Press for Be Scared of everything: horror essays
“Why are we scared? How is this thing scary? Is Hannibal Lecter actually sort of good for society?… Be Scared of Everything is almost like an open mic night on horror topics. It’s the kind of set that makes you silently nod without realizing it and laugh despite the bluntness of it. Deep down, you even know what being said makes sense.”— Ahlissa Eichhorn, Nightmare Library (Fangoria, vol. 2 #9)
“Part memoir, part criticism, Be Scared of Everything smartly asserts that our love of being terrified is certainly not to be taken lightly. Aliens, zombies, homicidal maniacs, man-eating sharks, haunted houses—they all help us unpack and explore who we are, where we’re at, and what we need to get through. Like voices summoned on a Ouija board, they give us what we’re subconsciously seeking, the answers we didn’t know we needed.” - Stacey May Fowles, Book Therapy: Peter Counter’s Be Scared of Everything (Open Book)
“Counter’s brilliant essay collection Be Scared of Everything is a poetic and deeply thoughtful exploration of all the ways that horror permeates our everyday life, in ways both mundane and profound.” - Alison Lang, Sinister Seven: Peter Counter Discusses Be Scared of Everything (Rue Morgue)
“The essays in Be Scared of Everything are the best body horror amalgam of criticism and biography.” - Andrew Hood, Review: Be Scared of Everything (The Bookshelf)
“Orwell wrote model essays: articulate without being overdone or impenetrable, and thoughtfully engaged with each subject so that the topic becomes interesting to any reader, even those who weren’t particularly invested at the start. That’s the kind of worthy writing I found here, in [Be Scared of Everything].” - Alex Boyd, Review: Be Scared of Everything by Peter Counter (BoydBlog)
“Be Scared of Everything is a comfy little hideout for fans of horror, sci-fi, the unsettling and the supernatural from prolific pop culture, tech writer, and media critic Peter Counter. A delightful trip into a safe space of nostalgia and vulnerability, it's like a guided tour back in time.” - Staff Picks 2020: Mara (Librairie Drawn & Quarterly)
“I must say I adored Be Scared of Everything a lot more than I expected. I was looking forward to essays about horror movies but got essays that have changed how I look at horror and have given me a language to discuss what the genre means to me. For that, I am enormously grateful. I'd recommend this to anyone who feels the pull to the dark.” - Juli Rahel, Review: Be Scared of Everything: Horror Essays by Peter Counter (A Universe in Words)
“Prepare for the zombie apocalypse with these loosely connected, memoirish essays that deconstruct contemporary horror culture, from classic movie monsters to the true-crime revival.” - Nathalie Atkinson, 78 of the Best Books to Give as Gits this Holiday Season (The Globe and Mail)