Horrors of the past
There’s no doubt that historical fiction is a massively popular genre right now, with sales that would outstrip almost any other section of the bookshop, perhaps apart from crime. And it’s not a real surprise – there’s a definite sense that people love to look back at the past, as it evokes a different times and different ways of living, be it more recent history or something significantly more dim and distant. It appeals to a wide interest group to boot.
What we don’t see a huge amount of is horror stories that play out in this particular field. Horror has long had a reputation as a genre that can work well with others, with accepted canons of science-fiction horror, comedy horror, folk horror and more. You might even be able to point to pockets of other genre mixes – western horror, fantasy horror, horror romance and more. But the trend of historical horror is starting to grow steadily, and in this piece we’re going to
