Circulating Ideas - 25 August 2021
Circulating Ideas facilitates conversations with the innovative people and ideas inspiring libraries to grow and thrive in the 21st century. This newsletter dives deeper into those conversations.
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Many library workers are familiar with Becky Spratford, creator of the RA for All blog, due to her enthusiasm for professional readers' advisory training and her promotion of diversity and inclusion in all aspects of library work. If they haven't had the pleasure of working with Becky as a consultant, perhaps they are fans of her RA articles and book reviews of the latest and greatest for Booklist, NoveList, and Library Journal. But those who have followed Becky for years know that her roots in reading lie firmly in scary territory: she is the go-to librarian when it comes to all things horror. Becky was the first Librarian Guest of Honor at the Horror Writers Association’s StokerCon. And now, she runs Librarians’ Day for the conference, supervises the HWA "Summer Scares" programming; and has been on the Stoker Award Jury for Best First Novel for several years.
Her book, The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror, is now in its third edition, no small feat. As she notes on her second blog, RA for All: Horror (that's right, her popular blog has a creepy twin they keep locked under the stairs), she had so much content for the updated edition that she had to move some of it online. Incredibly, for every horror subgenre in the book, she was able to offer an astounding 20 annotated book suggestions. A dozen appear in the print edition, and she has created an online archive for the rest. When I saw that update on her blog, I knew that was pretty much a perfect encapsulation of Becky, her personality, and her generosity: she gets so excited about books and authors; she cannot wait to share her knowledge about them; and she wants everyone to have the resources they need to share.
Whether they are already a fan of the horror genre or they need to know more about it in order to beef up their RA skills, library workers need to get their hands on the latest edition of Becky's book.
Rebecca Vnuk, Executive Director, LibraryReads
Episode 206
Circulating Ideas 206: Becky Spratford — circulatingideas.com
In the new episode, I chatted with Becky Spratford, author of The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror, about RA for All's origin story, why people read scary books, the importance of promoting diversity in the horror genre, and which book I should read next to scare the bejesus out of me.
As often as possible, I try to provide a transcript for each episode. A new app I've been using has been a big help with this (story for another time).
The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror, Third Edition | ALA Store — www.alastore.ala.org
Order your copy of the new third edition now! Covering the latest in monsters and the macabre, horror expert Spratford's resource is ideal as both an introductory guide for novices and a fount of new ideas for horror-aware reference staff.
RA for All — raforall.blogspot.com
Becky's main home on the web, the blog that started it all.
RA for All: Horror — raforallhorror.blogspot.com
RA for All's evil twin, the blog with the goatee so you know they're the evil one!
Also the online home of The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror.
RA for All: Horror: Summer Scares FAQ and Resources — raforallhorror.blogspot.com
Summer Scares is the summer reading program that's not full of rainbows and cutesy animals!
LibraryReads - Top 10 Books Nominated by Librarians LibraryReads is a list of the top ten books published this month that librarians across the country love, along with reviews from the librarians.
crook's corner book prize – book prize — crookscornerbookprize.com
In the podcast, Becky mentions this award given to a debut writer whose work is about the American South.
The Bram Stoker Awards — www.thebramstokerawards.com
The premier literary awards in the field of horror, given by the Horror Writers of America!
Ladies of Horror Fiction — www.ladiesofhorrorfiction.com
Ladies of Horror Fiction was created to bring about a multi-dimensional way to support all women (cis and trans) and non-binary femmes who either write in the horror genre or review in it.
These awards have been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.
Tor Nightfire — tornightfire.com
The new horror imprint from Tor!
Books Becky Recommends
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Devil’s Creek by Todd Keisling
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
The Last House on Needless Street by Katrina Ward * this is the book that Becky's having me read to scare me - I will report back
Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay
Podcasts Becky Recommends
PseudoPod - the Sound of Horror
NIGHTLIGHT - a Black Horror Podcast
More about Becky Spratford
LJ Talks to Becky Spratford, Author of ‘The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror’ — www.libraryjournal.com
In advance of the new book, Becky talked with Library Journal about writing the third edition of ‘The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror’ and the changes to the genre since she wrote the second edition.
Readers’ Advisory Secrets — A Conversation with Becky Spratford — publiclibrariesonline.org
In 2017, Becky was interviewed by the fine folks at Public Libraries Online about all things readers advisory.
Women in Horror Month Interview: Becky Spratford - Cemetery Dance Online — www.cemeterydance.com
Cemetery Dance Publications interviewed Becky as part of their Women in Horror Month!
Check It Out: Becky Spratford, Readers’ Advisor, MLIS — celadonbooks.com
Celadon books talked with Becky Spratford on independent bookstores, a parallel-universe Nobel laureate, and finding the books you love.
Becky Spratford (@RAforAll) | Twitter — twitter.com
The latest Tweets from Becky Spratford (@RAforAll). Matching books with readers thru the public library esp. #HorrorForLibraries.
Recirculated
Becky is my most frequent guest on the show, with the new appearance being her 7th time on!
CI177: PLA 2020 — circulatingideas.com
Just before the pandemic, Becky and I met up in Nashville at the PLA conference for a chat.
CI161: Grady Hendrix and Becky Spratford — circulatingideas.com
Becky hooked me up with bestselling horror author Grady Hendrix, and the three of us chatted about how Grady grew up with libraries, the legitimacy of genre fiction, lessons learned from Stephen King, and the Summer Scares program.
CI120: Becky Spratford – Circulating Ideas — circulatingideas.com
In this episode, we chatted about getting respect for reviews of genre titles, her upcoming work in IndiePicks magazine (RIP), and how to do readers' advisory in genres you don't personally enjoy or understand (also, Carrie vs. Pennywise??).
CI111.2 ALA Annual 2017, Day 2 — circulatingideas.com
At the 2017 American Library Association Annual. Conference in Chicago, I did daily episodes of the show (why? glutton for punishment?). Becky and I chatted on Day 2.
CI53: Becky Spratford — circulatingideas.com
This is the first time Becky got an episode to herself, recorded at the Illinois Library Association annual conference (which she invited me to!).
CI20: Best Books of 2012 (Part One) — circulatingideas.com
The first time I met Becky! She was referred to me (I think by Leah White?) as an expert on horror when I was putting together an episode about the Best Books of 2012. Putting together those Best Books episodes ended up being a ton of work, so I haven't really done it since, but may be worth revisiting...? 🤔
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I have tried the New Coca-Cola Zero Sugar (known in these here parts as... Coke Zero). It says on the can "NOW More Delicious" and lying, they are not. Readers, I have a new favorite soda.
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Mmmm, Coke Zero... 😋
