Horror stories come in all flavors, from the hilarious to the gory. Some call them fantasy, others sci-fi, and still others speculative fiction. Stephen King and Dean Koontz have made successful careers telling them, building on that genre’s founders, authors like Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. P. Lovecraft.

I have to confess I’m not a reader of horror, fantasy, or supernatural sci-fi. Gore doesn’t turn me on; zombies, werewolves, and vampires turn me off unless they’re comedic fellows; kings and princes doing battle with bizarre creatures give me the blahs; and magicians, leprechauns, and elves, especially evil ones, generally just give me indigestion.

I’ve read all of Stockmyer’s “Under the Stairs” series, though; it’s a wonderful mix of sci-fi and fantasy (and probably the most neglected yet deservingly trumpeted series of its type). I’ve also beta-read much of my friend Scott Dyson’s work where his truly human characters, unlike King’s, have very human reactions to horror (like Stockmyer, another neglected author in my modest opinion).

And the latter points to my problem with horror stories: They all too often get lost in the fantasy world and lose touch of their characters’ humanity. That’s one reason why I don’t write horror stories, even though they become popular this time of year: It’s too difficult for me to lose the humanity in my characters.

Sure, I’ve written a few, mostly short fiction. You’ll find most of them in the Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape speculative fiction series (Volume One, in particular, which is available on Amazon, with Volumes Two and Three available as free downloads—see my “Free Stuff & Contests” web page). A few other pieces of short fiction might be scattered around here and there. Rogue Planet (see below) is hard sci-fi with fantasy elements. Yes, it has a prince who becomes king, but he’s very human (meaning he has his flaws), and there seems to be magic, but it’s all techno-wizardry.

I suppose this might all come from my childhood where dressing up for Halloween was an afterthought, a bit of drudgery other kids and their parents seemed ascribed to. “Oh, isn’t he cute!” never set well with me, especially when uttered by strange grownups. And later on I was more into the tricks than the treats! Just call me the Grinch that stole Halloween, I guess.

Covid has put a damper on Halloween too. We struggle with making it safe for everyone. Most of the kids who visit us aren’t vaccinated. We get more little kids now as our neighborhood becomes filled with Brooklynn ex-pats and their little ones, and they are indeed cute (I don’t sat it!) as we have fun guessing who their parents are. The elementary school across from us usually has a Halloween parade around the neighborhood. Last year they didn’t. Maybe they will this year.

In any case, I wish a happy and safe Halloween to you and yours.

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Comments are always welcome!

Rogue Planet. I often taut this as a hard sci-fi and not just another fantasy version of Game of Thrones. Now there’s a lot of hype about Dune, as the third movie based on the famous Herbert fantasy epic is about to come out. While it’s much better than Thrones, it’s a bit long-in-the-tooth…and long! Rogue Planet is a more compact story—similar swash-buckling battles between armies and a similar flawed and royal hero, but everything is set in my usual sci-fi universe that I began in The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy Collection. Of course, you can read it independently of that trilogy. (All my novels have that feature.) So if it’s epic fun you want, try my hard sci-fi, not fantasy! Rogue Planet is available in ebook and print versions wherever quality books are sold.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

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