Question

And this is a question, not a statement. Poul Anderson's output is immense. Does any of it count as horror? And what is horror fiction? It is a genre unto itself. At the same time, it can be fantasy, sf or neither. Horror can be generated by a ghost or a demon, by an alien or a robot or by a serial killer. But demons can also be treated routinely or even humorously without horror. Poul Anderson does this once or twice.

Being able to overlap with either fantasy or sf connects horror to superheroes, which has also spun off as a separate genre. Whenever sf characters exercise a power like telepathy or teleportation, they approach superheroes territory. And they are always potentially close to horror although sf usually does not go there.

Any episode of The X-Files could be fantasy, sf or neither which is quite an achievement for a TV series. TV is usually genre-specific. But what of Poul Anderson? This blog has often listed his genres but has not included horror. There is a horror element in Volume IV of Poul and Karen Anderson's The Last King Of Ys (Later: Title slightly wrong. See first comment.) when a character who has died returns to kill others and has to be exorcised.

Regular readers might suspect that this question has been prompted by rereading some graphic fantasy horror by Alan Moore. Most questions can be related back to Poul Anderson in one way or another although sometimes the question might seem peripheral.