A Teacher's Horror Reading List
History of the Genre
The Horror Readers' Advisory: The Librarian's Guide to Vampires, Killer Tomatoes, and Haunted Houses
Hooked on Horror: A Guide to Reading Interests in Horror Fiction
Supernatural Horror in Literature by Howard Phillips Lovecraft Full-text online
Horror of the 20th Century : An Illustrated History by Robert E. Weinberg
This is a good book to pick up where the Lovecraft book leaves off, and students love the pictures.
Stephen King's Danse Macabre by Stephen King
A good overview of the genre, with an eye for the popular.
The Thrill of Fear: 250 Years of Scary Entertainment by Walter M. Kendrick
A good overview of the genre, with an eye for the more academic. This makes a great companion to Danse Macabre.
The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural by Jack Sullivan
Writing Horror
Teaching and Writing Popular Fiction: Horror, Adventure, Mystery and Romance in the American Classroom by Karen M. Hubert
This book has a pretty good chapter on writing horror, that is aimed at teaching middle or high school students.
Writing
Horror by
This might be a good one for middle and high school students, as it is written for the neophyte.
The following books go a little more in depth into the craft and the genre:
Writing
Horror by
On
Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association edited by
The second edition, with tons of new content.
How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction edited by J. N. Williamson
Anthologies
Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural: A Treasury of Spellbinding Tales Old and New edited Marvin Kaye
If you are only going to get one anthology, this should be the one. An excellent sampling of great horror.
Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural by Phyllis Cerf Wagner
A good source for the classics of the genre.
The Dark Descent edited by David G. Hartwell
Collects the classic short stories in the genre. This and the following book are excellent introductions into the history of the genre.
Foundations of Fear edited by David Hartwell
Collects the
longer classics in the genre (long short stories, novellas, and novelettes).
There are also new Year's Best anthologies that come out every year. If you want to show your students current trends in the genre, this would be a good way.
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror edited by Ellen Datlow, Gavin J. Grant, and Kelly Link
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror edited by Stephen Jones
Horror: The Best of the Year edited by John Betancourt
Critical Analysis of the Genre
The Philosophy of Horror: Or, Paradoxes of the Heart by Noel Carroll
Horror edited by Steffen Hantke
The Horror Reader edited by Ken Gelder
Writing Horror and the Body: The Fiction of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Anne Rice by Linda Badley
Stephen King
Reading Stephen King: Issues of Censorship, Student Choice, and Popular Literature by Brenda Miller Power, Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, and Kelly Chandler
Stephen King (Bloom's Biocritiques) by Harold Bloom
Stephen King (Bloom's Modern Critical Views) by Harold Bloom
The
Complete Stephen King Universe: A Guide to the Worlds of Stephen King by
Christopher Golden,
The
Stephen King Universe by Christopher Golden,
Stephen King: America's Best-Loved Boogeyman by George Beahm
Stephen King From A To Z: An Encyclopedia Of His Life and Work by George Beahm
The Essential Stephen King : A Ranking of the Greatest Novels, Short Stories, Movies, and Other Creations of the World's Most Popular Writer by Stephen J. Spignesi
On Writing by Stephen King
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