It was with great sadness I said ‘farewell’ to my very loyal group of Year 13 pupils who have supported the Psychotronic Book Club since their time in Year 9. We meet once every half-term to discuss a novel and Maddie, Freya, Emily, Esme, and Lucy have rarely missed a meeting. The remit of the club is to discuss weird, cult and often challenging fiction, however, since this group are all huge horror fans many of the titles we have discussed have been very dark indeed!
All five girls are heading to top universities, none of them have studied A-Level English, and are great examples in showing how reading for pleasure is fantastic for relaxation and taking a break from the more ‘serious’ business of studying for A-Levels. In fact, on the occasion we have read slightly more ‘academic’ title, such as Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ I faced cries of “overrated” and “can we do another horror novel please?”
Throughout the Covid lockdowns and beyond we kept ourselves busy by reading a lot of horror fiction and went out with a bang in our final meeting, in which we discussed Paul Tremblay’s excellent ‘A Head Full of Ghosts’ which everybody enjoyed. In our final meeting, each of the girls also produced a mini list of their favourite Psychotronic choices from the last five years. Here are their individual selections and rough age guide:
Emily
Iain Banks – The Wasp Factory (Year 10+)
Adam Nevill – Last Days (Year 10+)
Alison Rumfitt – Tell Me I’m Worthless (Sixth Form only)
Esme
Iain Banks – The Wasp Factory (Year 10+)
Gabriel Bergmoser – The Hunted (Year 10+)
AM Shine – The Watchers (Year 10+)
Freya
Jonathan Buckley – Starve Acre (Year 10+)
James R Gapinski – Edge of the Known Bus Line (Year 10+)
Stephen King – The Long Walk (Year 9+)
Lucy
Jonathan Buckley – Starve Acre (Year 10+)
Iain Reid – Foe (Year 10+)
Toby T Luff – Ration (Year 11+)
Maddie
James R Gapinski – Edge of the Known Bus Line (Year 10+)
Stephen King – The Long Walk (Year 9+)
Paul Tremblay – A Head Full of Ghosts (Year 10+)
Other popular novels read over the last five years not featured in the personal top threes included ‘This Thing Between Us’ (Gus Moreno), ‘The Ritual’ (Adam Nevill), ‘Bird Box’ (Josh Malerman), ‘When We Were Animals’ (Joshua Gaylord), ‘Angels are the Reapers’ (Joshua Gaylord), ‘Pet Semarary’ (Stephen King), and ‘The Running Man’ (also Stephen King). The most popular books were often those which made good use of ambiguity, tension, had controversial endings and had sympathetic characters which were put through the wringer!
We also discussed why they had been so loyal to the book club and was delighted with some of their comments, which debunk the idea that an age group, which is traditionally distracted from fiction, can still get considerable satisfaction from reading fiction.
Esme on reading horror and Psychotronic style novels: “It provides a nice break from work especially as I am not longer taking subjects that involve reading and means that I can keep a hobby going. I have always enjoyed reading and the Psychotronic Book Club is an opportunity to read different book that you may not always come across by yourself and discuss them. I also find that many books have overarching political or social messages, which makes the discussion part of the club interesting and eye opening.”
Freya on why horror is her favourite genre: “Horror is by far my favourite genre, in books, films and other media, for many reasons. Firstly, it is current. No genre has a better finger on the pulse of modern society and what preys most heavily on our minds, twisting economic recessions into bloodsucking vampires and pandemics into rotting zombies. It is also transgressive – horror does not shy away from what might disturb, shock, or offend common sensibilities. It dives into themes and ideas others might prefer to sweep under the rug or bury in their back gardens and brings them to the front of our minds. Finally, it is deeply human. Since the first humans walked the earth, we have told each other stories of what might lurk in the dark, just beyond our line of sight. Horror allows us to define what we fear and conquer it. This is why being part of Psychotronic Book Club and discovering such a wide range of diverse horror stories has been so enjoyable, and I hope the club continues to flourish.”
Maddie on being a member of Psychotronic: “When I joined the Psychotronic Book Club back in Year Nine, I hadn’t read that much horror, but did like Stephen King and horror movies. Over the five years I’ve been part of the club, I’ve really enjoyed coming to meetings (and not just because of the chocolate) and now think I’ve worked up a real appetite for horror. The description in horror books are always so much more detailed, in a way that makes you worry about the author’s mental state compared to other genres. What can I say, I like to be scared!”
The Psychotronic Book Club is one of Emanuel’s longest running clubs and has been going strong for well over fifteen years, beginning with JG Ballard’s ‘The Drowned World’ and Philip K Dick’s ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’. Now that our biggest horror fans are moving onto university, perhaps it is time for the club to read more science fiction?
Meanwhile, the club moves on, with us reading previous favourite ‘The Wasp Factory’ (Iain Banks) and ‘Angels are the Reapers’ (Joshua Gaylord). The latter will be our summer read and I hope current Year 9 pupils who will be moving into Year 9 will be keen to get their teeth into my favourite post-apocalyptic novel of all time. I guarantee tears will be shed at the end!
Copies of both ‘The Wasp Factory’ and ‘Angels are the Reapers’ are available from the library. I can be contacted should you require any further information about the age suitability of any of the books mentioned.
Mr. Jones, Senior Librarian
