I have another possible explanation for why some people can’t find a decent scary read – at least not like the scares they report having when they read certain novels 10, 20, or 30 years ago. I think it is due to an extinction process – and I mean “extinction” from a psychological sense. Let me put my psychologist hat on to explain.

When individuals suffer from anxiety disorders and phobias, they have a number of behavioral, affective, and physiological processes operating. For instance, chances are they have acquired a core belief that the world is somehow a dangerous place. They see threat in certain circumstances or situations. Alternatively, people start associating stimuli (places, objects or situations) that were previously positive or neutral with fearful or even terrifying stimuli. As a result, the previously “safe” stimuli become conditioned by this association to produce an extreme fear response in these people. Once a stimulus is capable of eliciting this intense fear, individuals do what they can to avoid or escape the stimulus. This avoidance or escape works in the short term because it reduces fear, but in the long run these folks do not have an opportunity to experience that these events or places cannot really harm them. Their belief that the world is a threatening place becomes entrenched even further. The cycle of beliefs, learned fear, and avoidance patterns seems to take on a life of its own.

When individuals with anxiety come for psychotherapy, they learn to manage their fears through a therapy process which involves gradually approaching (instead of avoiding) the feared situations. This process of exposure and desensitization starts with “easier” versions of the fear and then gradually moves up to the most troubling examples. The person is essentially working their way up a hierarchy of anxious stimuli until they can approach all aspects of their fears.

Okay, can this “exposure” process be happening to horror fans? I think it does. For those of us who have been living on this stuff for years, if not decades, we are gradually becoming habituated to the horror genre. There is not much that can shake us anymore. We have been exposed to all forms of the “scary” hierarchy so many times that there is not much left that can make us frightened. So, I think we need to change our perspective on what is scary. The shocks may not occur very frequently anymore (sigh), but maybe the creepy plot or a different twist or an unusual character reaction to a narrative event may be the “new fear” for us. I have tried to embrace this notion with some success. And when the hairs on the back of my neck rise just a little, I am pleased.

A few other memorable horror novels that I overlooked in my earlier post about good scary reads:

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Creepy, atmospheric, unsettling fun… What more can you say?

The Ghost Writer by John Harwood. Many people disliked this novel. I was captivated by it, however. A young man finds a series of ghost stories written by his great-grandmother. The stories serve as stories within a story. The ghostly narratives are interwoven with his family history, and the main character sets out to solve the riddle of his past. Similar in many ways to Henry James, this is a classy, gothic read.

Speaking of Henry James, I can’t believe I forgot Turn of the Screw. I first read this in high school for my 10th grade English class. I still get a chill from the finale.

Another favorite of mine is Skull Session by Daniel Hecht. This was advertised as a neurological thriller when it came out, and that is a fit description. Mysterious events, family secrets, and psychological horror. Full disclosure: The main character has Tourette Syndrome – I was drawn to this since I also have TS. The author did a great job portraying the condition.

Clearly some additional works will be occurring to me as time goes on. 

Too bad I never really kept track of all of the novels I’ve read over the years. Any effort to write a review for my blog or for Goodreads often results in me scratching my head while trying to recall portions of the plot. Imagine me trying to recall the plot details of books read 10-40 years ago.

With this in mind, I thought I’d offer a few short comments about books read in the past and why they stick in my mind. For this discussion, I’ll stick to horror – my favorite genre. Below are novels that I’ve read since I was a kid – you’ll notice they span quite a few decades.

The Other – Thomas Tryon. Some incredibly creepy moments that made my blood run cold… including a shocking development about two-thirds of the way through. It just about blew me away. I was 18 when I read it, and I gobbled up horror fiction ever since.

The Exorcist – William Peter Blatty. This came out the same time as The Other, and if you check the New York Times Best List from that time, you’ll see at some point these two books were numbers 1 (The Exorcist) and 2 (The Other). The Exorcist had brain jarring moments that broke all taboos. I remember sitting on our terrace out back and lightening hit next door, so the thunder was loud and instantaneous. I almost died of a heart attack.

Rosemary’s Baby – Iran Levin. One of the creepiest endings ever.

Burnt Offerings – Robert Marasco. A very original haunted house story, with a decent movie adaptation.

The Search for Joseph Tully – William H. Hallahan. A riveting supernatural investigative story. I still recall the beginning where the sword maker tests the still molten blades on… well, enough.

Dragon Under the Hill – Grodon Honeycomb. Ancient Viking curse, Norse lore, possessed child, Lindisfarne, ancient Scandinavian torture (something about cutting out the lungs…). What more can you ask?

Salem’s Lot and The Shining – Stephen King. Spine chilling moments in both, but most people already know this.

Dark Gods – T.E.D Klein. Four novellas. The first two, Children of the Kingdom and Petey, are outstanding. They are creative and I haven’t read anything like them before or since.

Ghost Story – Peter Straub. There were multiple places where I had goose bumps while reading.

A Good and Happy Child – Justin Evans. I still can’t understand why this isn’t a huge hit among the horror masses. Great characters, intriguing plot twists, creepy moments, and an exorcism scene that I found unnerving. And, an unsettling ending to boot.

There are more, but I was just writing this off the top of my head. When other great horror novels come to me, I will devote space to them in the future. If anyone is interested in a good scary read, and you haven’t checked these out, I strongly recommend them.

Trailers for the upcoming season of the Walking Dead have been appearing all over the place recently. I’ve watched them, of course, since I am a fan. The DVR is set up to record all new episodes between now and eternity. The series is well done with a great cast, special effects, and story line. Although, the pace of the series is much too slow at times with seemingly nothing happening for hours on end.

Apocalyptic fiction is hot too, and has been for a number of years now, mostly in the form of zombie novels. The latter have been hit or miss for me, mostly miss to be honest.  If you read one zombie novel, you’ve read them all it seems. That’s an overgeneralization, of course. I can think of a couple of zombie novels that have been quite good. Right off the top of my head is Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry. Actually marketed as a young adult novel, I found the characterizations and the settings to be outstanding. This is one of those novels that actually captures the perspective of a teenager in a horrendous setting. A number of people disliked The Cell by Stephen King, but I really enjoyed it. There is something satisfying about cell phones turning people into zombies, as if they hadn’t already. I’m a university professor and it is not uncommon to see hordes of twenty year olds walking on campus while texting. At times the campus can be eerily quiet with the exception of a faint pattering of thumbs on tiny keypads or screens. Finally, the Swedish zombie novel, Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist, is a favorite simply because it is such a unique take on the zombie genre.

When it comes to non-zombie apocalyptic novels, I can name a number of stellar examples. First (and second if you consider them separately) are the first two books in the Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin. The Passage and The Twelve are powerful novels that excel because they are literary pieces containing startling and well developed characters and imaginative settings. Each character is an individual with emotion, thoughts, and history. Patterns of behavior and motivations are consistent and logical (which is huge in my humble opinion in making a novel work).  The virals (vampires) are brutal, and survival of characters is not guaranteed. Another creative spin on the part of Cronin is his ability to describe this complex world in a non-linear fashion. I cannot wait for the third in the series.

When you consider top stories of the apocalypse, you have to include The Stand by Stephen King. The weaving of that tale is nicely constructed, although I would recommend reading the first edition/version. King later came out with an extended version which contained portions of the narrative that an editor had deleted when it was first published. I can tell you, the editor was right – there was a reason these sections were initially deleted. They added nothing to the story and were downright embarrassing to read at times.

Finally, a truly horrifying end of the world novel that isn’t a “horror” novel – at least on the surface – is Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. Published in 1958, this novel tells the tale of a nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union. I read this as a kid, and the passages that describe the nuclear attack and the immediate panic afterwards are some of the most terrifying words I have ever read. There are scenes that are still seared in my memory. Check out this classic if you haven’t had the opportunity.

We’ve seen some startling examples of the negative impact of bullying on victims: media reports of suicide and attempted suicide by children, adolescents, and young adults in college. In addition, many personal accounts of misery and depression of those victims reach us seemingly daily. Yet, the issue persists, despite many attempts to change the way our schools operate and efforts to change our very cultural attitudes toward bullying.

I was reminded again about the topic of bullying after my recent read of The Cold Spot by J.G. Faherty. I found his use of bullying as a device for framing his horror novel to be rather unique and I enjoyed it immensely. As a psychologist and a professor, I am used to addressing bullying from those professional perspectives. I teach a graduate level course entitled Counseling Children and Adolescents, and one of the favorite topics is bullying. The reason, of course, is that the graduate students in our counseling program who are placed in settings (schools and clinics) where they work with kids often come face to face with this issue. Dealing with bullying is difficult. Circumstances vary across incidents, the situations and kids involved are often quite complex, and people (that is, adults) often don’t know how to address it.

I will continue with a discussion on bullying prompted by reading The Cold Spot in the next blog… 

I am the proud member of a men’s book club. I have been for over 20 years. And no, “book club” is not a euphemism for “poker”.  The Men’s Book Club is as real as its name, although capitalizing the letters was my contribution. The monthly readings are by no means pushovers – no sports books (although we read When Pride Still Mattered, a biography of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss – we do live in Wisconsin after all) and fluffy bestsellers.  In addition to a psychologist and professor (me), the group contains multiple attorneys, a dentist, a family therapist, business professionals, a physician, an engineer, and English professor – you get the idea. We read histories, classics, National Book Award nominees, Booker Award nominees, biographies, history - anything at all. The eclectic nature of the group is its real strength. Besides my own avid reading over the decades, I think my attendance in this group has really informed my writing. This is not to say that we read horror novels – the exact opposite really (although they did go along with my suggestion of 11/22/63 by Stephen King – the only King book read by most of these guys). Instead, I have learned what others appreciate in their reading, how they value the written word, what constitutes well written prose, what facilitates the intricacies of character development – all of the fine points that I probably slept through during high school and college English classes.

My exposure to the breadth of interests and opinions of very educated people has dramatically changed my ability to tell a story. While my academic and scholarly writing has been honed over the years through writing empirical journal articles, receiving reviews of my work, and being challenged by my psychology colleagues, my fiction writing – and the courage to try it – has been informed by the monthly meetings over 20 plus years with this group of men. 

As a neophyte in the realm of social media and one who is learning the ropes of fiction writing, I was pleased to discover blogs by authors who willingly offer advice on a wide range of topics related to publishing and using social media. Two authors whose blogs I’ve found helpful and interesting are Scott Southard (http://sdsouthard.com/) and Susanne Lakin (http://www.cslakin.com/) . I will undoubtedly find others and mention them as time goes along. If you are a novice writer or social media-challenged like me, I recommend reading the blogs of these helpful folks.

When I was 6 years old, I remember one evening sitting with my older brother in his bedroom playing something and watching TV. He was twelve and actually had his own black and white portable TV - the whole thing was cool beyond belief. At one point, a trailer (they used to call them “coming attractions” back then in 1960) for the movie Village of the Damned came on. Kids with platinum blond hair with strange eyes which would glow and make people kill themselves. My God, it scared the hell out of me. I couldn’t make sense of it. These were kids, actual killer kids, and they had a movie about them. I couldn’t stop talking about it, and hoped in vain to see the trailer again. I don’t remember if I was fortunate to see it, but I sure remembered the images of those searing eyes. I was too young to see the movie, of course, but my brother did. Much to my chagrin, he pronounced it “neat” but wouldn’t go into detail – whether this was out of brotherly concern (which I doubt) about causing me nightmares or he just couldn’t be bothered to talk to his baby brother at the time when he had more pressing things to do. Years later I was finally able to see the movie and also read the novel on which it was based: The Midwich Cuckoos.  Both the film and the novel have justifiably attained “classic” status. The plot is unnerving and freakish. The characters, however, those kids who were monsters, they made a huge impression on my 6-year old mind. I’m not sure if I can point to this as the origin of my interest in the “creepy kid” horror genre, but it is a good account as any. Most of my horror fascination throughout childhood was drawn to giant rampaging dinosaurs in major cities (followed by other big monsters doing nasty things). So, being a fan of scary kid horror didn’t really take hold until high school when I read The Other and The Exorcist, but the origins may have started with that trailer seen in my brother’s bedroom in 1960.

When I started my horror novel, Birth Offering, I knew the major character would be a 14 year old. Now, my entire career has been as a psychologist with the past twenty years specializing in pediatric psychology. I convinced myself that I knew a little bit about how kids acted, felt, and thought. However, I was getting rather, well, old, and I needed to brush up on how other authors were writing about kids. I found four recent novels which were excellent reads and contained great adolescent characters:

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch

The Last Child by John Hart

None of them are horror stories, although the mystery novel, The Last Child, certainly contains elements of horror. Regardless, for anyone interested in well-drawn teenage characters, these novels provide great examples. I recommend them highly.