Horror Readers' Advisory: The Librarian's Guide to Vampires, Killer Tomatoes, and Haunted Houses (Ala Readers' Advisory Series) PDF
Preview Horror Readers' Advisory: The Librarian's Guide to Vampires, Killer Tomatoes, and Haunted Houses (Ala Readers' Advisory Series)
A L A R E A D E R S ’ A D V I S O R Y S E R I E S HHoorrrroorr E H T Reeaaddeerrss'' AAddvviissoorr yy Becky Siegel Spratford Tammy Hennigh Clausen The Horror Readers’ Advisory The Librarian’s Guide toVampires, Killer Tomatoes, andHaunted Houses ALA READERS’ ADVISORY SERIES The Science Fiction and Fantasy Readers’ Advisory: The Librarian’s Guide to Cyborgs, Aliens, and Sorcerers The Mystery Readers’ Advisory: The Librarian’s Clues to Murder and Mayhem The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction The Romance Readers’ Advisory: The Librarian’s Guide to Love in the Stacks The Short Story Readers’ Advisory: A Guide to the Best A L A R E A D E R S ’ A DV I S O RY S E R I E S Horror E H T Readers’ Advisor y The Librarian’s Guide to Vampires, Killer Tomatoes, and Haunted Houses Becky Siegel Spratford Tammy Hennigh Clausen American Library Association Chicago 2004 While extensive effort has gone into ensuring the reliability of information appearing in this book, the publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, on the accuracy or reliability of the information, and does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in this publication. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. (cid:1) Composition by ALA Editions in Flare Gothic and Berkeley using QuarkXPress 4.1 on a PC platform Printed on 50-pound white offset, a pH-neutral stock, and bound in 10-point coated cover stock by Victor Graphics Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Spratford, Becky Siegel The horror readers’ advisory : the librarian’s guide to vampires, killer tomatoes, and haunted houses / Becky Siegel Spratford, Tammy Hennigh Clausen. p. cm. –– (ALA readers’ advisory series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8389-0871-3 1. Fiction in libraries––United States. 2. Libraries––United States––Special collections––Horror tales. 3. Readers’ advisory services––United States. 4. Horror tales––Bibliography. I. Clausen, Tammy Hennigh. II. Title. III. Series. Z711.5.S68 2004 028(cid:2).9––dc22 2003025530 Copyright © 2004 by the American Library Association. All rights reserved except those which may be granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. Printed in the United States of America. 08 07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii PREFACE ix 1 The Evolution of Horror Literature and Film 1 2 The Readers’ Advisory Interview: Matching Horror Novels with Readers 9 3 The Classics: Time-Tested Tales of Terror 19 4 Ghosts and Haunted Houses: Home Scream Home 25 5 Mummies, Zombies, and Golems: The Walking Dead under Wraps 32 6 Vampires: Dracula Will Never Die 39 7 Werewolves and Animals of Terror: The Beast Walks among Us 49 8 Maniacs and Other Monsters: The Killer Lurking in the Corner 58 9 Black Magic, Witches, Warlocks, and the Occult: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble 66 10 Demonic Possession and Satanism: The Devil Inside 72 v vi CONTENTS 11 Scientific and Biomedical Horror: The Doctor Will See You Now 81 12 Psychological Horror: Mental Mayhem 90 13 Splatterpunk or Extreme Horror: Horror’s Cutting Edge 98 14 Horror Resources: How to Hunt for the Haunted 105 15 Collection Development: Cultivating the Seeds of Fear 117 16 Marketing Your Horror Collection: Make Them Come Back to Your Lair of Horror 122 APPENDIX: THE BIG THREE 135 BIBLIOGRAPHY 143 INDEX 149 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS W e have many people to acknowledge, without whom this book would not have been completed. First we need to thank Gail Lofgren, former director of the Berwyn Public Library, for giving two young librarians the chance to create an entire Readers’ Advisory Department from scratch; and the current director, Bill Hensley, for trust- ing us to keep pushing the envelope of traditional library services. We also need to acknowledge the great patrons at the Berwyn Public Library for their patience, support, and enthusiasm. They have learned to trust our professional opinions, even if it meant confusing them by moving the books around umpteen times. We would also like to acknowledge Marlene Chamberlain and the staff at ALA Editions for trusting us to carry on the well-regarded tradition of the Readers’ Advisory Series. We are also extremely lucky to be readers’ advisors in northeastern Illinois. This luck of geography has allowed us to work with outstanding readers’ advisors as well as have the support of an established network of librarians offering these services. And of course we cannot forget the man who initially got us excited about readers’ advisory, Professor Bill Crowley at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. Without his course on the subject, neither of us would have gone into this field, and without his faith in our writing skills, we would never have been offered the chance to write this book in the first place. Bill, we cannot thank you enough. Over the course of writing this book, we came into contact with many horror experts whose knowledge and experience guided us. Alan Ziebarth, the Chicago Public Library’s West Branch manager, gave a presentation at the 2002 ILA Annual Conference entitled “Dark Feasts: Building a Core Horror Fiction Collection” and was extremely helpful. Tammy interviewed vii viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Barry Kaufman, proprietor of the House of Monsters in Chicago (http://thehouseofmonsters.com), picking his brain for information about the world of horror films. His vast knowledge and recommendations con- tributed greatly to this book. Becky would like to thank her family, specifically her parents for the hundreds of evenings when they found her in bed, asleep on top of a book, and gently removed her glasses and turned out the light. Becky would also like to thank her husband Eric for his encouragement, love, and under- standing, always. And finally, her daughter, Samantha, who was born dur- ing the writing of this book, for being the very best baby. Tammy would like to acknowledge Tobes for his encouragement and support as her de facto research assistant. She would also like to thank her husband John for keeping their lives in order while she was locked in the basement writing. PREFACE W elcome to the world of horror fiction, where monsters roam the streets, vampires attack at night, ghosts haunt every home, and mayhem is the norm. Readers have been drawn to works of horror for cen- turies, and as readers’ advisors, we become their navigational assistants. In an attempt to help you to steer your horror readers in the right direction, we have created this book. Our goal was to provide librarians with a ready reference resource for horror-related questions. In this pursuit we have provided chapters detailing the history of horror, how to interview your horror patrons, a detailed description of horror resources, tips for develop- ing your library’s horror collection, and how to effectively market your horror collection and services. We have also broken down the vast uni- verse of horror books into eleven subgenres. We have provided an intro- duction to each subgenre’s specific characteristics and appeal factors, along with an annotated sampling of suggested titles. These lists are by no means comprehensive, but rather, they should serve as a starting point for both you and your patrons. We envision this book as both an introduction for readers’ advisors who are unsure of how to manage their horror collections or their horror- related inquiries; and as a resource for the more horror-aware librarians to turn to for either ready reference or new ideas. Although this book is meant to be used as a how-to guide for librarians, we tried to keep it from reading like a textbook. We injected our enthusiasm for the subject directly into the text. We hope that by sharing our battle-tested tech- niques, personal favorites, and professional secrets, we can provide you with a unique reference tool. When we were first approached to write this book, we were flattered, but also a bit frightened. But since this was going to be a guide to all things ix
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