This is my journal on the things that interest me the most, including books and writing, Scandinavian myth and web design. It has been neglected over the last several months, but that ends now. As I get back into the groove of writing fiction again, this will take on the intended role of a writing journal, marking my progress as I work through writing a novel.
While I was at the coffee shop this morning, the writing was just not coming to me. After several minutes trying to will ideas into my head, I decided to give up and do a little drawing in Illustrator. Being the Halloween season, a scarecrow seemed the natural choice.
Tales of the supernatural and macabre hold a strong fascination for many because we love the mystery, the anticipation and the tingle along our spines when things get creepy. The weird tale is about the unknown, be it the monsters that lurk just beyond our site in an ancient cellar or the depths of madness in a murderer’s eyes.
What it is not is about shock and gore. While these definitely have their place within the genre, they are best used sparingly. I liken them to peppers in cooking. A little chili pepper can bring out the flavors of a dish, but slathering habanero peppers over anything will simply kill any and all flavor leaving only unbearable heat. It is no longer a meal, but a test of fortitude. This is where slasher films fail. They test the viewer’s fortitude instead of stimulating their imagination. While there’s a chance we may remember a particularly gruesome scene or vivid image, the rest of the story is forgotten. On the other hand, a movie like Sixth Sense stays with us in its entirety because of the story and atmosphere hold just as much importance as the surprise ending and the few gory images. Horror to me needs to be smarter than some bogeyman with an axe jumping out of nowhere to stimulate feeling of excitement, dread, and on occasion the terror that shakes your very belief on the order of the world.
To truly understand the genre, I recommend any horror enthusiast to check out some of the masters from the early days of the weird tale. I guess early is a rather subjective notion, since the many of the primal myths of mankind contain all of the elements of horror tales and ghost stories. Out of necessity, I’m also leaving out those writers whose stories are not technically classified as horror, but have had a lasting influence on the genre such as Goethe, Dante, and Lord Dunsany.
Edgar Allan Poe
This is an obvious pick, but he was the true master of the genre. His stories are so varied in subtlety and technique that one could spend a lifetime studying his influence. There’s not much that I can add here but to urge you to read or reread as much of Poe’s work as you can get your hands on.
Bram Stoker
Best known for Dracula, Stoker wrote a number of quality short horror stories that all have his flair for drama and Irish intensity. His tales bear a close resemblance to those of Poe, but are pleasurable reads.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
He didn’t just do Sherlock Holmes tales. Doyle was a firm believer in fairies and the supernatural and his horror stories reflect this. At times his short stories fall short, and he may not master the horror genre as surely as his detective tales, but most of them are very good.
H.P. Lovecraft
Lovecraft brought in a whole mythology of cosmic beings into the horror genre that few writers of any field have been able to best. Adept at both the solitary ghost story and tales where the fate of mankind is in constant peril, Lovecraft lays on a thick coat of his maddening imagery and cyclopean vocabulary to produce some truly memorable tales. While characters may be flat in his work, the visceral nature of his prose is something to behold, but for the love of all that is eldritch, never to emulate. People tend to either love him or hate him.
Algernon Blackwood
Blackwood wrote some great horror tales. In my mind, The Willows and The Wendigo are true classics and perfect examples of creating atmosphere. In some of his other stories, Blackwood fails by trying to explain away mysteries in pseudo-scientific terms and his use of the occult terminology of the day can be distracting. All in all, though, very quality reads.
J. Sheridan LeFanu
It took me a long time to appreciate LeFanu. His sentences are sometimes repetitive and his style is at times distracting, he does not wrap everything up in nice neat packages for his readers, so many things go unexplained and on occasion you get the feeling that the story you are reading is trying to push some covert moral lesson.
All that being said, LeFanu is one of the true masters of the weird tale. His stories are firmly placed in the real world and once in a while something uncanny slips through. Carmilla is one of the top vampire tales, and Green Tea and the Familiar are classics.
M.R. James
M.R. James was a respected scholar on medieval manuscripts and cathedral who liked to tell ghost stories to friends at Christmastide. The resulting tales are intellectual yet casual with just enough historical background to make whatever is about to happen entirely plausible and all the more disturbing. James’ approach is subtler than any other authors on this list and each tale gently leads the reader step-by-step to the inevitable conclusion. His stories are a true treat to read and are antithetical of much of the horror fiction out today
Other Authors of Note
Two authors that are important in the field and deserve mention here are Anne Radcliffe and Arthur Machen. Unfortunately, I have not had the pleasure of reading any of their works (but for one of Machen’s short stories). E.F. Benson is another significant contributor, and though I’ve read through a book of his stories, it was so long ago that I cannot remember any of them clearly… I don’t know if that reflects on me or on the writing. Frankenstein is another must read, but there’s not much else from Mary Shelley’s work to speak of. Nathanial Hawthorne wrote several eerie tales and some people love them. To me they are so puritanically dull and dreadful that I could not make it through a couple of short stories, let alone The House of Seven Gables.
If you can check out just one of these gifted authors this Halloween season, I truly urge you to do so to get in the proper spirit and experience the forefathers of horror.
The leaves have yet to turn, the days still hot, but pumpkin patches and corn mazes pop up out of nowhere along the side of the road, witches and skeletons (not to mention the devilish candy that taunts without mercy) haunt our favorite stores, and the smell of cinnamon and caramel roll in like a winter fog to remind us October is here. Though it is all blatant commercialism, the response it creates goes much deeper. We find a little candle spark go on inside as the child inside begins to stir and our thoughts slowly drift to those things unseen. The wonderful feeling of goosebumps, the potential for the unexpected around every corner, the memory of ghosts from the distant past and tales of the unknown all create a sense of mystery and wonder that carries on throughout the winter.
This month, I will be celebrating all things Halloween here at Trollwind.com. Short tales of ghosties, spooky drawings and animations, random musings on the holiday and photos of Jack-o-Lanterns plus whatever costumes we decide to torture the pugs with this season will show up here throughout October. Given my love of food rivals my love of writing, some random Halloween goody recipes may make their way onto the journal.
Happy October and Happy Halloween!
