It all started on a cold and rainy night. OK, not really. The fascination with horror has been with me for most of my life. I can tell you what started it....BOOKS. I remember seeing the cover for "More Scary Stories to tell in the Dark" With a cover like that how could I not be intrigued. I was maybe 10 when I saw it on the shelf at the book fair at school. Something about it just drew my curiosity. After reading a few of the stories, I was hooked. After I was done with that I wanted to find something more. Never really got into RL Stine, or anyone along that line. I would spend hours at the Waldenbooks in the mall just looking at the selection of horror that they had. That is when I found the one author that started it all. Stephen King. I can remember the very first King novel I picked up, "The Shinning" I will admit that it did take me a few times to finish that book. Probably not a good book to read as a kid but it awakened a thirst of that feeling, the feeling of being scared. I would continue to read Stephen King books and continue to this day. Sometimes I would venture off to find different authors, Brian Lumley, Clive Barker, Dean Koontz, Neil Gaimen, Richard Matheson just to name a few. I loved some of those books. All different and all good. Some people thought that my reading habit was not good for a kid my age, but I think I turned out pretty well.
As I grew older, I had the opportunity to start renting movies. I entered Wilson's Video in Wellsburg and turned left into the horror section. Seeing those big box VHS tapes just threw my imagination into overdrive. Of course the cover never matched what the movie was like but that did not stop me one bit. I started with some of the softer horror movies, cause i had to have my mom rent them for me, but after awhile they got to know me. After that it started getting good. "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Friday the 13th" "The Stuff". "Fright Night" and the list goes on and on. My parents never really like me watching that stuff but they never forbid it. I guess I'm lucky in that aspect. I knew what I could handle at that time and stuck to that. Each week my knowledge of horror grew. Schoolmates knew me as the horror movie guy. I was always looking forward to what new movie I could rent or go see in the theater (or atleast sneak into).
I guess that is where it all started. The cover of a book. Who knew that that one thing could fill a good portion of my life. Now I am 34 years old and still looking forward to that new horror movie, even tho some of them are remakes of the ones I saw back then.
So what was it for you? Do you remember that first movie? That first book? The one that started it all?
I'm with ya, Steve. I did the same thing as a kid and still do today. I miss Wilson's video and going to that horror section all the time. I go to some movies that come in theaters and usually the only ones interesting, to me, are the scary ones. I love horror literature too. I got into writing in mrs gallis third grade class, and that's when I knew I wanted to be an author when I grew up.
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