Your Favorite Abomination of Imagery
Moderator: Cord Hurn
- duchess of malfi
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 11104
- Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2002 9:20 pm
- Location: Michigan, USA
I'm not a horror fan per se, but I would definitely be interested to see SRD's take on the genre. Horror stories often seem to deal with the supernatural anyway, so in a sense, they're another kind of fantasy, right? Fantasy taken to its darkest extreme, I suppose. There is already a fair amount of horrifying happenings in Mordant's Need. I imagine it's only a few steps removed from being a full-fledged gothic horror story.duchess of malfi wrote: Wouldn't SRD make a world class horror novelist? Just look at the list of monsters...
That's an interesting point. Are horror and fantasy two ends of a spectrum? Or are they opposite sides of the same coin? In the first case, you have a sort of continuum--which is what MM seems to be saying here. Mordant's Need is a prime example of this--witness the terrifying Cockroach Zombies [band name, anyone?].Matrixman wrote: Horror stories often seem to deal with the supernatural anyway, so in a sense, they're another kind of fantasy, right? Fantasy taken to its darkest extreme, I suppose.
In the second case, they're more differentiated--though both are equally valuable. I would say that SRD's short story "The Conqueror Worm" is a good example of Horror that isn't Fantasy. No supernatural elements, just a big ol' hairy centipede and a domestic squabble. The coin itself--the coin that both genres trade in--is human imagination.
SRD's "abominations"--whether real (the centipede) or imaginary (cockroach-carrying zombies)--all strike hard at the basic human fears: the stranger; the malformed; the incomprehensible; pursuit; the unknown. Maybe that's why the Ravening Slug Beast, Cockroach Zombies, Firecat, Spiny Wolves, and (especially?) the childlike Ghouls are so terrifying; they are familiar and completely alien at the same time.
Halfway down the stairs Is the stair where I sit. There isn't any other stair quite like it. I'm not at the bottom, I'm not at the top; So this is the stair where I always stop.
- The Dreaming
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 1921
- Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2004 11:16 pm
- Location: Louisville KY
- Gadget nee Jemcheeta
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 2040
- Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 2:05 pm
- Location: Cleveland
It'd sure be interesting. Maybe a GI question? Oh yeah, the bug zombies were the worst by far.
Just imagine them on a slightly larger scale... every living creature large enough to be fed off of would, of course, eventually become a host body.
Just imagine them on a slightly larger scale... every living creature large enough to be fed off of would, of course, eventually become a host body.
Start where you are,
use what you have,
do what you can.
use what you have,
do what you can.
Horror and fantasy are definitely inter-related. Just look at an author like Clive Barker who creates entire worlds (like the fugue) and peoples but definitely is a horror writer and you don't get much darker than the Sunbane - a corruption of the world itself.
The worst abominations for me are the ghouls. There's nothing creepier than creepy children. Although pools of fire are also bad - because they're not alive there's no way to fight them or reason with them. In a sense they are bad because they're not evil.
The worst abominations for me are the ghouls. There's nothing creepier than creepy children. Although pools of fire are also bad - because they're not alive there's no way to fight them or reason with them. In a sense they are bad because they're not evil.
Am I the only one who would bring forth the Callat?
That's OK cause I would invite the entire Watch for a big PIG roast... Extra legs for everybody!
mmmmHa ha hahahahahahah!
Sorry - BBQ weekend due to Memorial Day...
That's OK cause I would invite the entire Watch for a big PIG roast... Extra legs for everybody!
mmmmHa ha hahahahahahah!
Sorry - BBQ weekend due to Memorial Day...
[spoiler]"...the loveliness of the Land has only grown more precious to me as my senses have been
opened...To turn homeward now would be to pass from treasure-berries to dust."
-- Liand to Linden [P324 Runes][/spoiler]
opened...To turn homeward now would be to pass from treasure-berries to dust."
-- Liand to Linden [P324 Runes][/spoiler]