Fascinating stuff! Have you read Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Professor Challenger” novel about spiritualism? I think it’s called The Land of Mist. It’s not very good, but interesting for historical reasons.
I’ve never been drawn to horror as a genre, although I’ve read some of the nineteenth century horror classics, and I’ve never worked out if it’s because I’m a fairly rationalist religious believer and don’t believe in much that’s supernatural other than God and immortal souls or if I’m just squeamish and don’t like being frightened.
OTOH, I am a bit of an obsessive about a subgenre of eerie TV science fiction on the boundaries between science fiction and horror (mostly twentieth century) e.g. Doctor Who, The Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, Sapphire and Steel, Quatermass. When I watched The Twilight Zone for the first time a couple of years ago, I was surprised that most of my favourite episodes were horror rather than SF, so maybe I should give the genre more of a go. I look forward to the following posts for tips for potential books to read!
I am delighted you know The Land of Mist! Not many people do. I read Doyle's Psychic Quest, his description of his twenty-year-long search for a "proof" of an afterlife, and was touched and exasperated at the same time. Doyle was a highly intelligent person; how could he not see it was all nonsense? And then I remembered he lost his son, and pitied him for his desire to reassure himself that he would see his son again. I love horror, but I am a total skeptic. Perhaps it is this skepticism that allows me not to be frightened by ghosts, hauntings or zombies. The things I am frighted of are real: violence, disease, misfortune.
The genre you describe is dark SF, and it is my favorite (some of my own novels and stories fall into this category). I am planning on having several essays on this topic with book recommendations.
Thank you for following me and for your responses! Much appreciated!
I know The Land of Mist because I bought the complete Professor Challenger stories some years ago. Tbh, only The Lost World was really great, but The Land of Mist was definitely the worst.
I'm not scared of ghosts etc. at all (part of my job involves going to a particular closed Victorian Jewish graveyard every couple of months by myself to check on its condition and I find it peaceful rather than scary), but I dislike "jump scares" in films and gore in general, which is part of why I avoid horror.
Fascinating stuff! Have you read Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Professor Challenger” novel about spiritualism? I think it’s called The Land of Mist. It’s not very good, but interesting for historical reasons.
I’ve never been drawn to horror as a genre, although I’ve read some of the nineteenth century horror classics, and I’ve never worked out if it’s because I’m a fairly rationalist religious believer and don’t believe in much that’s supernatural other than God and immortal souls or if I’m just squeamish and don’t like being frightened.
OTOH, I am a bit of an obsessive about a subgenre of eerie TV science fiction on the boundaries between science fiction and horror (mostly twentieth century) e.g. Doctor Who, The Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, Sapphire and Steel, Quatermass. When I watched The Twilight Zone for the first time a couple of years ago, I was surprised that most of my favourite episodes were horror rather than SF, so maybe I should give the genre more of a go. I look forward to the following posts for tips for potential books to read!
I am delighted you know The Land of Mist! Not many people do. I read Doyle's Psychic Quest, his description of his twenty-year-long search for a "proof" of an afterlife, and was touched and exasperated at the same time. Doyle was a highly intelligent person; how could he not see it was all nonsense? And then I remembered he lost his son, and pitied him for his desire to reassure himself that he would see his son again. I love horror, but I am a total skeptic. Perhaps it is this skepticism that allows me not to be frightened by ghosts, hauntings or zombies. The things I am frighted of are real: violence, disease, misfortune.
The genre you describe is dark SF, and it is my favorite (some of my own novels and stories fall into this category). I am planning on having several essays on this topic with book recommendations.
Thank you for following me and for your responses! Much appreciated!
I know The Land of Mist because I bought the complete Professor Challenger stories some years ago. Tbh, only The Lost World was really great, but The Land of Mist was definitely the worst.
I'm not scared of ghosts etc. at all (part of my job involves going to a particular closed Victorian Jewish graveyard every couple of months by myself to check on its condition and I find it peaceful rather than scary), but I dislike "jump scares" in films and gore in general, which is part of why I avoid horror.
I look forward to your dark SF essays!
What a great overview and way of grouping ghost stories!