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glider18
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21 Sep 2025, 3:44 pm

I am finally making the push to get an anthology of my horror short stories completed, edited, and published. I am currently undertaking the process of polishing them up while restructuring a few of them. I am interested in what my potential audience would like in horror stories. To analyze this, it is interesting to note all of the generations that could read them:
(born:). (% of US population in this group:)
Silent Generation 1928-1945 3% - 4.5%
Baby Boomers 1946-1964 20%
Generation X 1965-1980 20%
Millennials 1981-1996 22%
Generation Z 1997-2012 20% - 25%
Generation Alpha 2013-2025 13%

With such a small percentage of the Silent Generation remaining and the young age of Generation Alpha, my target audience seems to be the Baby Boomers through Generation Z. However, there is a wide discrepancy in the tastes of these generations over the course of the 66 year span of their births. While the Baby Boomers and Generation X population may appreciate the slow burns of Gothic Horror, Antiquarian Horror, and Weird Fiction (through the first half of the 20th Century), the Millennials and Generation Z folks may favor jump scares and faster paced fiction of more recent years.

Some of my favorite horror short stories include:
"The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe 1842
"The Haunted and the Haunters" by Edward Bulwer Lytton 1859
"Lost Hearts" M. R. James 1904
"Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" M. R. James 1904
"The Willows" Algernon Blackwood 1907
"Duel" by Richard Matheson 1971

What are some of your favorite horror short stories?
What generation are you?
What kind of horror short story would you like to read? (age and gender of protagonist, what kind of topic matter, etc.)


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RegentChangeling
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26 Sep 2025, 4:58 pm

Favourite short horror stories for me would be The Colour Out of Space, Call of Cthulhu, Render of the Veils and The Insects from Shaggai. All of these are cosmic horror, and that's squarely where I'd say my interests as a Gen Z reader and writer lie, though I am trying to branch out; following that my favourite protagonists are just...people, they get thrust into a weird or horrific situation wherein they fold or overcome it forever scarred by it.

Rewinding slightly, I've been told by my peers, very lovingly of course, that I write very archaically and that my stories would best be suited to being set in the 1800s or Middle Ages.

Best of luck with publishing!


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glider18
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27 Sep 2025, 6:57 pm

Thank you RegentChangeling for responding. Great stories you posted. Cosmic horror is a fascinating genre. One of my short stories, or should I say closer to a novelette, would be considered cosmic horror, psychological horror, and body horror. Your favorite protagonist type, being thrust into a horrific situation, is what that story of mine focuses on. The other ones are more in the gothic horror realm.


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"My journey has just begun."