Non-Fiction Reviews

Marc A. Cerasini Romantic Times, Inc. 1989 $12.95 US

I found this book in a used book store and paid only $6.99. As I've said else where, I've been wanting to write some SF/Fantasy/Horror and have decided to read some of the basic "how-to" books that are available.

It took me about a week to read this 210 page booklet. Overall, I enjoyed reading it. The book is a compilation of advice edited by Cerasini. Cerasini was the co-author of Reader's Guide to Robert E. Howard. It's divided into six parts:

• "The Horror, The Horror" - a section on why write horror
• "Horror: A History" - various discussions of the history of horror
• "Horror Now" - a discussion of what horror looked like in the late '80's and early '90's
• "Horror Authors Speak" - interviews with Ramsey Campbell, Dean R. Koontz, Robert McCammon, James Herbert, and F. Paul Wilson as well as a discussion of H.P. Lovecraft
• "Writing Horror" - tips on how to grab the reader, what kinds of storys are hot, and then-current markets as well as a discussion of the "leading ladies of terror"
• "Further Reading" - a list of what the contributors to this booklet thought should be recommended reading

About the only real complaint I have is that the glue used to hold this paperback together seemed rather poor and the pages are all falling out of the booklet. And then, perhaps, I read this book too hard?

While I haven't sold any horror stories yet, the information contained in this little booklet seems rather concise and useful. Of course, the market section is almost ten years old now so it's not really of any use. I wonder if they have published updates?

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The history section was most informative and entertaining. I recommend this book for its historical section and hope that they have produced updates to the market section.

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