The Lighter Side of Absolute Zero: Finding Good Horror Stories <link rel="prev" href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2006/09/to_emulate_or_not_to_emulate_l.html" title="To Emulate or Not to Emulate Lovecraft" /> <link rel="next" href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2006/10/atmosphere_in_weird_fiction.html" title="Atmosphere in Weird Fiction" />   <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/mt-site.js"></script> </head> <body class="layout-one-column" onload="individualArchivesOnLoad(commenter_name)"> <div id="container"> <div id="container-inner" class="pkg"> <div id="banner"> <div id="banner-inner" class="pkg"> <h1 id="banner-header"><a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/" accesskey="1">The Lighter Side of Absolute Zero</a></h1> <h2 id="banner-description"></h2> </div> </div> <div id="pagebody"> <div id="pagebody-inner" class="pkg"> <div id="alpha"> <div id="alpha-inner" class="pkg"> <p class="content-nav"> <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2006/09/to_emulate_or_not_to_emulate_l.html">« To Emulate or Not to Emulate Lovecraft</a> | <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/">Main</a> | <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2006/10/atmosphere_in_weird_fiction.html">Atmosphere in Weird Fiction »</a> </p> <a id="a001070"></a> <div class="entry" id="entry-1070"> <h3 class="entry-header">Finding Good Horror Stories</h3> <div class="entry-meta"><span class="entry-category">{Perplexity}</span> <span class="entry-topics">Topics: <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=5&tag=Horror&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=5" rel="tag">Horror</a> </span></div> <div class="entry-content"> <div class="entry-body"> <p> I know what I like to read. I know that if I pick up a fantasy book I’ll probably enjoy it, in fact I probably don’t need to read the synopsis. I can pick up a sci-fi book, read the synopsis and make an intelligent decision about reading it (perfect track record too). I can do the same thing with mysteries (though these days I’m sick and tired of murder mysteries so my reading in that area has slacked off). Everything has been rosy, except for horror stories; I’ve been real hit-or-miss, even with reading the synopsis. I have my suspicions for why I’m failing. </p><p> Allow me to invoke Lovecraft yet again, for his stories are a shining example of what I’m looking for in horror stories. First and foremost Lovecraft didn’t write horror; he considered his stories “weird fiction” (two of his essays claim that anyway). I don’t read stories to scare myself, I just don’t think it’s possible. But I do like reading weird stories; for me it’s another aspect of imaginative fantasy; it’s another escape into the unknown away from the mundane. </p><p> Now it seems to me that a good synopsis of your average horror story will in some way spoil the story. You can’t ruin the suspense of a story without ruining the story, and from my reading most horror stories are about that “Gotcha!” moment, and so often it is that moment that turns me off to the story with a “too lame” comment. </p><p> Could it be that I can’t find a good horror story because good horror is hard to come by? Could it be that I need to find a better classification for what I want to read (weird fiction)? It is just too hard to give readers advance warning about a horror story without giving it away? Or is horror too encompassing as a classification and thus it will always have the problem of finding readers. A ghost story isn’t a monster story, nor a vampire chasing werewolves story; horror, like fantasy, is a broad category which can encompass many themes. </p><p> In the end maybe the problem is all about theme and thematic elements. Maybe that’s all it is, or maybe it’s still more than that. Thoughts? </p><p> <strong><em>Disclaimer</em></strong><em>: I have read far more fantasy and sci-fi than horror. This could very well be an anomaly due to lack of exposure.</em> </p> </div> <div id="more" class="entry-more"> </div> </div> <p class="entry-footer"> <span class="post-footers">Posted by Seth Croston Barber on September 28, 2006 5:33 PM</span> <span class="separator">|</span> <a class="permalink" href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2006/09/finding_good_horror_stories.html">Permalink</a> </p> </div> <div class="trackbacks"> <h3 id="trackback" class="trackbacks-header">TrackBack</h3> <div id="trackbacks-info"> <p>TrackBack URL for this entry:<br />http://blog.0kelvin.net/mt-tb.cgi/475</p> </div> <div class="trackbacks-content"> </div> </div> <div id="comments" class="comments"> <div class="comments-content"> <h3 class="comments-header">Comments</h3> <a id="c000625"></a> <div class="comment" id="comment-625"> <div class="comment-content"> <p>First of all, I must say I've read nowhere near as much as you have, so take this for what it's worth.</p> <p>With that said, is it possible that Lovecraft is more one-of-a-kind than you may have thought? Perhaps it's extremely difficult to find lovecraft style writing because no one else has had the creativity to attempt something else.</p> <p>The record industry springs to mind. . . 90% of the songs that I hear on mainstream stations all sound the same, and they sound like crap. To find music I like, I've gotta go elsewhere, and I know you too like less-than-mainstream music. I recall Lovecraft's story too, where he couldn't get published in the mainstream, and instead was published in pulp fiction (if my memory serves me correctly). Maybe you're just looking in the wrong places?</p> </div> <p class="comment-footer"> Posted by: <a title="http://jdhuntington.com" href="http://jdhuntington.com" rel="nofollow">JD</a> | <a href="#comment-625">September 29, 2006 9:42 AM</a> </p> </div> <a id="c000626"></a> <div class="comment" id="comment-626"> <div class="comment-content"> <p>JD,</p> <p>What places would be the right places though, and how would I find them, and even then how would I be able to measure the story before investing time reading it? My main complaint stems from my inability to get a good handle on a broad genre. It's hard for me to find a good "horror" book, and harder still to find good magazines.</p> <p>For instance: I know what I will get with a science fiction magazine (Asimvo's) or a mystery magazine (Alfred Hitchcock) or even a fantasy fiction magazine (mostly sword and sorcery stuff). But what will I get with a "horror" magazine? Ghosts? Vampires? Monsters? Gigeresque aliens? Possessed dogs? Some of those appeal and some do not.</p> <p>I think in the end what I want is not "horror" but "weird" and because I have to look for weird among the horror I'm failing. I <em>think</em> horror stories are authored with an intent to scare, and that's not what I'm reading for. If this is the case the problem lies with me, the audience, and I need to seek a different author . . . but where to find said author?</p> </div> <p class="comment-footer"> Posted by: <a title="http://0kelvin.net/~seth/" href="http://0kelvin.net/~seth/">Seth Croston Barber</a> <a class="commenter-profile" href="http://0kelvin.net/~seth/"><img alt="Author Profile Page" src="http://blog.0kelvin.net/mt-static/images/comment/typekey_logo.png" width="16" height="16" /></a> | <a href="#comment-626">September 29, 2006 10:30 AM</a> </p> </div> <a id="c000627"></a> <div class="comment" id="comment-627"> <div class="comment-content"> <p>As to where you'll find it, I haven't the foggiest.</p> <p>My only worthwhile point of reference is probably the cyberpunk genre of sci-fi. Sci-fi is a pretty broad topic (but maybe not as broad as horror), and it can be hard to find good writings in the specific cyberpunk genre. In fact, in the research I've done (which is basically just asking you questions), I've found that there are four, maybe five authors worth reading. Would it be correct to guess that the "weird fiction" genre is just as limited as cyberpunk?</p> </div> <p class="comment-footer"> Posted by: <a title="http://jdhuntington.com" href="http://jdhuntington.com" rel="nofollow">JD</a> | <a href="#comment-627">September 29, 2006 10:35 AM</a> </p> </div> </div> <form method="post" action="http://blog.0kelvin.net/mt-comments.cgi" name="comments_form" onsubmit="if (this.bakecookie.checked) rememberMe(this)"> <input type="hidden" name="static" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="entry_id" value="1070" /> <div class="comments-open" id="comments-open"> <h2 class="comments-open-header">Post a comment</h2> <div class="comments-open-content"> <script type="text/javascript">  </script> <p class="comments-open-moderated"> (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. 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