In a Dark Country

Of course I’m in. Why do you ask?

A very happy birthday to one of our best. "Robert Bloch" on Wikipedia:

I’m always a little surprised when I hear someone hasn’t read a King book, if only because when I was growing up his name was ubiquitous. Even people who hated horror read him. But we forget he’s written more than horror. He’s written crime fiction, science fiction, fantasy, character studies…While I’m not sure I agree with all of these works as “essential,” they do offer a starting point for his range.

I have argued that King changed everything, but I forget how vast his influence has been.

Here’s a good overview of modern horror, with a few classics notes. While I haven’t read all of the listed titles, I have read most of the authors (Hailey Piper and Tananarive Due, for two) and recommend them.

Despite the convenience of streaming, I still buy physical media. Sometimes it’s because streaming isn’t available for some titles. Sometimes it’s because I want the ability to watch something whenever I’d like and don’t want to search for a streaming service. And those are off the top of my head.

At the time of its released, Carpenter’s masterpiece seemed so disturbing that I stayed away. Its reputation kept me away until 1985 or 1986, when my stepfather rented and watched it one weekend. I rewatched it a couple of times more the next day before it had to be returned to the video store. Since then, it has become such a favorite that when it started playing while I was packing in my hotel during a business trip I kept it on and stayed until seconds before we were scheduled to leave.

I can recommend about half of these. The rest, given the article’s title, suggest Amazon isn’t the best place to find horror movies.

Yes.

Well crap.

Molly Templeton on the how, and why, of books.

It’s not a bad list as these things go, but also includes too many King titles and too few recent voices.