The science
Recreational fear research — Scrivner, Clasen, and the amygdala-to-credits arc — explains why safe, voluntary fear can feel like an off switch for a nervous system that already runs hot.
A book in progress
The Shape of Fear
For a meaningful number of neurodivergent people — autistic, ADHD, anxious, and otherwise wired differently — horror film does not raise anxiety. It lowers it. It takes shapeless dread and gives it a beginning, a runtime, and an ending.
The testimony
Original interviews and a structured survey with neurodivergent horror fans. This is the book's qualitative core, and the data no existing title has.
The theory
Clover asked who the audience identifies with, and why. This book asks the same question about neurotype instead of gender.
Titles still in the dark
Nothing is finalized. The public-facing project labels everything a working title until testing with readers, an agent, or an editor produces something stronger.
- Horror as Regulation
- The Calm in the Dark: Why Horror Films Regulate the Neurodivergent Mind
- Safe Scary: Horror, Fear, and the Neurodivergent Brain
- Final Girl, Calm Mind: What Horror Does for Brains Like Mine
Ted Rubin
Concert and theatrical production design, previsualization, and fabrication — plus independent website, SEO, and book-influencer outreach across BookTok, Bookstagram, BookTube, and Bluesky. A second nonfiction project, Saving the Unsavable, is underway on film restoration. Lives in Lillington, North Carolina.
Shelf
Adult nonfiction · 75–85k words · 10 chapters · 12 months from contract