My first "chapter book" was an Edgar Allan Poe anthology. It still sits on my shelf. I remember reading "The Tell-Tale Heart" as a kid, not quite understanding what I was reading, but completely unable to put it down. That was the just beginning.

Then came Fear Street, Goosebumps, and Stephen King. I went on to get an English degree and enjoyed applying literary theory to the occult (much to the chagrin of my college professors). And yes, my senior thesis was exactly what you think it was.

My first horror movie might have been the chest-burster scene from Spaceballs. I woke up mid-family vacation, disoriented, eyes on a glowing TV screen—so scared, then so confused as the alien went Vaudeville. It scared the shit out of me at the time, but the seed was planted.

So I combined it all. Literary theory, horror movies, and a deep compulsion to organize everything (the 'tism). This is a love letter to the genre and to the kids-turned-adults who were always viewed as the weirdos. Look at how popular horror is now, bitch.