A place for horror fiction
Reports of crimes which leave the reader thinking, “How could somebody to do that to another person?”can be found in news reports daily; one wonders if there is still a place for horror fiction.
The facts reported in the news are graphic and often supplemented with video camera footage from eyewitnesses. What cannot be shown on broadcast news can easily be found in a few minutes scouring the web. Little is left to the imagination.
However, news reports often rely on the spectacle of a crime to carry a shocking story through to the end. The brutality of a crime committed is the fence around which most news stories draw their fence. They venture no further. Writers are confident that detailed descriptions of the act itself are enough to chill the reader.
This is where horror fiction still has a dark corner, away from the light, to grow. It’s main opportunity to chill and terrify lies in being able to connect the dots between where the average person begins to where they can end up committing unimaginable acts.
