Filling the Soul Hole
Part 1: Sorrow
As an avid reader of horror, you may worry that you have been desensitized towards certain deeply felt emotions. You’ve read it all. Guts festoon the trees of your dreamscapes. You’ve made a cozy nest for the hideous monsters lurking in your basement. Any small children that cross your path are likely demon-possessed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’ve seen it all. You worry that you have lost the ability to empathize. You have an empty spot in the center of your heart where your soul used to be. You have a soul hole. Friends, I too have a soul hole, but let me tell you it doesn’t have to remain empty. You still have the ability to empathize with characters. You still have the ability to contort your face, tear ducts and sinus cavity into that elusive ugly cry. You just need to find the right authors and boy do I have some recommendations for you!
Chad Lutzke.
Chad Lutzke writes about grief and loss. Does this mean he only writes about death? No! Loss can cover many things. Loss of a loved one, loss of innocence, loss of sanity. He has mastered the art of finding the one thing that makes everyone feel vulnerable. Reading Lutzke’s writing is like watching your favorite pet slowly die of cancer. Heartbreaking does not even begin to describe it.
Your soul hole will fill with tears and postnasal drip.
Only have time for a quick sob? Read his novellas:
“Out Behind the Barn” (collab with John Boden)
“Stirring the Sheets”
Mark Matthews.
Mark Matthews writes addiction horror. He writes about the horrors of drug addiction, mental illness and children who have been destroyed because of these things. He writes about a mother’s love for her children being perverted by her need to get high. He writes about those who are marginalized by society. People no one loves. Your soul hole will fill with a sense of dread and the sneaking suspicion you are a terrible, terrible person.
Need that heavy, bleak feeling quick?
“Milk-Blood” and “All Smoke Rises” are two related novellas that will make you go from ‘fine’ to ‘humans are trash’ in less time than you ever thought imaginable. Sure, we all KNOW humans are trash, but Matthews makes you FEEL it.
There you have it! It feels good to know you still have the ability to empathize. You don’t have to rely on dry books to bore the tears out of you… horror books can do it better!
Beth Griffith lives in Maryland with her husband, three children and a pathetically small herd of cats. She enjoys reading smut and gardening. You can watch saucy smut reviews, read salty book reviews and keep tabs on her questionable life choices on Instagram @mrsbeverlygibbs