Book Review: Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature edited by Becky Siegel Spratford

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Why I Love Horror is an extraordinary collection of essays from 18 of the genre’s top authors. At 1,500 words or less, each submission is diverse and captivating, phenomenal and awe-inspiring. Following Sadie Hartmann’s incredible introduction and editor Becky Siegel Spratford’s informative essay, each entry opens with an intro from the editor that frames the contribution and includes a title recommendation and a similar author. As with the genre itself, there is something for everyone within these hallowed pages.

Bravely candid and brutally forthright, the anthology confides darkness and suffering, personal history and formative memory. It’s inspiring and uplifting, making readers feel seen, encouraged, and empowered, lending a masterful voice to the overarching question: Why do we love horror? And while it’s nearly impossible to pick a favorite, the three that resonated the most deeply with this reader include “Why Horror” by Stephen Graham Jones; “Why I Am Horror” by Clay McLeod Chapman; and “Horror Is Life: A Blood-Soaked Love Letter” by Gabino Iglesias.

Fear is an omnipresent theme. To be human, to be alive in this world, is to know fear. Horror provides a means of dealing with, facing, and conquering fear; it’s a coping mechanism and teacher. Honest and unflinching, it’s a language, refuge, tool, and mirror; community, calling, comfort, and friend; salve, connection, experience, and perspective; feeling, invitation, origin, and home; and catharsis, playground, revelation, and consolation.

Horror is ubiquitous and invaluable, endless and fluid, the controlled chaos of dark and light. It’s complex and contradictory, imperfect and answerless, thought-provoking, life-saving, lesson-rooted, empathy-driven, and all-consuming. Delving deep into the shadows, it fills voids and proffers healing, explores monsters and instills empathy, imparts calm and teaches survival, nourishes souls and defies reality, sparks amazement and embodies intelligence.

Open and welcoming, perceptive and intuitive, horror is rooted in trauma. It’s a balm to isolation, an expression that lends bravery, and an all-encompassing way. As it reflects our nightmares, it supplies companionship, offers security, fosters learning and knowledge, endurance and resistance, optimism and acceptance. It’s an imaginary companion and the core of existence, a love affair and visceral response that changes us, urges and inspires us, impels us to imagine, to keep trying and fighting no matter the stakes, to explore the unknowable and face the terrifying. To continue on. To live.

Simply put, horror is life distilled, an incomparable entity that’s unequivocally relevant, valuable, vital, and universal. It’s an unparalleled reading experience and an absolute treasure that this reader will be adding to her favorites shelf — a warm hug, an invigorating zing, and an absolute must-read forthcoming via Simon & Schuster/Saga Press on September 23, 2025. (Check back post-publication for the addition of favorite quotes, as well!)

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster/Saga Press for providing an eARC of this tremendous forthcoming title for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

🖤Amanda

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