The Art of Darkness Audiobook By W. J. Renehan cover art

The Art of Darkness

Meditations on the Effect of Horror Fiction

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The Art of Darkness

By: W. J. Renehan
Narrated by: Greg Beastrom
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What makes Horror literature horrifying? What primordial fears resonate within (and attract us to) stories of the macabre? In this insightful volume, W.J. Renehan explores the complex interrelated traditions of Horror fiction, and the human psychology that fuels them.

In the course of his analysis, Renehan puts everything from the ancient vampire legends to Lovecraft's cosmic Horror of the unknown into compelling cultural context.

Renehan discusses monsters both supernatural and man-made, and explores the dark landscapes created by the likes of Shirley Jackson, H.P. Lovecraft, Peter Straub, Stephen King and other masters.

Overall, Renehan's book provides a rich introduction to that vital genre of literature which we allow to take us from the safety and light of our firesides into random, demonic, incoherent territories of terror - and seeks to explain why we so willingly return to those unsettling environs again and again.

About the Author: W. J. Renehan serves as Editorial Director for Horror and Sci-Fi publisher Dark Hall Press. He is an alumnus of Dean College, SUNY New Paltz and the University of Rhode Island.

©2013 W.J. Renehan (P)2013 New Street Communications, LLC Scary Literary History & Criticism Social Sciences
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While Renehan has some interesting insights into the horror genre, the audiobook version of his book is done in by the constant use of the slash mark. If I were reading this book, it wouldn't be that big of a deal because I know my mind would effectively delete the slash mark and only register the words on either side; contextual understanding would be easy. However, in the audiobook format, the narrator for this particular tome reads it out fully, injected the fully pronounced word, "slash" over and over and over again. I struggled to get through to the end and it distracted from the author's relevant points.

Slash this, slash that, slash everything.

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