Horror for Weenies

2024 Bram Stoker Award® Winner for Superior Achievement in Long Nonfiction
One of NPR’s 2024 Books We Love
A Lit Hub Most-Anticipated Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Book for the Rest of 2024
A September LibraryReads Notable Nonfiction Pick

“Even if you’re not horror-averse, Ms. Hughes’s book is great fun.”—Marc Weingarten, Wall Street Journal

“Hughes presents a book best described as a conversation with a horror-fan bestie. With horror’s popularity, this accessible, entertaining, and informative book will be in high demand.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Reading this book is like hanging out at the movies sharing a bucket of popcorn with the smartest, coolest, funniest person you know. Incredibly insightful, laugh-out-loud funny, expertly curated, and executed with finesse. An immensely enjoyable journey through horror cinema. You’ll never feel better about being a weenie.”—Rachel Harrison, national best-selling author of Black Sheep

“A book for true horror noobs as well as for us more seasoned monsters, Horror for Weenies is eager to share the mad, terrifying joy of horror films with everyone. It’s fast, it’s funny, it’s illuminating, it bleeds delight. Easily serves as both a horror movie primer and a paean to the genre.”—Chuck Wendig, New York Times best-selling author of Wanderers and The Book of Accidents

“Emily Hughes is a savage anthropologist, an ethnographer of shocks, bravely chronicling over sixty years of cinematic nightmares so you don’t have to. Horror for Weenies is a perfect blend of Blumhouse meets Margaret Mead, chock-full of fresh and frightening trivia for both horror novices and seasoned vets (like myself). You’ll pee in your pants . . . but it’ll be from laughing so hard.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters

“A welcoming, joyous guide to the terror, allure, and healing power of my favorite genre.”—Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Queen of Teeth and All the Hearts You Eat

“[Horror for Weenies] feels like a much-needed fireside chat with your new horror-obsessed mentor. An exceptional and thoughtful resource.”—Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes

“Clever, incisive, and laugh-out-loud hilarious, Emily Hughes’s Horror for Weenies is at once a brilliant primer on the scary cinematic essentials of the last sixty-something years and an irresistibly charming love letter to the entire genre. Movie nerds, horror fiends, and weenies everywhere, rejoice!”—Matthew Lyons, author of A Mask of Flies and A Black and Endless Sky

“[Horror for Weenies] is like talking about scary movies with a best friend.”—Sadie Hartmann, Bram Stoker Award–nominated author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered

“[Horror for Weenies is] engaging, informative, thrilling, hilarious, full of useful trivia and talking points, and, above all, smart. . . . I’m buying this for everyone I know and making it required reading.”—C. J. Leede, Bram Stoker Award–nominated author of Maeve Fly and American Rapture

“Horror for Weenies is hilarious, informative, and guaranteed to make sure you never miss a reference again.”—Mallory O’Meara, nationally best-selling author of The Lady from the Black Lagoon

“If you’re horror-curious, this could be a place to safely check out what you like and what you’d rather avoid—and it’ll give you some Halloween-party-ready thoughts on classic films to boot.”—LitHub

“A great addition to any pop culture lover’s collection.”—Alex Faccibene, Geek Girl Authority

“A true delight.”—FanFiAddict