There has never been a time as good as the present for horror, science fiction, and fantasy literature in Brazil. Foreign authors like JRR Tolkien and George R.R. Martin are gaining success, and Brazilian authors specializing in genre themes proliferate. This type of literature remains a niche although, as the writer Robeto Causo explains, horror literature, for example, has a long tradition in Brazil.

“R. F. Lucchetti, immensely prolific, is published since the 1940s and has also acted in the area of horror comics and has been the scriptwriter of many films by the recently deceased filmmaker José Mojica Marins, “Zé do Caixão” (Coffin Joe, in the United States and Europe), and by Ivan Cardoso, known for promoting the fusion of horror and comedy in his films, the ‘Terrir’ [joining terror, or horror, with rir, or laugh],” says Causo, adding that famous authors of Brazilian literature such as Machado de Assis or Lygia Fagundes Telles have also written horror tales—some were re-edited in the book Contos Clássicos de Terror [Classic Tales of Terror] (2018) and in Academia Sobrenatural Brasileira de Letras [Brazilian Supernatural Academy of Letters] (2019).

There are many reasons: From the Brazilian literary tradition, through prejudice against national authors and the genres in itself to the Brazilian people’s lack of habit of effectively reading and rampant illiteracy rates. Also, there are few publishers specialized in fantastic, science fiction and horror literature in Brazil, such as DarkSide, Estronho, Draco and Lendari (the last two publishing exclusively Brazilian authors) and, often, bigger publishing houses give preference to foreign authors.

Full article at Tor’s website. Date of publication: 01/05/2020.