Monsters, The Macabre, and Horror Books

A Taste for Monsters (4:20) Every book and author has a different take on history, fantasy, and reality. Here at World’s Awaiting, we love to give you glimpses at new books that you can add to your reading list. Author Matt Kirby is the award winning author of The Clockwork Three, The Dark Gravity Sequence, and a YA interpretation of the popular video game Assassin's Creed. His most recent book A Taste for Monsters tells a story of different kinds of monsters and how they interact in Victorian London. Storytime (16:36) Libraries are known for their storytimes and we are too. Each week at 15 minutes past the hour, tune in to hear book reviews or live readings of picture books or poetry. Today we celebrate Halloween with an excerpt from one of the seminal horror novels of all time, Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. Penny Dreadfuls (19:08) The history of literacy can take some dark and twisting roads. Professor Jamie Horrocks teaches English at BYU and is an expert on the Victorian Era of literature. Today she turns our eyes toward Penny Dreadfuls and early scary stories. Silver in the Blood (35:42) For whatever reasons, people have always had a fascination with the paranormal. Vampires, ghosts, werewolves, zombies, all have become a staple of our culture, especially around this time of year. Jessica Day George is an author that often writes about these horror or fairy tale elements. She has written the Dragon Slippers series, the Princess series, and the topic of today's conversation, Silver in the Blood. Horror Books (45:48) Today we are around the Librarians' Table with Karen and Meagan of the BYU Harold B. Lee Library. They embrace the spooky theme of the day by talking about horror books. Why do some people enjoy them and what parts of the story can be seen in other genres.