Not having the money to subscribe, I limit myself to the daily headlines of Publishers Weekly. When physically in the office in New York City, it circulated among editors in print form. I do miss that. The weekly is a great place to stay informed of what’s going on in the book world. Interestingly, the headlines—which are often linked together newsletter-style—noted that the annual preview of religion books was on the way. This was followed by “On the exact opposite side of the publishing spectrum, Orbit has launched its fourth imprint, Run for It, capitalizing on the horror boom.” So there it was staring me in the face. Religion and horror are exact opposites. Now, I can’t expect even experts in publishing to be aware of all the trends, but the religion-horror connection has been alive and growing for a few years now and those of us who publish books in it might dispute the “exact opposite side” designation.
Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash
Horror and religion are closely related. Many in the religion camp would want to deny that, but those who know horror know that religion quite often wanders in. More than that, religion often drives the horror. They’re not so much exact opposites as they are playmates. Rather like the Bible depicts God being the chum of Leviathan. (Who is, after all, a perfectly good monster.) While my own humble efforts are frequently overlooked, the last four books I’ve written explore different aspects of religion and horror. This includes my forthcoming Sleepy Hollow book.
Even if you’re not a fan of horror movies, if you pay close attention religion is not the opposite of horror. We have this mental image of religion as a pure and holy thing in and of itself. We don’t often stop to think that religions are invented by humans. Yes, they are often in response to what believers see as divine stimuli, but the way that they are conducted is part of our human ingenuity. They are considered good because of their emphasis on love and positive virtues. If you watch enough horror you’ll notice that the menace is often a threat to love. In other words, horror too emphasizes the value of love. It’s a perception problem that sees horror as the opposite of religion. Simplistic categories are often necessary to get through life—that’s why we stereotype. Those of us who like to stop and think through things can gum up the works. Even a headline in a magazine we like can lead us to wonder about the deeper implications and the biases they perpetuate.
