The Return of the Son of the Dog of Dreadful Thoughts
Penury? Ruin? Weeping and gnashing of rotten teeth? Corpses putrefying in the streets – their strewn entrails being slurped up like spaghetti by ravenous curs? Demented pedestrians cracking open each other's heads to feast on the goo inside? All now everyday sights and experiences. The miasma of recession is choking us and changing life utterly.
There is, however, a tonic for (and antidote to) this all-consuming darkness – namely: horror. Horror by the gore-filled bucketful. Generous slices of horror served in dread-stuffed baps. Horror dripping from the walls & ceilings. Horror in the wardrobe. Horror under the bed. Horror, lovely horror.
Surrounding ourselves with (and immersing ourselves in) horror will, I guarantee,1 free us from the crippling embrace of the recession succubus. Horror – it's the only sane choice.
And so, I find myself compelled (by forces mysterious) to channel lightning bolts of renewed enthusiasm into the comatose Dreadful Thoughts Story Club. We'll shock it from its deep slumbers and set it loose, once more, on a…er…fairly indifferent blogosphere. Hoorah!
Mewling babes, and other "adult" commitments, put paid to the club late last year, and pointed to the difficulty of gathering participants together online at a set/appointed time. Given that the dynamic created by "live" discussion was (for me) one of the best things about the "club", I recently toyed with the idea of using Twitter (or some such) to jazz things up and push the "live" side of things even more to the fore.
After consulting with a few of the club's regular "heads", however, I decided that a snappy, fast-paced commenting system just doesn't lend itself to involved and considered discussion of literature. People need time and space (if they need/want it) to think about their responses. In that spirit I've opted to slow things down instead of speeding (and funking) things up.
So what I propose is this. We pick a story. Go read it. I put up a post relating to it on a Monday and the discussion kicks off. We leave the discussion run till the following Monday, at which time I announce the story we'll be tackling for the next meeting. And on it goes.
Nothing spectacular or wildly exciting there I know! The reason this "open thread" approach didn't work the last time, I reckon, is because someone attempting to join in the morning after the "live" discussion would find 50-100 comments to wade through. Faced with that it was hard not to feel like the party was over and that you'd missed it. The week-long discussion approach should, in contrast, hopefully mean that the comments come slowly and steadily – making it easy to pop in and out as time permits.
So…I hereby announce what we'll be tackling for "Dreadful Thoughts Story Club 10".
Story: Arthur Machen's "The Inmost Light", (pdf), (HTML).
Discussion Opens: Monday, 23rd March @ 9 p.m. (and runs for seven full days).
Let me know what you think. And to anyone who missed out on the club's original run, I say this – "Please join us". I'll even give you a badge.
- Note: Not a guarantee. [back]
March 15, 2009
12 responses to The Return of the Son of the Dog of Dreadful Thoughts
Great new format – and, as previously discussed, I would very much like to join in.
I’m in too. Thanks for letting me know the club was up and running again
Ah, good call! It might lose the immediate fun of the instant to and fro response – but on the plus side, I won’t miss it altogether now
ahembabyphotosahem
Hurrah, glad to hear DT’s is reaching out from beyond the grave, Carrie-style. I’m in and will do a bit of twittering about it too.
The pdf, she does not print. Or is that just me?
Great to have y’all on board friends.
RE: the pdf – some pdfs (like the one above) are “locked” to prevent printing. You can easily find unlockers online that allow you to print ‘em – but another “unlocked” pdf version of the story can be found here.
http://www.feedbooks.com/book/1170.pdf
By the way, if anyone fancies investing in a Machen volume then I recommend The Three Impostors and Other Stories from Chaosium. “The Inmost Light” can be found within.
For pdf “unlocking” try this – http://tinyurl.com/czldes. You just drag ‘n’ drop them and bingo. Unlocked pdfs ready to print.
Nifty. Cheers.
More Dreadful Thoughts? Fear grips me like a rat-trap on the scrotum… (And I want one of those badges!)
This is a welcome return, and a great choice.
Doubtful,
Rat Trap? Scrotum? That’s precisely the effect I want DT to have. Resupply of badges is on order. Will dole ‘em out to the worthy once they arrive.
Niall,
Glad you approve, and approve. See ya next week.