Horror lit lives again: Vampires, ghosts and zombies claw their way back in books

Scary monsters are coming out of the closet. And leaping off the pages. The oft-dismissed genre of horror fiction has been creeping into some unexpected places in the last few years: the book-review pages of major publications such as The New York Times; the shortlist for the esteemed Man Booker Prize; college syllabi; and the best-seller charts.