Guest post: "Horror? Not Scary at All," by Russell James, Author of 'Q Island'

 

You really won’t believe it, but I discovered a nice group of people. In a world where everyone seems mad at everyone else, where manners seem to have gone out the window, and where everyone is out for himself, I fell in with a great bunch of folks.

The horror community.

Now if you aren’t part of it (yet) then it may seem hard to believe. They must all be weirdoes and psychopaths, reading all that twisted stuff and watching all those gory movies, right? Not even close.

When I became a horror author, several years ago, I was baptized into the community at a Horrorfind horror convention, the first con I’d ever attended. I was surrounded by people in pretty sick, scary costumes. I quickly learned that the people inside them were having a ball, sharing their natural love of a good scare with similar folks. Positive, outgoing, excited, friendly. Amazing. The opposite of what most would expect.

Then I met some horror authors. And then I met some more. Surely the minds that spend months dwelling on demonic possession and savage machete-wielding nut jobs must have a screw loose themselves. I mean, it takes one to know one, right? Wrong again. Young to old, experienced to rookie, horror writers are really stellar individuals. Tremendously open to sharing insights about the writing craft, thrilled to just chat about the genre, uniformly gracious to other writers and especially to fans. As a new author learning the ropes, there couldn’t have been a better group to guide me.

And horror people have big hearts. I’ll point to horror and zombie author Armand Rosamillia and his Authors Supporting Our Troops drive that delivers hundreds of books per year to troops around the world. All the books are donated by the authors, and the packing, shipping and postage is paid out of Armand’s wallet. There’s also Scares that Care, an organization that puts on a charity horror convention each July in Williamsburg, VA. This week they cut the donation check that put the total assistance they have provided to needy families at over $100,000, money from the hearts of the horror community.

It seems that the people closest to all that scary horror stuff are the least scary people of all. Who would have known?

About the Author

After a tour flying helicopters with the U.S. Army, Russell James now spins twisted tales best read during daylight. In addition to two horror short story collections, Tales from Beyond and Deeper into Darkness, James is the author of seven paranormal thrillers:  Dark Inspiration, Sacrifice, Black Magic, Dark Vengeance, Dreamwalker and Q Island. His next novel, The Portal, is slated for release in 2016. Visit him at www.russellrjames.com.