Dark Winter #1: 15 and up? really?
Do you ever pick up a book, and...(if it's not in the horror or erotica section, where you expect it to have adult content)...are you surprised / shocked / repulsed at certain content that seems to go against the grain of what you previously read?
My first paranormal horror was aimed squarely at Young Adult / New Adult readers, but I felt that almost anyone could read it, though certain scenes could be thought through by parents to see if it was suitable for their children.
I don't necessarily set out to offend, and at its core, Dark Winter is a tale about survival against overwhelming odds, good versus evil, finding oneself is actually stronger than originally thought possible. These traits and theme are all positive ones, in my view.
So whilst I put a disclaimer that the book is not for the very youngest of readers, I was surprised to see the book rated as 15+ on some websites.
I do recall an issue of Fangoria that said that for horror film makers, anything less than an 18 rating would result in a smaller audience, not a larger one. But I don't know about that. The BBFC rated The Blair Witch Project only for people of fifteen years is one of, if not the highest grossing horror film ever. Made for a paltry $35,000 dollars, I believe it has taken over $600,000 at the box office. Small sum today, but back in 1998, very significant.
With the second Dark Winter book on its way, I'm of course hoping that those of you who read The Wicca Circle will want to read the next book in the trilogy, Crescent Moon. However, I would be the first to concede that this book does have 15+ rated content, and certain scenes could be considered even 18 rated.
However, I can promise you that it will be a good horror yarn, and that you will want to know how the series ends.
My question then - do you find certain ratings prohibitive, or would you be inclined to buy a book / see a film BECAUSE it had the higher, more adult rating?
If I were to answer this, I would say that as a teenager, I wanted to see the 18 rated films well before I was 18. Now, it kind of doesn't matter. But 12 and 15 rated films are certainly more violent now than when I was younger. Times are ever-a-changing.
Thank you for reading :)
