Don’t call it a comeback. The promise has always been in the title.

#31Days: A Collection of Horror Essays, vol. 2 is available to pre-order at all major eBook retailers. Links at the bottom of the post.

This is my second full length collection of non-fiction horror criticism inspired by my #31DaysOfHorror challenge. Last year, because of the stress of quarantine, I picked up a lot of projects I typically would’ve found an excuse to get out of. I needed something positive to focus my energy on.

I realized that I wasn’t using Sketching Details as the platform I intended it to be. The name (even in the older form, Sketchy Details) was meant to be a sounding board for larger works. I could write a good review that I could go back to and transform into a great essay or part of a larger book. Instead I…didn’t.

With the series #31Days: A Collection of Horror Essays, I’m able to turn my most ambitious critical project—a month of daily reviews in October—into a clearer, more fixed form.

Each essay contained in the book is heavily revised or even entirely rewritten from its original publication on the site. Themes and significant details tend to come into focus days, weeks, or even months after initially watching, reading, or playing media. What was a passing mention of “this is good” in the original review could become the major point of a larger critical piece with more time to reflect and analyze.

#31Days: A Collection of Horror Essays, vol. 2 features new versions of the 32 critical reviews originally published at Sketching Details in October 2021. It also features all 32 essays for the first season of The Outer Limits originally published at The Avocado. That’s 64 essays in total of pure horror media criticism.

You also get my favorite section in the entire book: the Recommendations. I joke around here a lot about forgetting more horror films than most people have ever seen. It’s not really a joke and I constantly put that knowledge to good use for friends, family, horror fans, and other writers.

The last part of #31Days is the Recommendations section. I provide at least three suggestions for further viewing, reading, or playing inspired by the 33 films, TV series, and books featured in the collection. These recommendations come with an explanation, like “if you like this style of vampire, try x” or “this director’s later film y deals with similar themes.” I’m constantly on the hunt for new horror to explore and this recommendation section gives you over 100 new titles to seek out and enjoy.

#31Days: A Collection of Horror Essays, vol. 2 officially comes out on 21 December. You can preorder or save the book now at Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Apple. You can also read a sample of the collection at any of those platforms to get a feel for the format of the book. Even downloading the sample at Smashwords helps the project a lot.

#31Days: A Collection of Horror Essays, vol. 2 is also available on all major library ordering platforms and will be available through my Ko-fi on launch day. The paperback edition will be available the same day, but is not currently ready for preorder. System errors. You get it.

I’m excited for you to get your hands on this collection. I got to tackle everything from the original quadrilogy of Texas Chain Saw Massacre films to incredibly challenging microbudget horror films that find something new to say in one of the most crowded genres through ingenuity and necessity. This collection is a love letter to horror and filled with deep analyses of films you can watch now on Shudder, Netflix, and digital rental platforms. Enjoy.