The government has acknowledged that the other two likely had a ‘benign purpose’. The identity of the dirigibles remains unclear: the headmost, downed over the coast of South Carolina, was a weather blimp – authorities warned of Chinese spycraft – and one at least seems to have been a party-style ‘ pico-balloon’ loosed by hobbyists in Illinois. Four were shot out of the sky by Air Force pilots in the first weeks of February, at an estimated total cost of $8 million (the AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles used go for $400,000 a piece). Early in 2023, NORAD made known the existence of unidentified vessels flying over the continental US. Puzzlement is not confined to the garages and bank vaults of Delaware. He is currently under investigation for mishandling classified documents (conveniently disclosed after the November mid-terms) found at a Wilmington home let out to his crackhead son, himself the target of a separate DOJ enquiry (revealed to the public on the morrow of the 2020 election) into nebulous business dealings in China and Ukraine. Subsequent events have proved no friendlier to the octogenarian incumbent’s promise to ‘bring transparency and truth back to government’. Before long the First Family abandoned Major, their German Shepard, after FOIA requests by the conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch uncovered a spree of biting attacks and concomitant White House ‘cover up’. Within a month of his victory over Trump, the president-elect suffered an odd injury as he later clarified, he had broken his foot attempting to pull a dog’s tail while exiting the shower. Here, then, is our ranking of the best horror novels of all time.Enigmas abound in Joseph Biden’s America. But perhaps, in the end, that’s the secret of horror: it’s personal. Equally, some of these choices may cause horror fans’ eyes to wrinkle in confusion. Certain big names are missing because their greatest contributions are in short form, or because their books tread ground better travelled by others. You will see some unexpected inclusions in this list, and some surprising absences. Short horror fiction has a parallel but distinct history that would require a survey all of its own. It’s worth noting that we have confined our choices to novels. We have, however, tried to celebrate the breadth of horror-to highlight those books that establish something about the genre or push it forward into new realms. With such a weight of contention, any attempt at a list of ‘best’ horror novels is doomed to disagreement. ![]() It was an era dominated by brand-name authors, with epic sales and matching page-lengths. Contemporary readers may look no further than the horror ‘boom’ of the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. ![]() ![]() ![]() Jekyll–these figures emerged from a culture in crisis, when twin anxieties about masculinity and modernity birthed urban nightmares. Others locate the genre’s origins in a slate of late-Victorian novels and their roster of horror icons. Scholars trace the legacy of literary horror back to the British Gothic fictions of the eighteenth century, when castles were haunted, monks were evil, and anywhere beyond the edges of Protestant England was tinged sinister. This is before we even attempt a historical context. For others it hinges on atmosphere and tone. Definitions abound.įor some, horror is a genre founded on trope and convention: a checklist of blighted houses and monstrous secrets, men in masks and women in white nightgowns.
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