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For centuries, people around the world have craved the thrill of being spooked, seeking out dread as a way to disconnect from the monotony of daily life.
In fact, horror stories were so popular they became mass-produced pop culture. In 19th century England, millions of people read Penny Dreadfuls every week. Long before traditional publishing as we know it existed!
From the start, horror authors used the genre as a platform to explore deeper social issues: the world-famous Frankenstein is a commentary on the Industrial Revolution, and Dracula speaks to xenophobia and immigration.
But despite wide recognition and cultural depth, horror largely remained known as cheap, meaningless entertainment.

Until recently.

Today, horror is going through a powerful genre renaissance. Continuing to make billions in book sales and box offices, horror stories are also recognized by critics.
At the box office, "elevated horror" has become one of the industry's most reliable sources of both profit and prestige. Studios like A24 built entire reputations on proving horror could be both commercially explosive and artistically serious, and franchises like A Quiet Place and Smile now open to nine-figure box office numbers that rival any blockbuster genre.
Publishing has followed the same arc. Horror novels regularly top bestseller lists, and authors who once might have been shelved as "genre writers" are now reviewed alongside literary fiction. Great examples of this are Stephen Graham Jones' The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Agustina Bazterrica's The Unworthy, and Nat Cassidy's When the Wolf Comes Home.

Written in the Dark: the writing contest for literary fiction

To celebrate this unique time for horror as a genre, we have launched Written in the Dark – a short story contest designed to discover and support emerging voices in literary horror. Authors of best stories will split $4000 in cash prizes, and get a chance to pitch their work to film producers working with Netflix, Paramount, Fox (and more!) who are actively looking for material for adaptation.
If you write stories that unsettle, haunt, and make skin crawl, this contest is for you.
To participate, submit your short story here until October 15th.