You can learn a lot about fear from someone who’s read more than 3,000 horror novels and still isn’t bored. For our Halloween hang on Posture and Purpose, we sit down with Jason Cavallaro, author of Cracking Spines, and we start exactly where you think we would: the pun. From there, the conversation opens up into a surprisingly practical guide to horror literature, reading motivation, and how to find books you’ll actually want to finish.

Jason walks us through what made him an “extreme reader,” how COVID gave him the space to turn a lifelong obsession into a real book, and why he organized Cracking Spines around horror subgenres instead of a single favorites list. If you’ve ever stood in a bookstore overwhelmed by choice, his approach is built for you: match your taste to a theme, a trope, or even your favorite movie, then follow that thread into horror book recommendations that fit your brain.

We also get into what horror really is (hint: it’s often just suspense with sharper edges), why people who claim they “hate horror” might love it in disguise, and how stories about zombies, ghosts, and killers keep circling back to human nature. Jason breaks down how he decides what deserves a recommendation, talks Splatterpunk and extreme horror without hand-waving, and shares a few standout titles like The Girl Next Door, I Am Legend, and Boy’s Life. We wrap with rapid-fire picks, where to find his book, and a final note on “circling the wagons” with the people who keep you grounded.

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