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My Life in Horror: Volume 1
Just how much are we shaped by the entertainment that scares us?
Author, blogger, podcaster and lifelong fan of genre Kit Power sets out to answer that question, with a collection of essays that take on the works - and events - that scarred him as a child and young adult. Stephen King’s IT. Hellraiser. The Thing. The Wasp Factory. Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds. Hillsborough. Welding childhood recollection with adult insight and analysis, Power digs deep into his personal reactions and feelings as he attempts to understand his continued fascination with the genre - and the emotion - of Horror.
Collecting the first three years of his work for the 12-time BFS nominated review site Gingernuts Of Horror, with each essay revised and expanded, My Life In Horror: Volume One represents one fan’s journey through genre - an autobiography via the medium of pop culture.
Author, blogger, podcaster and lifelong fan of genre Kit Power sets out to answer that question, with a collection of essays that take on the works - and events - that scarred him as a child and young adult. Stephen King’s IT. Hellraiser. The Thing. The Wasp Factory. Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds. Hillsborough. Welding childhood recollection with adult insight and analysis, Power digs deep into his personal reactions and feelings as he attempts to understand his continued fascination with the genre - and the emotion - of Horror.
Collecting the first three years of his work for the 12-time BFS nominated review site Gingernuts Of Horror, with each essay revised and expanded, My Life In Horror: Volume One represents one fan’s journey through genre - an autobiography via the medium of pop culture.
- GenresNonfictionHorror
318 pages, Paperback
Published June 11, 2020
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16 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 14, 2020
This is a collection of articles, originally posted on Gingernuts of Horror, gathered in one, lovely edition. I was three articles in when I took to Instagram and described it as "delightful", but now that I've finished reading the entire thing, I have to edit my initial thoughts.
I'd read many of these articles before, when they were originally posted, and it was a joy to return to them, and uncover those that I hadn't previously come across. What initially comes across as a book singing the praises of Kit Power's influences and favourite music, books, and films, is actually an examination of the human psyche, and the horror of humanity in real life. I was most affected by an article (I'm sorry, I forget the title now) that was deeply personal and spoke about addiction.
Kit Power is a talented, gifted writer, who is able to relate to the reader in both his fiction and his non-fiction. I've said it before and I'll say it again - he reminds me of Stephen King with how easily he's able to talk to you through his writing. He actually mentions SK in this book and I was smiling as he did so because he doesn't seem to realise that as far as his skill in showing the multiple facets of humanity goes, he really isn't far off the big man himself.
Highly recommend this, along with everything else he's written.
I'd read many of these articles before, when they were originally posted, and it was a joy to return to them, and uncover those that I hadn't previously come across. What initially comes across as a book singing the praises of Kit Power's influences and favourite music, books, and films, is actually an examination of the human psyche, and the horror of humanity in real life. I was most affected by an article (I'm sorry, I forget the title now) that was deeply personal and spoke about addiction.
Kit Power is a talented, gifted writer, who is able to relate to the reader in both his fiction and his non-fiction. I've said it before and I'll say it again - he reminds me of Stephen King with how easily he's able to talk to you through his writing. He actually mentions SK in this book and I was smiling as he did so because he doesn't seem to realise that as far as his skill in showing the multiple facets of humanity goes, he really isn't far off the big man himself.
Highly recommend this, along with everything else he's written.
September 27, 2022
This is not a historical walk through famous horror stories and myths but a much more interesting look at how as we grow up we experience horror - be it via tv, books, film, music, watching the news or the perils of school.
Intimate, funny, passionate and intelligent takes on various media mixed with an autobiographical look at how it shaped Power’s Life. Geeks will find much to enjoy and also recognise
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Intimate, funny, passionate and intelligent takes on various media mixed with an autobiographical look at how it shaped Power’s Life. Geeks will find much to enjoy and also recognise
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
September 21, 2024
Well that was fantastic! So many interesting insights and the writing is just first class. We will forever disagree on The Lost Boys but even that couldn't take away from how brilliant this was. So, Volume 2?
August 23, 2020
I’ll save some time here straight away: this is an excellent book, and is worth a place on any horror fans shelf.
I backed this as part of a crowd funding campaign, but that in no way influences my thoughts on this book. Collecting together Kit’s writing from the Ginger Nuts of Horror website, this is a must read. (by the way, if you’ve not visited GNOH, what the hell are you doing here? Click this instead: https://gingernutsofhorror.com/index....
Kit takes us through his childhood memories and significant events all in terms of horror. We learn his favourite film is Robocop in an hilarious but heartfelt essay (I think he’s wrong, it’s definitely The Thing, but his reasoning is brilliant) and this sets the tone for the rest of the book.
I wish I could remember things in the detail that Kit manages – these essays are full of incidental recollections that root you in the time and place he is writing about. The essays about Hillsborough and Live Aid are especially powerful and really highlight his abilities as a writer.
There is so much in this book, but I don’t want to go into more detail as part of the joy is discovering what he will write about next. In short, just read it, then go and read Godbomb! Kit Power is a superb writer and he should be more well known than he is.
I backed this as part of a crowd funding campaign, but that in no way influences my thoughts on this book. Collecting together Kit’s writing from the Ginger Nuts of Horror website, this is a must read. (by the way, if you’ve not visited GNOH, what the hell are you doing here? Click this instead: https://gingernutsofhorror.com/index....
Kit takes us through his childhood memories and significant events all in terms of horror. We learn his favourite film is Robocop in an hilarious but heartfelt essay (I think he’s wrong, it’s definitely The Thing, but his reasoning is brilliant) and this sets the tone for the rest of the book.
I wish I could remember things in the detail that Kit manages – these essays are full of incidental recollections that root you in the time and place he is writing about. The essays about Hillsborough and Live Aid are especially powerful and really highlight his abilities as a writer.
There is so much in this book, but I don’t want to go into more detail as part of the joy is discovering what he will write about next. In short, just read it, then go and read Godbomb! Kit Power is a superb writer and he should be more well known than he is.
July 10, 2020
Alright, time to be honest. I wasn’t going to read this book. I mean, on the surface of things you can probably understand why, I don’t really know Kit, I’ve seen him floating about on Twitter, there’s never been an in depth discussion or anything like that, I’ve never read his work… so why would I read what appears to be a memoir of sorts? Isn’t that reserved for fans?
Then I opened an email, from Mr Power himself. Will you read my book? I’d love to see your thoughts, I’ve looked at your blog…
So I’ve just got to the end of the book I was never going to read for all the wrong reasons, and all I can say is I’m so glad I did. There are things I’ve learned from this book, being a bit younger than the author, things I can say are still very much the case now, things that may have changed. Things that actually, we agree on far more solidly than I’d have expected.
Kit talks about his upbringing, the things he loved, the good times and some of the bad with a very real passion. He walks us through concerts he’s been to, explains his love of songs, films and books to the degree you wouldn’t usually get in a passing discussion. I feel like I know him. I feel like I have known him. In this book I found a friend.
The book starts off with a heartfelt introduction from Jim McLeod, recognise that name? Of course you do, he’s the owner and founder of one of the biggest and arguably most successful blogs in Horror, Gingernuts of Horror. This, incase you didn’t already guess from the cover, is where My Life in Horror was born. There will be nods, obviously, throughout the book since it’s essentially a collection of articles.
We learn that Kit was raised in Devon, well a piece of my heart belongs to Devon but I can tell you, when he refers to it as being very white, it really is. My Dad is from Exmouth and though I was raised in Sheffield and he still resides here, most of his family is in Devon, and actually my Stepmum is also from Exmouth. I spent many a summer there, and being younger than Kit and much more Northern, I had a very different upbringing. Sheffield is and has been for a long time, very multicultural, I had friends of all backgrounds and spent time in each of their homes giving me a passion for culture and a willingness to learn. It always struck me how very not like Sheffield, Devon was. It’s a lot more up and coming now than Kit describes from his childhood in the 80s, obviously, but if you go to Exmouth, you’re still going to need to decide if you want that kebab before 9pm.
It’s interesting, that despite an age difference, the difference in upbringing, the difference in where we came from and the fact we do not know each other – at all – apart from learning that he starts certain movies 48 minutes in (that’s not in the book) we like so many of the same things. As I was reading about the films that made him I found myself sitting here going “YES!”. He speaks of Robocop with such nostalgic love, I have a connection with it too, I was a child when I watched it. My Dad and I would sit and watch not just this, but Die Hard and things like that. This was the closest thing to horror I got at home, although I would say I was probably a bit young for it, I loved it. I loved watching action oriented films. Kit talks about watching TV at his Grandmothers house, well that was where I think my love of Horror was born, we got the good stuff at Grandma’s like Carry on Screaming, and Murder on the Nile.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to sit here and list the entire book, and I haven’t spoilt the book with what I have said. I recommend you go and read it, it’s a beautiful insight into the man behind the words and I’ll definitely be checking out more of his work so there will be more Kit Power reviews in the future.
But the other thing this book did was inspire me, if you see more articles than the usual popping up here, you can blame Kit, or thank him, if you like them!
And so it is that I sit here, lamenting the end of the book I was never going to read, watching Robocop (uncut version – I’m not a little girl now!) and awaiting my order of The Wasp Factory and the thing I can say to you about this book is it made me think.
And is that not the entire point of reading?
Then I opened an email, from Mr Power himself. Will you read my book? I’d love to see your thoughts, I’ve looked at your blog…
So I’ve just got to the end of the book I was never going to read for all the wrong reasons, and all I can say is I’m so glad I did. There are things I’ve learned from this book, being a bit younger than the author, things I can say are still very much the case now, things that may have changed. Things that actually, we agree on far more solidly than I’d have expected.
Kit talks about his upbringing, the things he loved, the good times and some of the bad with a very real passion. He walks us through concerts he’s been to, explains his love of songs, films and books to the degree you wouldn’t usually get in a passing discussion. I feel like I know him. I feel like I have known him. In this book I found a friend.
The book starts off with a heartfelt introduction from Jim McLeod, recognise that name? Of course you do, he’s the owner and founder of one of the biggest and arguably most successful blogs in Horror, Gingernuts of Horror. This, incase you didn’t already guess from the cover, is where My Life in Horror was born. There will be nods, obviously, throughout the book since it’s essentially a collection of articles.
We learn that Kit was raised in Devon, well a piece of my heart belongs to Devon but I can tell you, when he refers to it as being very white, it really is. My Dad is from Exmouth and though I was raised in Sheffield and he still resides here, most of his family is in Devon, and actually my Stepmum is also from Exmouth. I spent many a summer there, and being younger than Kit and much more Northern, I had a very different upbringing. Sheffield is and has been for a long time, very multicultural, I had friends of all backgrounds and spent time in each of their homes giving me a passion for culture and a willingness to learn. It always struck me how very not like Sheffield, Devon was. It’s a lot more up and coming now than Kit describes from his childhood in the 80s, obviously, but if you go to Exmouth, you’re still going to need to decide if you want that kebab before 9pm.
It’s interesting, that despite an age difference, the difference in upbringing, the difference in where we came from and the fact we do not know each other – at all – apart from learning that he starts certain movies 48 minutes in (that’s not in the book) we like so many of the same things. As I was reading about the films that made him I found myself sitting here going “YES!”. He speaks of Robocop with such nostalgic love, I have a connection with it too, I was a child when I watched it. My Dad and I would sit and watch not just this, but Die Hard and things like that. This was the closest thing to horror I got at home, although I would say I was probably a bit young for it, I loved it. I loved watching action oriented films. Kit talks about watching TV at his Grandmothers house, well that was where I think my love of Horror was born, we got the good stuff at Grandma’s like Carry on Screaming, and Murder on the Nile.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to sit here and list the entire book, and I haven’t spoilt the book with what I have said. I recommend you go and read it, it’s a beautiful insight into the man behind the words and I’ll definitely be checking out more of his work so there will be more Kit Power reviews in the future.
But the other thing this book did was inspire me, if you see more articles than the usual popping up here, you can blame Kit, or thank him, if you like them!
And so it is that I sit here, lamenting the end of the book I was never going to read, watching Robocop (uncut version – I’m not a little girl now!) and awaiting my order of The Wasp Factory and the thing I can say to you about this book is it made me think.
And is that not the entire point of reading?
June 13, 2020
I was lucky enough to get involved in the initial Indiegogo campaign for this, blagging myself a Deluxe hardback edition. A not insignificant act of faith and writing solidarity as, despite the occasional Ginger Nuts of Horror article, I hadn’t really read anything from Kit before.
Risks were heavily mitigated by the strength of those columns, the sheer and raw storytelling ability of the man, but there was the potential that I’d ordered a very carefully packaged and signed doorstop.
The book has now been shelved, and my doors remain unstopped.
What Kit undoubtedly ploughs his heart and soul into, comes across as effortless, relaxed storytelling (which must be frustrating to the man – “all that hard graft!”). One of my favourite activities in life is to hear somebody enthuse about something. In a sentence that will instantly date this review – remember pubs? Big places we used to drink in, sitting and chatting?
When a friend across the table – possibly lubricated by a session IPA - starts talking about something they passionately love – or hate, to be honest – it’s an utter delight. That moment when they’re freewheeling, lost in the moment, ignorant to whether they have an audience or one or of dozens, and you’re hanging off every single word, caught up in their fervour?
My Life in Horror Volume 1 is that, in capsule form (but won’t litter your gutters and car parks with those silver cannisters you get from nitrous oxide).
It helps that Kit shares a lot of the same tastes – there are, after all, a few stables in the geek hivemind of things that must be loved without question™ - and they’re naturally the articles I gravitated to first, but, much like the aforementioned orator in the pub, it’s even a delight to hear about stuff you’d never have ordinarily considered yourself interested in (Admission: Guns N’ Roses – that I had to look up so I’d write it properly).
I’ve just finished it. The last article I read was one about a childhood friend. I never knew him, so why should this be of interest, right? And now, having finished it, I’m crying and angry and the outraged adrenaline has kicked it so I probably won’t sleep for hours yet, and I’m convinced that Kit is the writer that other writers want to be when they grow up.
He’s out of control, and therefore must be destroyed.
Risks were heavily mitigated by the strength of those columns, the sheer and raw storytelling ability of the man, but there was the potential that I’d ordered a very carefully packaged and signed doorstop.
The book has now been shelved, and my doors remain unstopped.
What Kit undoubtedly ploughs his heart and soul into, comes across as effortless, relaxed storytelling (which must be frustrating to the man – “all that hard graft!”). One of my favourite activities in life is to hear somebody enthuse about something. In a sentence that will instantly date this review – remember pubs? Big places we used to drink in, sitting and chatting?
When a friend across the table – possibly lubricated by a session IPA - starts talking about something they passionately love – or hate, to be honest – it’s an utter delight. That moment when they’re freewheeling, lost in the moment, ignorant to whether they have an audience or one or of dozens, and you’re hanging off every single word, caught up in their fervour?
My Life in Horror Volume 1 is that, in capsule form (but won’t litter your gutters and car parks with those silver cannisters you get from nitrous oxide).
It helps that Kit shares a lot of the same tastes – there are, after all, a few stables in the geek hivemind of things that must be loved without question™ - and they’re naturally the articles I gravitated to first, but, much like the aforementioned orator in the pub, it’s even a delight to hear about stuff you’d never have ordinarily considered yourself interested in (Admission: Guns N’ Roses – that I had to look up so I’d write it properly).
I’ve just finished it. The last article I read was one about a childhood friend. I never knew him, so why should this be of interest, right? And now, having finished it, I’m crying and angry and the outraged adrenaline has kicked it so I probably won’t sleep for hours yet, and I’m convinced that Kit is the writer that other writers want to be when they grow up.
He’s out of control, and therefore must be destroyed.
June 1, 2020
Kit Power has a gift of writing in a warm, conversational way. 'Sit down,' he seems to say. 'Let me talk to you about horror.'
And he does, but the conversation doesn't go as you might expect.
For Power, horror not only manifests in the video nasty or the straight horror film, but it lurks in the mundane horror of pop culture, media reports and real-life disasters, and (I would argue) is all the more terrifying for it.
This is an autoethnographic piece of writing where Power's insights arise directly from his pivotal encounters with horror, pain and sadness. Throughout this collection of essays his passion for social justice, for empathy and for fairness is never far from the surface.
This book is a fascinating conversation. Kit Power frames his encounters with a wide variety of cultural icons, some of which seem like decidedly strange choices (Do They Know It's Christmastime? as horror, anyone?) mainly through the lens of childhood encounters and adolescent discoveries. The book gives a very warm, sincere and personal insight into the impact of horror on Power's life. If I had to compare it to a non-fiction book on horror it would be Stephen King's 1981 Danse Macabre, but My Life In Horror offers an even more personal take on the pervasiveness of horror in contemporary life.
Warning: this book is almost impossible to put down.
'Just one more piece,' you tell yourself. And Kit Power's voice coaxes you to read on, compassionate, warm, wise.
And he does, but the conversation doesn't go as you might expect.
For Power, horror not only manifests in the video nasty or the straight horror film, but it lurks in the mundane horror of pop culture, media reports and real-life disasters, and (I would argue) is all the more terrifying for it.
This is an autoethnographic piece of writing where Power's insights arise directly from his pivotal encounters with horror, pain and sadness. Throughout this collection of essays his passion for social justice, for empathy and for fairness is never far from the surface.
This book is a fascinating conversation. Kit Power frames his encounters with a wide variety of cultural icons, some of which seem like decidedly strange choices (Do They Know It's Christmastime? as horror, anyone?) mainly through the lens of childhood encounters and adolescent discoveries. The book gives a very warm, sincere and personal insight into the impact of horror on Power's life. If I had to compare it to a non-fiction book on horror it would be Stephen King's 1981 Danse Macabre, but My Life In Horror offers an even more personal take on the pervasiveness of horror in contemporary life.
Warning: this book is almost impossible to put down.
'Just one more piece,' you tell yourself. And Kit Power's voice coaxes you to read on, compassionate, warm, wise.
June 26, 2020
I’m reading Kit Power’s ‘My Life In Horror, vol 1.’ at the moment. (Deluxe edition - because I’m worth it.) I’m only familiar with some of the source material but it doesn’t matter a whit. It’s an open house. The author invites you to join his experience of each film/album/book/event and you follow along willingly. It only takes a line or two and you’re Right There with him. Telepathy, indeed. It’s a stunning book. I’ve just read the part about Queen: Greatest Hits II for (I think) the fourth time since I met the author, and it’s gripped me round the throat from start to finish—again. The tears in my eyes are real. The writing is Realer than the real. It’s full of love and passion, pain and regret, starry-eyed innocence and cold, bitter realisation. Whatever your relationship to the genre of horror (however close or distant that may be) you will find yourself entranced, energised, and inspired by Kit’s writing. Horror is universal. Visceral. Transcendant. And so is this book. Well? What are you waiting for? Go seek it out!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews