A Guide to the Tags

Diversity Tags

The following is a list of tags that I use for my reviews, along with a few explanations of the tags. Please note that due to BlogSpot's character restriction on tags, I'm not always able to apply all applicable tags to a post.

Books with American Indian and Indigenous Characters

All Books with American Indian and Indigenous characters
All Books with Arctic and Subartic Native Nation Characters
All Books with California Native Nations Characters
All Books with Great Basin Native Nations Characters
All Books with Northeast Native Nations Characters
     - Mohawk Characters
All Books with Pacific Northwest Coast Native Nations Characters
All Books with Plains Native Nations Characters
     - Blackfoot Characters
All Books with Plateau Native Nations Characters
All Books with Southeast Native Nations Characters
     - Choctaw Characters
All Books with Southwest Native Nations Characters
All Books with Indigenous Mesoamericans Characters
All Books with Indigenous Mexicans Characters
All Books with Indigenous Aridoamerica Characters
All Books with Indigenous Central American Characters
All Books with Indigenous South American Characters


Books with POC (People of Color) 
All Books with POC characters
All Books with Asian Characters
- Asian American Characters
The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier
- Asian New Zealander Characters
- East Asian Characters
     - Chinese Characters
     - Japanese Characters
     - Korean Characters
- South Asian Characters
     - Indian Characters 
     - Bangladeshi Characters
-Southeast Asian Characters

All Books with Black characters
- African Characters
- African American Characters
- Indigenous Australian Characters
- Caribbean Characters

All books with Hispanic and/or Latinx characters
- Chicano/Mexican American Characters
- Ecuadorian Characters
- Indigenous Mexican Characters
- Mexican Characters
- Puerto Rican Characters
- Spanish Characters

All books with MENA (Middle Eastern, North African) and/or Arab characters

All Books with Pacific Islander/Indigenous Polynesian characters
- Hawaiian Characters
- Maori Characters

Books with Disability Books Characters
All books with characters who have a disability
- All Books with Characters with Addiction
- All Books with Characters on the Autism Spectrum
- All Books with Characters with a Chronic Illness
- All Books with Characters with a Cognitive/Learning Disability*
- All Books with Characters with a Hearing Impairment
- All Books with Characters with an Intellectual Disability
- All Books with Characters with Mental Illness
- All Books with Characters with a Physical Disability and/or Mobility Impairment
- All Books with Characters with PTSD
- All Books with Characters with a Speech Disorders
- All Books with Characters with a Vision Impairment
*I'm including ADHD in here even though it's not technically a learning disability

Books with LGBTQIA (Queer) Characters
All Books With Queer Characters
- All Books with Asexual Characters
- All Books with Bisexual, Polysexual, and/or Pansexual Characters
- All Books with Gay Characters
- All Books with Intersex Characters
- All Books with Lesbian Characters
- All Books with Non-Binary Characters
- All Books with Trans Characters

Genre Tags
Anthology - A collection of short stories with different plots and characters that may share a common thematic element. Horror anthologies frequently feature horror stories from different genres and are therefore rarely labeled with genre tags.

Apocalypse/Disaster - This genre focuses on horror and destruction on a large scale. Disaster can include viral outbreaks, zombies, alien invasions, kaiju attacks, or natural disasters (i.e. flood, earthquake, tornado). Worldwide disasters that wipe out a majority of the human population can result in an Apocalypse situation.

Blood & Guts - Also know as splatterpunk, video nasties (in the case of films), or gorn (a portmanteau of gore and porn), this genre focuses on being shocking, disgusting, intense, and over the top, a revolt against more traditional "suggestive" horror. It is frequently presented as unrealistic, sometimes to the point of being humorous. Works in this genre that are intended for mature audiences will often contain extreme, graphic, gratuitous violence. If it's aimed at a younger audience, than the focus will be on blood and guts rather than on violence (which is either glossed over or omitted entirely). If you have problems with violence and gore, make sure to check out the content warnings listed in the review.

Body Horror - Horror derived from the graphic destruction or degeneration of the body from disease, decay, mutation, mutilation, parasites, or supernatural forces. Frequently the result of a science experiment gone wrong. Even though body horror usually focuses on impossible situations, such mutating into a human-fly hybrid, or turning into a puddle of goo, it's focus on the fear of parasites, injury, disfigurement, and losing control over your own body can sometimes overlap with some very ableist attitudes.

Comedy Horror - Combines elements of comedy and horror. Comedy Horror mostly appeals to people with a dark sense of humor, and often overlaps with black comedy, which makes light of serious and/or taboo topics, such as death. It can also poke fun at the various clichés and tropes frequently found in the horror genre.

Dark Fantasy - Horror set in an imaginary universe that contains magic and/or magical creatures. The term is sometimes used as an alterative to supernatural horror, as horror is commonly associated with more visceral works, or to describe a story told from the monster's point of view.

Demon - A supernatural, often malevolent entity that can posses humans (and sometimes animals or inanimate objects) and/or torment souls that were sinful in life. Demons are found all over the world, across cultures, and come in many forms. A spiritual practice known as an exorcism can be employed to remove a demon from a person or place. Although some demons are spirits, they are not the same as ghosts, since ghosts are deceased human souls, while demons are non-human. Stories about demons can overlap with myths and folklore, and the occult.

Ghosts/Haunting - A ghost is the soul of a dead person (or infrequently, an animal), that can be sensed by living people. Ghosts are frequently unwilling or unable to move on the afterlife or rest peacefully. Like demons, stories of ghosts are found all over the world in many different cultures. While some spirits are vengeful and malicious, and can cause illness and suffering in the living, others can be friendly or benevolent, such as the spirits of deceased ancestors. Several cultures perform ritual feedings or make offerings to ghosts (usually their ancestors) to keep them pacified. Examples of this would be the Chinese Ghost Festival, the Mexican Day of the Dead, the Catholic All Soul's Day, and Nepali Gai Jatra. Areas where a ghost or ghosts frequent are considered to be haunted.

Gothic Horror - A style of Romanticism characterized by mystery, horror, and the supernatural that first rose to popularity 18th century. Usually takes place in a gloomy, decrepit setting with a dark history. The name Gothic refers to the Gothic style of architecture frequently featured in this genre.

Historic Horror - Horror set 70 years, or more, in the past. Although it may have fantastical elements, or even an alternate timeline, it's set in our world.

Killer/Slasher - A staple of horror fiction where a killer, either supernatural or human, kills a group of people (often teenagers) in a remote, or isolated area. Slashers generally prefer blades over firearms, are frequently motivated by revenge, and are able to survive situations that would kill most humans. In the thriller genre, the killer is more often a serial killer and/or criminal mastermind who's evading capture from law enforcement.

Monster - Any fictional creatures that don't fall under the category of Vampire, Werewolf, Zombie, or Demon. In horror, monsters are usually, but not always, malicious and/or dangerous to humans. If they're not, expect some sort of moral about how "humans are the real monsters," or not judging others by appearance. Monsters can be supernatural or the result of a science experiment gone wrong. Famous horror monsters include Godzilla, Frankenstein, Mummies, the Gill-Man, and Cthulu.

Mystery - A mysterious murder, or other puzzling crime to be solved. May involve supernatural elements. Often overlaps with thrillers.

Myth and Folklore - Stories that contain culturally significant beings, creatures, or elements from traditional beliefs, customs, and myths.

Occult - Literally "Hidden knowledge" of the paranormal (as opposed to measurable knowledge like science). In Horror, this knowledge is usually hidden for a good reason, and it's misuse can summon eldritch abominations or bring about the end of the world. The spiritual practice of Occultism that exists in the real world is very different from its fictional counterpart, which is closer to "dark magic" and generally has more negative connotations.

Psychological Horror - This genre uses common psychological and emotional fears to create horror. There is frequently (but not always) a lot less blood and violence than other works in the horror genre, as most of the focus is put on building suspense, creating an unsettling atmosphere, and the psychological state of the characters. Frequently overlaps with the mystery and thriller genres. Mental Illness and gaslighting are common in Psychological horror.

Romance Horror - Horror that contains romantic elements. Frequently features lovers from different species (example: werewolf/vampire, human/ghost) and/or a couple trying to survive a terrible situation. If love doesn't save the day, expect a tragic ending. Note, Supernatural Romance isn't the same as Romance Horror (although there is overlap), as the former usually isn't intended to invoke fear or dread.

Sci-Fi Horror - A type of speculative fiction that focuses on topics involving advanced science and technology, space travel, and extraterrestrial life. Sci-Fi horror focuses on these same topics, except the science experiments have all gone horribly wrong, technology has turned on the humanity, outer space is full of evil cosmic entities, and the aliens want to eat you and lay eggs in your face. Expect some sort of moral about humanity's hubris for trying to play god. Another type of Sci-Fi Horror focus on the "science" behind zombies, vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is considered one of the first Sci-Fi Horror stories.

Thriller - While there's a lot of overlap between the horror and thriller genres, the latter relies more on suspense, tension, plot, and psychological fear to give the audience an adrenaline rush. Common thriller elements include, fast pacing, mysteries, crime, and a powerful villain and/or dangerous situation from which escape seems impossible. Thrillers are less likely to have supernatural elements than horror.

Vampire - Nocturnal beings from folklore that sustain themselves by ingesting the blood of the living, and are usually undead. Vampires legends exist around the world. They can be humans that have been turned by a vampire's bite, corpses possessed by evil spirits or reanimated by magic, those who met untimely deaths (i.e. death during childbirth, suicide, execution, etc.), deceased witches, or monsters that merely resemble humans. Some even appear as beautiful women who seduce men so they can drink their blood. In modern, western fiction, vampires are frequently depicted as attractive, charismatic villains with magical abilities, such as shape shifting, super strength, and psychic powers.

Werebeast - A human with the ability to change into an animal, or animal-like form (therianthropy). Some werebeasts can transform at will, while others are forced to change (such as werewolves during the full moon).These myths are found all around the world, but the most widely know are the werewolves of European legend. Lycanthropy (werewolvism) is usually the result of an infection from another werewolf via a bite or scratch, though some werewolves use a wolf pelt or supernatural powers to change at will. Werecats are also common in stories, appearing in African, Asian, and the American legends. Causes of Ailuranthropy (werecatism) are even more varied, and can arise from the use of magic, a curse, divine parentage, wearing a cat's pelt, sheer willpower, or being scratched by a sphinx.

Zombie - A mindless, re-animated human corpse (or more commonly, corpses since they usually move in hoards) that has lost it's sense of self-awareness and identity. Zombies are generally driven primarily by a hunger for human flesh and brains. Causes of Zombification can include magic, "zombie powder", space radiation, parasitic fungus, or a viral infection spread through infected blood and bodily fluids. Zombies frequently appear in apocalyptic fiction.


Age Group Tags

 Children - A book aimed at children ages 8 to 12. Usually told from the perspective of a young protagonist. Suitable for kids who likes scary stuff. Usually has limited violence (though blood and skeletons may still appear) and little to no sexual content.

Young Adult - Books aimed at teenagers. May also be suitable for older, more mature children. Is usually told from the perspective of a teenage protagonist. Often has coming-of-age type conflicts and realizations. May, or may not, contain drug use/abuse sexual content, sexual abuse/assault, swearing, and moderate violence.

Adult - Books targeted at adults. Though it may also be suitable for older/more mature teens. Generally not kid friendly, either due to language or content. Is usually told from the perspective of an adult protagonist. May contain explicit sexual content, explicit sexual violence, extreme violence, etc.