Category: Features

Reflections of Rebecca

The intention of this column has always been to recall the lost or forgotten voices of horror, to remember those writers who, for whatever reason, have become forgotten or overlooked with the passing of time. But what I want to consider this month are the characters who are overlooked or forgotten within their texts, marginalised …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/reflections-rebecca/

Rejection Letters – How to Write and Respond to Them

Greetings gentle reader, before we get down to the business of this month’s column, I’d like to tell you a horror story. A real life horror story. Keep on reading…

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/rejection-letters-write-respond/

Zombies, Zombies, Zombies!

With the UK release of World War Z imminent, and the US Encyclopedia of the Zombie forthcoming (that I’ve written some essays for, namely on Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce, Hammer’s Plague of the Zombies and the Phantasm series of films), I’ve been on a bit of a zombie movie re-watch recently. The zombie has always been …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/zombies-zombies-zombies/

Black Static and its importance to women horror writers

The first copy of The Third Alternative (as it then was) that I ever bought was Issue 19, Spring 1999. I was in the Oxford Circus branch of Borders (now sadly defunct), looking for magazines of new horror fiction, not knowing if such a thing even existed. Keep on reading…

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/black-static-importance-women-horror-writers/

Black Static: The Horror Magazine

There was a time when the horror genre wasn’t healthy, a time when the general public had grown weary of stories laden with gore and giant monsters that didn’t reflect their lives or their fears. The horror genre was dying, slowly and painfully, asphyxiating on the poorly stocked shelves of mainstream bookshops. Keep on reading…

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/black-static-horror-magazine/

Chop, Chop, Chop

Hey, This Is Horror. It’s been awhile. I love what you’ve done with the place in my absence. The blood splatter matches the drapes nicely. Hope life’s been treating you all well, with fingers and toes intact and loved ones accounted for… even if they’re locked in the basement. Hey, tough love is still love, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/chop-chop-chop/

After Fight Club, Part I

Imagine the last time you were really excited to see a new film. Maybe it was the genre, maybe the cast, maybe the general plot that caught your interest – whatever it was, there was just something about it. And when the movie trailer started playing in theatres and on TV, you watched it that first …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/fight-club-part/

Facebook’s Witch Hunt: Horror, social media, and bullying.

Recent events played out on Facebook that have the potential to change the face of social media marketing for publishers and writers of horror. As they say on reality TV, this could change the game forever. Keep on reading…

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/facebooks-witch-hunt-horror-social-media-bullying/

The history of the ghost story and what makes a great tale

As many of you will know by now, my day job is running a small publishing imprint called Spectral Press. Furthermore, as its name implies, it concentrates (mostly) on fiction of the supernatural or ghostly kind (although, to be fair, as the press has expanded so has its remit, something which will continue as it …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/history-ghost-story-great-tale/

Ghost-hunting in Australia (aka Oh Crap! What was that noise?) Part One

From Friday 17 May to Sunday 19 May, my wife and I stayed in an abandoned and haunted lunatic asylum. Advertised as an ‘investigation weekend’, it included nearly thirty guests and three paranormal investigation groups. The guests could take part in ongoing paranormal investigations from the Friday until the Sunday. Keep on reading…

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/ghosthunting-australia-aka-crap-noise-part/