Horror *film* has made a comeback, though. Even television is embracing the paranormal again (and I don't just mean Supernatural). Romance is publishing paranormals like crazy again, when as little as eight or nine years ago they wouldn't touch them.

It's straight-up horror fiction that hasn't really made a comeback, as far as I can tell, although I think there are hopes for it based on the success of The Ruins. Sucks to hear that was disappointing, Todd.

In films, do you mean horror as in classic horror or the torture-type things that seem to be coming out in bunches?

And, in re The Ruins I read it because a friend - who doesn't really like horror - told me she really enjoyed it. So ... YRuinsMV.

I don't think everything coming out is torture. A few of the films in that AfterDark Horrorfest last year (now showing on SciFi and available on NetFlix, I believe) were traditional ghost and horror stories.

I don't like them, but I don't think you discount the torture films as a legitimate extension of the horror genre, either.

There was a rash of PG-13 horror flicks based on Japanese films.

I'm sure there are theses that link the sociopolitical climate of the time to whether or not horror is entertainment, and if so what kind.

The theory is that horror movies are popular when things are going badly. People are anxious; they want catharsis. So, Japan's economic downturn in the 1990s led to the horror boom over there.

With print... I think horror is better suited to short forms, and the market for short stories and novellas has withered away. Although, it seems to me that the number of horror comics is increasing, so maybe that's where the short-story writers are going.

I belong to a feminist book group and I'd like to suggest a work of fiction for one of the meetings: They've read "Posession" which I liked but they all hated, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman(Whatsherface from The Yellow Wallpaper) I love fiction, but I'm not sure what to suggest. We mostly read...manifestos, I suppose. I want something a little challenging, but not as involved as "Possession", but not so Oprah-ish that there's only one possible reaction you could have(group leader likes debate) Thoughts?

You know, erika, I think you could do any of Laura Lippman's last three stand alones and find a lot to talk about (especially Every Secret Thing which has a whole passel of complicated women characters). They are very well written and move along nicely. Plus it would be fun for you!

If your book club hated Possession, I think you need a new book club.

Signed, possibly irrational with the love.

Rationally, I suggest "Little Women."

I'm guessing they're impatient, flea. It took some investment, but I liked it a lot when I took the time for it. Lisah, good idea. Might as well work with my crime-junkie proclivities, but I'll be keeping track of the other suggestions as well because we're a smallish group.

I'd suggest Margaret Atwood'd Cat's Eye [link] which is a fucking great book. Or Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons, [link] which is slighter, but a good read.