While the fústar/Tuppenceworth crossover FIZZOO!1 slowly gathers momentum (quietly bubbling and fizzing away) I thought I'd fill an idle hour by launching another partially baked project.
Though I have, as regular visitors may be aware, a great affection for horror in all its many forms and guises (literary, cinematic, comic-booky, video-gamey etc) I only rarely find myself experiencing that delicious frisson of dreadful pleasure that the best horror can elicit.
That's not to say that I don't enjoy the "Boo!" factor of much mainstream (cinematic) horror. Sudden, unexpected jolts of shock and surprise are always fun…at least in this context. What the exact psychological mechanics of this "enjoyment" actually are is a (much-discussed) issue that need not detain us here. I've my own thoughts about why people part with their hard-earned mula to be terrified or (in the case of torture/body horror) disgusted but have no real desire to submit this phenomenon to prosaic (banal) analysis.
A feature of such (entertaining) "Boo!" horror is that feelings of fear/anxiety tend to fade quickly from memory when the credits roll (or with the break of day). While this is (on one level) comforting, I often find the speedy return to "normality" disappointing! I want to be freaked out, unnerved, shaken up, challenged (etc) and I want those feelings to last.
Lingering feelings of dread (and that's a key word in terms of the project) might not, on the face of it, seem all that desirable but they can be liberating and intoxicating (at least for me). Dread can, after all, bypass the rational mind and punch you where it hurts - in deeply-buried and (dodgy word this) "primal" fear centres. Being thus penetrated (ooer) can temporarily banish the burdens of the quotidian and give us glimpses of the sublime (with the end product possibly being the kind of "taken out of oneself" sensation people often associate with "feeling alive").
I could ramble on like this for hours but I'll cut to the chase. The simple aim of this little project (provisionally called "Dreadful Thoughts") is to get "us" reading and writing horror (since written horror is what's most capable of giving me the heebie-jeebies). This will work as follows…
1) Dreadful Thoughts Story Club: Once a week/fortnight (or whenever takes my fancy) a short horror story will be chosen (by me or a reader) for the club. Anyone who feels the urge can then go off and read it before returning here for friendly discussion, debate and dissection (preferably with the assistance of a glass of wine or two). I'll be putting up separate posts for this purpose and this is where all comments can go.
The one restriction (other than the focus being exclusively on short stories) is that the chosen tale must be available to read online in its entirety (ensuring that everyone can access it). Links to a few useful story archives can be found at the bottom of this post.2
2) The second part of the Dreadful Thoughts project is more demanding (and may over-burden those already struggling with FIZZOO! scripts). Given that horror benefits (in my opinion) from the limited space and tight restrictions of the short story form I thought it'd be fun to try and write our own. To make this doable and easily readable (for people with limited time on their hands) I suggest a 500 word limit on each story.
This might seem to limit the tales to mere vignettes or snapshots of horror but such severe restrictions can be advantageous - focusing the mind and forcing the narrative to be peeled back to its essentials. I'll (hopefully) kick this off next week with my own offering about a stain! That may, for good or ill, set the tone and kick-start some contributions from you dear readers. Go ahead. Scare me shitless.
As for the Dreadful Thoughts Story Club the first choice is (unsurprisingly) mine. My pick comes from the Poe-like pen of Munster's own Fitz-James O'Brien (1828-1862). Here it be:
1) "What Was it?" (pdf) (html) (Google Books)3
Off ye go now and do yer homework. We'll reconvene in a few days to pour over the story's bones.
Links:
Horror Masters
Update 04/02/08 - The Story Club shall meet around 8-ish this coming Wednesday to discuss "What Was it?". Hope that suits everyone.
P.S: The blog has received several nominations in the Irish Blog Awards long lists: Best Blog, Best Blog Post (x2), Most Humorous Post, Best Designed Blog, Best Arts & Culture Blog & Best Pop-Culture Blog. Greetings Earthlings got a couple of nods too. Many thanks to all who voted.
What a bloody great idea - count me in. Gave it plug over my way. Bring on the MR James!
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:15 pmPS I’m going to tell my comic book geek brother about FIZZOO!
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:16 pmI assume you’ve heard about the Pseudopod horror podcast… short stories read in their entirety…
http://pseudopod.org/
some of them are just plain creepy…
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:05 pmSinéad, Delighted that you like it and good to have you on board. Many thanks for the plug too - it’ll hopefully send some of the (non-comic) book geeks who hang around your place over to have a look! MR James is definitely on the list. No such project could possibly leave him out. You might suggest one of his for the next round once we get over Fitz James O’Brien?
Can your brother draw?! We’re a bit short on FIZZOO! artists.
Will, Pseudopod is a great place and a far more polished effort than that which I’m attempting here (hell, they even pay). This is more of a social/fun thing…in a “terrorise you to the depths of your soul” sort of way.
February 2nd, 2008 at 4:53 pmI hate and avoid horror films and find the focus on torture as entertainment in recent years suspicious in the extreme. After all, I can’t be the only person to think that the introduction of torture as official policy is likely to taint a culture’s subconscious. I’d prefer not to share in the imaginative pollution.
In contrast, I avoid even well written horror just because I don’t like being scared.
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:22 amSimon, I’m not a fan of the new wave of “torture horror” at all. I find much of the stuff I can be bothered to watch juvenile and tedious in the extreme, made by hacks with no feel for real horror.
The nastiness and frequent misogyny is pretty hard to take too. It all feels very teenage-y and cynical (not in a good way).
What a wuss!
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:44 pmThis is a great idea! Despite being a total wuss, I can’t resist good creepy stories, and I still secretly think that the best things I’ve ever written were a school-set ghost story and a (practically novella-length) vampire story. Not that either of those tales were exactly works of genius, mind. As for potential discussion stories, off the top of my head I recommend Elizabeth Gaskell’s fantastic The Old Nurse’s Story and Sheridan LeFanu’s Carmilla, both of which are freely available online.
February 3rd, 2008 at 5:40 pmStella, Nice to hear from you again and glad you like d’idea. If you could mangle the school-set ghost story down into comic book format it might fit the FIZZOO! bill very nicely.
LeFanu and Gaskell are 2 nice picks and are duly added to the list. Now away with you and read “What Was It?”.
Actually, something I neglected to mention/discuss in the post is how comfortable people find reading stories from a PC/Laptop (etc) screen. You can, I suppose, print them out but wouldn’t that help create a shameful (Godzilla-sized) carbon footprint?
Anyone have any tricks/tips that might make on-screen reading a more pleasant experience?
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:20 pmI’m a total wuss when it comes to horror; I can only read it with my eyes closed. So if I write one, it would come out like this.
fdkajffsa dk k asdkdsl f
It’s a great idea though. Perhaps you could alternate genres. Stretch yourself in SciFi, Fantasy, chicklit, crime, thriller, misery memoir, creative non-fiction, lad lit, children’s stories, pomes
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:41 pmIt’s shaping up nicely. What’s are rendezvous date?
February 4th, 2008 at 10:45 am“our” even. Jeez. Typing pre-caffeine is NOT good.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:46 amI’ll try and get a “story club” post up on Wednesday after work (I have no opportunity to blog during office hours…bah!).
So let’s gather here Weds Eve (around 7/8 pm) to chew over “What Was it?”.
See y’all then.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:28 pmBetter make it 8-ish actually. Takes me ages to get back from work these busy college days.
Come one come all…and be forever DAMNED!! (i.e. have a nice chat)
February 4th, 2008 at 11:50 pmEmerging,
We’ll try and get some horror under our belts first, I think, before attempting anything else. I’ve still got that bloody comic to do too!
I’m sure you’ll find, if you scrutinise it closely, that the above is part of a cryptic language being channelled through you by some Lovecraftian god or other. I’m not sure my nerves would stand reading the translation.
Thanks for the kind words by the way and welcome on board (if you can o’ercome your fear).
February 5th, 2008 at 12:25 am