horror – Page 47 – Phil Slattery, Writer, Publisher

FIRST-LOOK TEASER TRAILER: “THE WORLD OF KANAKO” From DRAFTHOUSE FILMS

Source: FIRST-LOOK TEASER TRAILER: “THE WORLD OF KANAKO” From DRAFTHOUSE FILMS

“Drafthouse Films will release Tetsuya Nakashima’s acclaimed thriller The World of Kanako in select theaters on December 4th, as well as making it available on multiple digital VOD platforms including Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vimeo, and VHX. A home video release on Blu-ray and DVD is slated for early 2016.

“An uncompromising revenge thriller of operatic scope, The World of Kanako is a non-stop visual and emotional assault to the senses as it follows troubled ex-detective Akikazu (Kôji Yakusho, 13 Assassins, Babel) on the hunt for his missing teenage daughter, Kanako. What he discovers in his search is an unsettling and harrowing web of depravity––surrounding both Kanako and himself. As Akizaku stumbles along a shocking trail of drugs, sex and violence, he finds himself woefully unprepared for the revelations that affect all he holds dear.” (Description from horrorunderground.org)

Drop over to horrorunderground.org and check out what promises to be first-rate Japanese horror.

Thoughts? Comments?

Nano Horror from @tweetsthecreeps

Today on Twitter I stumbled on a good source of nano horror: https://twitter.com/tweetsthecreeps. Their tagline reads “For when

Grand Guignol poster from grandguignol.com — Grand Guignol poster
from grandguignol.com

horror flash fiction isn’t quite short enough, these tweets seek to elicit a shudder, shock, or wicked laugh within the strict limit of 140 characters.” I look forward to @tweetsthecreeps submitting to this blog. Here are four samples:

The smell of death was something the neighbors got used to. When an arm came unearthed, everyone assumed it was a Halloween decoration.

I’m applying for a job at the blood bank but #MyResumeDoesntMention any of my early job history covering the period from 1837 until 1972.

I finally decided who I want to be for Halloween. Her skin will fit me beautifully if I get it off in one piece.

I always thought my bed’s warmth was just a matter of quality, ’til I turned in early & saw someone scramble out of it, into the crawlspace.

Thoughts? Comments?

Announcing a Change of Mission

Writing at Hasting's Hardback Café in Farmington, NM, late evening of October 16, 2015 (self-portrait) — Writing at Hasting’s Hardback Café in Farmington, NM, late evening of October 16, 2015 (self-portrait)

After some consideration, I have decided to change the format of this blog from publishing only my own thoughts on the horror genre to that of a magazine printing submitted articles and works of fiction. I would like to explore the breadth and depth of horror as an art form, but that will never happen so long as I am showcasing only my own works, viewpoints, discoveries, and analyses, for which my other commitments allow little time. I am doing this for my own education and enlightenment as well as for that of my readership. Please visit my Submissions page to read the guidelines for what I would like to publish.

The Dark Language

Working on a play in Hasting's Hardback Café, late evening, October 16, 2015. — Working on a play in Hasting’s Hardback Café, late evening, October 16, 2015.

As I was preparing to go to the local theatre this evening, I was thinking about how I can improve my writing and what distinguishes the great writers of horror. Of course, the first two that came into my mind as being easily discernible from all others were Poe and Lovecraft. Obviously, what distinguishes them is their use of language. Both use very intense, muscular language with a distinctly archaic tone. Not knowing if there a precise term already exists for this style, I decided to call it “the dark language”, because of its tight connection with the horror genre and with the horrifying in general. For me, there seems to be something archetypal about this, arising out of the Jungian collective unconscious. Perhaps it is just that Poe bound the Dark Language so intimately with scenes of horror, terror, and suspense, which is also bound with genres such as the Gothic novel, that the sound of it automatically brings forth societal memories of dread.

I need to finish dressing if I am to dine at my favorite local sushi restaurant before heading to the play. Somehow, I just have the taste for something raw tonight.

Thoughts? Comments?

The Art of Horror is Now on Facebook

Just now, I created a facebook page for the Art of Horror at https://www.facebook.com/slatterysartofhorror. Drop by, check it out, and friend me. Posts from this blog should feed automatically to Facebook as well as from my Twitter account.

Submissions Now Being Considered

If you would like to submit an article or book/movie review on the art of writing horror fiction or just on the art of writing, please send it to horror@philslattery.com. Everything must be submitted by e-mail either in the

With Iced Tea, Farmington, New Mexico, March 20, 2015

body of the e-mail or a Word document (.doc or .docx). There is no pay for any submission at this time (maybe after I win the Pulitzer or Nobel, but probably not before then).

I am seeking:

Articles under 1,000 words on the art of writing horror (fiction of any length, poetry, screenplays, etc.) or on writing in general, but material along the lines of horror is preferred. Articles on foreign horror are encouraged.
Book and movie reviews, the more recently published or distributed the better, but I will consider reviews of classics works such as those of Poe, Lovecraft, Blackwood, etc. all the way back to Walpole (and before if sufficiently interesting). These must be under 1,000 words also.
Articles on horror in other countries are encouraged. These must also be under 1,000 words.
Translations of articles, stories, or poems from French, German, or Spanish are considered, but the original article/story/poem and its translation must not exceed 2,000 words.
Horror poetry (under 32 lines) or articles on horror in poetry.
Flash horror fiction (i.e. under 1,000 words).

Guidelines

Be professional.
Use standard manuscript format. The easier it is for me to simply copy and paste into the website, the more likely you are to be published.
With submissions include your website, twitter handle, or any other social media identification you like. A short bio of 100 words or less (including a list of previous publications) is nice, but not required. Knowing your publication history won’t influence whether or not you are accepted, but it might be nice for the readership to know. If you don’t want to include any social media contact info, don’t include it. Pseudonyms are fine, but please state them as the byline and include your actual name and contact info in the top left of the first page of the submission per standard manuscript format.
In the subject line of your e-mail state whether this is an article or review or poetry of fiction submission, your name, and the work’s title. For example: Article by Phil Slattery “Poe’s Raven: an Analysis”
No hardcopy submissions. Everything must be submitted by e-mail either in the body of the e-mail or attached as a Word document (.doc or .docx).
I would like to reach as large an audience as possible, so please keep profanity to an absolute minimum.
I will try to respond to submissions as quickly as possible, but please allow at least a couple of weeks before querying about your article/story.
There is no pay other than the honor of being published on this website.
I am not taking multiple submissions or simultaneous submissions. Once you have submitted one article/story, please wait about a week before submitting another.
You may submit on piece of artwork or a photo to accompany your article/story. I will edit it (mainly re-sizing) as needed to fit the space available. I will not publish any form of what I deem pornography or in bad taste. If you do not submit artwork or a photo, I may select something appropriate. JPEGs, TIFs and other formats accepted by WordPress are okay, but keep the number of bytes to a minimum. I have only a limited amount of space available.
Artwork and photos may be submitted on their own and you must own the copyright to them. There is no pay for these either. If I do not use these right away, I may keep them until a use arises, but please let me know if this is okay. If you no longer wish me to use them, please let me know as soon as possible.
Do not send advertising (no matter how cleverly veiled it is). It won’t be published.
Gratuitous sex, extreme violence, violence to children, rape and anything else that offends my personal sensibilities will not be published. Anything that seems to reflect an actual crime (past, present, or future) will be immediately turned over to the proper authorities.
If I like your submission, I will publish it as soon as possible, probably within a week. This will depend on the backlog of submissions and other factors. Don’t ask for a timeframe.
Reprints are okay, but you must tell me when and where the article/story/poem was first published.
I do not want fan fiction.
Always re-check the guidelines before submitting. I may change them at any moment without prior notice.

I will update these guidelines as time allows and events warrant. This page was last updated on October 15, 2015.

Please contact me via horror@philslattery.com with any questions.

Thoughts? Comments?

“Dream Warrior” has been Published Again

Illustration by Marge Simon that appeared with my story "Dream Warrior" in the February, 2013 issue of Sorcerous Signals — Illustration by Marge Simon that appeared with my story “Dream Warrior” in the February, 2013 issue of Sorcerous Signals

Today my short story “Dream Warrior” was re-printed by Fiction on the Web. Many thanks to Charlie Fish and his team for selecting this, one of my favorites of my own stories.

Fiction on the Web sums up the story beautifully: Phil Slattery’s powerful revenge epic about a man who visits his Mexican grandfather for spiritual guidance after a violent crime results in the death if his fiancée.

The story was published this morning and so far I have received two comments on it:

Anonymous October 9, 2015 at 1:24 PM

quite literally a rite of passage, mystical and with an interesting payoff, one which Miguel may have to reckon with in time. some very good writing and characterisation.
well done

Mike McC
AnonymousOctober 9, 2015 at 6:21 PM

I agree with Mike, this is a rite of passage, complex and rich with significance.The cultural invocations are vivid and intense, the work of a writer in his/her full stride. The future for Miguel, who knows? The readers interest is fully engaged with what is to come….. Thank you,
Ceinwen

Check out the story when you have the chance.

“Dream Warrior” was originally published by “Sorcerous Signals” in 2013.

Thoughts? Comments?

“Horror” in Other Languages

The blogger on the banks of the San Juan River, Farmington, NM.

I study other languages and generally do well in them, but today (October 3, 2015) I realized that I had never researched the word “horror” in other languages. Therefore, I will start researching it and other horror-related terms today and either post my findings or add them to the Lexicon of Horror. Be aware, that each word in each language has its own nuances, even if it is identical to a word in another language, and that I cannot possibly be completely thorough in defining each one.

At least initially, my published research will be limited to only those languages that use a Roman alphabet. I am not familiar at this time with how to use non-Roman alphabets in WordPress.

Most of the dictionaries I am using as of this posting are somewhat dated.

German: (from The New Cassell’s German Dictionary, 1971) das Entsetzen, Grausen, der Abscheu, Schauder; Schrecken, Greuel…[Note that “horror” in the sense of the literary genre is the same as in English: “Horror”. For example, Horrorfilm is a horror movie.]

French: (from The Bantam New College French and English Dictinary, 1991) la horreur; avoir horreur de to have a horror of; commettre des horreurs to commit atrocities; dire des horreurs to say obscene things; dire des horreurs de to say shocking things about. Finally, [from the Internet] horror film is film d’horreur.

Spanish: (from The University of Chicago Spanish Dictionary, 1971) horror [looking up the Spanish definition from the Spanish-English section, it notes that it is a masculine noun (el horror), and it can also mean atrocity. Dar horror is to cause fright or to terrify. Tenerle horror a uno is to have a strong dislike for someone. The Random House Latin American Spanish Dictionary (1997) adds enormity to its possible meanings.

Latin: (from Cassell’s Latin & English Dictionary, 2002) horror ~oris, bristling, shuddering; roughness of speech; dread, fright, especially religious dread, awe, by metonymy object of dread; a terror

Thoughts? Comments?

Publication Announcement: CCQ has accepted “Sorcerer”

A few minutes ago I received an e-mail saying that my short story “Sorcerer” has been accepted by Creepy Campfire Quarterly. It will appear in their third issue, which will appear on July 20, 2016. Please check them out and buy a copy or two. Also check them out on Facebook. There are several users with a name containing “creepy campfire”, but theirs is Creepy Campfire Quarterly. Their Facebook address is https://www.facebook.com/Creepy-Campfire-Quarterly-CCQ-1580122065546001/timeline/. Their website is http://www.emppublishing.com/creepy-campfire-quarterly.html.

This marks the first time I will be paid for my prose (not a lot, but enough to know my work is appreciated).

“Sorcerer” is a tale of horror and revenge about a modern day sorcerer who comes out of retirement to take a unique vengeance on the callous Don Juan who seduced and abandoned his daughter, who dies during childbirth.

Many thanks to Jennifer Word and her staff for publishing my work.

This is the sixteenth time “Sorcerer” was submitted for publication since I first sent it out on December 29, 2012. Persistence pays off. However, I feel lucky that this was only the 16th time. I know a lot of stories have to be submitted many more times before they finally see success. I think I have at least a few that surpass sixteen submissions (though I haven’t compiled the statistics yet).

Thoughts? Comments?

Review of “The Vampyre” by John William Polidori

John William Polidori 1795-1821 (from Wikimedia) — John William Polidori
1795-1821
(from Wikimedia)

Today I finished reading “The Vampyre” by John William Polidori. Polidori was a friend of Lord Byron and wrote this story during the famous writing contest between Byron, Polidori, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary Shelley, in which Mary Shelley wrote the initial draft of “Frankenstein” (see my post on Polidori and “The Vampyre” dated July 12, 2013). Tonight I wrote up a quick review for Goodreads, which I have pasted here for your enjoyment. I gave the story three stars out of five.

“The action was somewhat fast moving and the ending unexpected, but the plot is rather simple and the narration is hampered by a lack of dialog. There are probably less than five lines of dialog in the entire story of 9,223 words (I copied and pasted the story from the Project Gutenberg version minus the “Extract of a Letter from Geneva” and the “Extract of a Letter Containing an Account of Lord Byron’s Residence in the Island of Mitylene” into Word then used their word count feature). One interesting aspect of Lord Ruthven’s (the vampire) character is that he cannot survive on just anyone’s blood; he has to feed only on the blood of those he loves. That would make an interesting twist to any vampire tale. As the Goodreads summary notes, this is also the start of the motif of the vampire as aristocratic seducer. While this story is probably of mediocre quality at best for today’s literary audiences, it is interesting from the perspective of literary history as the origin of today’s vampire stories and all the cultural offshoots that have sprung from those (such as the Goth movement). Bottom line: it’s worth taking the time to read, especially if one has an interest in the historical basis for today’s horror literature and the vampire subculture.”

Thoughts? Comments?

The Guardian’s “Comment is Free” on Horror Movies

I was surfing the Internet just now, looking for websites where I can comment, and came across The Guardian’s “Comment is Free” section filtered down to their comments on horror movies (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/commentisfree+film/horror). They seem to produce an article on horror films about every 5-10 months, but the articles are interesting and are worth checking out for a different perspective than what one usually encounters (at least in the articles I read). The two articles I read today from The Guardian are “Why Zombies are the Coldest Comfort” by Catherine Shoard and “Why the Human Centipede II bugs me” by Sarah Ditum. Unfortunately, the replies for both were closed, so I will state my opinions here.

As a novice writer of horror and as someone who has read a considerable amount of what might be termed “classic horror tales” back to its beginnings as a genre, Shoard’s article puzzles me. She seems to take the viewpoint that what makes a horror movie enjoyable is that we can feel safe while watching it. She states near the beginning of her article:

Zombies are a threat it’s easy to rationalise. They are unlikely. For this reason, plus issues with speed and intelligence, they are not especially scary. They are essentially a pest control problem with metaphor potential. Even squirrels run quicker… So their presence as a backdrop in a soap such as The Walking Dead provides just the right boost in tension for viewers to convince themselves they’re a long way from Emmerdale (or whatever the Mexican equivalent might be). The Walking Dead is a show that – like Pret a Manger – innovates exactly the right amount within a set formula.

Later, she adds:

More even than with comedy, the director encourages the audience into a specific response; if they don’t elicit it, they have failed. So those who are best at scaring us also make us feel we’re in a safe pair of hands.

And then there’s her conclusion:

Life is frightening. Horror works because it gives us something quantifiable to battle: you know where you are with a zombie.

It seems that Ms. Shoard is saying that the reason we can enjoy zombie movies is because we can feel safe in watching them, because zombies obviously don’t exist and are therefore not a threat and because we are so far removed from them. The second statement is perplexing as well when she states “that those who are best at scaring us also make us feel we’re in a safe pair of hands.”

Ms. Shoard doesn’t seem to understand that one of the basic principles of horror according to H.P. Lovecraft, a universally recognized master of horror of the last 200 years is “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” This is a consistent theme in the horror genre since the days Horace Walpole and the beginnings of the gothic novel. What makes for great horror is a blending of suspense and fear. A writer of horror, be it short story or novel or a movie, does not want his audience to feel safe. He wants them to feel that if they put down the book and walk out of the building, they may be snatched up by Cthulhu or encounter their former neighbors rising from their graves with a ravenous hunger for the living. It’s been a long time since I have read an article this inane. I hope it is a long time before I read another.

I will agree with her on one point: more than with comedy, the director does encourage the audience into a specific response and if they don’t elicit it, they have failed. However, Ms. Shoard doesn’t seem to know what that response is or how to go about achieving it.

I could go on deconstructing this article ad nauseum and reducing it ad absurdam, but I have better things to do with my morning than to antagonize Ms. Shoard. I have nothing against her personally; I just find her opinion in this instance to be off-base and out of touch with the basics of the horror genre.

The second article I read was Sarah Ditum’s “Why the Human Centipede II bugs me”. The teaser to this article sums up the paradox Ms. Ditums explores nicely:

The horror-porn sequel dampens my anti-censorship urges, but banning such films risks losing more intelligent offerings.

I could go into an extensive examination of this article line by line, but, as much as I would love to do that, as I said earlier I have other things I have to accomplish today. However, I encourage everyone with an interest in or an opinion on the extremes of gore and bad taste in horror films today to read this article. It is quite well-written and it does a good job of getting to the essence of the problem: yes, there are films out there today that are so vile and repulsive that we would be better off to ban them for the good of society, but by limiting what is available to the public, we run the risk of losing more intelligent fare that has to deal with these issues.

Personally, I have never seen any of the human centipede films, because the concept is so obscene that I cannot bring myself to watch them and I cannot see any reward or point in forcing myself to do so. As anyone who reads my blog with any regularity knows, I am not a fan of gore for its own sake and I am not a fan of anything tasteless. A lot of people would probably see a vague hypocrisy in this, but those people are ones who perceive horror only as sensationalist, teenage slasher films and do not have a profound knowledge of its history and of its breadth or of the underlying, eternal principles of great horror as in the quotation above from Lovecraft. But that is my taste in what I feed to my mind via my eyes. I will not apologize for it, because I have nothing for which to apologize.

Contemplating what I said in the previous paragraph brings me to another interesting perspective. Perhaps examining the wide range of opinions and viewpoints on this controversial topic reveals something about human psychology. I am not sure of what that would be, but I am sure it would make for an interesting thesis for someone’s Master’s degree. A line and motif from one of my favorite TV shows of all time, “Millennium” (starring Lance Henriksen, ran from about 1998-2000) is “This is who we are.” Somehow, thinking about the ongoing discussion on this controversial topic, I get a subjective feeling that, for better or worse, this is who we are.

The bottom line for this portion of today’s blog is that I find myself of the same viewpoint as Ms. Ditum and I encourage everyone to read her article, whatever your viewpoint on gore in modern cinema (whether of the horror genre or not). It may just broaden your perspective.

Thoughts? Comments?

Types of Horror

Just now, I finished pasting Stephen King’s famous quotation on the three types of terror into my page on “Thoughts on Horror from the Masters” and I remembered that yesterday I was trying to remember the quotation, but could only recall a vague impression of it. Thinking on that impression now, I think that it was just as valid and true a one as the one by Mr. King, but simpler, more compact, and easier to remember. The concept is (I’ll refine this a little for the sake of clarity):

The three most common types of horror are: suspense (knowing someone runs the risk of decapitation at any moment), terror (seeing him/her being decapitated), and disgust (watching the head roll down the stairs).

I don’t think this idea should replace Mr. King’s by any means, but should probably be viewed as a simplification of his rather lengthy statement.

There are also probably a hundred more different flavors (i.e. variations of the sensation) of horror but these are the three that seem to me to be the most common, at least in movies and other popular media.

Thoughts? Comments?

Now Seeking Publisher for Short Story Collection and a Poetry Collection

I am now seeking a publisher for a collection of my short stories that have been published to date and also one for poetry I published back in the 80’s and 90’s. If anyone familiar with my works has a recommendation for one or both, I would love to hear it. All my published prose is listed on my Published Works page as is most of my published poetry. However, I do have a lot of unpublished poems I would like to include in the poetry collection for a total of about 80-90 poems. Of course, I have several as yet unpublished short stories that I can include in the short story collection, if I need to beef up the word count for the collection.

Please contact me via this website, if you know of a potential publisher or if you are a publisher and might have an interest in publishing my works.

“Dream Warrior” to be re-printed by “Fiction on the Web”

Today I learned that my story “Dream Warrior” will be reprinted by “Fiction on the Web” on October 9, 2015. Many thanks to editor Charlie Fish and his team for reprinting one of my favorite stories.

“Dream Warrior” is about a young Hispanic man who learns the ways of Aztec sorcery from his grandfather so that he can take vengeance on those responsible for his girlfriend’s death. Mr. Fish calls it: “A confidently written and powerful revenge tale – excellent storytelling“.

Please visit “Fiction on the Web” at http://www.fictionontheweb.co.uk on October 9 and check it out.

Publication Announcement: “A Tale of Hell”

On May 24, my short story “A Tale of Hell” was published by Fiction on the Web. Please visit them to check it out. Many thanks to Charlie Fish and his staff. Be forewarned: the subject matter is intense and so is the language.

I have already received four very gracious comments on it:

“An intense and well paced story, cleverly leading the reader up a number of garden paths before Jack’s reality finally clarifies and appears in all its horror. The writing is focused and spare as Jack’s malevolent characteristics and idiosyncrasies manifest themselves. Theresa remains a little underdeveloped, but this makes sense in the context as she is only bit player in comparison with Jacks dominant ego which throbs through the piece. Overall a strong tale that lingers in the imagination. Thank you,
Ceinwen”

“brilliantly descriptive piece on man´s apparently unstoppable descent, literally into hell,

very well written

well done

Mike McC”

“Crikey, this is enough to sending me running to the nearest church to repent!! Well written. Your one character’s use of repeition was very effective and added to the build-up of terror even more compellingly than your descriptive passages. Theresa must be one dumb broad to have teamed up with this psychopath. A chilling read. I’d reach for the brandy bottle to calm my nerves …. but see where it landed Jack!
Beryl”

“Enjoyed this story. I thought it was nicely written. Started with a familiar vision of hell, but added several unique treatments; kept me interested in how it all would end. Thanks
rlhoste”