Why do you read horror?

Like the subject says; why do you read horror books? What about them keeps you coming back?

I enjoy horror, not so much for the scare or the supernatural aspect, but enjoy reading about ordinary characters put in extra-ordinary situations. It's an escape. Books rarely scare me anymore.

I agree with #3 about reading being an escape. To me reading horror and fantasy pretty much accomplish the same thing by giving me more than other kinds of fiction. With fantasy, it is the magic and fantastic creatures and heroism that create the draw, but with horror fiction, there is that element of tension and being on the edge of your seat that puts one in the mindset of not caring about what is going on around them in the real world. There is nothing better to me than the well-written horror novel that ratchets up the tension so much that I can't put it down; turning page after page until I reach a resolution. I also like the fact that with a lot of horror (King especially) I am never quite sure what the outcome will really be until the end. With other types of fiction, a lot of times you can guess how things will end up but with horror this is seldom the case. In King's case, he could kill of a character (usually my favorite) at any time in the novel and never bat an eye.

I agree with them being an escape and like StefanY said, the element of unpredictability you get from horror books adds something to them for me which i prefer. it's nice reading a book and not knowing who will die or whether good or evil will win at the end

timdt - I know what you mean about them not being scary any more, I've read plenty of reviews on here or Amazon before getting a book telling me about how scary and sickening they found the book; and then read them myself and didn't experience that.

I have to agree with timdt – I enjoy seeing the characters work through the problem at hand. (I too do not scare easily anymore.)

Also, I enjoy the psychological aspect of horror – and how the horror at hand is often a metaphor for something we really deal with. That and just the dark and magical creepiness of it all.

It's a question I've often grappled with and only recently come near to an answer that satisfied me. In this interview (http://bit.ly/zyuXV4), Thomas Ligotti talks about horror/weird fiction being unique in its ability to express a sense of reality as an enigma beyond our comprehension whereas much fiction tends towards giving us answers, making us feel better or more secure. For the moment, this answer works for me. I also recommend this interview for some great recommendations of obscure weird writers from Europe and further afield.

I like the drama inherent in horror. It puts people in extreme situations or ones hard to get their minds around and seeing how they react and handle it is the best part. It's also why for me well-drawn characters are so important to making horror readable. Give me cardboard characters and it loses its punch.

Catharsis.

I need something that is going to get me to maintain interest throughout the book. Horror, Thriller, and True Crime genre's maintain that interest.

I would rather have a root canal than read something that is going to put me to sleep and would bore me to tears. Those include:

Romance (i.e. Slut Novels)

Mysteries - Yeah, you don't know who did it, but all the protagonists live happily ever after - too many sex scenes - too dull)

Fantasy - BORING!

Literary Fiction - I don't need to read some 800 pages about some little girl's life story living with a drunk mother and having a father that's in jail, and how that made school and making friends and other gushy stuff like that difficult on the child.

What makes horror (along with Thrillers and True Crime) interesting?

1. First and foremost, the vast majority of books I read feature at least 1 protagonist, or else a wide population (i.e. a widespread deadly disease) ending up dead.
2. The gore
3. The fact that you have contantly got to know what happens next.

Because it's like getting hooked on drugs. Lol. I keep trying to recapture the delicious chills of fear I remember from my first horror experiences.

Also I have this strange idea that it somehow calms my anxiety to dip into someone else's f***ed up world for a while and then pull back and realize I CAN cope. ROFL.

-9 Holy crap ThrillerFan. You are stomping on a lot of genres there. You are, of course entitled to your opinion, but I argue that there might be books in some of those genres that you might enjoy. Are you open to reccomendations or is your mind already made up?

I've always been drawn to the darker things in life. What people call horror, I call expected.

I've always been fascinated with the darker side of life and things that go bump in the night. It's just plain fun :)