Library Journal Horror Genre Preview and Interview with SGJ all by ME

July is the month for Library Journal where Horror takes center stage-- cover story center stage! Just in time to get your shelves stocked for the upcoming spooky season.

This article and the interview are available for free with your first few clicks. LJ has limited access with some free articles per month for all. But if you want to purchase a print copy, let me know and I will connect you with the right people.

In the meantime, click here to get to the feature page with a link to my article, my interview with Stephen Graham Jones [and even more photos.] 

Speaking of photos, let's take a moment to look at that cover! LJ commissioned a photo shoot with Jones. But I do want to give a shout out to Jones who did this all on short notice. Not only is he an amazing writer, but he is a kind soul whose commitment to libraries is unparalleled. I am so proud that LJ decided to honor him with the cover.

Overall, this is the most attention to detail and design that LJ has ever given my genre preview. They gave me more words as well, which means that I had more words to give small annotations to more titles.

My goal with this article each year is not only to provide as wide a representation of the titles that are coming down the pike from publishers big and small as possible, but also to look at the mass as a whole and draw some conclusions about trends. And as I write to end the piece, "Get your shelves ready, because it looks like fear will stay in season for some time to come."

Speaking of how I do this article each year, if you go to to this page on the horror blog [and scroll to the bottom], you can find the direct links to all 5 Horror Genre Previews I have written for LJ. Also, wow, I cannot believe I have been doing this for 5 years!

You can click here to read everything-- article and interview. Below is the introduction to my article to pique your interest.

Fear Is Always In Season | Horror Preview 2022

by Becky Spratford 

It is becoming a common refrain in genre fiction circles: readers are in the midst of a horror renaissance, the likes of which we have not seen since the 1970s and ’80s when Stephen King exploded into the publishing world, spawning a best-selling interest in terrifying tales. However, there are a few big differences between that and the current horror boom, as Ben Rubin, horror studies collection coordinator for the University of Pittsburgh Library System, tells LJ, “Horror is experiencing a renaissance in many ways, including in the recognition and celebration of its diversity. The genre has always been diverse, but more attention is being paid to long-marginalized creators both from the past and present. This not only highlights the depth of the genre, but also ensures its continued relevance in the 21st century.”

More authors are being invited to the horror party, and as they enter, they bring their lived experiences to the stories they craft. The result is horrifically wondrous as readers are treated to a whole new universe of monsters, unsettling situations, and anxiety-inducing frames, inspired by people and places that had been previously left out of the horror conversation. Horror is also in demand due to the unnerving fact that the world is a scary place for everyone, and it has been, without respite, for years. Many readers are actively seeking out horror novels as a way to escape, if only for 300 pages, from the real terror in their lives.

For all these reasons and more, readership and sales of horror have reached a staggeringly high peak, and publishers big and small are stepping up with a breadth and quality of titles that has not been seen before. No longer eschewing the h word in marketing copy nor tightly corralling release dates to fall’s spooky season, publishers are positioning the fear front and center, assailing the hearts and minds of mainstream readers with terrifying tomes every month of the year. LJ has surveyed the publishing landscape, looking under the bed and in the creepy basement to find the trends and titles of the next six months. There are new key authors taking possession of the genre by claiming old tropes and making them new; small presses are making huge waves; and the voices of marginalized authors are creating change and energy. As this guide to the genre shows, horror is on the leading edge of publishing.

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