The Lighter Side of Absolute Zero

NaNoWriMo is just around the corner, and Halloween is at the end of this month. While contemplating doing a warm-up for next month’s marathon a thought struck me. What if the “monster” in a horror story was actually the protagonist and not the humans? I came to this idea by contemplating how Lovecraft structured his stories, in an attempt to mimic that in time for Halloween, and it seemed to me the “monsters”, while rarely seen, are in fact characters, and it could perhaps be argued they are in fact the protagonists.

Armed with this I hope to write 10,000-20,000 words this month in preparation for next month, and in order to have a story to share come this Halloween. I’m excited! Now … if only I could find an idea around here somewhere… .

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I’ve been a fan of podcasts for quite some time, but it’s been quite difficult for me to share a good podcast with friends, since when I hear a good one I’m usually no where near my computer. Thus I have decided to keep a categorized list of podcasts I listen to and recommend. You can find it here.

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It’s taken me a year, one full year to the day in fact, to realize something it appears I already knew: in weird fiction/horror atmosphere is of utmost importance. In an effort to come up with an acceptable haunt for my Halloween story this month I’ve hit brick-wall after brick-wall. Tonight it suddenly dawned on me: if I render down all the good weird fiction stories I have ever read I have weak-sauce for the haunts. Nearly all of Lovecraft’s antagonists are simply aliens aeons old and supremely powerful, but aliens nonetheless.

The haunt is not as important as the atmosphere. The thing about weird fiction that makes it great is the atmosphere it paints, the way in which the haunt is revealed, and how much is revealed. The author may know that the thing in the dark is just a misunderstood trans-dimensional creature scared out of its mind and looking for it’s mommy, and while that isn’t weird or horrific the presentation can be.

Will this mean I can find some banal source for the weirdness in my Halloween story, and still tell a chilling tale come the end of this month? I’ll find out!

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

How does one assess their financial worth as an employee? What do you do when you look around you, assess your budget, and realize that you are barely paying the bills, with no savings, no retirement plan, and no hope for the future? How do you go about proving your value to the company in terms of salary and benefits? How do you ask for, and justify, a raise?

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

So I got the bright idea that maybe the wife and I would want to record some of our time while we prepare for the baby. Now, for the life of me I cannot imagine who would want to watch it, nor when they would want to watch it, but the idea struck and the little woman got excited (as anticipated). So we may be buying that camcorder earlier than we thought.

The question I have, what would you say [to your unborn child]?

Edited: There’s been some apparent confusion regarding the question. I’ve added the implied direct object.

Posted by Seth Croston Barber at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)