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The 200-Year Debate over Tasteful Horror Fiction || A History of Horror Short Story Anthologies

the library ladder

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The creative choice between pleasant shudders and unpleasant ones has divided horror writers for more than 200 years. It's divided readers and literary critics as well, and the horror genre's popularity has waxed and waned as cultural conventions and aesthetic values have changed over time. Short stories were the prevailing format for most of the genre's history, and broad trends can be traced through the many short fiction anthologies published over the past 100+ years, some focused on older works and others on contemporary ones. This video is an overview of that anthology history.

0:53 Why short fiction?
2:43 Definitional difficulties
4:11 Horror vs. terror
7:13 A taxonomy of horror fiction
10:33 Cyclical evolution of horror fiction
15:14 The anthology battles
25:06 From demure to depraved
29:53 Modern anthologies
32:24 The hidden roles of women
35:40 Essential anthologies

My other videos referenced in this one:
Why Short Story Anthologies Are the Best Intro to SF - Why Short Story Anthologies Are the Best I...
Essential SF Short Story Anthologies - The Best Science Fiction Short Story Antho...
The History of Arkham House Publishers - The Greatest Small Publisher of Horror, Sc...

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I've launched a Substack (thelibraryladder.substack.com) to supplement the videos I make here on YouTube. I'll be posting essays, reviews, resources and other thoughts that don’t fit within the scope or time constraints of my channel. I'll also use it to host live discussions and other activities intended to add value to the topics I discuss here on YouTube.

Film credits:
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)
Dracula (1931)
The Mummy (1932)
The Raven (1935)
Cat People (1942)
The Uninvited (1944)
The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)
The Mole People (1956)
Horror of Dracula (1958)
Eyes Without a Face (1960)
13 Ghosts (1960)
Horror Hotel (1960)
Night Tide (1961)
The Innocents (1961)
Carnival of Souls (1962)
The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)
The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)
The Haunting (1963)
The Birds (1963)
Maniac (1963)
The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
The Devil's Own (1966)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
Night of the Lepus (1972)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The Shining (1980)
Pet Sematary (1989)
Misery (1990)
Matinee (1993)
Saw (2004)
I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

#horrorstories #horror #booktube

20 Comments

@diego_villena 5 months ago (edited) Pinned

I realize I’m going to be in the vast minority with this opinion, but your vocal affectation makes this channel difficult for me to engage with - or at least more difficult than I would prefer.

On the one hand, you strike at the very heart of my favorite types of fiction. The research is absolutely phenomenal, and you weave compelling, educational narratives that I honestly can’t get enough of.

However, your vocal fry laden, half whispered, slightly cartoonish delivery into an ASMR mic is like nails on a chalkboard to me. You do have a naturally pleasing voice and cadence, but you lean further and further into the affectation in your more recent videos that I have a hard time not cringing or rolling my eyes at one intonation or another.

In the words of Hank Hill: “somebody get that boy a cough drop”.

I really hate being the person to write this, because I understand your aesthetic and even like it, but only to an extent you’ve long since surpassed.

Once again, I accept that I am in the minority here. Moreover, I do appreciate the craft you put into your material and performance, but it is decadent and cloying to the point of inauthenticity. It turns off the rational, forgiving part of my brain and gives rise to the deepest instinctual demons of canniness and taste.

You’re currently at an 11, dialing it back to a 7 would be merciful to my ears.

But I mean, on the other hand, Im still watching and rewatching. The material is too good to be subsumed by preference. Please take this feedback in the spirit with which it is intended! Your work speaks for itself, please demonstrate that you trust the intelligence and attention span of your audience enough to let it do the heavy lifting; We don’t need so much icing on the cake to enjoy it.

@InfiniteText 11 months ago

I'm not being hyperbolic here...but reading Weird Tales has given me will to live. I paused a few times during your shelf footage and I have to admit....that's an aspirational collection

@johndouglas3197 11 months ago

Paying attention to horror/art can be seen as preparing a soul for the worst and so preserves the soul for yet more creation beyond boundaries, physical or otherwise.

@LibraryMacabre 11 months ago

I Saw the TV Glow! I was surprised to see that clip used. Love that movie! And loved this video. 👻

@LukmanHakim-gn3uk 11 months ago

Henry James, ambrose Bierce hearing those names gave me chills. Especially Bierce, his tales of war managed to creep me out with their sheer brutality

@ObeyGodDefyTyrants-0 11 months ago

The intro definitions of horror/terror was very insightful. I have been having similar conversations with friends this Halloween season. Working with Karloff's definition, I too agree that terror is the higher more desirable "art". I find it to be similar to the concepts of blue comedy. Shock value is cheap while true comedy is more difficult. Excess blood and body horror are cheap compared to atmosphere. Though I've seen many people bemoan the Hayes Code or Comics Code Authority, I think we owe them a debt of gratitude for the preservation of "terror" holding at bay the eventual giallo/slasher fixation that has dominated horror for the last 50 years.

@Verlopil 11 months ago

Thank you! I don't know all that much about the history of horror. I grew up with Weird Tales and older anthologies like you mentioned, and so developed a fondness for ghost stories and the weird. I have a special fondness for the travelogue type tales around the fireplace at a club, with one person telling the other members of some strange encounters. I don't like reading about gross things really. I prefer, as you say, the dry.

@GrumpyScotsman 11 months ago

I’ve always loved the weird, spooky, and strange, and once again, you’ve given me so much to think about! I’m constantly amazed by how much you know. Wishing you a happy Samhain when it comes! 🎃

@EnthDGree 11 months ago

The Outlaw Bookseller, Steve Andrews, introduced me to the term "bricolage", which as he stated as related to "horror": its not a genre in itself, but a technique of writing that crossed into many genres, e.g. sf horror, supernatural horror, adventure horror, etc.

@bartsbookspace 11 months ago

Great video Bridger! I found the distinction berween Terror and Horror, something I never thought about, particularly interesting.

@michaelk.vaughan8617 11 months ago

Another fantastic video! Enormously informative.

@EquuZombie 11 months ago

I am a junkie for a good spooky anthology so this video is particularly delightful, thank you!

@SevenPlanets-ClassicSFAudioHub 10 months ago

Oooh I had missed this one. I just watched the other. Double Horror Whammy! Thanks, Bridger!

@ChasAbandonsReality 11 months ago

This was excellent Bridger! I wasn’t aware this genre was in such debate, and you really got me excited about looking into it more. I’ve very excited to see your video on recommended anthologies.

@sponge1858 11 months ago

I will wait patiently for your essential horror video. I haven't read or watched much horror at all, but I think I would be more interested in the genre crossing tales, would love to see a video on those!

@gregkilby7043 11 months ago

Thank you, Sir.

@tobycrabbeauthor 11 months ago

I'm a writer of Horror Anthologies, myself. So to see this video appear in my subscriptions is a real delight. I can't wait to dive in!

@eddyrandall3677 11 months ago

Thanks for the great video!

I’m more of a “dry” person myself (my favourite anthology is Montague Summers’ The Supernatural Omnibus), but also like the pulps. Stephen Jones’ 90s anthologies on Vampires, Terror, and Zombies inspired me to read more widely in the genre.

Today, I find The British Library Tales of the Weird series excellent too!

Thanks again!

@cheez-whizz123 11 months ago

Big fan of horror and even bigger fan of this channel. Another amazing video for us… thanks!

@curtjarrell9710 7 months ago

i found this overview fascinating. Though not an author of short fiction a favorite author of mine is Anne Rice. HHer work uses horror tropes to examine big life questions important to her and I found them to be captivating. A favorite of mine is The Queen of the Damned.