A Dive into Horror Community Drama

There’s an old saying, “Where there’s people, there’s drama.”

Normally, I don’t pay attention to such adages, but in the horror community of today, it seems to be set in stone. In the last few months, I have seen several prominent writers announce their departure from the community-at-large as well as a mess of reviewers. The reason? Drama.

Drama is the unwanted and unneeded taxing of mental power. People get bent out of shape over the smallest inkling and wind up calling on followers/fans to fight their battles for them.

Sometimes this works in the author’s favor and helps them grow a larger fanbase, especially if they were called out for something that was untrue or unnecessary, however, in most cases, it causes the author to look petty and lose what promise they had to start with.

A lot of drama stems from new authors receiving reviews that they don’t like and flying off the handle over it, sometimes attacking the reviewer with all their hatred and lack of understanding. To me, this is unprofessional and sociopathic.

Being an author is more than being a writer and scribe for wicked fantasies, it’s also a marketing job. The author must market their work, promote their books to gain prominence and be in the public eye as much as possible. Therefore, expressing angst or slight against a reviewer who felt their book was bad, uninteresting or otherwise fell short of their professional opinion, is the quickest way to career suicide. Blowing up over something trivial is a sign of being unready and unable to cope with the world of readers and reviewers ready to rip something to shreds.

There are a huge number of reviewers in the horror community and they work with a modicum of pure love for books, especially those who post nonstop about the books they’ve read. The reviewers in the community make a habit of posting their reviews in several groups, usually groups with the same readers in it, hoping that their review will help boost the sales or reads of the book in question. It’s their job. The only difference between the author and the reviewer is that the reviewer is practically unpaid for their work, unless they are sponsored by a magazine or newsletter.

However, reviewers are the key to the success of an author!

Without arc readers and prominent reviewers, an author’s blood, sweat and tears can go largely unnoticed by the community at large. So when an author, especially a brand-new one, throws a hissy fit because a reviewer gave them a less than stellar review, it goes without saying that they don’t understand the way that all of this works.

I personally suggest that all authors, particularly newbies, take a free course in communication or public relations from Coursera™ before they take the dive into releasing their work to the world. The book that you spent years writing might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but that’s never a reason to blow your lid at them. It doesn’t make you look like a rebel, it makes you look like a rube.

Of course, authors attacking reviewers isn’t the only form of drama in the community.

One of the biggest forms of drama is when authors forget their place and attempt to use fans for their own purposes, sexual or otherwise. Last year (as of the time of writing this) two prominent authors were revealed to have been collecting nudes from fans in the community, as well as making fun of them in some way or another. One said, perhaps in jest, that they were “Rockstars” in the legend that rockstars generally have armies of groupies desperate for their attention.

I wasn’t surprised when they were found out, despite myself being new in the community at the time. One was an edgelord that thought he was hotshit and the other I hadn’t really heard of until what happened came to light, the revelation caused loads of waves and unraveling of friendships in the community. Another was when a well-known author was revealed to be abusive towards one of his fans, both physically and emotionally. Another happened when an author attacked another author over some misunderstood TikTok videos and was mauled by that author’s waves of adoring fans.

Authors need to know that fans are the bread and butter of their career. Fans are the constant readers and the friends you make along the way; they are not there to sate your sexual urges. I’m not saying an author can’t pursue a romantic relationship if all parties are consenting and it’s normal, but what I am saying is that treating constant readers like fleshlights is unprofessional, unwarranted and disgusting.

Another bit of drama that comes from this same concept is the idea that people need to be policed in what they wear. If a woman (or man) wears something skimpy, some lingerie or a swimsuit, then it’s their right to do so. Nobody has the right to bitch about it. A lot of women and men suffer from body dysmorphia and complexes over their shape or weight; it takes a lot of courage to show themselves in outfits that may be revealing or otherwise. People whine and complain about it in unhinged numbers and it needs to stop. It’s nobody’s business how someone wants to dress. Appreciate them for taking the courage to be themselves or piss off.

It’s that simple.

And sending your penis to someone is just wrong. Nobody wants to look at your caterpillar nor do they want to think about it trying to satisfy them. You aren’t the little engine that could; you’re the big idiot that can’t and shouldn’t try.

Finally, one of the biggest forms of drama in the community is the general nastiness that comes from people being hurtful to each other. It can be over something as petty as disliking a book, being angry at the writer for affiliating with a certain trope or niche, having a pissy day and blowing up at another person, not receiving books from an author, an author not sending books that were bought and paid for, authors talking shit about other authors, reviewers talking shit about other reviewers, false accusations and general petty punches that go nowhere.

My thoughts on drama in the community are that we are all adults (at least, I hope so), and if something is wrong, don’t do it. If you’re mad about a review, let it go. If your favorite author killed your favorite character, let it go. If you think you can get away with harassing a reader or fan, don’t do it. If you got cussed out in the DMs, block and move on.

Seriously, why do we have to fall back into the primitive approach of violence and angst when we’ve come so far as a species? We’ve reached the point where anyone can be a writer or reader or reviewer or publisher. Why must we respond to self-perceived slights with anger or hate? Why must we think appreciation is a sign for sexual advance? Why do we have to be hurtful when we can support others?

Human fallacy, I suppose.

But at the end of the day, it doesn’t solve anything and leaves everyone with a bad taste in their mouth. Drama is like herpes, it comes back when least expected; but unlike herpes, you can ignore it and move on with your life.

Maybe it's time everyone moved on with positivity and released their negative opinions.

But where there’s people, there’s drama…

ABOUT JERRY:

Jerry Blaze is an award-winning author of Horror and Bizarro fiction.

After achieving success in the erotic market, Jerry decided to undertake Extreme Horror/Splatterpunk/Bizarro fiction writing and released several books. Some of his books have been bestsellers on Amazon. He has been awarded the 2025 Golden Wizard Book Prize and the Literary Titan award.

Jerry is a fan of Grindhouse and exploitation films from the 70s and 80s, often modeling his work on them. He currently lives in the American Midwest, but travels often to get inspiration or to run away from angry mobs.