TW: suicide, self-harm, gun violence
Also: Spoilers for a lot of horror movies

Be Scared of Everything is an essay collection about the horror genre. They read like a compendium of blog posts, like most collections, they are hit or miss. I think the most effective ones are the ones that got the most personal. My personal favorite is an essay about how the Hannibal TV show gave him hope and solidarity about dealing with his PTSD. There were a few essays that had interesting nuggets of ideas that I wanted to see explored further, but then deviated into other directions. Like the essay on zombies had a great snippet about how we use the "what would you do if zombies" situation to relate to others, and place ourselves in that set world. I enjoyed the essays that included movies like Mandy and Hereditary. The last few essays were great in that he explored how horror has helped him cope with dark realities of everyday life, and living after trauma

This book initially seems like a random collection of essays and short pieces covering various nuances of horror books and movies.. It’s a fun read with the writer's take on those familiar ideas, but the further you get into it, the more you realize there is an underlying story that the writer experiences when he was young that ties everything together in a way. Interesting quick read, would like to read more from this author

I even surprised myself by requesting an ARC of this book! By no means a scaredy cat, I’ve loved the horror genre for years but have become a little disinterested in the new age slash-ems. It was enthralling to go back to the beginning and read these essays. Not for the squeamish or faint-hearted!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This initially comes off as a semi random collection of essays and short pieces covering various aspects of the horror genre. Zombies, vampires, Lovecraft are all present and correct. It’s a fun read on those terms, but the further you get into it, the more you realise there is a throughline connecting all these seemingly disparate pieces, an underlying narrative that ties the whole thing together. The whole thing finishes up as a disquisition on horror as a coping mechanism, a consideration of how fictional evil works in a world full of real horrors. Interesting stuff, and should be appreciated by all fans of the genre.

OMG THIS BOOK

Horror is SO important for everyone, fan of the genre or not, because it SHAPE society in ways we still don’t understand, but YES, this essays try to explain exactly that.

Using personal experiences and memories and TRAUMA, the author brings tropes, elements, and characters, from movies, books or urban legends, and creates an intricate series of essays that could be read separately but are so interconnected and perfectly ordered to be read as a whole body of horror non-fiction.

From how the zombie apocalypse is used to make connections and reinforce your own personality to how memories can become ghosts, from why we can empathize with a cannibal to how an horrible person was Lovecraft, this book doesn’t leave a rock unmoved.

I decided to read two or three essays before bed for the last couple of days and YES, I HAD TROUBLE SLEEPING. Have in mind that these are not scary stories. These are stories about scary things. And it worked SO WELL I’m aching for some non-fiction horror like this book.

Extra kudos for the trigger warning at the beginning, always a MUST, and the EXTRAORDINARY COVER omg. Amazing. THANK YOU.

I would say so much these are horror essays as a history of horror. At least they were not that scary to me. However the essays were very interesting and it was a very quick read. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I wasn't too sure what to expect from this book. I was definitely intrigued and it's not my usual read. I found it very interesting and very well written. Not a book I'd go back to, but enjoyable non the less

trigger warnings
<spoiler> suicide, mental illness, trauma, ptsd, gun violence, mutilation, cannibalism, torture, self-harm </spoiler>

In his essay collection, the author uses plots and characters from horror movies, tv series and sometimes games to illustrate his points. He draws parallels from his life to fiction and back, including ghosts, demons, cannibals and other human monsters.

As I requested this book I was kinda in the mood for an essay collection, and not so long ago I watched a lot of TEDx talks about the importance and role of the horror genre. How zombies may teach you things about yourself, how this particular form of escapism might teach you a thing or two you could use in extreme circumstances that don't even have to be global.

Also I fell in love with the cover. Kudos to the person who made it. If I had the wall space I would like to hang it up there.

If you start this, you'll see the most amazing thing: This book <i>comes with trigger warnings</i>. They are very general both in terms of what's warned about and what they say about where you'll find it. It's one warning for the entire book, not per essay.
I was able to jump over the self-harm thing because it was quite clear in that essay where we were going.
Thank you for the warnings. It needs to be normalized.

So, the essays. The first half of this was a four star, the second half a two star. I arrive at three. And let me be honest, my problems are nitpicky, because I am that kind of person.
Two things stood out to me, both generalisations not based on facts:
1. He says that old books of magic have always been written on skin. It made me want to hurl a clay tablet at him, or maybe poke him in the eye with papyrus. In later essays it became clear he's been raised catholic and I do know how that warps the supposed knowledge of a western person and how you tend to ignore everything earlier than the high middle ages.
We could talk about oral history, but... I am an archaeologist who's especially interested in magic-belief. I am used to people not knowing what they're talking about. What bugs me is that he is reinforcing the reader's preset notions.
2. In the long essay about cannibalism he quotes a guy saying that cannibalism is a taboo both in human and animal kingdom, and it's left standing as it is. First, no. Second: Do animals have taboos? Not even every human group has that taboo, so why would you project your own ideas on beings we have no idea of how their mind works?

There is this weird thing going on where it all reads like blog posts but you can't interact and discuss what is said because there is no real two-way conversation going on with the author. And because I can't simply go and ask: Hey, what are your sources for your claims? they really annoy me, again, because <i>someone will believe it</i>.

For essays as such I liked this book. I like how he talks about his bipolar disorder, his PTSD and the event that set it in motion, how he compares consuming horror to a mild form of PTSD. How it feels validating when your hypervigilance pays off, when you try to find the underlying pattern to get a clear cut exit strategy. How fictional horrors can help you deal with the real ones.

I liked the recollection of supernatural events that happened to him because I am into that kind of thing at the moment. It's like there is this whole world I never credited before 2020.

Read it if you like horror, but don't take everything he says as true.

I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

This was not at all what I was expecting but definitely was interesting! I think this has a very specific audience that it would appeal to. Overall interesting but not sure I would recommend to everyone.

As a millennial, these essays feel like the words in my head, conversations I've had with friends and lovers, put onto paper and screen in a much more eloquent way than I ever could have attempted. Please Add Me to Your Zombie Survival Network, Where the Creepypastas Are, and Metaphysical Graffitti are right out of every deep dark conversation over beers I've had when the gossip has turned as stale as cardboard and we all need to break into our shared trauma without a name other than Millennial.
Now in 2020, the Year of Corona and Riot, I hope that this book will get a sequel to carry us forward and give voice to that same ongoing trauma.
An excellent read. Not at all what I expected it to me (I was expecting some self-important film and book study discussing the merits of racist misogynists of the early horror era brought into the now and juxtaposed with the constant struggle to create something really scary for an audience that has already seen and experienced it all). I'm glad it wasn't what I thought it was.

Oh, YEAH! I love horror movies and books! This isn't scary stories, per se, but talks about various movies, books, authors, franchises, corporations, etc... and how they operate. Peter Counter pointed out things I really hadn't given to much thought to over the years. Very enlightening (and I really should know better as I actually took a Film Appreciation class the semester horror was the theme! Apparently, our prof didn't cover ANY of these!) Kudos Peter Counter- terrific book!