Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Reestablishment of Order as the Restoration of Faith

Copyright 2009 by Gary L. Pullman

Horror fiction often establishes a norm that it then violates. In Stephen King‘s fiction, the norm is usually everyday life as it transpires in small-town America. After setting the stage, often literally before the readers’ eyes, by having them follow a character on his or her way about town, delivering newspapers, jogging, or going about some other, ordinary, everyday task, and introducing them to several characters, King, at some point, upsets the applecart of everydayness by letting not the cat, but the monster, out of the bag. The ordinary laws of the universe no longer apply. At least, they don’t seem to apply.

When something spectacular enough to void the laws of nature occurs, readers may (and do) expect it to explain itself or, rather, they expect the protagonist to find the answers to the conundrum that the abrupt arrival of the uncanny represents. In fact, that’s the formula for much contemporary horror fiction, as I pointed out in a previous post:

1. All is well.
2. Something strange happens.
3. The protagonist learns the cause of the strange event (or series of events).
4. The protagonist uses his or her new-found knowledge to put things right again.

I also argued, as have others, that horror fiction is basically a conservative genre, because it is generally concerned with routing or destroying the monster and reestablishing order. However, in this post, as a sort of follow-up to the one in which I discuss the horror plot formula (“Horror Story Formulae”) and the one in which I talk about the loss of security in the face of evil and death (“Taking Away the Teddy Bear”), I would like to suggest, further, that the reestablishment of order renews readers’ sense of security, hope, and faith in the possibility of experiencing meaning in regard to their lives. Obviously, if the world makes no sense, if it is chaotic and capricious, nothing matters, and there is no hope of accomplishing anything that really counts.

Things that don’t fit the big picture (the model of reality that human beings have pieced together over millennia and continue to piece together in each new generation and age) threaten our security as a species, a nation, a community, or a family. The wholesale death that accompanied the spread of the bubonic plague during the Middle Ages threatened nations’ security, because the Black Death did not fit the picture of a world governed by a loving, all-powerful God. The Holocaust threatened the Jews’ security because the wholesale slaughter of their people did not fit with their understanding of themselves as God’s “chosen people.” A serial killer or a serial rapist threatens a community’s sense of security because a whole series of deaths or rapes in one’s own neighborhood suggests that the local police force is unable to protect the public; therefore, potentially anyone, male or female, is at risk of murder and any woman is at risk of being sexually assaulted. Extramarital affairs, among other things, threaten a family’s security because such behavior can destroy the family’s trust and psychological welfare.

Scientists supposedly revise their models of the universe, or nature, when discoveries warrant such revisions, replacing, for example, Newton’s theory of physics with Einstein’s theory of the same and foregoing Lamarckian evolutionary theory in favor of the Darwinian theory of evolution. By changing the big picture, scientists keep their understanding of the universe current with their discoveries of new facts. In theory, at least, and ideally, this is how scientists are said to work.

Scientists have faith that the universe is orderly, even if their own knowledge and understanding of this order is imperfect and changeable. It is, in fact, upon this bedrock of assumed certainty, of faith, that the scientific enterprise itself is based, for, without such assumed certainty with regard to the universe as orderly, no possibility of obtaining true and certain knowledge at any point would be possible. That doesn’t mean that one’s big picture is perfect; it will need correction from time to time.

The concept of the supernatural versus that of the paranormal clarifies such “paradigm shifts,” as the adaptations of scientific views concerning the universe have been called. At one time, ghosts, werewolves, zombies, and such were believed to be spiritual entities or monstrosities empowered by supernatural entities--beings beyond nature and outside the universe. Today, scientists, when they accept the notion that such phenomena exist at all (and many do not), consider them to be natural forces or entities which are, as yet, not understood, but which are, nevertheless, as natural, rather than supernatural, phenomena, understandable by science in principle.

Individuals have a harder time making such adjustments to their own big pictures. Often, the information they base their decisions--and, indeed, their very lives--on is fragmented, erroneous, partial, or untested. It is more a matter of faith and tradition, of custom and wishful thinking, than it is a matter of knowledge. It is disconnected and idiosyncratic. When new information or experiences challenge individual world views (if, indeed, such a lofty term can be applied to individuals’ often half-baked Weltanschauungs), individuals have trouble adjusting their thinking and adapting their beliefs so as to accommodate such challenges.

Some monsters challenge the world (the Martians in The War of the Worlds); others, nations Godzilla); and still others, communities (King Kong) or families (Cujo). Those that threaten the world or a nation challenge humanity on a global or national level; the others challenge humanity on a communal or familial level. In other worlds, the Martians in H. G. Wells’ novel challenge the security of a species which considers itself God’s gift to the universe, the “crown of creation” itself. If other intelligent life exists, human beings are not unique or even all that special--especially if the extraterrestrial species is technologically superior to the Earthlings whom they seek to conquer.

Human beings tend to congregate, to form cliques, families, communities, nations, and international alliances, mostly to increase their own chances for survival and to protect their group against others. A force that is not powerful enough to destroy the planet may be strong enough to destroy a nation, as the United States appeared to be, during World War II, when it dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. If the building of a nation, over a period of centuries, if not millennia, is no guarantee of safety or survival, nations have a right to tremble, as Japan does, in the shadow of the radioactive Godzilla.

Communities are based upon commonly shared characteristics (geographical location, if nothing else), common interests (the church, for example), or both. Depending upon the strength of the ties that bind such groups together, a community can withstand quite a challenge. New Orleans is regrouping after Hurricane Katrina, and the church has survived a variety of threats, internal and external, throughout much of the world, for thousands of years. However, a resurgence of the primitive, or primordial and instinctive drives that are normally repressed in the interest of the common good, can be potent enough to threaten a community, as King Kong, an embodiment of the primeval and bestial within human beings, almost succeeds in doing.

Likewise, a moral threat, such as adultery, symbolized by the attack of the rabid Saint Bernard in Cujo, or alcoholism and child abuse, the demons that haunt Jack Torrance in The Shining, can destroy one’s family.

There are plenty of threats, on every level of society and civilization, from peer pressure to nuclear annihilation. Security, which depends upon order, social, political, economic, cultural, psychological, moral, and otherwise, is subject to assault at any moment, and, indeed, it is under almost continuous attack. Whether one anchors his or her faith in God, in the human mind, in cultural and social traditions, in law, in parental love, or in some other seabed, sea serpents are apt to threaten such faith and to seek to overturn, or even to destroy, the order it tends to engender and to sustain.

Monsters shake up the big pictures that human beings piece together, on the individual, the familial, the communal, the national, and the global level. In doing so, as painful and as horrible as such “attacks” can be, the monsters do humanity a service. They expose the chinks in the armor of the individual, the familial, the communal, the national, or the international world views which, individually and collectively, comprise the beliefs, understandings, and values of humanity.

Like pain that alerts a person to a health problem, monsters alert people to moral, philosophical, theological, social, cultural, political, economic, or other problems that need to be addressed (or vanquished). If the monster doesn’t kill one (and, more often than not, it doesn’t kill the whole herd), it makes one stronger. By pointing out weaknesses in individual or communal beliefs, knowledge, or values, monsters help us to overcome them and, in the process, to transform fallacies, ignorance, and false values into the real deal, strengthening the bases of security upon which men and women build lives and societies of order, purpose, and significance, for the reestablishment of order which follows the vanquishing of the monster is a restoration of the faith which gives a sense of security to human beings who live in a dangerous world in an uncertain universe.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Formula for the Haunted House Tale

Copyright 2009 by Gary L. Pullman

As an adjunct to my "How to Haunt a House" series, I am adding this summary of the formula for the haunted house tale that Dale Bailey offers in American Nightmares: The Haunted House Formula in American Popular Fiction. Setting: a house 1. with an unsavory history 2. with an aristocratic name 3. disturbed by supernatural events unusually unrelated to human ghosts Characters: 1. a middle-class family or family surrogate, skeptical of the supernatural, who move into the house 2. knowledgeable helpers who believe in the supernatural 3. an oracular observer who warns of danger Plot: dual structure: 1. an escalating series of supernatural events which isolates the family physically and psychologically 2. the discovery of provenance for those events climax:

a. the escape of the family and the destruction of the house
or
a. the escape of the family and the continued existence of the house b. a twist ending that establishes the recurring nature of evil
Themes: 1. class and gender conflict 2. economic hardship 3. consequence of the past (especially unpunished crimes) 4. Manichean clash of good and evil 5. clash of scientific and supernatural world views 6. cyclical nature of evil Source: Bailey, Dale. American Nightmares: The Haunted House Formula in American Popular Fiction. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1999. Print.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Eighteen Things I Learned By Watching BtVS

Copyright 2009 by Gary L. Pullman

Some of these points I’d already learned, but I was reminded of them by watching BtVS; others were new lessons that I learned by watching BtVS.

1. Have characters make a grand entrance.

On his first arrival in Sunnydale, in “School Hard,” the vampire Spike runs his car (the windows and windshield of which are covered with black plastic to keep out sunlight) over a curb and knocks down a traffic sign. In “Hell’s Belles,” when one of Anyanka’s victims pretends to be an aged Xander Harris, come from the future to warn his younger self not to marry Anya, he appears in a rainstorm, his red umbrella drawing the viewer’s eyes. (The grand entrance doesn’t have to be “grand” in the true sense of the word, but it should stand out, separating a new character from the story’s cluttered background.)

2. End each episode (and season) with a cliffhanger.

Some of the more memorable Buffy cliffhangers: The Master drowns Buffy (“Prophecy Girl”). After fifteen years as an only child, Buffy has a younger sister, Dawn, who’s always lived with her and their mother, Joyce (“Buffy vs. Dracula”). Buffy dies when she leaps off a tower to save Dawn (“The Gift”). Willow’s girlfriend, Tara, is shot--just after the lesbian lovebirds get together after a long separation (“Seeing Red”).

3. Dialogue counts.

The witty repartee, clever puns, allusions to literary conventions, references to popular culture, and jokes of the Buffy characters are legendary.

4. Use transitional dialogue, either straightforward or ironic, to lead into the action that follows the present action.

An example might be one character’s declaration that he or she knows exactly what Buffy (or another character) is probably doing at the moment, which statement is followed by a scene that shows the declaration to be true (or false); either way, the declaration acts as a segue between the previous and the next scene.

5. Give each character a core trait.

Buffy = duty; Xander = courage; Willow = humility (at least, until she becomes evil); Cordelia = arrogance.

6. Use not one foil, but multiple foils, for the protagonist.

Both Kendra and Faith are foils to Buffy, as are Angel and Spike.

7. Give the protagonist a core desire or problem.

Buffy wants to live a normal life; Angel wants to redeem himself.

8. Substitute a Big Bad for a little bad.

Almost every season does this. For example, the viewer is led to assume that the Anointed One is going to replace the Master as the Big Bad, whereas, in fact, the Anointed One is the little bad; Spike, who kills him, is the season’s Big Bad.

9. Base villains on metaphors.

In “Beer Bad,” alcohol turns college students into cavemen (the cavemen represent the teens' boorish behavior while drunk); in “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,” a neglected girl becomes invisible, a state which symbolizes her being overlooked; in “I Robot, You Jane,” an electronic demon represents the dangers of Internet dating.

10. Employ romantic triangles, and have love affairs end badly.

Initially, Willow has a crush on Xander, who favors Buffy, who loves Angel. Willow loses Oz to the wild beast of the werewolf in him, she becomes a lesbian, and she loses her girlfriend, first to her own abuse of magic and then to a bullet. Xander jilts the girl of his dreams, a vengeance demon named Anya, leaving her at the altar when he gets cold feet. Angel leaves Buffy and moves to Los Angeles.

11. Endanger all important characters, and especially those who are beloved.

Buffy dies--twice. In Sunnydale High School’s seniors’ fight against the mayor and his minions during graduation day ceremonies, some students are killed and others are transformed into vampires (“Graduation Day, Part II”). Willow chooses evil, nearly destroying the world (and Xander) (“Grave”). Glory sucks out Tara’s brain and hunts, and tries to kill, Dawn (“Tough Love,” “The Gift”).

12. Make beloved characters suffer as much as possible.

Buffy suffers from unrequited love, from lovers who leave her (or whom she leaves), and from the losses or deaths of family members and friends.

13. Make sure that, in confronting monsters, protagonists and other characters also confront themselves.

In “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,” Willow and Xander (and Cordelia) face the fact that their ignoring of classmate Marcie Ross has caused Marcie to turn invisible. In “Wrecked,” “Seeing Red,” and earlier episodes of the same season (six), Willow must face the truth that she is addicted to magic and that her addiction has harmed those she loves.

14. Employ parallel plots. Have the subplot reinforce and enrich the major plot or a thread that runs through the main plot (in television, the season’s arc).

In “I Only Have Eyes For You,” as she attempts to gain the upper hand against a couple of ghostly lovers in purgatory who haunt Sunnydale High on the anniversary of the Sadie Hawkins’ Day dance, during which the teenage male killed his teacher-lover and then committed suicide, Buffy has to come to grips with ex-boyfriend Angel’s own abusive treatment of her.

15. Pump back stories. Get all you can out of your characters’ personal histories, showing what they’ve experienced, suffered, enjoyed, and done that has shaped their lives and brought them to the point they are in the story’s present moment.

Several episodes are devoted to the personal histories (back stories) of Angel, Spike, Darla, Drusilla, and, of course, Buffy herself. We learn what Angel, Spike, and Drusilla were like before they became vampires, how they became vampires, what they did after becoming vampires (before coming to Sunnydale), how Angel’s soul was restored to him in a Gypsy curse and how having a soul continues to affect him, how he was introduced to Buffy, what Buffy’s home life as a young girl was like, and many other details that provide characters’ motivations, enrich and develop them, and make them more or less sympathetic.

16. Write with different authorial tones in mind: depth (Whedon), darkness (Noxon), humor (Espenson).

A writer can see the world through many people’s eyes, adopting whichever perspective, world view, value system, beliefs, principles, desires, hopes, and fears make a character tick. In doing so, he or she should make sure that the tone, whether deep and philosophical, dark and cynical, or humorous and satirical, fits the Weltanschauung of the moment.

17. Employ symbolism and indirect communication techniques.

BtVS is replete with examples. One that I recall is a flashing caution light that is seen on a construction sawhorse as Buffy and Faith enter a dark alley, pursuing (and pursued by) vampires. It’s a little over the top, perhaps, to be truly subliminal, but the effect (CAUTION! CAUTION! CAUTION!) of the flashing warning light is, nevertheless, effective in heightening viewer’s anxiety and the scene‘s suspense.

18. Set he tone of an episode in its opening teaser.

Virtually every episode of the show accomplishes this, alerting the viewer as to the emotional tenor of the episode through situation, dialogue, or, often, a combination of the two.
Note: BtVS has MUCH more to teach anyone who likes to write horror fiction. Perhaps a future article will address some of these other lessons to be learned.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Taking Away the Teddy Bear

Copyright 2009 by Gary L. Pullman


Whether a doll, a favorite blanket, or a teddy bear, many children have a favorite toy or other item with which they sleep, partly because they want company but also because they feel a need for security, especially when they are by themselves, in the dark, and ordinary things become large and threatening in their imaginations. We like to think that, long before we become adults, we give up our teddy bears or whatever we substitute for them, or that, at least, they are taken away from us, perhaps as we kick and scream in protest at losing such a trustworthy and faithful companion.

The truth? Even as adults, we have our teddy bears. They’re our husbands or wives, our children, our jobs, our homes, our automobiles, our doctors, and all the other persons, places, and things (and, for that matter, qualities and ideas) that make us feel safe and secure (as well as important and meaningful).

Most of us, although we may lose one or more of these teddy bears, seldom lose them all. A spouse may die; we may be fired; we may lose our homes to foreclosure, our doctors may retire or move away, but, most of the time, not all of these possibilities are realized; we are not, as a rule, fully abandoned. We retain at least, one teddy bear, and often several. That is, until death arrives, to strip us not only of these symbols of our security, but also of life itself and the very flesh we wear, leaving us both nameless and faceless in the grave forever.

In “The Horror of The Exorcist: Its Presentation and Confrontation,” J. W. Ocker contends that “horrifying an audience” is a relatively simple matter, requiring nothing more than the filming of “atrocity.” Such filming becomes “art,” he suggests, only when the atrocity is given some sort of redeeming value, when it is filmed “in a meaningful way without reveling in the horror” (72). The Exorcist is artistic because it accomplishes this end, using atrocity to examine “what has been termed, in the theological realm, ‘the problem of evil,’” or “the paradox that seemingly unbounded atrocity can occur in a universe that is the product of a loving, all-powerful, all-knowing, benign Creator” (74-75). The novel’s (and the movie’s) theme transcends the horror of evil per se and of “an individual child being subjected to that evil” (74) to ask what meaning or purpose human existence can have in such a universe.

In other words, The Exorcist’s unrelenting “presentation and confrontation” of evil “does not allow us to distance ourselves from the evil” by “turning it into some fantastical construct of the nightly news or [a] philosophical plaything” (74) and, therefore, the novel (and the movie) makes each reader come to terms with the significance of evil’s existence. In short, The Exorcist holds the reader’s (or the moviegoer’s) feet to the fire of hell. Evil becomes real; it is not merely an anecdote or an abstraction.

The type of horror that The Exorcist’s depiction of “the problem of evil” represents is both religious and existential: “Such a horror finds its potency in the possibility of a faith unfounded, a worldview demolished. . . . It is the horror of ultimate betrayal” (75). This is the horror, one might argue, of Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat” or Sir Winston Churchill’s “Man Overboard.” In both short stories, the protagonists expect to be rescued, but learn, as they languish, dying at sea, that they are quite alone in an uncaring universe in which no sign of God is to be seen, perhaps because there is no God. It is a horror, one might suppose, to which there is no lower, deeper pit, the nadir of despair itself, but such is not the case, Ocker contends; rather, it is the herald of, and the catalyst to, a deeper, even more devastating understanding regarding the true nature of the universe, the type of vision that one discerns in the works, for example, of the Marquis de Sade:

This type of horror is different from, but the close forerunner of another type of horror. . . . That terror is of a universe that is either indifferent or hostile to our own existence. It is a universe in which there is no guarantee that good will triumph over evil “in the end” nor even any reason why it should. It is a universe where there is no real basis to value good over evil. . . [and] each one is a force as natural and as much a part of our reality as anything else. It is a universe in which saying that it is bad to subject a child to torment and obscenity is to say something nonsensical. One can only say in that universe, that the child is or is not being subjected to such, and one cannot tag onto that fact an objective moral judgment (75).
Earlier writers, both popular and mainstream, have suggested that God, if he exists at all, is a disinterested Creator (deism), is dead (Friedrich Nietzsche), is missing in action (Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot), or is inscrutable (Job). Shakespeare suggests that God may be but a gibbering idiot (the blind force of chance evolution, perhaps?). He also characterizes the type of universe that results from such a “creator”: “Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (Macbeth).

In bringing his reader face to face, as it were, with mindless evil, The Exorcist’s author, William Peter Blatty, denies him or her the opportunity to escape into clichéd presentations or abstract understandings of human suffering. He gives to such evil a human face, that of preteen Regan MacNeil. In other words, he takes away the teddy bear of a shallow, but comforting, religious faith that assumes that, because “God is in his heaven, all is right with the world” (“Pippa Passes”).

Others who abandoned such a teddy bear include those writers whose names or works have been mentioned--deists (Thomas Jefferson, for example), Friedrich Nietzsche, Samuel Beckett, Stephen Crane, Sir Winston Churchill, the author of Job, William Shakespeare--and some, either they or others, have even gone so far as to suggest a purpose for life in what might be regarded as a purposeless universe. Hedonists suggest that we should pursue pleasure and avoid pain, enjoying life in the here and now. After all, once death occurs, we will ourselves shall have ceased to exist. Others, such as Jean-Paul Sartre, propose that, by pursuing our own interests while, at the same time, accepting responsibility for our actions, we can live as authentic an existence as it is possible for creatures who are both finite and temporal to live. Still others, such as Nietzsche, recommend that we persist in order to give rise to the superman who shall come, through us, to inherit the world and to live beyond the categories of good and evil, a law--and a sort of god--unto himself.

Blatty himself surrendered his teddy bear, believing that the so-called problem of evil was real and must be not only “presented” but “confronted,” as Ockley’s essay’s title suggests, but Blatty, in confronting this issue, remains a man of faith, and a man of a deeper and truer faith than that expressed by Robert Browning’s “Pippa Passes.” The novelist’s conclusion regarding the matter seems to be spoken by Father Merrin, who tells his fellow exorcist, Father Karras:

I think the demon’s target is not the possessed; it is us. . . The observers. . . Every person in this house. . . . I think the point is to make us despair; to reject our own humanity. . . To see ourselves as ultimately bestial; as ultimately vile and putrescent; without dignity; ugly; unworthy. And there lies the heart of it, perhaps; in unworthiness. For I think belief in God is not a matter of reason at all; I think it is finally a matter of love; of accepting the possibility that God could love us.
Blatty’s point of view is interesting in several ways, not the least of which is that, if a relationship between a person and God must be based upon love, living as if it must be predicated upon some other basis, whether rationality, emotion, or morality, for instance, is to miss the whole point entirely. The problem of evil is a moral problem. If God is good, how can he, if he is also both omniscient and omnipotent, allow human beings--especially an innocent child--to suffer undeservedly. This is a rational conundrum, defying logic; its force, however, is as much emotional as it is rational, and the true significance of the problem of evil, which is that of human beings’ living in a universe, which is “full of sound and fury” that signifies “nothing,” is that it leads humanity to despair, a state in which the acceptance of God’s love becomes impossible, leaving “every person in this house,” or universe, bereft of God and abandoned to him- or herself.

The problem of evil, truly understood, is the taking away of the final, and the most cherished, of all teddy bears, the belief that life is meaningful, purposeful, and worthwhile. Paradoxically, the loss of this final teddy bear can allow its replacement not by another token of security but by the only true security there is, if there is, indeed, any at all, the God who is not only the ground of being-itself but also love. This is the answer, to the extent that an answer is possible, that Blatty’s novel offers to the problem of evil, “not an explanation,” as Ocker observes, as much as “a context”:

For Father Merrin, the exorcist, there was no doubt that there is a God, there was no doubt that evil exists, and there was no reason to dally with paradoxes. As a result, he was ready for immediate action, unlike the doctors, psychiatrists, and Father Karras himself (at first). Nor does Merrin’s death take anything away from that, for without his help, without his strength, without his sacrifice and the catalyst of his death, there could only have been more horror for all involved (77).

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Table of Contents

Click the link associated with the article that you want to read.


Chillers and Thrillers: The Fiction of Fear
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/chillers-and-thrillers-fiction-of-fear.html

How To Create Monstrous Monsters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/how-to-create-monstrous-monsters.html

Basic Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy Plots
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/basic-fantasy-science-fiction-and.html

Plausible Motivations
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/plausible-motivations.html

What’s So Scary About Horror Movies?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/copyright-2007-by-gary-l.html

Come On, People, Don’t You Look So Down; the Rain Man’s Coming To Town
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/come-on-people-dont-you-look-so-down.html

Fill in the Blanks (Don’t Panic; It’s Not a Quiz)
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/fill-in-blanks-dont-panic-its-not-quiz.html

Metaphorical Monsters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/metaphorical-monsters.html

Understanding Monsters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/understanding-monsters.html

Why Monsters? Why Metaphor?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-monsters-why-metaphors.html

Nature and Nurture: Character and Setting as Destiny
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/nature-and-nurture-character-and.html

The God of Desperation
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/god-of-desperation.html

Dream Monsters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/dream-monsters.html

Plotting Horror Fiction: The Invasion Plot
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/plotting-horror-fiction-invasion-plot.html

Evil Is As Evil Does
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/evil-is-as-evil-does.html

Value as a Clue to Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/value-as-clue-to-horror.html

Toppers
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/toppers.html

The Horror of Time and Place
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/horror-of-time-and-place.html

The Horror of the Incongruous
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/horror-of-incongruous.html

Imagining the Monster, Part I
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/imagining-monster-part-i.html

Imagining the Monster, Part II
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/imagining-monster-part-ii.html

Imagining the Monster, Part III
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/imagining-monster-part-iii.html

Not Everyone Loves A Victim
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/not-everyone-loves-victim.html

Beowulf: The Prototypical Monster Killer
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/beowulf-prototypical-monster-killer.html

Body Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/body-horror.html

Mark Twain’s “Rules Governing Literary Art”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/mark-twains-21-rules-for-literary-art.html

Inner Demons
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/inner-demons.html

Writing as a Schizophrenic, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/writing-as-schizophrenic.html

A History of Hell, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/history-of-hell-part-i.html

A History of Hell, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/history-of-hell-part-ii.html

A History of Hell, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/history-of-hell-part-iii.html

Evil as a Threat to Social or Communal Values
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/evil-as-threat-to-social-or-communal.html

How To Rob a Grave
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-rob-grave.html

Writing as a Schizophrenic, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/writing-as-schizophrenic-part-ii.html

There’s Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself: Preying Upon People’s Phobias
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/theres-nothing-to-fear-but-fear-itself.html

The Horror of the Wax Museum
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/horror-of-wax-museum.html

The Underbelly of the Bug-Eyed Monster Movie
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/horror-of-wax-museum.html

The Monsters Within
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/monsters-within.html

Describing Horrific Scenes
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/describing-horrific-scenes.html

The Role of the Back Story
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/role-of-back-story.html

Poe and King: Two Unlikely Beauties
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/poe-and-king-two-unlikely-beauties.html

The Appeal of the Esoteric
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/appeal-of-esoteric.html

Solipsism, Claustrophobia, Vampires, and Zombies
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/solipsism-claustrophobia-vampires-
and.html


Everyday Horrors: Gargoyles
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/everyday-horrors-gargoyles.html

Everyday Horrors: Tombstones
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/everyday-horrors-tombstones.html

Everyday Horrors: Crawlspaces
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/everyday-horrors-crawlspaces.html

A Descent into the Horrors of Extreme Feminism
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/descent-into-horrors-of-extreme.html

Everyday Horrors: Coffins
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/everyday-horrors-coffins.html

The Guide to Supernatural Fiction: A Review, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/guide-to-supernatural-fiction-review.html

The Guide to Supernatural Fiction: A Review, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/guide-to-supernatural-fiction-review.html

The Encyclopedia of Monsters: A Review
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/encyclopedia-of-monsters-review.html

Everyday Horrors: The Electric Chair
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-electric-chair.html

Everyday Horrors: Worms
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-worms.html

Everyday Horrors: Giant Animals
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-giant-animals.html

Buber, Bosch, Giger, et. al.: The Face in the Mirror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/buber-bosch-giger-et-al-face-in-mirror.html

Conversation Partners: Creating Mars and Venus
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/conversation-partners-creating-mars-and.html

Foiled Again
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/foiled-again.html

Rene Magritte: The Horror of the Surreal
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/rene-magritte-horror-of-surreal.html

“Hop-Frog”: A Story of Reversals
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/hop-frog-story-of-reversals.html

Everyday Horrors: Frogs
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-frogs.html

Total Institutions as Horror Settings
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/total-institutions-as-horror-story.html

Everyday Horrors: Anglerfish
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-anglerfish.html

Mad Science
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/mad-science.html

Alternative Explanations, Part 1: Demons and Ghosts
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/alternative-explanations-part-i-demons.html

Alternative Explanations, Part 2: Clairvoyants
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/alternative-explanations-part-ii.html

Alternative Explanations, Part 3: Telekinetic and Levitating Characters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/alternative-explanations-part-iii.html

Alternative Explanations, Part IV: Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/alternative-explanations-part-iv.html

Everyday Horrors: Cornfields
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-cornfields.html

Everyday Horrors: Skeletons
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-skeletons.html

Everyday Horrors: Nightmares
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-nightmares.html

Everyday Horrors: Teenagers and Young Adults
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-teenagers-and-young.html

A Sense of Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/sense-of-horror.html

Ideas That Don’t Work
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/ideas-that-dont-work.html

Buffy and Kendra: They Just Slay Me!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/buffy-and-kendra-they-just-slay-me.html

Identifying Elements of the Horrific
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/identifying-elements-of-horrific.html

Everyday Horrors: The Atomic Bomb
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-atomic-bomb.html

Everyday Horrors: Plagues
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-plagues.html

Everyday Horrors: Gangs
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-gangs.html

Creating an Eerie Atmosphere and Tone
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/creating-eerie-atmosphere-and-tone.html

Everyday Horrors: Autopsies
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-autopsies.html

Horror Movie Remakes
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/horror-movie-remakes.html

Scream Queens
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/scream-queens.html

Early Body Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/early-body-horror.html

Leftover Plots, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/leftover-plots-part-i.html

Free Horror Films, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/free-horror-films-part-i.html

Free Horror Films, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/free-horror-films-part-ii.html

Free Horror Films, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/free-horror-films-part-iii.html

Leftover Plots, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/leftover-plots-part-ii.html

Unfinished Plots: The Cliffhanger
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/unfinished-plots-cliffhanger.html

Everyday Horrors: Zombies
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/unfinished-plots-cliffhanger.html

Visualizing Horror: Movie Posters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/visualizing-horror-movie-posters.html

Movie Posters: Visualizing Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/movie-posters-visualizing-horror_9905.html

Fear: A Cultural History: A Partial Review and Summary, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/fear-cultural-history-partial-review_08.html

Fear: A Cultural History: A Partial Review and Summary, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/fear-cultural-history-partial-review_6575.html

Fear: A Cultural History: A Partial Review and Summary, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/fear-cultural-history-partial-review_09.html

Borderlands: Realms of Gold? Okay, Maybe They’re Realms of Pyrite, But They Still Glitter Pretty Well
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/borderlands-realms-of-gold-okay-maybe.html

Everyday Horrors: Plants
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/everyday-horrors-plants.html

Everyday Horrors: Mummies
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/everyday-horrors-mummies.html

Download Free Stories
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/download-free-stories.html

Everyday Horrors: Castles and Hotels
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/everyday-horrors-castles-and-hotels.html

Everyday Horrors: Bureaucrats
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/everyday-horrors-bureaucrats.html

A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldly, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural.html

A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldly, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural_16.html

A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldly, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/copyright-2008-by-gary-l.html

A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldly, Part 4
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural_18.html

A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldly, Part 4
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural_9184.html

A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldly, Part 5
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural_4152.html

A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldy, Part 6
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural_19.html

A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldy, Part 7
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural_1995.html

Leftover Plots, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/leftover-plots-part-iii.html

Leftover Plots, Part 4
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/leftover-plots-part-iii.html

The Monster as the Mirror of the Protagonist’s Soul
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/monster-as-mirror-of-protagonists-soul.html

Paranormal and Supernatural Hoaxes
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/paranormal-and-supernatural-hoaxes.html

Buffy: More than Pastiche
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/buffy-more-than-pastiche.html

Creating Mood in Horror Fiction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/creating-mood-in-horror-fiction.html

Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments as a Hermeneutics for Horror Fiction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/adam-smiths-theory-of-moral-sentiments.html

The Cliffhanger
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/cliffhanger.html

More Free Books
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/more-free-books.html

Horror by the Slice: “The Lurking Fear”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/horror-by-slice-lurking-fear.html

Masters of the Macabre
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/masters-of-macabre.html

The Nature of the Beast
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/nature-of-beast.html

A Catalogue of Vulnerabilities
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/when-one-considers-variety-of-ways-in.html

Everyday Horrors: The Police
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/everyday-horrors-police.html

Everyday Horrors: Killer Bees
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/everyday-horrors-killer-bees.html

How to Haunt a House, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-haunt-house-part-i.html

How to Haunt a House, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-haunt-house-part-ii.html

How to Haunt a House, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-haunt-house-part-iii.html

How to Haunt a House, Part 4
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-haunt-house-part-iv.html

How to Haunt a House, Part 5
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-haunt-house-part-v.html

Psychic Vampirism in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Oval Portrait”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/psychic-vampirism-in-edgar-allan-poes.html

Horror Art: Attraction and Repulsion
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/psychic-vampirism-in-edgar-allan-poes.html

Horror Fiction and the Problem of Evil
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/horror-fiction-and-problem-of-evil.html

“The Philosophy of Composition” and “The Red Room”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/philosophy-of-composition-and-red-room.html

“The Hollow of the Three Hills”: Hell on Earth
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/hollow-of-three-hills-hell-on-earth.html

Everyday Horrors: Forensic Etomology and Putrefaction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/everyday-horrors-forensic-etomology-and.html

The Heart of Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/heart-of-horror.html

Guest Speaker: Edgar Allan Poe on Nathaniel Hawthorne
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/guest-speaker-edgar-allan-poe-on.html

Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Notes on Writing
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft-notes-on.html

Flowers of Evil: Horror Film Anthologies
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/flowers-of-evil-horror-film-anthologies.html

Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft.html

Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_05.html

Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_585.html

Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 4
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_6743.html

Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 5
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_8132.html

Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 6
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_9437.html

Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 7
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_5904.html

Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 8
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_1077.html

Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 9
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_1971.html

Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 10
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_6645.html

Contemporary Horror Fiction Bookshelf
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/contemporary-horror-fiction-bookshelf.html

Going Through the Motions, or the Physics of Fiction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/going-through-motions-or-physics-of.html

Fictional Stories as Thought Experiments
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/fictional-stories-as-thought.html

Tag! You’re It!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/tag-youre-it.html

Threat Recognition: Keeping It Real
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/threat-recognition-keeping-it-real.html

A Certain Slant of Light
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/certain-slant-of-light.html

Frazetta: Work That Is Beautiful Even When Horrific
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/frazetta-work-that-is-beautiful-even.html

Julie Bell:Hard Curves, Soft as Steel”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/julie-bell-hard-curves-soft-as-steel.html

Everyday Horrors: Abandoned Houses
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/everyday-horrors-abandoned-houses.html

Purposeful, Frightening Scenes
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/purposeful-frightening-scenes.html

Beginnings: How Would You Finish the Story?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/beginnings-how-would-you-finish-story.html

Middles: How Would You Finish the Story?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/middles-how-would-you-finish-story.html

Endings: How Would You Finish the Story?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/endings-how-would-you-finish-story.html

The Feminization of Horror: The Horror! The Horror!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/feminization-of-horror-horror-horror.html

Horror and Magritte’s Visual Loans
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/horror-and-magrittes-visual-koans.html

Everyday Horrors: Psychopaths
http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=3339553278765301079

Thinking of Seeing “The Happening”? Save Your Money!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/thinking-of-seeing-happening-save-your.html

“The Hungry Stones”: An Open-Ended Conclusion
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/hungry-stones-open-ended-conclusion.html

“The Addams Family” Technique
http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=3339553278765301079

Explanations for Evil, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/explanations-for-evil.html

Explanations for Evil, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/explanations-for-evil-part-ii.html

Horror Is (Undesirable) Otherness
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/horror-is-undesirable-otherness.html

Scientists: Ghosts and Vampires Need Not Apply
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/scientists-ghosts-and-vampires-need-not.html

Perennial Favorites
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/perennial-favorites.html

The Fatal Flaw, Part the First
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/fatal-flaw-part-first.html

The Fatal Flaw, Part the Second
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/fatal-flaw-part-second.html

Guest Speaker: Robert Bloch
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/guest-speaker-robert-bloch.html

Verizon’s Version of Horror: The Dead Zone Advertisement
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/verizons-version-of-horror-dead-zone.html

Everyday Horrors: Masks
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/everyday-horrors-masks_26.html

Subliminal Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/subliminal-horror.html

Sexploitation Horror Films: Sexing It Up
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/sexploitation-horror-films-sexing-it-up.html

Bases For Fear, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/bases-for-fear-part-i.html

Bases For Fear, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/bases-for-fear-part-ii.html

Bases For Fear, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/bases-for-fear-part-iii.html

Horrific Poems: A Sampler
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/horrific-poems-sampler.html

Sexing it Up, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/sexing-it-up-part-ii.html

Nothing Gets Between a Monster and Its Genes
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/nothing-gets-between-monster-and-its.html

Charles Baudelaire’s “Carrion”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/charles-baudelaires-carrion.html

The Etymology of Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/etymology-of-horror.html

Sex Demons: Incubi and Succubae
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/sex-demons-incubi-and-succubae.html

“The Birth of Monsters” and Other Poems
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/birth-of-monsters-and-other-poems.html

The Fine Line Between Humor and Horror: Finding the Vein
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/fine-line-between-humor-and-horror.html

Little on “The Collection”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/little-on-collection.html

Bentley Little’s “Collection”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/bentley-littles-collection.html

Intriguing Chapter Titles
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/intriguing-chapter-titles.html

“Heavy-Set”: Learning From the Masters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/heavy-set-learning-from-masters.html

Tentacles, of Themselves, Do Not a Horror Movie Make
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/tentacles-of-themselves-do-not-horror.html

“The Academy”: Learning From the Masters
http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=3339553278765301079

“The Academy”: Learning From the Masters, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/academy-learning-from-masters-part-2.html

Femme Fatales
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/femme-fatales.html

Frustrating Formulaic
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/frustrating-formulaic-fiction.html

Story Deck
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/story-deck.html

Toward a Taxonomy of Horror Fiction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/toward-taxonomy-of-horror-fiction.html

Images of Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/images-of-horror-part-ii.html

The Form and Function of the Alien Menace
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/form-and-function-of-alien-menace.html

Hell on Earth
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/hell-on-earth.html

Plot Meets Laws of Motion
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/plot-meets-laws-of-motion.html

The Rhetoric of Emotion
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/rhetoric-of-emotion.html

What’s So Weird About Weird Tales?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/whats-so-weird-about-weird-tales.html

Nocturnal Suicide: An Almost-Story Born of Mere Description
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/nocturnal-suicide-almost-story-born-of.html

The Home and the Lair, or Heaven and Hell
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/home-and-lair-or-heaven-and-hell.html

The Protagonist’s Emotional Arc
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/protagonists-emotional-arc.html

“Duma Key”: The Decline of Horror?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/duma-key-decline-of-horror.html

Paradise, Heroism, and the Eternal Return: A Formula for Both Myth and Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/paradise-heroism-and-eternal-return.html

“Terror Television”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/terror-television.html

Portals to Hell and Elsewhere
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/portals-to-hell-and-elsewhere.html

The Vagabond Menace
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/vagabond-menace.html

Learning from the Masters: Robert McCammon, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/learning-from-masters-robert-
mccammon.html


Learning from the Masters: Robert McCammon, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/learning-from-masters-robert-mccammon_06.html

Plot, Character, Setting, and Theme as Narrative Starting Points
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/plot-character-setting-and-theme-as.html

It Is Necessary to Suffer to Be Beautiful. . . Or Believable. . . Or Interesting
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/it-is-necessary-to-suffer-to-be.html

Danger, Will Robinson! Danger
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/danger-will-robinson-danger.html

Write What You Know (But What Does That Mean?)
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/write-what-you-know-but-what-does-that.html

Literature: A Communal Ceremony
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/literature-communal-ceremony.html

Motivation as Explanation
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/motivation-as-explanation.html

Unworthy Books
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/unworthy-books.html

Secondary Antagonists
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/secondary-antagonists.html

Borrowed Malice
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/borrowed-malice.html

Aphoristic Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/aphoristic-horror.html

Write What You Know (But What Does That Mean?), Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/write-what-you-know-but-what-does-that_30.html

Music Hath Charms to Evoke the Savage Beast
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/music-hath-alarms-to-evoke-savage-beast.html

What’s So Scary About?. . .
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/whats-so-scary-about.html

Fallacious Horrors
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/fallacious-horrors.html

Some Thoughts on Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/some-thoughts-on-horror.html

“Christabel”: The Prototypical Lesbian Vampire, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/christabel-prototypical-lesbian-vampire.html

“Christabel”: The Prototypical Lesbian Vampire, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/christabel-prototypical-lesbian-vampire_20.html

Making a Scene
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/making-scene.html

Generating Horror Plots, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/generating-horror-plots-part-1.html

Generating Horror Plots, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/generating-horror-plots-part-ii.html

Generating Horror Plots, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/generating-horror-plots-part-iii.html

Generating Horror Plots, Part 4
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/generating-horror-plots-part-iv.html

Generating Horror Plots, Part 5
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/generating-horror-plots-part-v.html

The Fill-in-the-Blank Guide to Writing Fiction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/fill-in-blank-guide-to-writing-fiction.html

Writers’ Considerations: Readers’ Likes and Dislikes
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/writers-considerations-readers-likes.html

What Scares Me May Scare You, Too (Or Not)
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-scares-me-may-scare-you-too-or-not.html

Presto! You Have a Plot!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/presto-you-have-plot.html

The Hyperfeminine Monster: What Does She Look Like?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/hyperfeminine-monster-what-does-she.html

Stephen King’s Horrific Fairy Tales; Dean Koontz’s Variations on a Formula
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/stephen-kings-horrific-fairy-tales-dean.html

Horror Story Formulae
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/horror-story-formulae.html

Horror Story Survival Tactics
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/horror-story-survival-tactics.html

Surrealism and Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/surrealism-and-horror.html

The Calm Before the Storm
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/calm-before-storm.html

The Horror of the Double
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/horror-of-double.html

Green Graves
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/green-graves.html

Imagining Hell
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/imagining-hell.html

Demons Old and New
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/demons-old-and-new.html

The Here, the Now, and the Eternal
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/here-now-and-eternal.html

Location! Location! Location!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/location-location-location.html

Monster Mash, or How to Create a Monster, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/monster-mash-or-how-to-create-monster.html

Monster Mash, or How to Create a Monster, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/monster-mash-or-how-to-create-monster.html

Syntactical Storylines
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/syntactical-storylines.html

Small-Town, Rural, and Urban Horrors, or There Goes the Neighborhood!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/small-town-rural-and-urban-horrors-or.html

Reversals of Fand Fortune
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/reversals-of-fate-and-fortune.html

The Monsters and Heroes of Fiction (Are the Monsters and Heroes of the Self)
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/monsters-and-heroes-of-fiction-are.html

Mapping the Monstrous
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/mapping-monstrous.html

Sensory Links
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/sensory-links.html

Grist For the Mill
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/grist-for-mill.html

Building Horror and Suspense Tobe Hooper’s Way, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/building-horror-and-suspense-tobe.html

Building Horror and Suspense Tobe Hooper’s Way, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/building-horror-and-suspense-tobe_06.html

Famous Writers’ and Directors’ Quotes With More or Less Direct Application to the Theory and Practice of Writing Horror http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/famous-writers-and-directors-quotes_10.html

Anaphoric Allusions
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/anaphoric-allusions.html

The Sympathetic Character: Intimations of Past Trauma
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/sympathetic-character-intimations-of.html

Dean Koontz’s Techniques for Engaging Readers and Advancing Plots
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/dean-koontzs-techniques-for-engaging_18.html

“Man Overboard”: Questioning Nature and Its Creator
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/man-overboard-questioning-nature-and.html

Revisiting the Numinous
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/revisiting-numinous.html

The Value of Literature
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/value-of-literature.html

Categories of Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/categories-of-horror.html

Horror As Allegory
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/horror-as-allegory.html

“Summer Morning, Summer Night”: A Review
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/summer-morning-summer-night-review.html

Ray Bradbury’s “Love Potion”: Learning From the Masters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/ray-bradburys-love-potion-learning-from.html

Characterization via Emotion
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/characterization-via-emotion_17.html

Ghosts: An Endangered Species?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/ghosts-endangered-species.html

Modern Monsters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/modern-monsters.html

Reading, Writing, and Plotting
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/reading-writing-and-plotting.html

Dialogue as Repartee
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/dialogue-as-repartee.html

Possible Worlds of the Fantastic: A Review
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/09/possible-worlds-of-fantastic-review.html

Bodies in Pieces: A Review
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/09/bodies-in-pieces-review.html

Extrapolations
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/09/extrapolations.html
Comings and Goings: Encountering Danger and Destiny
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/09/comings-and-goings-encountering-danger.html

Review of American Nightmares: The Haunted House Formula in American Popular Fiction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/09/review-of-american-nightmares-haunted.html

Eighteen Things I Learned from Watching Buffy the Vampire Slayerhttp://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/12/eighteen-things-i-learned-by-watching.html

Review of "American Nightmares: The Haunted House Formula in American Popular Fiction"

Copyright 2009 by Gary L. Pullman

One’s home is not only one’s castle, it has been argued, but one’s self. Writers of horror fiction from Edgar Allan Poe (“The Fall of the House of Usher”) to Jay Anson (The Amityville Horror) have capitalized upon this metaphor. Both the house itself, whether Roderick Usher’s ancestral mansion with its “vacant, eyelike windows” or the Lutzes’ Dutch Colonial with its own eyelike windows, glinting with obvious madness, and its inhabitants are haunted. Indeed, the spirits which afflict the residents’ domiciles are the very demons (the situations or the conditions) which torment the denizens of the houses themselves. In horror fiction which involves a haunted house as its setting, the setting is the destiny of the residents, and, whatever they do, whether they escape or are doomed, their actions constitute their working out of their fates.

In “Middle-Class Nightmares,” a chapter of Dale Bailey’s excellent critical assessment of American Nightmares: The Haunted House Formula in American Popular Fiction, the protagonist of Robert Marasco’s novel Burnt Offerings, dreams of what she can make of the apartment into which she moves. The novel critiques, Bailey notes, what “historian Daniel Bell” calls “a consumption society” which is “undermining the traditional value system with its emphasis on thrift, frugality, self-control, and impulse renunciation”:


Her glossy apartment is a virtual shrine to consumption, simultaneously mirroring her aspirations and their failure. . . . Marian simply loves to buy things, good things— not a buffet but a “French Provincial buffet,” not a desk but a “mahogany and bronze dore desk”. . . not an ashtray but a Belleck astray, not chairs but Bergere chairs (72).
This equation of material wealth to personal worth is reinforced and, in fact, made explicit in subsequent passages of the novel. Whereas Marian’s husband Ben sees, in “the Allardyce estate,” into which Marian wants to move, in order that she might, at last, fulfill her dreams, “a house disintegrating into decay,” Marian herself perceives “a house that might be made perfect again.” The mansion represents a new chance at realizing her version of the American Dream:


If the apartment suggests the failure of Marian’s dreams and aspirations, the Allardyce estate embodies her desires come to fruition. . . . She no sooner walks in the door then [sic] she begins to catalog the Allardyce’s possessions—Waterford crystal
chandeliers. . . an Aubusson carpet, a Chippendale mirror. . . . She assumes a proprietary air. . . . and she blushes when Roz Allardyce recognizes her state of mind: “you’re thinking of what you could do with it, aren’t you?” Roz asks her, and Marian cannot help asking herself, “Did she look that hungry?”. . . She does, of course, for she desires nothing more than to live in such a house— to be the kind of person who could possess (and be possessed by) such a house (73).

However, as Bailey points out, there is an insurmountable problem, of course, with such an attempt to validate one’s personal worth:
If Marian’s conception of the American Dream reminds us of the kitschy bumper sticker— Whoever has the most bumper stickers when he dies, wins— Marasco’s novel reminds us of that bumper’s subversive subtext. All the toys in the world don’t change one central fact:

Dead is dead (73).
Marasco himself likewise points out the futility of Marian’s desire to express her value as a person through her acquisition of the material wealth, as represented by her possession not merely of things, but also of valuable things, of the right sorts of things. As if a “wall of photographs” in the mansion’s parlor were the pesky “subtext” of the bumper sticker to which Bailey earlier alludes, the images they contain likewise undermine the text about one’s collection of toys’ making one a winner (or a loser) in the competitive game of contemporary America’s “consumption society.” As Marian and Ben examine a set of framed photographs on a wall of the palatial home’s parlor, “Marian is quick to rationalize” an eerie, potentially revelatory fact: “none of the faces was smiling, not one of them. The expressions were uniformly, and chillingly, blank. And one of the faces, an old man’s, was looking at her with what had to be outright terror. Like that boy’s. And the child near the edge” (73).

In part 2 of my six-part series of articles concerning “How to Haunt a House,” I argue that not only the house itself is a representation of the inner state of its occupants, but that each room— and, indeed, even the furniture— of a haunted house can represent the resident’s own thoughts, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and values:


The furniture and décor in a haunted house also often reflect the resident’s state of mind. Bizarre images in a mirror which are seen only by one character suggest that these images are not real. Rather, they are likely to be but the contents of his or her own mind, projected onto his or her environment--the looking glass sees within, rather than reflecting that which truly exists.

Therefore, only the one who sees such images can perceive them. The mirror mirrors his or her own thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. If a character ascends a staircase (or, for that matter, descends one), what type of revelation does he or she experience as a result? What happens at the top or the bottom of the stairs is indicative of what this character believes, feels, or thinks, and it is likely to be either transcendent or reductive in nature, depending upon whether the stairs lead upward or downward. An ascent into the attic is apt to represent an elevation to consciousness and knowledge; a descent into the basement is likely to symbolize a decline into the subconscious and the unknown.
Rooms can also represent specific roles that characters play and their thoughts and feelings about these roles. For example, the kitchen may represent one’s capacity for, and interest in, nurturing, since it is the room in which meals are prepared. Likewise, the bathroom is apt to suggest one’s attempts to cleanse him- or herself not only of the dirt that one has accumulated as a result of going about the day’s business, but also of the spiritual “dirt” with which one has soiled his or her soul, either during this same period of time or throughout his or her lifetime. In such cases, problems with the stove, the sink or the shower, or even the toilet can be telling, indeed! The smoke that pours from the oven, the black goo that drips down the walls of the shower stall, the serpent that emerges from the toilet bowl, as representations of the protagonist’s problems, real or imagined, with one or another of the roles that he or she plays, as either a single person or as a family member, are nasty enough in themselves; they are nastier still because of what they may represent in philosophical, psychological, sociological, or other terms that relate to the inner man or woman— or, rather, to his or her inner demons.


Bailey, Dale. American Nightmares: The Haunted House Formula in American Popular Fiction. Bowling Green, OH. Bowling Green University Popular Press. 1999. Print.

Paranormal vs. Supernatural: What’s the Diff?

Copyright 2009 by Gary L. Pullman

Sometimes, in demonstrating how to brainstorm about an essay topic, selecting horror movies, I ask students to name the titles of as many such movies as spring to mind (seldom a difficult feat for them, as the genre remains quite popular among young adults). Then, I ask them to identify the monster, or threat--the antagonist, to use the proper terminology--that appears in each of the films they have named. Again, this is usually a quick and easy task. Finally, I ask them to group the films’ adversaries into one of three possible categories: natural, paranormal, or supernatural. This is where the fun begins.

It’s a simple enough matter, usually, to identify the threats which fall under the “natural” label, especially after I supply my students with the scientific definition of “nature”: everything that exists as either matter or energy (which are, of course, the same thing, in different forms--in other words, the universe itself. The supernatural is anything which falls outside, or is beyond, the universe: God, angels, demons, and the like, if they exist. Mad scientists, mutant cannibals (and just plain cannibals), serial killers, and such are examples of natural threats. So far, so simple.

What about borderline creatures, though? Are vampires, werewolves, and zombies, for example, natural or supernatural? And what about Freddy Krueger? In fact, what does the word “paranormal” mean, anyway? If the universe is nature and anything outside or beyond the universe is supernatural, where does the paranormal fit into the scheme of things?

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word “paranormal,” formed of the prefix “para,” meaning alongside, and “normal,” meaning “conforming to common standards, usual,” was coined in 1920. The American Heritage Dictionary defines “paranormal” to mean “beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation.” In other words, the paranormal is not supernatural--it is not outside or beyond the universe; it is natural, but, at the present, at least, inexplicable, which is to say that science cannot yet explain its nature. The same dictionary offers, as examples of paranormal phenomena, telepathy and “a medium’s paranormal powers.”

Wikipedia offers a few other examples of such phenomena or of paranormal sciences, including the percentages of the American population which, according to a Gallup poll, believes in each phenomenon, shown here in parentheses: psychic or spiritual healing (54), extrasensory perception (ESP) (50), ghosts (42), demons (41), extraterrestrials (33), clairvoyance and prophecy (32), communication with the dead (28), astrology (28), witchcraft (26), reincarnation (25), and channeling (15); 36 percent believe in telepathy.

As can be seen from this list, which includes demons, ghosts, and witches along with psychics and extraterrestrials, there is a confusion as to which phenomena and which individuals belong to the paranormal and which belong to the supernatural categories. This confusion, I believe, results from the scientism of our age, which makes it fashionable for people who fancy themselves intelligent and educated to dismiss whatever cannot be explained scientifically or, if such phenomena cannot be entirely rejected, to classify them as as-yet inexplicable natural phenomena. That way, the existence of a supernatural realm need not be admitted or even entertained. Scientists tend to be materialists, believing that the real consists only of the twofold unity of matter and energy, not dualists who believe that there is both the material (matter and energy) and the spiritual, or supernatural. If so, everything that was once regarded as having been supernatural will be regarded (if it cannot be dismissed) as paranormal and, maybe, if and when it is explained by science, as natural. Indeed, Sigmund Freud sought to explain even God as but a natural--and in Freud’s opinion, an obsolete--phenomenon.

Meanwhile, among skeptics, there is an ongoing campaign to eliminate the paranormal by explaining them as products of ignorance, misunderstanding, or deceit. Ridicule is also a tactic that skeptics sometimes employ in this campaign. For example, The Skeptics’ Dictionary contends that the perception of some “events” as being of a paranormal nature may be attributed to “ignorance or magical thinking.” The dictionary is equally suspicious of each individual phenomenon or “paranormal science” as well. Concerning psychics’ alleged ability to discern future events, for example, The Skeptic’s Dictionary quotes Jay Leno (“How come you never see a headline like 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?”), following with a number of similar observations:

Psychics don't rely on psychics to warn them of impending disasters. Psychics don't predict their own deaths or diseases. They go to the dentist like the rest of us. They're as surprised and disturbed as the rest of us when they have to call a plumber or an electrician to fix some defect at home. Their planes are delayed without their being able to anticipate the delays. If they want to know something about Abraham Lincoln, they go to the library; they don't try to talk to Abe's spirit. In short, psychics live by the known laws of nature except when they are playing the psychic game with people.
In An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, James Randi, a magician who exercises a skeptical attitude toward all things alleged to be paranormal or supernatural, takes issue with the notion of such phenomena as well, often employing the same arguments and rhetorical strategies as The Skeptic’s Dictionary.

In short, the difference between the paranormal and the supernatural lies in whether one is a materialist, believing in only the existence of matter and energy, or a dualist, believing in the existence of both matter and energy and spirit. If one maintains a belief in the reality of the spiritual, he or she will classify such entities as angels, demons, ghosts, gods, vampires, and other threats of a spiritual nature as supernatural, rather than paranormal, phenomena. He or she may also include witches (because, although they are human, they are empowered by the devil, who is himself a supernatural entity) and other natural threats that are energized, so to speak, by a power that transcends nature and is, as such, outside or beyond the universe. Otherwise, one is likely to reject the supernatural as a category altogether, identifying every inexplicable phenomenon as paranormal, whether it is dark matter or a teenage werewolf. Indeed, some scientists dedicate at least part of their time to debunking allegedly paranormal phenomena, explaining what natural conditions or processes may explain them, as the author of The Serpent and the Rainbow explains the creation of zombies by voodoo priests.

Based upon my recent reading of Tzvetan Todorov's The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to the Fantastic, I add the following addendum to this essay.

According to Todorov:

The fantastic. . . lasts only as long as a certain hesitation [in deciding] whether or not what they [the reader and the protagonist] perceive derives from "reality" as it exists in the common opinion. . . . If he [the reader] decides that the laws of reality remain intact and permit an explanation of the phenomena described, we can say that the work belongs to the another genre [than the fantastic]: the uncanny. If, on the contrary, he decides that new laws of nature must be entertained to account for the phenomena, we enter the genre of the marvelous (The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, 41).
Todorov further differentiates these two categories by characterizing the uncanny as “the supernatural explained” and the marvelous as “the supernatural accepted” (41-42).

Interestingly, the prejudice against even the possibility of the supernatural’s existence which is implicit in the designation of natural versus paranormal phenomena, which excludes any consideration of the supernatural, suggests that there are no marvelous phenomena; instead, there can be only the uncanny. Consequently, for those who subscribe to this view, the fantastic itself no longer exists in this scheme, for the fantastic depends, as Todorov points out, upon the tension of indecision concerning to which category an incident belongs, the natural or the supernatural. The paranormal is understood, by those who posit it, in lieu of the supernatural, as the natural as yet unexplained.

And now, back to a fate worse than death: grading students’ papers.

My Cup of Blood

Anyone who becomes an aficionado of anything tends, eventually, to develop criteria for elements or features of the person, place, or thing of whom or which he or she has become enamored. Horror fiction--admittedly not everyone’s cuppa blood--is no different (okay, maybe it’s a little different): it, too, appeals to different fans, each for reasons of his or her own. Of course, in general, book reviews, the flyleaves of novels, and movie trailers suggest what many, maybe even most, readers of a particular type of fiction enjoy, but, right here, right now, I’m talking more specifically--one might say, even more eccentrically. In other words, I’m talking what I happen to like, without assuming (assuming makes an “ass” of “u” and “me”) that you also like the same. It’s entirely possible that you will; on the other hand, it’s entirely likely that you won’t.

Anyway, this is what I happen to like in horror fiction:

Small-town settings in which I get to know the townspeople, both the good, the bad, and the ugly. For this reason alone, I’m a sucker for most of Stephen King’s novels. Most of them, from 'Salem's Lot to Under the Dome, are set in small towns that are peopled by the good, the bad, and the ugly. Part of the appeal here, granted, is the sense of community that such settings entail.

Isolated settings, such as caves, desert wastelands, islands, mountaintops, space, swamps, where characters are cut off from civilization and culture and must survive and thrive or die on their own, without assistance, by their wits and other personal resources. Many are the examples of such novels and screenplays, but Alien, The Shining, The Descent, Desperation, and The Island of Dr. Moreau, are some of the ones that come readily to mind.

Total institutions as settings. Camps, hospitals, military installations, nursing homes, prisons, resorts, spaceships, and other worlds unto themselves are examples of such settings, and Sleepaway Camp, Coma, The Green Mile, and Aliens are some of the novels or films that take place in such settings.

Anecdotal scenes--in other words, short scenes that showcase a character--usually, an unusual, even eccentric, character. Both Dean Koontz and the dynamic duo, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, excel at this, so I keep reading their series (although Koontz’s canine companions frequently--indeed, almost always--annoy, as does his relentless optimism).

Atmosphere, mood, and tone. Here, King is king, but so is Bentley Little. In the use of description to terrorize and horrify, both are masters of the craft.

A bit of erotica (okay, okay, sex--are you satisfied?), often of the unusual variety. Sex sells, and, yes, sex whets my reader’s appetite. Bentley Little is the go-to guy for this spicy ingredient, although Koontz has done a bit of seasoning with this spice, too, in such novels as Lightning and Demon Seed (and, some say, Hung).

Believable characters. Stephen King, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, and Dan Simmons are great at creating characters that stick to readers’ ribs.

Innovation. Bram Stoker demonstrates it, especially in his short story “Dracula’s Guest,” as does H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson, and a host of other, mostly classical, horror novelists and short story writers. For an example, check out my post on Stoker’s story, which is a real stoker, to be sure. Stephen King shows innovation, too, in ‘Salem’s Lot, The Shining, It, and other novels. One might even argue that Dean Koontz’s something-for-everyone, cross-genre writing is innovative; he seems to have been one of the first, if not the first, to pen such tales.

Technique. Check out Frank Peretti’s use of maps and his allusions to the senses in Monster; my post on this very topic is worth a look, if I do say so myself, which, of course, I do. Opening chapters that accomplish a multitude of narrative purposes (not usually all at once, but successively) are attractive, too, and Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are as good as anyone, and better than many, at this art.

A connective universe--a mythos, if you will, such as both H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King, and, to a lesser extent, Dean Koontz, Bentley Little, and even Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have created through the use of recurring settings, characters, themes, and other elements of fiction.

A lack of pretentiousness. Dean Koontz has it, as do Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Bentley Little, and (to some extent, although he has become condescending and self-indulgent of late, Stephen King); unfortunately, both Dan Simmons and Robert McCammon have become too self-important in their later works, Simmons almost to the point of becoming unreadable. Come on, people, you’re writing about monsters--you should be humble.

Longevity. Writers who have been around for a while usually get better, Stephen King, Dan Simmons, and Robert McCammon excepted.

Pacing. Neither too fast nor too slow. Dean Koontz is good, maybe the best, here, of contemporary horror writers.


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