Horror and Terror, Slashers and Stumps

HORROR AND TERROR, SLASHERS AND STUMPS - 1

HORROR AND TERROR, SLASHERS AND STUMPS - 2

INTRODUCTION

started as the brainchild of Christopher Conlon,who then suggested it to three other writers (Lisa Morton, Kurt Newton, and Norman Prentiss)who he thought all had similar sensibilities and who would create a lively discussion. The firstsection appeared on Christopher's blog on May 25, 2010, with part two following on Kurt's blog, part three on Norman's, and the final section on Lisa's.The discussion garnered some interest within the horror community, and also led to a panel discussion with all four bloggers at the 2011 Stoker Awards Weekend (the panel took placeon June 18th, 2011).The original discussion is presented here in its entirety and unedited, although the section breaks have been removed. If you'd like to read the original blog pieces, please go to:

CHRISTOPHER CONLON

— http://chrisconlon.livejournal.com/12355.html

KURT NEWTON

— http://kurtnewton.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/horror-and-terror-slashers-and-stumps-part-two/

NORMAN PRENTISS

— http://nprentiss.livejournal.com/5907.html

LISA MORTON

— http://cinriter.livejournal.com/192771.htmlWe hope you find something thought provoking or at least entertaining here, and pleasefeel free to leave a comment or add your voice to the discussion!

HORROR AND TERROR, SLASHERS AND STUMPS - 3

HORROR AND TERROR, SLASHERS AND STUMPSA Four-Part Conversation About Horror Fiction With Christopher Conlon, Lisa Morton,Kurt Newton, and Norman PrentissCONLON:

A friend recently said something to me that I thought might be a good starting placefor this discussion. He told me that in his opinion, horror is “the kind of writing done by peoplewho aren’t smart enough to write science fiction and not clever enough to write mysteries.” Asinsulting as it is, I thought it was a striking thing to say. Norman, what do you think of thischaracterization of the genre?

PRENTISS:

I’ll address the social aspect of this comment first. For some reason, people think it’s perfectly okay to insult horror stories, and by association, horror authors—not necessarily the“you must be sick in the head to write that kind of stuff” comment, which they’d never say toyour face, but more along the lines of “oh, that kind of thing isn’t very good and doesn’t interestme, so it shouldn’t interest you either.”One summer I was wearing a T-shirt from the latest World Horror Convention, with text/designon the back. A guy about my age walked too close behind me; I kept thinking he’d finally pass, but instead he said: “World Horror Convention? I guess you can have a convention for anythingthese days!” I looked back and he

smiled

, like I was supposed to think the comment was clever or even friendly. I wanted to say, “Tell me something

you

care about, please. Maybe somethingyou give up weekends and evenings for: breeding dogs, watching sports, collecting coins,whatever...Would it be okay if I mocked that, implying it’s a stupid waste of time?”As far as the blanket dismissal of horror writing as unintelligent or uninteresting…Certainlythere’s stuff in the genre—in

any

genre—that would fit that description. But my favoritemoments in most books or stories tend to be the darker elements. Maybe that’s why I writehorror: nothing to do with my ability or intelligence, but more to do with my interests andsensibilities.

MORTON:

Well, Chris, at the risk of sounding like I’m being very patronizing to your friend(and considering how patronizing their comment was, I don’t exactly feel

real

bad about that)— my first response would be to state that I pity anyone who thinks writing must simply be about being clever or smart. Whatever happened to making the reader feel something? It doessometimes seem to me that the more jaded our society becomes, the more it looks down onanything that actually makes an individual experience an honest-to-god genuine emotion.Comedies, melodramas, and horror are all derided, because, hey—we hipsters are

above

all thatnasty emotion. Give us something cool and calculating, give us thrillers or Bret Easton Ellis or the endless upper-middle-class (mild) angst of so-called literary fiction.