Morgan Elektra's Blog

Those of you who have been following my blog for awhile might remember the year 2017. It wasn’t the best year for me. If you’ve read my August 14, 2017 blog post Darkest Before the Dawn, I detailed a lot of what I was going through there.

During that time of extreme mental health crisis, I made a decision to shut down my Patreon page because I didn’t have the capacity to handle it at that moment. It was a hard decision, but it was a good one.

Now, though, I’m in a much better place mentally. Not that I don’t still struggle with my depression. I’m actually having an off day today. But that’s okay. Tomorrow will be better.

That said, since I’m writing full time now I’m restarting my Patreon page to help cover some of the monthly costs of being an author. There are six subscription tiers, each offering Behind the Scenes posts, free short stories, and more every month! The lowest tier starts at $1. Even that is a great help to me.

If you can’t donate, I understand. Not everyone has extra income every month they can use to support an artist. Instead, could you share this blog or my Patreon page among your friends and family? The more patrons I amass, the better for my writing career.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect money for nothing. I plan on giving good value for each dollar donated.

So, that’s it. I’m sharing this info all over the webs so that the people who enjoy my work can participate in the creation of new stories if they so choose.

Check out my Patreon page here!

And, as always, thanks for listening.

~xxxM

“Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children.” – The Crow

This post hurts. It’s been hard as hell to sit down and do it, even though a part of me has been needing to write it. I’m struggling to find words.

You see, on July 8th, 2023, my life changed forever.

My beloved mother, my first cheerleader, passed away suddenly.

She’d been sick, problems with her gallbladder making eating uncomfortable and a near-constant upset stomach, but she didn’t like to talk about it and have people listen to her “gripe”, she’d say.

Now I never get to hear her voice again and the thought rips a hole in my heart. Talking to her was one of the highlights of my week, even in dark times when the world or my depression was getting to me. Especially then. I always called her mid-week, and on the weekends sometimes too.

We talked about everything and nothing. Mostly about what I was up to, who had last talked to my siblings, and the state of politics. My mother was a life-long hippie and activist. She was a flower child, and still believed (most of the time) that we could change things for the better.

She was also a poet, and we talked about writing and her upcoming readings. She was really proud of her poetry. As she should be. Her poetry is incredible. I think my favorite collection of her works was called i have been a river: selected poems of Pamela Twining. I know it contains my most favorite of her works, pilgrim heart, which goes like this:

Love
your name is Love
and i have sought you
in all the rooms and corners of my soul
down the long corridors of Days
in dreams and nightmares
when memories are not enough
i look to heaven

i know your name
your name is Love
through my most grievous fault
my soul was severed from completeness
a moment’s lack of Trust
consequences reverberate through Time

i raised my lamp high
the better to see you
one drop of oil fell
burning your shoulder, startling you awake
and in that moment
knowing i was not Whole
you fled

i know your name
which you chose to hide from me
but i rebelled
claiming more than you were willing
to give me then
and so i lost you

wandering
seeking
always seeing you flickering
in my Deepest Vision
just ahead
shimmering in my Joyous sight

when i approach
a mirage
gone again
as the light waves in my eyes disband
dissolved in tears

our love was Whole
i bear the children your soul offered me
Light and Inspiration
you asked one thing of me
and i could not see
in Blindness failing not only you
but Love

i know your name
your name is Love
and when we meet again
i’ll tell you mine

Isn’t it beautiful? Gives me chills every time I read it. She had a blog called The Open Door, with more poetry on it, as well as some videos on Youtube of her readings. She had amazing presence. The world is a little dimmer without her light.

I’d like to tell you about her. More than just that she was a poet and my mother. Both of which are true, but hardly a fraction of her incredible being. There’s her obituary if you want the facts of where she was born (Maryland) and where she went to school (Vassar) and stuff like that. But it, too, barely begins to encompass everything she was and is. To me and others.

I remember so much about her, and yet I know there are things I’ll never know. It’s impossible to know every single thing about another person. She meant different things to me than she did to even my siblings, who experienced her in different ways than I did. My uncle, her brother, has memories of her that stretch back to their shared childhood. He saw the teenage version and the new mother version and a thousand versions I wasn’t around for yet.

So many people have been sharing memories of her with me these last few months.

It’s been beautiful and amazing and painful at the same time. I want to hear them all, but hearing them makes my heart ache.

I am never going to not miss her. I know this in my soul. There will never come a time when I stop wishing I could pick up the phone and call her. As long as I am alive, I will grieve for my mother.

And then? Hopefully, I’ll see her again.

You see, this has strengthened my belief that there is something after. I’ve always felt so, but it was a more intellectual feeling. Now, it makes no sense to me that there be nothing afterward. It’s scientifically impossible to destroy matter. So her matter is out there. It’s still part of the Universe. I know this is a fact.

And yes, it comforts me to think I still live in a world where she exists somehow, even if it’s not the way I’m used to seeing her. My mother was always such a spiritual person and since her death, I swear I’ve felt her close to me, urging me to connect more with my own spirituality. She would never preach. She wasn’t one of those. But just by being, she was a lesson in speaking with a higher power. That’s what her poetry was, mostly.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this, except I wanted to talk about her. I want to share her with all of you out there in the world, wherever you are. Because no one’s ever really gone. Not as long as we remember them.

I remember her singing to me as a child. Not just childhood nursery rhymes but the songs she grew up loving. She loved music and would often try to encourage me to dance, even though I’ve always been afraid.

She told me, when I was a budding woman, how you never scream “rape”, you scream “FIRE” because then someone will come. And she told me, if someone doesn’t come, you fight! You kick and bite and scratch. If they cover your mouth you bite their fingers. Bite them off if you have to.

It didn’t occur to me then that she was speaking from experience.

She had so many experiences. Stories she told me, about going to concerts and protests and the roller rink with her new skates. And all the stories she didn’t tell me, because I was her daughter. I wish she was still here so I could ask her about those too, and not roll my eyes and cringe if she started talking about sex or drugs.

My mother thought I was a bit of a prude because of that. I would say, “Mom, I write erotica!” and she would counter with, “Then you should know what I’m talking about!”

I know my mom was proud of me for pursuing a writing career. She was always a champion for it, even when other people suggested it wasn’t a stable career move. She never once seemed to entertain the idea that I wouldn’t succeed. It’s one of the reasons I’ve always been so confident in my abilities.

Now, I know she was my mother and she had to say I was good. But she was also a writer herself. She would critique my work… if I asked. Mostly I didn’t because she was a poet and thought I used too many words.

Just like I’m doing here.

The important thing is to hug your loved ones, every chance you get. Tell them you love them. Because tomorrow isn’t promised. One day will be the last day you talk to them, and you want to make sure they know.

Also, and this is me asking as a grieving daughter, so you have to listen…

Please, please, please take care of yourselves. Eat good food, do things that make your heart happy, spend time with those you love.

I love you all.

~xxxM

PS: If you have a memory of my mother, please do share it in the comments. I would love to hear them. Even the sex and drugs ones.

PPS: If you’re feeling so inclined, you can donate to the GoFundMe, which I posted to help cover her funeral and memorial costs. We’re almost there!

Hello, book friends! Today is officially the day. My M/M paranormal romance novel Protecting His Pack is live on Amazon, available in both print and ebook!

Do you love found families, forced proximity, shifters, grumpy and sunshine, magic, mayhem, and of course… spice? Well, then this is the book for you!

And if you’re enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, you can read it for free. Or maybe you’d rather hold a copy in your hands? No worries, there are print copies too!

Ebook: tinyurl.com/PHPbyME

Print: tinyurl.com/printPHP

Or, hey, maybe you want to try and win a FREE print proof copy? There’s a raffle here!

However you choose to read Protecting His Pack, I hope you enjoy it. And maybe leave a review on Goodreads or Amazon? Or both? I would love you forever!

~xxxM

Look at this beauty!

It gives me the warm fuzzies just looking at it. Which is exactly how I hope it makes you feel. The book is available for pre-order now, and will be delivered to your Kindles on Tuesday, May 30th, 2023.

Don’t worry if cash is a little tight, Gay Romance Reviews, who are hosting my cover reveal and the blog and Instagram tour I’ll be doing after the release, has a giveaway! Head on over to their page to enter for the chance to win a free ebook copy of Protecting His Pack.

Today is my birthday, and I would be so excited if you would pre-order the book or help me spread the word about it. Any little thing you can do to get more eyes on this book would be massively appreciated.

Ok, I’m going to keep this brief. Happy Sunday!

~M

One of the great things about the internet is: YOU CAN MAKE FRIENDS ANYWHERE!

The downside to this is stark and simple: YOU MAKE FRIENDS EVERYWHERE!

That means you can have friends from down the road and across the country and even from the other side of the world. My closest friends all live in different states. Some of them closer than others.

This weekend I decided to go to visit a dear, dear friend I hadn’t seen since before the pandemic and we excitedly began planning what we were going to do. Which, for me, entailed updating this website and blog, among other things. But this is supposed to be a mini-vacation for me so I didn’t want to work the whole time. Mostly, I wanted to hang out with my friend, watch some shows, and chat. I also wanted to sleep in her bed, because it’s sooooo comfy.

Thankfully, BFF Crissy understands me and didn’t plan a bunch of activities to distract me. So far, we’ve watched the trippy, Pierce Brosnan-y 80’s horror movie Nomads and the classic The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, stayed up way too late, eaten food (she made me a garlic sauce stuff that was delicious), and shared memories and truths about our lives. It’s been great. Just what I needed.

We’ve also talked about the business of writing. About the dreaded P word. NO, not that one, you dirty-minded birdies! I mean PROMOTION. I need to start doing more of that to grow my fanbase. I know Y’ALL love me, so maybe tell your friends, buy my books, and follow me on my socials so other people can find me too?

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m republishing my Out in the Shadows novellas, A Single Heartbeat and A Kiss of Brimstone.

That time has come!

Not only are both available in ebook, they’re free in Kindle Unlimited!

A Single Heartbeat is even available in PRINT! I’m so excited. I even got print proofs to check quality. It was such an indescribable feeling to hold my work, even just a short novella, in my hands. I don’t think physical copies will ever go completely out of style.

If you’re on TikTok, make sure you come follow me, I’m @morganelektra over there and I plan on posting more videos about writing, books, kittens, and probably my fandoms and stuff too. It should be fun! (Especially if Crissy has anything to say about the videos I make.)

So, I’m going to go back to chilling with my BFF and talking shop. Follow me on TikTok and don’t forget to get your copy of my novellas ASAP!

Talk to you again soon!

Once again, it’s been awhile. I apologize for being incommunicado. I’d promise it won’t happen again, but that would probably be a lie.

The second half of 2022 was something of a whirlwind. A lot happened.

On the sad side, my father-in-law passed away in June. He wasn’t well, so it wasn’t a huge surprise, but he seemed to be the kind of man who would live forever. So it was still a little shocking. I think maybe death always is, in some ways.

I also completed my Master’s in Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University. I am extremely happy about this. I graduated in September with a 4.0 and received my Certificate in Online Teaching of Writing as well. The seminar in teaching online was a great experience and I really enjoyed it. I look forward to doing more teaching in the future.

As part of my degree program, we had a write a novel of 50,000 to 80,000 words. My WIP (work-in-progress) is entitled Burned (for now, I’m not married to this name) and clocks in at 77,000 words. It’s an urban fantasy and the first in a series. Or it will be, if I ever figure out the sequel. I finished it in time for graduation and now it is with my beta readers. Once they get through with it, I will be doing another rewrite based on their notes. And then I begin…. DUN DUN DUN…. querying agents!

That’s a big, scary step for me, so I’ve been preparing over the last few months, trying to perfect my damn synopsis and the like. I’ve got a list of short list of agents to submit to, and a base query letter which I can personalize for each one. My synopsis is okay, but not great and that’s frustrating to me, but I’m nearly there. I also want to come up with a snappy logline, but I’m usually terrible at those. A logline is a short sentence or maybe two that sums up your work. Like “A Nightmare on Elm Street meets Girl, Interrupted” (I have a story that this fits) or, like in the case of my short work Big Teeth: a dark fairytale, “Who’s afraid?” It’s just a quick little snippet of something to whet the reader’s (or agent’s) appetite and start getting them hooked on your story.

I need one of those.

This kind of goes along with comp titles. In the writing business, a comp title is short for comparable title, or a book similar to yours. A lot of agents ask for comp titles in your query, so they can get an idea where you see your book fitting. The best advice I got on comp titles in school was don’t go too big. It’s probably wise not to declare your work “The next Harry Potter!” That’s not to say you shouldn’t have confidence in your work, but think humbly.

Comp titles also need to be fairly recent, unless they’re classics. (Don’t forget the think humbly bit.)

I love Burned. The story is very close to my heart. It’s hard for me to think of it in such a business-minded way. So I’ve been struggling with that. Up to this point, the only thing I’ve been able to come up with is, “What if Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden was a female shapeshifter who’d sold her soul and was bound to do her Demon Lord’s bidding? What happens when one of the souls he’s owed disappears?” And, while that’s not terrible, it’s not fabulous either. I’d like something really punchy.

Working on Burned isn’t ALL I’ve been doing however.

As some of you may know, about a year ago, the small press that published my two M/M novellas, A Single Heartbeat and A Kiss of Brimstone, along with my first M/M paranormal romance novel, Protecting His Pack, closed. While I understood why they made the choice they did–this is a really difficult, time-consuming, and costly business–I was very bummed that my works would no longer be available.

In that regard, for the last couple of months I’ve rewritten and re-edited all three stories. I’ve added over 15,000 words to Protecting His Pack. I also have been working with someone to get the all three formatted correctly and got brand new covers done.

All this is in preparation of re-publishing them myself.

So, coming soon to an Amazon site near you, you’ll once again be able to purchase A Single Heartbeat, A Kiss of Brimstone, and Protecting His Pack. This time in both ebook AND PRINT! I’m very excited. And nervous. This is my first time really attempting to self-publish. I put out my two short stories, but nothing on this scale before.

I’m just waiting to have all the finished files together and I can start uploading. Yikes! But also, Yay!

In preparation, I’ve made up the teaser below. If you’d like to share this blog post, or the image, to let your friends and family and fellow readers know A Single Heartbeat is coming soon, I’d really appreciate it.

I also have a short story being published in the upcoming issue of Three Crows Magazine. They’re pretty cool. You should check out their site and do some reading. The story they chose of mine is one of my favorites I’ve ever written. It’s a weird little tale about what it means to be human, called “A Few Dead Monkeys”. Stay tuned to this station for more info about when that’s coming out (sometime next month I believe).

Image included just for funsies.

Speaking of which, that’s pretty much all I’ve got. I’ll try to be around more but I doubt I’ll overload you with content. But it’s nice to keep in touch. How was the end of 2022 for you? How’s 2023 been so far? I want to know. I am trying to be kinder and take better care of myself this year. Did you make any resolutions?

And lastly, because I told Kim I was going to… here is a picture of the penis rock on the other side of Mount Rushmore.

Love,

ME

Tell the truth. You know you want to.

We all want things we know we shouldn’t have. Whether it’s that last chocolate cupcake, yet another figure for our immense collection, or the sexy so-and-so who takes forever to answer your text, we crave a little of the darkness.

Maybe you furtively Google your desires in the dark, with trembling lips and bated breath. Or maybe, like me, you talk about it out loud on your own blog. Either way, there’s a part of most people that love the dark. Like, love love it. With tongue.

Monster Crush

My first celebrity crush was on Freddy Krueger. Not Robert Englund, the actor who played the character, but on the character himself. I was 7. New Line Cinema, which was responsible for the creation of the franchise, once commissioned a suggestive prom photo shoot of heroine Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) and Freddy in full makeup. With the glove.

Hot, right?

Now, lest you forget, Freddy Krueger is at best a child killer. In an earlier version of the script he was a child molester as well. This is still subtext throughout the series. One that, even as a young girl, I picked up on. He attacks young kids in their beds, after all, when they’re sleeping and vulnerable. It’s not real subtle. When I was 7, of course, I wasn’t thinking about Freddy in a sexy way. But after seeing those prom pictures I definitely thought about him in a romantic way. I wanted him to be my prom date. What can I say? I like clever guys.

Or maybe it wasn’t the pictures. Maybe it was the moment in the first A Nightmare on Elm Street where Nancy is frantically trying to call her boyfriend Glenn (played by a young, dreamy Johnny Depp). C’mon, you all know the scene I’m talking about, don’t you?

The phone morphs into a version of Krueger’s burned mouth with an obscenely licking tongue as Freddy croons, “I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy!”

This was the guy a young me was swooning over. It really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who ever knew me that I grew up to write dark fantasy and erotic horror. When I say I love the dark, I mean I love it. With tongue.

And I’m not the only one titillated by this mash up of genres. 

Resident Hottie

As recently as last year, the internet was in an uproar about the “tall vampire lady”, aka Lady Dimitrescu from Resident Evil 8. And who can blame them? This scary, sexy icon was “designed to embody equal parts beauty and horror”.

More, More, More

Or check out this article on Decider.com, titled “10 Erotic Thrillers Like Behind Her Eyes on Netflix”. Erotic thrillers are good business. You know what else is good business? Horror. And porn. Both billion dollar industries. And, whether they admit it out loud or not, people are buying. Search the hashtag #monsterfucker on Tumblr or Twitter and you’ll find a trove of art, both visual and literary, dedicated to the love of monsters. Or check out the career of author Chuck Tingle, who skyrocketed to indie publishing stardom by writing “tinglers” about sex with Bigfoot, dinosaurs, aliens, and sentient objects. Of course, one might argue Dr. Chuck is relatively new to the scene. And he doesn’t really write horror erotica… But this isn’t some flash in the pan phenomenon.

Only look at hentai, the popular manga and anime subgenre of pornography for longevity. Talk about stamina!

Face it. We like our boys bad and our girls ghoulish.

For those of you who are ready to admit your love for the dark, don’t forget to head over the HellBound Books and pick up a copy of The Devil’s Doorbell 2 anthology, which features my sexy scary story “Swallow the Moon”.

First things first: what is erotic horror? The simple definition of erotic horror is any work of fiction which employs both horrific and sexual overtones or story elements. But what does that mean, really?

I know half of you are wondering. The other half are just waiting for recommendations. Don’t worry, we’ll get there.

#1 Erotic Horror is a Genre Mash-Up

Stories that fall under this umbrella are combinations of two seemingly dissimilar genres that actually have a lot in common. Horror is meant to disturb and unsettle you. Erotica is meant to titillate. Erotic horror is a mash-up of these two ideas. Two great tastes that taste great together, isn’t that the old slogan?

Erotica and horror writers both seek to provoke strong feelings in their readers using deep characterization and descriptions. They want to make your heart pound, your blood run quicker, your breath catch. In fact,both authors are seeking to arouse something in you — fear or sexual pleasure.

Some would argue that there is erotic horror — that is, horror that contains erotic elements but is ultimately meant to horrify the reader — and horror (or dark) erotica — which is a story with dark or horror elements that is intended to arouse the reader sexually. Truthfully, there’s a fine line between the two and there are many stories that bridge the narrow gap between the two genres.

#2 The Four F’s

Our bodies have natural reactions to outside stimuli. Whenever we’re greeted with a predator, for example, the scientific community often talks about the first two F’s: the “Fight or Flight” response. Faced with something we’re unfamiliar with, most people seek to either overpower (fight) or run away from (flight) the thing. 

Many add a third F: Freeze. Like a bunny rabbit, or the people in the first Jurassic Park movie when they saw a t-rex, we hunker down and hope the Bad Thing doesn’t see us. I would add a fourth, less common and little studied F to this list: Fuck. 

That’s right, some of us see the Bad Thing and try to seduce it.

What I’m saying is, this scene could have gone a LOT differently.

#3 You Are Not Alone

Some of you might have checked over your shoulder before clicking on this post, but don’t worry. That’s not what I meant. There are plenty of people that read erotic horror. Horror is an immensely popular genre. So is romance, which is the kissing cousin of erotica. Both are billion dollar industries. It should be no wonder that the two sometimes consort on the page (or screen).

Horror is especially popular right now with younger people, 25 and under. The audience not only tends to skew younger and more diverse, but also almost equally male and female. This upcoming generation is also the most openly queer yet, so sex and sexuality are finally becoming less taboo topics, which is great for the erotic horror genre.

#4 It is Empowering

Erotic horror often touches nerves, inciting both fear and pleasure as we explore the things that terrify and arouse us. It makes us think about the nature of our world and the beings in it and the bodies we inhabit. An excellent example of this is V. Castro’s erotic horror novel Goddess of Filth, which I just recently reviewed on the blog.

Now, Google erotic horror and a lot of the images are of naked women. Not that there’s anything wrong with women being naked, but most of the images are meant to appeal to the male gaze. And there is the often-cited and not-entirely-wrong argument that horror exploits women. It has in the past and sometimes still does. However, horror is one of the few genres which has always been and continues to be a mainstay of representation and agency. 

The audience for erotica, on the other hand, is predominantly women. While there are some men who read for sexual pleasure, they are in the minority. At least for now.

#5 Bad Boys and Ghoulish Girls

Science speculates on a lot of different reasons women are so often attracted to bad boys. Generally, it breaks down to something-something-pheromones. Not that we’re controlled by our ovaries and hormones! But hey, everyone is a little. As a society, we tend to accept that when it comes to men, but the “fairer” sex is supposedly immune to such thoughts.

Yeah, I couldn’t even type that with a straight face. Luckily, I’m bisexual, so I didn’t have to!

It’s a fact, whether we know the science or psychology behind it, that people of all genders are often attracted to people who might be classified in fiction as villains. They do things considered outside the norm or against society and they generally do it in a brash way that makes them sexy.

See? It’s a whole thing.

Whether you’re searching on AO3 (that’s https://archiveofourown.org/ ), Tumblr, TikTok, or just doing a Google search, you’re bound to find story after story and article upon article talking about why we love villains. So just embrace it. There’s a whole world of entertainment out there that is dying to be read.

What do you think? Have I piqued your interest? Comment below!

Recommendations

Check out some of these articles to find some erotic horror:

15 Erotic Horror Titles to Titillate and Terrify

10 Dark and Horror Erotica Romance Books We Think You’ll Love

Goddess of Filth by V. Castro

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Short review: When I purchased V Castro’s Goddess of Filth, I was expecting to be entertained, creeped out, maybe a little titillated. And I felt all of these things. However, I wasn’t expecting to cry my eyes out. Not in bad way, but in a way because I identified with the struggles of the main characters and felt seen and empowered at the same time. This is a powerful work, and one I think I will be coming back to time and time again.

Long review: Recently, I listened to an episode of a new podcast. She Wore Black is hosted by Agatha Andrews and she talks all things dark and deep. Season 2 Episode 19 was Erotic Horror with V. Castro. I had heard the name in passing recently, since this author has been tapped to write a novelization based on the life of Vasquez from Aliens (which is very cool) that’s scheduled to come out later in the year.

I listened to the episode in preparation of some blog posts I’m planning on posting soon. It was a good episode and I highly recommend it. Afterwards, I definitely wanted to pick up some of V’s work. I chose Goddess of Filth because… well, the name grabbed me. It just does that.

Then, the description hooked me deep.

“Five of us sat in a circle doing our best to emulate the girls in The Craft, hoping to unleash some power to take us all away from our home to the place of our dreams. But we weren’t witches. We were five Chicanas living in San Antonio, Texas, one year out of high school.”

You mention The Craft to a girl who had “We are the weirdos, mister” as her Senior Quote and you pique her interest. So I was on the hook for this book.

I’m not going to get too much into the story. At 141 pages, it’s a quick read. I managed it in a day. The story of Lourdes, Fernanda, Perla, Ana, and Pauline unfolds at a rapid, easy-to-read pace. The five girls conduct a seance and then have to deal with the repercussions of what they unleashed. What follows is a powerful and moving work about womanhood that I think should be required reading in high school, personally.

This maybe doesn’t sound like a horror novel to some of you, but I assure you it is. There is terror in these girls dealing with burgeoning womanhood. The kind of terror every woman knows and deals with, but more than that. These girls have to contend also with the horror experienced by belonging to a group of marginalized people. Still, most of their struggles will resonate with you no matter what. I’m long past the age the girls in the book are experiencing, and this tale brought back that time vividly.

Is there eroticism in this book? Yes, both the terrible and wonderful.

Look, all I’m saying is, the title and the description hook you like they did me, you should definitely buy this book immediately. Get some extra copies for all the women in your life.

Have you read Goddess of Filth? Got an opinion? Comment below!

It’s hard to articulate what first drew me to horror and dark fiction. It began at such a young age and has become so much of who I am, it’s difficult to step outside of myself and examine why. What is it about the dark that fascinates me, and countless others?

Is it merely the shot of adrenaline we get after a good scare? I find it hard to believe that that is the only thing that keeps us consuming dark media in the form of books, television, and movies. It’s often contemplated and addressed from various perspectives as to what fuels the horror fans’ attraction to the genre. Are we all deviant? I know it’s a common refrain that horror fans hear.

I can’t answer that. But I can distinctly remember the moment I became a horror fan.

I was seven years old and already an avid reader. My favorite books at the time were the Andrew Lang colored fairy tale collections, which contained all kinds of dark tales from around the world, and Nancy Drew mysteries. So, perhaps I was predisposed to darker work. But the instant that truly cemented my journey down this twisted, often bloody, but beautiful road was when I saw a picture of a cat.

Not just any cat, mind you. No, the cat that drew my attention was the “screaming cat’s face” on the cover of Stephen King’s iconic novel Pet Sematary. I can still remember, to this day, staring at that cover and feeling that electric thrill in my blood. That sweet zing! I didn’t know what the book was about, but I knew immediately that I wanted to read it.

And I did.

This passion for King’s dark works would lead to the first nickname I became aware of in the third grade: “The Girl Who Reads Stephen King”. This moniker would stick for years, despite my branching out to other authors like R.L. Stine, Anne Rice, and Robert McCammon. (Later, in high school, it would transition to “The Girl Who Always Wears Black” which I preferred.)

Horror was dead for awhile, did you know that? So said many think pieces. Of course, you can never really kill horror. Like Jason Voorhees, it always comes back. In fact, these days, horror is healthy and thriving with a younger, more diverse audience. This just goes to show you that there is no one simple demographic that defines a horror fan. We span all ages, ethnicities, genders, and socio-economic strata. I am one of the horde, and oh-so-happy to be there.

I can’t say what it was about that cover that flipped my switch, nor what it is about the genre that consistently draws me more than any other. I fear the unknown just as much as the next person. Perhaps more. But I still love turning on a spooky movie or opening a horror novel and slipping into the darkness. The other shadows know me there.

What is it that you think draws us to the horror genre? What’s your first memory of being a fan? Comment below!