The 200-Year Debate over Tasteful Horror Fiction || A History of Horror Short Story Anthologies

Comments · 163

• DI

  @diego_villena · 4 months ago (edited) · pinned

  I realize I’m going to be in the vast minority with this opinion, but your vocal affectation makes this channel difficult for me to engage with - or at least more difficult than I would prefer.<br><br>On the one hand, you strike at the very heart of my favorite types of fiction. The research is absolutely phenomenal, and you weave compelling, educational narratives that I honestly can’t get enough of.<br><br>However, your vocal fry laden, half whispered, slightly cartoonish delivery into an ASMR mic is like nails on a chalkboard to me. You do have a naturally pleasing voice and cadence, but you lean further and further into the affectation in your more recent videos that I have a hard time not cringing or rolling my eyes at one intonation or another.<br><br>In the words of Hank Hill: “somebody get that boy a cough drop”.<br><br>I really hate being the person to write this, because I understand your aesthetic and even like it, but only to an extent you’ve long since surpassed. <br><br>Once again, I accept that I am in the minority here. Moreover, I do appreciate the craft you put into your material and performance, but it is decadent and cloying to the point of inauthenticity. It turns off the rational, forgiving part of my brain and gives rise to the deepest instinctual demons of canniness and taste.<br><br>You’re currently at an 11, dialing it back to a 7 would be merciful to my ears.<br><br>But I mean, on the other hand, Im still watching and rewatching. The material is too good to be subsumed by preference. Please take this feedback in the spirit with which it is intended! Your work speaks for itself, please demonstrate that you trust the intelligence and attention span of your audience enough to let it do the heavy lifting; We don’t need so much icing on the cake to enjoy it.

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• IN

  @InfiniteText · 11 months ago

  I&apos;m not being hyperbolic here...but reading Weird Tales has given me will to live. I paused a few times during your shelf footage and I have to admit....that&apos;s an aspirational collection

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• JO

  @johndouglas3197 · 11 months ago

  Paying attention to horror/art can be seen as preparing a soul for the worst and so preserves the soul for yet more creation beyond boundaries, physical or otherwise.

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• LU

  @LukmanHakim-gn3uk · 11 months ago

  Henry James, ambrose Bierce hearing those names gave me chills. Especially Bierce, his tales of war managed to creep me out with their sheer brutality

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• LI

  @LibraryMacabre · 11 months ago

  I Saw the TV Glow! I was surprised to see that clip used. Love that movie! And loved this video. 👻

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• OB

  @ObeyGodDefyTyrants-0 · 11 months ago

  The intro definitions of horror/terror was very insightful. I have been having similar conversations with friends this Halloween season. Working with Karloff&apos;s definition, I too agree that terror is the higher more desirable &quot;art&quot;. I find it to be similar to the concepts of blue comedy. Shock value is cheap while true comedy is more difficult. Excess blood and body horror are cheap compared to atmosphere. Though I&apos;ve seen many people bemoan the Hayes Code or Comics Code Authority, I think we owe them a debt of gratitude for the preservation of &quot;terror&quot; holding at bay the eventual giallo/slasher fixation that has dominated horror for the last 50 years.

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• VE

  @Verlopil · 11 months ago

  Thank you! I don&apos;t know all that much about the history of horror. I grew up with Weird Tales and older anthologies like you mentioned, and so developed a fondness for ghost stories and the weird. I have a special fondness for the travelogue type tales around the fireplace at a club, with one person telling the other members of some strange encounters. &nbsp;I don&apos;t like reading about gross things really. I prefer, as you say, the dry.

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• GR

  @GrumpyScotsman · 11 months ago

  I’ve always loved the weird, spooky, and strange, and once again, you’ve given me so much to think about! I’m constantly amazed by how much you know. Wishing you a happy Samhain when it comes! 🎃

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• EN

  @EnthDGree · 11 months ago

  The Outlaw Bookseller, Steve Andrews, introduced me to the term &quot;bricolage&quot;, which as he stated as related to &quot;horror&quot;: its not a genre in itself, but a technique of writing that crossed into many genres, e.g. sf horror, supernatural horror, adventure horror, etc.

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• EQ

  @EquuZombie · 11 months ago

  I am a junkie for a good spooky anthology so this video is particularly delightful, thank you!

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• SE

  @SevenPlanets-ClassicSFAudioHub · 10 months ago

  Oooh I had missed this one. I just watched the other. Double Horror Whammy! Thanks, Bridger!

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• MI

  @michaelk.vaughan8617 · 11 months ago

  Another fantastic video! Enormously informative.

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