Tom Monteleone has been writing The Mothers and Fathers Italian Association column for years and they’ve always been entertaining, intelligent, and informative. If you’ve missed them, it’s a real shame. But you have a chance to catch his most recent. It’s available for free on the Cemetery Dance website. He takes a look at what most horror writers ponder at one time or another in their careers … why do we like this horror stuff?

Here’s a brief look: “When written well, horror and suspense literature evokes an emotional response from its readers. This can range from a mild sensation of unease and then across the spectrum to abject repulsion. We’re talking simple scared-of-the-dark and funny-noises-at-night all the way through bugfuck fear to mind-numbing nihilist rejection. We’re talking about a literature which has the ability to involve us on a visceral, as well as psychological level. We’re talking about a literature that possesses and innate power to hammer out a flamenco dance on our imaginations and fire up a blowtorch under our phobias.”

You can read the column in full here: Mothers and Fathers Italian Association