By Alex Ness
October 30, 2022
HAPPY HALLOWEEN WEEK
I don't read horror as often as people who read me suggest that I might. Yes, I love horror. Yes I read and enjoy works others describe as being horror. But, they don't work for me as that.
You see, I deeply enjoy the Cthulhu Mythos but I rarely see it as working for me as being horror. It is more an archeology of horror or scientific dissection of horror, as I think it shows how horror could work, and why it should lead to fear. I love Brian Lumley's writing, whether it is horror or otherwise. But, there is horror that works as horror for me, and I reserve that for the opportunity to escape the issues of life through the adrenaline and rush in response to threat. I think perhaps I've read too much history and am aware of the evil that men have done. Genocide, war, murder, and worse are more than the genre horror can hope to evoke, even the most extreme of it.
I've mentioned here that I believe that should Stephen King wrote in genres outside of Horror, or Dark Fantasy or Science Fiction, he'd be celebrated as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th and 21st Century. The reason I say this, isn't that I love his work, I think it is very good, and a variety of his books I've very much thought to be great. It isn't that his work always works for me, it doesn't. But, he has a collection of stories that is consistently wonderfully written. His creation of concepts and story is masterful, and he has an ability to say in words what most require images to impart. Now his writing is beyond normal and good, because it creates scenes and real sounding dialogue that make the reader have to respond, somehow, via their emotions or intellect. And, for me, I tend to find my senses emotionally drained after reading his work. Which is, I think, exactly, what good writing does.
This piece ends the month of October, and celebrates Halloween, with some great writers to seek out, buy the works of, visit the library, pursue...
Author/Director JOE MONKS and Extreme Horror
Joe Monks is my friend. He is quite easily the funniest person I've ever met, and there are loads of people who are funny and clever that I've met over my life. But, why I start this with him, and his works, is due to the kind of horror he creates, and is a bit of pariah due to his brand of such. He did more than write horror, he is a film director and screen writer. He also spent time in the trenches of magazines of all sorts, honing his craft. His horror is dark, but more, where other authors write horror that the reader responds to, views, lets soak in, Monks goes further. His horror is extreme, but it is something that pursues the reader, finds them where they are comfortable, and changes that. His variety of horror has an effect of causing fear, certainly, but it does more than that. It makes you realize that upon completion of the story, you are not done, it lingers in memory, and disturbs your peace. If you love Horror, his work is exactly that. If you prefer softer work, it might scare you into coma.
THE HORROR BOOKS OF STEVE NILES
Steve Niles created horror in the comic book world with his concepts of Thirty Days of Night, Cal McDonald and Freaks of the Heartland. I've been told people find them sexy, but, that wouldn't be my take. They have something about them, though, that isn't sexy, but makes them effective. The horror of them is in the fact that these being exist and we are surrounded by them, only to become aware that we are, ourselves, monsters, if not mutated or ugly. There is a celebration of the darkness in Niles' works, and it functions powerfully as a means of disarming and getting beyond the layers of mental defense a reader puts before him. There are fun avenues we go down in Niles' writing too. Cal McDonald might be Steve Niles in a different form. The vampires unleashed in his 30 Days of Night mythos are evil, but more than that, they hunger. That hunger is dark, violent, malevolent, but that hunger exists in us all, making these monsters reflecting our nature, rather than threatening our nature.
RAMSEY CAMPBELL
I am a fan of great authors writing in the Cthulhu Mythos of Lovecraft. But Ramsey Campbell's versions were ok, but feel like there is less of an ownership of the concept, becoming somewhat forced, or jaded. And if you leave his works there, they'd be ok. But, Campbell's original work in his own literary universe, are amazing, dangerous, and have a flavor that lingers in the readers mental palette. That might happen as a result of a writing style better suited for the concepts he deals with in his own work, versus what is needed when writing in the Cthulhu Mythos. It certainly is the case that the books of Campbell grew in quality over time, as if the mastery of writing is the reason for effective horror, rather than a new or different take upon known subject matter.
ANNE RICE
As readers here know, I adored Anne Rice. She answered some questions over time, and was very generous with her time, which for a popular author is rare, and difficult. Her death in December 2021 was shocking, and I will miss her output and her presence online. Rice didn't write new concepts in horror. She wrote intriguing characters and addressed interesting subjects, without the standard horror outlook that one might find elsewhere. The reason her concepts and subjects worked was due to her treatment of them in a real, less mythologized way, giving them interests and needs that we normal humans also possess. Her graceful words and softer approach works well, because in horror we have become used to tropes and common styles in the genre that alert us to impending danger or doom. Her soft voice allows her evil to be perceived so, after serious reflection. I guess I am saying, she doesn't tell us to be afraid, we become it.
MARY SHELLEY
I've written about appreciating the work of Shelley for a long time. I just wish there were more of it. Her concept/foundations of Frankenstein was more than horror, it was a question that has no answer yet. If God creates, what if humans could in a laboratory create life, would that make humans God? In the Last Man, her concept appeared at a time that couldn't perceive the enormous concept, what if humans could be snuffed out by a pandemic? Her works are written in the style of the day, but still, the truth of both ring loudly.
EDGAR ALLAN POE
In my early days of writing poetry for print and to be read by others, there was a perception in some that I was trying to evoke Edgar Allan Poe's works. I was not, however, if anything did rub off on me, it wouldn't be odd, since I did really enjoy Poe, and think he was courageous at his time of writing, for pursuing subject matter that didn't yet exist. His poetry is more my thing than short prose, but I like both.
About Getting Reviews from Me
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My Poetry AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
Published Work AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html
Amazon Page Amazon.com/author/AlexNess
Cthulhu Horror CthulhuDarkness.Blogspot.Com
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