key role.  www.sfsignal.com had several authors discuss the intersection between Gothic Horror and Modern Urban Fantasy - some agreed that there was a connection but others said no.

Mashups of subgenres:  Crossovers:   Shining Girls by Beukes, Lauren can appeal to many readers - it contains Time Travel & a Serial Killer (Mystery & SF).  Spiral into Horror by Roman, Jungi -  is manga and horror so it will appeal to many different readers.