Fiction 101: The Chills and Thrills of Horror

The Chills and Thrills of Horror

by Shelby D, Evening Supervisor

Hello and welcome back to Fiction 101! Fiction 101 is where we talk about books and their genres. Every month, I delve into a genre, talk a little bit about it, and then give some book recommendations to go along with it. Some past topics have been graphic novels, adventure books, and many more! Take a look back to find some cool book recommendations. Since it’s spooky season, I thought I’d delve into horror!

Horror is a genre of books where the intent is to scare and shock us. There are so many subgenres of horror. Gothic fiction happens to be my favorite genre to read. I’m easily spooked so some of the gorier subgenres aren’t my jam, but give me an atmospheric ghost story and I’m hooked! Gothic fiction tends to have more lyrical writing, a spooky slow build, and relics of the past (like crumbling mansions). They also involve supernatural elements (like ghosts). Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, and Daphne du Maurier are some classic examples of gothic literature authors. 

Psychological horror is horror that is intended to get in your head. Some of the ways they do that is by relying on “unreliable narrators.” Unreliable narrators are narrators that you can’t be entirely sure are conveying events as they happen. In psychological horror, this is usually because their grasp on sanity might be tenuous.

Now onto some of the gorier sides of horror —not going to lie, these are subgenres I tend to personally avoid. First, there’s body horror. Body horror involves icky transformations and mutilations that are meant to cause discomfort. Zombie stories fall into this category, as does Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (also an example of gothic horror) and The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Second, there are slasher stories which are tales that feature serial killers. These stories involve groups of people being picked off one by one. In slasher stories, the serial killer creeps up on the people they’re planning to kill. Usually, there’s at least one survivor, but it’s not a requirement for there to be any survivors in these types of books.

Here are some horror book recommendations:


Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

My favorite book of all time is Haunting of Hill House. Have I mentioned it before? Once or twice maybe? Can you tell I love it? I usually read this once a year, it’s the perfect spooky season book to read. It’s gothic horror, but it also falls into the category of psychological horror as well. It features an unreliable narrator, a spooky mansion, and a slowly building atmosphere of fear.


Dracula by Bram Stoker

This is another one of my personal favorites, and it’s also gothic horror. I’ll try not to make all the recommendations gothic horror, but it would be remiss of me to not mention Dracula on a list of horror book recommendations — it’s a classic! I’m a huge fan of the slow building of tension. It’s not the first instance of vampires in literature, but it’s an early example and, in my opinion, has a huge impact on the vampire lore of today.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

This is an example of psychological horror with supernatural elements, rooted in Native American folklore. It follows four Indigenous men as they are haunted by a vengeful spirit, bringing the past to life with deadly consequences. It also kind of falls into the category of slasher fiction.

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

Grady Hendrix tends to write horror comedies, so there are elements of humor in this spin on slasher fiction. The main characters are all survivors of slasher stories, but something nefarious is underfoot in the support group they form. Grady Hendrix also wrote Horrorstör and My Best Friend’s Exorcism.

House of Leaves by by Mark Danielewski

This was one of the most unique books I’ve ever read! I apparently always like a book about an evil house. I love secret codes and the book is full of them. It’s not the easiest read ever, the footnotes have footnotes and text is every which way — some pages will even have you flipping back and forth. The book is as confusing as the house it is set in, but it’s a claustrophobic adventure of a horror book and you’ll never read anything else like it.

Thank you for joining me this month! I’m happy that I got to promote Haunting of Hill House yet again. I hope our horror readers can find a spooky read to enjoy this October. Next month, I’ll be diving into dystopian fiction.