Guest Blog: ‘The Raven’ – Nevermore.
Interesting article, though I tend to disagree with his descriptions of what was going through Poe’s mind when he wrote this. Though I am not a skeptic, I tend to be skeptical when someone tells me in effect “yes, that is what he says, but this is what he meant…” Poe definitely hyped the bejeezus out of the poem (and his ego) by calling it the best poem ever written, but as for the rest…who knows?
Thoughts? Comments?
Here’s an interesting article for those writing a story and are trying to find a way to negate a cell phone. You probably won’t want to use these (that runs counter to being creative), but these methods may point you in the right direction: http://mentalfloss.com/article/56842/7-creative-ways-modern-horror-films-get-rid-cell-phones.
I just finished watching an episode of the X-Files entitled “Chinga” [note to Spanish-speakers out there: I don’t know who chose the title, so please forgive my language] from Season Five and I noticed that it was written by Stephen King and Chris Carter (the creator of the X-Files). The story’s antagonist is a talking doll that can force people to injure or kill themselves in gruesome ways. Like many, if not most, of King’s stories, there is no explanation of how the came to exist. All the viewer finds out about it is that a lobsterman pulled it up one night in a lobster trap and his daughter comes to possess it after he meets his own gruesome fate.
I find in my own writing that I like to provide an explanation or background as to how things originate. This is just my nature. I like to know the origins of things. However, I have come to believe of late that, in terms of horror, that is a very nineteenth century concept.
Lovecraft said in his essay “Supernatural Horror in Literature”:
“A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and protentiousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain — a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only daily safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space.”
For me, what Lovecraft is saying is that if the laws of nature are negated, then anything is possible and monsters like Cthulhu really could exist and are capable of doing us harm at any moment. Combine this with his statement that “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” and it becomes apparent that stories like “Chinga” derive much of their horror effect from the fact that the origin of the threat to a story’s protagonist(s) is unknown or that there is no explanation for the threat.
This would mean that one of things that provides to “Chinga” the element of horror that it has, is the fact that origin of the doll is unknown. Therefore, any of us when we are fishing or scuba diving or swimming in any body of water, could discover a doll that would turn his/her life into a nightmare. That is a scary thought.
Of course, this means that Stephen King would be one of the greatest practitioners of this technique, which I believe he is.
I think I shall try to experiment with this in the near future.
Thoughts? Comments?
If you are an avid reader (of anything) and are not familiar with Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page), you are doing yourself a great disservice. As they state on their homepage:
“Project Gutenberg offers over 46,000 free ebooks: choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online.
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As they state, most of these books are available because their copyrights have expired, making them usually quite dated. However, for anyone with a bent for the historical, Project Gutenberg is a gold mine. I did a quick search for “horror” on their website and received 169 titles in response. For a few, the only relation to the horror genre was the word “horror” in the title (such as “Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases–which is a horrible subject, but is non-fiction vs. horror fiction). However, many are the classics or founding works of the horror genre, such as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Dracula by Bram Stoker, The Vampyre: a Tale by John William Polidori, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Fantome de’l Opera (Phantom of the Opera) by Gaston Leroux, many works by Edgar Allan Poe, The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen, The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, The Shunned House by H.P. Lovecraft, and many others.
Please take the time to visit this treasure trove of literature and of the horror genre, and if you are so inclined, please consider making a donation (via their website) to support their worthy cause.
Thoughts? Comments?
The Quick 10: 10 Unexpected Horror Writers. Here is an interesting article I ran across at Mentalfloss.com. I would never have suspected most of these of ever having even an interest in horror. Stacey Conradt wrote the article in 2009.
A few days ago, I was just relaxing after a heavy meal and was starting to surf Google Earth, when I hit upon an idea that might be entertaining to my followers in the blogosphere. Why not visit the locations of famous horror novels or historical figures via Google Earth? I would only be trying to fool myself and you if I were to say that I would do this with any regularity. I can say that I shall do it as the spirit moves me, which may or not be frequently. Let me know what you think of the idea. I encourage you to try the same with the horror locations that you know. My first stop is at Cachtice (pronounced Chahk-teet-se) Castle, in present-day Slovakia, which was the home of the “Blood Countess”, Elizabeth Bathory, who is said to have tortured and murdered around 650 young girls circa 1600-1610. I won’t go into a detailed biography of her here. I have mentioned her in at least a couple of posts already and her biography can easily be found by surfing the Internet. I do caution you to try to find good, authoritative sources of information about her. Unfortunately, crap is pervasive throughout the “net” and a legendary figure from 400 years ago is apt to have more than the average share of strange ideas, rumors, falsehoods, mistakes, and outright lies. The Google image above is not of the highest quality. I think this one has recently replaced one that was much better. For a better view of the castle, I am providing this terrific view by Civertan from Wikimedia Commons:
The advantage of Google Earth though is that you can view a location from an infinite number of angles and even from street level (unfortunately this option is not available for Cachtice) and view photos visitors have taken of the location. To find Cachtice, you will, of course, have to search for “Cachtice”. This will take you to the village of Cachtice. Look to the Northwest and you will find a smaller village called “Visnove”. Just southeast of Visnove is a hill with a castle. That’s it. See the diagram I have attached below for more details.
I hope you enjoy your virtual visit to one the world’s more infamous hellholes.
The 23 Weirdest Movies… And What They Really Mean – StumbleUpon.
Interesting and quite entertaining article. A good number of these are horror movies. 
Just a little Christmas fun from Ottawahorror.com. Follow this link to their site and you can post this on Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon, and others.Check out the following note to be found on their About Us Page:
Started in 2008, we are a blog and portal dedicated to all things horror in our nation’s [Canada] capital. If you are a filmmaker, musician, artist, or fan, this is the place for you. Also, recruit minions! When we travel out of town, we bump into more people and artists from home than we do when we hang around the batcave. It’s kinda cool, but kinda creepy. While we appreciate finding you wherever you are, finding you here is easier… because then we can send reporters and photographers after you easier.
On July 15, I posted an article on Irvin S. Cobb and his story “Fishhead”, which H.P. Lovecraft mentioned in “Supernatural Horror in Literature”. Today, I happened upon
some selections I had copied a book published in 1941 that gave popular egg nog recipes of that year. One of them was Irvin Cobb’s. I am publishing it here today for your entertainment in light of the upcoming holidays. The copy is to the upper right, but if the print is too small, I am writing it out here:
1 whole egg
1/2 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 jigger whiskey
1/2 tumbler sweet milk
Separate yogurt and beat well, stir in sugar, whiskey and milk separately. Whip in stiffly beaten egg white and serve with nutmeg on top.
In parentheses and italics at the bottom the recipe notes: (Mr. Cobb says it will make any man feel like Santa Claus.)
Thoughts? Comments?
If you are having problems meeting a deadline or dealing with the demon of writer’s block the following article may help you feel not so alone. Some, if not all, of the world’s most famous had to deal with one or both and often did so in novel ways: NaNoWriMo: Classic Novels Written in a Month | Interesting Literature.
Note, horror fans, that of the authors mentioned here only one was an author of horror. Of course, I mean the gentleman to the left, the author of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which he apparently drafted at the Nineteenth century equivalent of warp speed.
Thoughts? Comments?
Here is an amusing article for fans of cinematic werewolves: The Good, The Bad and The Terrible ; Werewolves | The Horror Online.
On a side note, I find werewolves a fascinating fictional creature with a lot of as yet unexplored literary possibilities. I love them as a symbol of the dual nature of humanity: civilized person under most circumstances, but with the possibility of releasing, whether willingly or not, a dark, inner animalistic nature and suddenly converting into a horrific, bloodthirsty monster. I started a werewolf/lycanthrope novel of my own many years ago, and perhaps one day I will complete it.
Those of you unfamiliar with the distinction between a werewolf and a lycanthrope please note the following. A werewolf is a man (or woman) that actually changes into a wolf. Werewolves exist only in fiction. A lycanthrope is a person who believes that he or she changes into a wolf. These do exist, but are rare. For more information on this condition, please visit the Wikipedia article on Clinical Lycanthropy.
Thoughts? Comments?
Here is an interesting viewpoint on just what makes a horror film: MovieNews | Opinion: How to define a horror film – entertainment.ie.
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Volume 1. Yes, this link takes you to a collection of Poe’s works, but the reason I am mentioning it here is because the preface to this particular volume includes fascinating biographical notes and insight into the character of this master of horror that may help you understand the roots of his creative genius and how art sometimes came close to imitating life for Mr. Poe.
When you open the page, you may find yourself a little distance from the top of the article at the beginning of a section entitled “The Death of Edgar Allan Poe”. While this section is fascinating in its own right, scroll to the top for the entire preface. The works of Poe, beginning with the story of Hans Pfall, begin a bit down from “The Death…”
Purely for your entertainment, here are 28 Totally Relatable Quotes About Books. I know I can relate to a lot of them. I’m sure you will find a few for yourself. One reason I find these interesting is because many of them show me how intensely involved readers will become with a book. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I believe that people live a vicarious existence through a story. When we write, we are not just writing a book or a story, we are creating a universe in which people will hopefully want to, not just visit, but dwell. All of the writer’s art should therefore focus on creating a virtual reality for one’s readers. To do that, we need a good grounding in, or at least a good feel for, human psychology, because we have to shape our creations to fit the human psyche. How do thoughts come into being? How do they lead from one to another? How do images form in the mind? No, I am not saying that we need Ph.D.’s in psychology to be good writers, but I think we need some sort of archetypal insight into human nature if we are to be the great writers we hope to be. Darn. I’m rambling again. 🙂
Note the few horror movies on this list: 15 Fictional Movies Inspired By Unbelievable Real Life Events.
Phil Slattery, Writer, Publisher 