Horror fiction has long provided a way for people to grapple with the most consequential moments of human life. In Normative Lifecycle Milestones Examined Through Horror Fiction, Rebecca Gibson brings horror studies into conversation with anthropology, popular culture, and everyday life to examine how people navigate the pressures and expectations that accompany life's major transitions. Drawing on an impressive range of novels, films, and television, Gibson shows how horror illuminates the fears, tensions, and uncertainties that shape ordinary experience. Insightful, engaging, and consistently accessible, this book demonstrates the power of horror narratives to deepen our understanding of the human condition. This thoughtful and original work will resonate with readers in anthropology, popular culture studies, and horror studies, as well as anyone interested in the stories people tell to make sense of their lives.

Jay VanderVeen, Professor of Anthropology, Indiana University South Bend, USA

Normative Lifecycle Milestones Examined through Horror Fiction blends the social sciences and the humanities to take horror scholarship beyond traditional psychosexual readings, into the horrific ruptures of the mundane. Dr. Gibson's prose is both accessible and richly detailed, with examples that range from classics like Frankenstein to new favorites like Love, Death + Robots. This book is sure to haunt scholars and students of media, literature, anthropology, psychology, and sociology.

Liz W. Faber, author of Robot Suicide: Death, Identity, and Artificial Intelligence in Science Fiction