Kevin's Watch

I've always longed for a short story about Darsint and/or his men, on that planet...

Wouldn't SRD make a world class horror novelist? Just look at the list of monsters... It's hard for me to pick the creepiest one...

duchess of malfi wrote: Wouldn't SRD make a world class horror novelist? Just look at the list of monsters...

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.

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.

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?].

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.

...Man I've got to read these books--they sound incredeble!!

They are.

--A

Well, the way Donaldson has been experimenting with Genre lately, I don't think a horror novel is really that far fetched.

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.

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.

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...

The Callat are certainly the only choice of Imagery Abomination that is loyal to the rouge Imager.