Horror Isn’t a 4-Letter Word

Horror Isn’t a 4-Letter Word: Essays on Writing and Appreciating the Genre

Author: Warner, Matthew
Format: Hardcover
Type: Nonfiction
Page Count: 172pp.
Pub. Date: September 5, 2008
Publisher: Guide Dog Books

Horror Isn’t a 4-Letter Word: Essays on Writing and Appreciating the Genre

Author: Warner, Matthew
Format: Nonfiction
Type: Trade Paperback
Page Count: 172pp.
Pub. Date: October 31, 2008
Publisher: Guide Dog Books

Nominated for the 2008 Black Quill Award for Best Dark Genre Book Of Non-Fiction

“Horror isn’t just a genre of stories but an outlook on life,” Matthew Warner writes in his foreword to Horror Isn’t a 4-Letter Word: Essays on Writing and Appreciating the Genre.

In this collection of articles published between 2002 and 2007, the author of The Organ Donor, Death Sentences: Tales of Punishment & Revenge, and Eyes Everywhere challenges us to look beyond the stereotypes associated with a much-maligned type of fiction. Horror empowers us to cope with our fears by teaching us about them, he says, either overtly or through symbolism. It’s not just about blood and guts.

The book consists mostly of editorials written for the Horror World website, plus selected articles from venues such as Hellnotes Newsletter. Warner runs the gamut in subject matter — everything from ghost hunting, to gory holiday decorations, to effective writing techniques — in his meditations about horrific things, whether they be fictional or real.

Contents include some of his most controversial columns: “My Summer with a Book Doctor: An internship at Edit Ink, a Notorious Scam Operation,” “Message Versus Medium: The Agenda of Left Behind,” “Addictive Plotting as Taught by Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and “Obscenity v. The First Amendment: Why the Prosecution of X-rated Films Affects Books.”