Scared Sh*tless Reading Challenge

Do you get a sick pleasure out of things that go bump in the night? When you read a scary story, do you turn the lights down as far as you can and read by candlelight with a blanket over your head? Do you wait until nighttime to break out those macabre tales? Does the month of October make you giddy?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you're ready for Bites' Scared Sh*tless Reading Challenge! What is the Scared Sh*itless Reading Challenge you ask? Well that's simple! When you sign up for the Scared Sh*tless Reading Challenge, you're vowing to read something, or many somethings, horrifying during the month of October (and this does not include Sarah Palin's autobiography).

First, let us define horror -

an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear: to shrink back from a mutilated corpse in horror.

A rather simple definition, don't you think? Well, let me expound on that just a little further. Just because there are vampires in a novel doesn't make it horror. Just because there are zombies in a novel doesn't make it horror. Generation Dead: not horror. Vampire Academy: not horror. Fear Street: horror. The Devouring: horror. Anything by Christopher Pike: horror. I'm talking about the real fear-inducing stuff. Not the kind that makes you go, "OMG he's so hooooooooot!" Those books are misclassified for no other reason than because someone hasn't created a new genre yet and feels the need to ruin real horror for the rest of us.

For this reading challenge, the horror isn't watered down. Vampires are something to fear. Zombies are something to run from. Ghosts scare the shit out of you. Get my drift? I mean, what's Halloween if all that's involved is a simpering emo pussy of a vampire? Puhlease.

So if this sounds like your bag, then sign up in the comments below. Apparently a free Mr. Linky account doesn't allow you to have two active widgets and since my Ban This! linky is still running, this one's going to have to be relegated to the comments section. So have at it. And don't forget to grab the button on the left and let everyone know just how scared shitless you'll be in October.