“Why” may be the most loaded word in the English language. Why? Because “why” requires an explanation. “Why” is a word of discovery. “Why” is how, as children, we make sense of the world around us. “Why,” quite simply, is the key to understanding.
“Why” is also the word to which I have dedicated my entire professional life.
Since the turn of this century I have been a professional book recommender in the field of Readers’ Advisory. The crux of this work is matching books with readers through the local public library. And my best tool to not only do this work but also become America’s best-known and most trusted practitioner of it is found in that three-letter word, “why.” More specifically, figuring out why a reader likes a book and then finding them one with similar traits.
How did I get from the library world to you here in this book, though? For that we need to back up a bit. I began the 2000s finishing up my master’s degree in library and information science and cocreating an entire department at the Berwyn (IL) Public Library dedicated to the work of matching readers with their next great read. Beginning in 2004, I returned to my postgraduate alma mater to co-teach the course on Readers’ Advisory. As I became the go-to person to train new Readers’ Advisory librarians, I eventually left the library proper to become a full-time trainer of library workers all over the world. My focus? Reminding them to center why someone likes a book, not what happens.
I encourage library workers to spontaneously share the books they are enjoying with their patrons. And how does this happen? With “why.” I call them conversation starters, but they are really just an excuse to get to “why.” For example, I instruct library workers to ask their readers questions like “What is a book you recommend to everyone you know?” and then see what happens. I often encourage the library workers to go first, to show their patrons what they mean by the question, to model the behavior they want to see. So, if this were me working in a library, after asking the question I would say, “For me that book would be The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, because it is horror, yes, but it is also a heartbreakingly beautiful, lyrical novel about the long history of injustice embedded into our American identity; a tale that begins with revenge and ends with not just survival but hope. What about you? What book do you love to recommend to your friends and family?”
When we ask our readers to share their “why”—more specifically, when we start with questions that demand that “why”—we learn so much more than by just asking questions such as “What is a book you really like?” This direct question is hard to answer for any reader. Also, please notice that my example tells you nothing about the plot of this award-winning novel; it is focused on why I recommend this book. When we encourage conversations that require an explanation, we help readers make sense of what they enjoy reading, which leads us to help them discover more.
And in my case, that “more” leans heavily on horror, because concurrent with the years I spent doing my Readers’ Advisory work, I also became the library world’s horror expert, most notably through the three textbooks I have written, the most recent of which is The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror (3rd ed., ALA Editions, 2021). These books set out to teach library workers how not to be afraid of horror and its readers. One of my refrains in those books is “Your horror readers are not monsters; they just like to read about them.” And how do I do that? You guessed it, I double down on “why.” I have chapters on the “appeal” of horror, which is just library lingo for explaining why people like a book. It is based on how the story is told—its pacing, storyline, characterization, frame, tone/mood, language, and style. I walk them through why some readers enjoy being scared by what they read, why they like to feel the fear as it comes off the page and into their bodies. I give them examples of authors and books—dozens and dozens—with annotations that explain
why someone would want to read that book. These books are a guide to the genre through the eyes of those who crave it most: its readers.
In 2015, I also began reviewing horror for Booklist and Library Journal, two of the premier trade journals for book reviews. As a reviewer, I have been given access to horror books before they come out over the last ten-plus years, years coincidentally concurrent with a horror renaissance. I have been among the first people to read—and praise—many books that have become both bestsellers and award winners, from the aforementioned The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones to Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay to The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias to The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, just to name a few. I have been privy to this explosion in great works of horror, stories that are great literature regardless of their genre classification, works that inspire much joy, even as they consciously invoke fear. But I am not just a bystander. I have used my place as a horror expert and critic to get the word out to others, to bring even more readers into the horror fold.
This book is a direct result of that goal. It all began back in 2017. I was in between the second and third editions of my library textbooks and two full years into reviewing horror. I existed in a unique space, with both a thousand-foot view of horror and as someone deep in its trenches. I wanted to use that position to help more library workers connect with more horror readers. I wanted to do something new, something no one had ever done before, something that would be not only immediately useful as a resource but also something that could stand on its own, reflecting the joy, peace, and satisfaction horror readers get from their favorite genre. Of course, I turned to “why” for help as I began a series of invite-only blog posts. I reached out to authors whose work I had encountered in my role as a reviewer and asked them to write a guest post for my library worker training blog, to run during October, the month when the most eyes are on horror. I gave them no further direction than this prompt: “Write me 1,500 words or less on the topic of ‘Why I Love Horror'" a writer. With these posts, I was introducing library workers to new authors and their fiction, but also to their narrative voice. At the same time, I was providing more examples of why certain readers are drawn to horror; those readers just happened to also be its creators. What began as a casual, small project has turned into a much-heralded series with dozens of entries. Authors eagerly await my invitation each summer, and library workers celebrate the access I have given them directly into the minds of authors. ...
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