title: Horror Literature: A Reader's Guide (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities)
author: Neil Barron
description: According to Barron, his survey is "partly designed to avoid the deficiencies" of Horror Literature: A Core Collection and Reference Guide ( LJ 8/81), edited by Marshall Tymn. Barron annotates almost 800 novels and collections, Tymn about 1100. The difference results primarily from Tymn's emphasis on "classic" Gothic literature. Barron also faults Tymn's lack of "critical rigor," but his own survey is not without problems. Space is devoted to contemporary writers of dubious importance, while others (Ballard, Golding) seem distinctly out of place. On the plus side, Barron pays far more attention to critical and biographical works (some 700 additional annotations to Tymn's some 300). Up until now Tymn's has been the standard, and libraries collecting in the field should probably have both books. Barron's is recommended with minor reservations, particularly for the edge it has in current titles, which go up to 1988. For a review of Barron's Fantasy Literature: A Reader's Guide , see p. 78.--Ed.<br /><i>-Grove Koger, Boise P.L., Id.</i><br />Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  # Praise for Brandon McNulty
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “ _Bad Parts_ asks the intriguing question, ‘What would you give up to make
  your body whole again? Can you put a price on your dreams?’ A page-turning
  tale of Faustian bargains, bad choices, and hard lessons.”
  
  
  —Alma Katsu, author of _The Deep_ and _The Hunger_
  
  
  
  
  
  “ _Bad Parts_ is a non-stop thrill ride! It starts out breakneck fast and
  keeps accelerating—the twists keep coming tighter and darker as the novel
  races toward its grisly, unexpected, and thoroughly satisfying finish. This is
  exactly the kind of horror novel I love—I could not put this one down and read
  it all in a single day!”
  
  
  —John Everson, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of _Covenant_ and _The Devil’s
  Equinox_
  
  
  
  
  
  "McNulty has crafted one of the most original horror novels in recent years.
  It reads like _Needful Things_ if it had been written by Richard Laymon."
  
  
  —Tom Deady, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of _Haven_
  
  
  
  
  
  “ _Bad 