RA for All: Call to Action-- It's Horror Boot Camp Time

Not to freak you all out but Halloween is 6 weeks from TODAY!

Soon the hordes of horror hungry readers will be descending upon your buildings. Are you ready? My experience suggests the answer is probably, that you are not.

Not to worry because I am going to help you right now. Today's Call to Action is a reversal of roles. Instead of me calling you to do something to improve your service to leisure readers, I am calling myself into action for you.

Each year I run a 31 Days of Horror Blog-a-Thon for the entire month of October just to help you to serve your scariest readers better. That's right, you, the library worker are who I am writing these for. I give tips, provide lists, ask publishers and authors to share their thoughts, and even run a bunch of giveaways.

Over the next few weeks, you need to head over to the horror blog to look at the 31 Days of Horror from past years, and, well, just everything on that blog to prep for Halloween.  My goal is to make the Halloween season as easy as possible for you. There are literally thousands of reading suggestions for all types of readers from those who just want a small chill to those looking for outright gore fests, and everyone in between.

But I also understand that you are all very busy and might not have time to poke around the Horror Blog archives until you have to-- you know, when a patron is standing there asking a question and you have no idea. [click here, I have your back].

So today I am also offering up the notes from the Horror Boot Camp discussion I led for the ARRT Speculative Fiction Genre Study.  Click here for the notes with slide access. It is everything you need to know if you only had 2 hours to learn it.  Please note however that the slides and notes follow a specific assignment so you might want to check that out first.

And of course, you can always buy my book. Last October the eBook was the #1 bestseller, so I know plenty of you bought a copy. Thanks. For those of you who did not, know that although the material is a few years old at this point, the horror blog is written as a free update to the book. So if you have the book, you get more out of the blog. Plus the book has hundreds of titles that are still widely available in public libraries. And you know how I feel about that backlist. [If you are a new reader, note, it is your BFF].

No more excuses! I don't care if you are scared of horror yourself. I have got this one for you. I have done my part: warned you of the impending increase in demand for horror [it could start any day at this point], given you links with quality and useful resources, and even provided the "Cliffs Notes" version of the genre.

Now get to work.  People are relying on you to help them feel the fear this haunting season!

For past Calls to Action, click here.