Be Scared of Everything: Horror Essays

"An incredible voice in horror"--Tor Nightfire

Horror essays that read like Chuck Klosterman filtered through H.P. Lovecraft.

Slinging ectoplasm, tombstones, and chainsaws with aplomb, Be Scared of Everything
is a frighteningly smart celebration of horror culture that will appeal
to both horror aficionados and casual fans. Combining pop culture
criticism and narrative memoir, Counter's essays consider and
deconstruct film, TV, video games, true crime, and his own horrific
encounters to find importance in the occult, pathos in Ouija boards,
poetry in madness, and beauty in annihilation.

Comprehensive in scope, these essays examine popular horror media including Silent Hill, Hannibal, Hereditary, the Alien films, Jaws, The X-Files, The Terror, The Southern Reach Trilogy, Interview with the Vampire, Misery, Gerald's Game, The Sixth Sense, Scream, Halloween, The Blair Witch Project, The Babadook,
the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Slenderman stories, alongside topics like
nuclear physics, cannibalism, blood, Metallica, ritual magic,
nightmares, and animatronic haunted houses.

This is a book that shows us everything is terrifying--from Pokemon to
PTSD--and that horror can be just as honest, vulnerable, and funny as it
is scary.

"Be Scared of Everything is a heady mix of memoir and critical
essays. Discerning, unafraid to examine larger questions without easy
answers, the collection is also warm and entertaining."--Paul Tremblay

"Counter's brilliant essay collection Be Scared of Everything is a poetic and deeply thoughtful exploration of all the ways that horror permeates our everyday life."--Rue Morgue

Peter Counter is a prolific television and video game critic, originally from Toronto, who writes about culture and technology in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His essay Saint Tornado-Kick was published in the 2019 Eos Award-winning anthology Empty the Pews. Peter writes about horror on his website everythingisscary.com.