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Max Schreck- NOSFERATU (1922)

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Why Horror Matters (And Why You Should Read More of It Before the Shadows Come for You)

A Love Letter to Fear, Darkness, and the Stories That Keep Us Up at Night

Let’s talk about horror.

Not the horror of realizing you sent an email with “Their” instead of “They’re,” but genuine horror—the creeping dread, the bone-deep chill, the stories that make you double-check that your closet door is definitely closed.

Some people don’t get it. “Why would you want to be scared?” they ask, clutching their cozy romance novels like a security blanket. Well, listen up, buttercup, because I’m about to tell you exactly why horror is not only important—but essential.

Horror Prepares You for the Real World

Life is scary. There are taxes, existential dread, and the constant risk of saying “You too” when a waiter tells you to enjoy your meal. Reading horror is like strength training for your soul. It teaches you how to handle fear, how to stare into the abyss without blinking.

Because here’s the truth: monsters are real. Maybe not the clawed, tentacled, please-for-the-love-of-God-don’t-let-it-see-me kind, but they’re out there. Some walk on two legs, some wear suits, some live in your own noggin.

And horror? Horror teaches you how to fight them.

Horror Shows Us Who We Really Are

Want to know the measure of a person? Ask them how they’d react in a zombie apocalypse. (If they say, “I’d just vibe with the zombies,” they’re either a liar or already infected; and you don’t want them on your team.)

Horror strips everything down to survival. It puts characters—and by extension, readers—into impossible situations and asks, Who are you, really? Are you the hero? The coward? The one who saves others? Or the one who locks the door and whispers, “sorry, man?”.

Reading horror makes you think. Writing horror forces you to confront the things that scare you. And in the end, it’s not about the monsters…it’s never about the monsters…it’s about what we do when the monsters come.

Fear Is the Oldest Emotion

Fear is primal. It’s older than language, older than fire, older than that weird half-memory you have of a childhood nightmare you’re not convinced was a dream. (Mine involved a giant potato living in a root cellar that looked a lot like the basement of Castle Dracula…but that’s another story).

Our ancestors sat around fires, telling stories about the dark things beyond the light. We do the same thing today, only now we have Stephen King, Junji Ito, Mike Flanagan, and the entire internet full of “real” ghost stories you swear you’ll stop reading at 2 a.m. but don’t.

Horror connects us to something ancient. Something deep. It reminds us we are small, that the universe is vast, and that there are things out there we do not understand. And sometimes, it reminds us that the scariest things are not out there—they’re inside us.

Because Horror Is Hope

People think horror is about despair. That it’s all darkness, gloom, and no light. But they’re wrong.

Horror is about survival. It’s about fighting when the odds are impossible. It’s about running up the stairs when you know you should run out the door but dammit, you must try something. At its core, my zombie story, EVERYTHING EVOLVES, is about the survival of the part of humanity that makes us humane. THE WALKING DEAD wasn’t referring to the zombies in its title, but to the humans who lost their human spark.

Horror is about refusing to slip quietly into that dark night.

And that’s why we need it.

Because at some point, we all face something terrifying. Loss. Grief. Change. The unknown. And horror stories whisper to us, “you’re not alone. People have faced worse. And some of them made it.”

So, Read More Horror

Read it because it’s fun.

Read it because it makes your heart race.

Read it because it reminds you of what it means to be human.

And the next time someone asks why you love horror, just smile and say, “Because I want to be ready.”

(And then stare at them, unblinking, until they walk away.)

Tony Sarrecchia

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When the Creator is a Monster, But the Art Still Matters

Or: Why Your Favorite Book Didn’t Betray You—The Author Did

Let’s get one thing straight: finding out that a writer or artist you admire is an absolute garbage human being is gut-wrenching. It’s like discovering your favorite treat is toxic. You feel betrayed. Confused. Maybe a little queasy.

And suddenly, you’re asking yourself: “Does this mean their work is tainted? Should I feel guilty for ever loving it?”

No. And here’s why.

The Meaning You Found Was Always Yours

When a story hits you in the gut, when a book changes the way you see the world, when a movie makes you cry in the dark… that’s not because the creator personally handed you meaning like a waiter delivering soup.

You found it. You shaped it. You made it yours.

The author didn’t reach into your brain and say, Hey, this part? This moment that made you feel something real? That was me. You’re welcome.

No. You took their words, their images, their ideas, and you built something personal out of them. And no amount of real-world disappointment can erase what that story meant to you.

The Story Exists Beyond the Creator

Once a story is out in the world, it doesn’t belong to the creator anymore. It belongs to the people who read it, who live in it, who find themselves inside its pages.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it make a sound?If a story is written but no one reads it, does it have meaning?

No. The meaning comes from the audience. From you.

The story wasn’t whispered into existence solely for its author. It was given shape by every reader who took it in and made it their own.

So when a writer turns out to be a terrible person, it doesn’t rewrite the emotions you felt when you first read their work. It doesn’t change the comfort you found in it. It doesn’t reach into the past and undo the moment that book saved you.

That was yours. And no one can take it away.

But What If Their Evil is Baked Into the Story?

Sometimes, when you go back, you realize the warning signs were always there. The casual cruelty, subtle bigotry; the poison hidden in the prose. And suddenly, it’s not just about them. It’s in the story itself.

That’s different. That’s when you get to make a choice.

You can interrogate the work. Recognize its flaws. Decide what, if anything, still holds meaning for you. Some stories are salvageable. Some are not. That’s for you to determine.

But if the meaning you took was something good, something true, something that helped you—then it wasn’t theirs to corrupt. They may have planted the seed, but you grew the tree.

Separating the Art from the Artist (Without Ignoring the Harm)

Look, let’s be real. Some people take “separate the art from the artist” as an excuse to keep supporting bad people like nothing happened. That’s not what this is about.

Acknowledging that a creator is awful doesn’t mean the emotions their work gave you were fake.

Holding onto what their story meant to you doesn’t mean you’re excusing their actions.

Choosing to step away from their work doesn’t mean you have to erase the impact it had on your life.

You get to decide where you draw the line. No one else.

The Stories We Keep

At the end of the day, stories are more than their creators. They are what we found in them, what we carried away, what we made of them.

And no matter what happens, that part? That’s yours. Forever.

Tony Sarrecchia Feb. 2024

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It is 15 years after the dead have risen and survival isn’t just about evading zombies—it’s about facing evolution itself. "Everything Evolves" follows Josh and his ragtag group of survivors as they confront a terrifying new predator: a sentient, sludge-like organism that consumes and transforms everything in its path. Amid shifting alliances, evolving reanimates, and mud monsters the survivors must grapple with the harrowing question: are the undead enemies—or their only hope against an even greater extinction? Packed with dark humor, relentless action, and chilling revelations, "Everything Evolves" is a fresh, thought-provoking take on the zombie genre where the rules of survival are rewritten—and humanity’s place at the top of the food chain is anything but guaranteed. Because evolution does not take prisoners.

Look for Everything Evolves where you get your podcasts or subscribe at tonysarrecchia.com for early access.

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RIP

RIP Greg Hildebrandt 1939 - 2024. Very sad to hear the last of the legendary Hildebrandt brothers has left us. Art by Greg and both brothers Greg and Tim Hildebrandt #greghildebrandt

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CLASSIC HORROR HEROINES

ÉDITH SCOB as Christiane Génessier in EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1960) dir. Georges Franju

When I look in a mirror, I feel I'm looking at someone who looks like me, but seems to come from the Beyond, from the Beyond.

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The Witches Sabbath by Luis Ricardo Falero (1880)

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Eleven years ago we did one of the first Harry Strange Radio Drama live shows at Summer SciFi con.

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⛥ Ḩ̵͓̿̐̈e̵̢̢͓̬͉͒͌̎̕͝l̵̫̫̓͑̑l̴̦͋̽̚͘ṣ̸̢̡͊̂͌͆͝ẗ̵̻́́͌͂̀á̴͖̞͋̚͠ŗ̵͔̩̰̖̌̍ ̶̯̳͓̘͓̾R̴̭̭̱̙̐̈̃̒͜͠e̶͈͒͆͑m̶̡͓̩̖̼̓̍͆̕į̶̘̟̩̞͑̐̚͠n̸̮̠̞͇͂̈́̐̚á̶̧̔̀͌͝ ̶̢̛̖̞͔͂̓͆̈́/̸̡̺̥̠̄̈́̎̕͝ͅ/̴̪̯͔̗̮̆ ̴̛̫̤͊̀͗̒J̵̜̹͛͐ṳ̵͚̺̭͑ṉ̵̃̀͑̍j̴̛̰i̷͖̫͌̓̀ ̶͚͓̠̣͍̓̈́I̵͎̪͆̌͘t̷̡̓͂͂̕ỏ̵̧̪̦͌̓ ⛧

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Happy pride month maybe I’ll start watching Doctor Who again

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watching bridgerton and obviously there were a lot of things wrong with the way socializing has worked in the past, but honestly the idea of a "calling hour" is so appealing. office hours for friendship. you can show up unannounced at my home between 1 and 3pm. you must leave by 3pm. I may give you a pastry. lets bring that back

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Are you going to be at Stoker Con in a couple of weeks? Me too! Check out my schedule. Stop by and say hi!

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Coming soon!!!

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Eat the Flesh! Drink the Blood!

art by Ruben Marchionne

from Terrors of Dracula Vol.2 #2 - Eerie Pubs, May 1980

(first published in Witches' Tales Vol.5 #, September 1973)

(source)

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Neil Simon is one of my early writing influences and inspiration.

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this is by far my favorite safety/warning sign btw. they really went off with this one

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Your first draft should be a chaotic mess of false starts, renamed characters, confusing motivations, chapters that go nowhere; while littered with enough spelling and grammatical errors to make Mrs Crabapple (your fifth grade English teacher) cry. That’s when you know you’re doing it right.