Twilight Zone

Book snobs are one the worst kind of intellectual bully, and I loathe bullies - intensely.

A group of people stood in my beloved and cherished Children’s Department recently, moaning about the Twilight series, and all my lovely teen Horror books. They tossed around terms like derivative, cliched, and trite, then sneered and mocked the ‘sort of people who read this drivel’. And they did it loudly. Dracula and Frankenstein are both horror books – I wanted to argue - just two of many that are part of our canon of classic literature, so why then do you think it fair game to deride and dismiss the horror genre?

I didn't. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. As hey continued, I wanted to pound their faces to a bloody pulp, and had a wonderful Walter Mitty moment – via Van Damme and Segal - of doing just that. Then one swore and the moment was gone. Sadly, we have security cameras, so all I could do was summon up my most harsh, displeased stare and tell them to tone down the language. They left.

What is worst of all - they were all in their thirties and forties.

Sad – isn’t it?