A Question, an Answer and a Goodbye.

The Topic: If You Could Live At Any Time, Where Would It Be And Why?

You know, the first time that I read this week’s topic, I cringed. I tried to picture myself wielding a sword in the time of King Arthur; imagine what it might be like to drive a flying car; shuffle along behind the disciples during the time of Christ; lean against a dark corner in White Chapel and see whether I might be able to catch a glimpse of Jack skulking about as he preyed on unsuspecting prostitutes; or perhaps just being a grown man during the late sixties and early seventies so that I might be able to see Morrison before he died or stand beneath the shadow of the mighty Zeppelin before John Bonham's death grounded them.

I realize that this topic was meant to be a discussion of fantasy; putting ourselves in the pages of some book we had read or movie we had seen; however, my thoughts immediately focused on the now. What an amazing time to be alive?

From immediately being able to download songs on iTunes or brand new books to my Kindle; to having my iPhone automatically check for e-mails on any of my three accounts; to having the score of the Chicago Cubs games instantly make itself known to me via iPhone; we are living in incredible times. We keep in touch via Facebook and even if we do not speak frequently with one another, just seeing faces and catching updates makes us feel as if we are. We have incredible 3D films, and the ability to watch a film instantly from any one of several devices around the house.

I’m not sure that I get published during any time other than this one. Due to the internet, I was able to find Vamplit Publishing and have the company fall in love with a story and set of characters that I wrote. They’re publishing the second book as well sometime this year.

Once again, I could have listed a few times and places that would have been fantastic to think about living in, but nothing seems quite as amazing as this one. Sure we have our problems. As a world, we still argue and bicker over silly things. We spend more than we earn and we cause a lot of damage to things that we come in contact with. There’s a lot of news on the internet or in the newspaper that I try to avoid because it makes me sad. Yet, all in all, I don’t think that I would have it any other way but to be alive during this time and place.

For those of you who would rather live in another time, even for just a little while, as if in a daydream: do that. If it's good, perhaps I'll join you.

My friends, it now comes time to tell you all that this was my last post for Wicked Writers. I work eleven hours on my day job and am up at 3:00 am every day of the week. On top of that, I am focusing my attention to getting my name out there as an author. I will have the edits on book two very soon to complete and I need to begin working on book three. I also write articles for an on-line magazine in my neck of the woods and there simply isn’t time for everything.

I wish you all well. I hope that most of you know where to find me, whether Facebook, Twitter or my personal blog. I will be checking in here from time to time to see how everyone is doing. I miss my Wicked Writer buddies already just thinking about it.

And all of you as well…

Is Dark Rural Fantasy a Subgenre?

I’ve already mentioned a few times that my novel is a mix of fantasy, horror and comedy, but those are the main literary genres. What about all those subgenres out there? Where does it fit with those?

I hadn’t really thought too much about subgenres until I read …What is Dark Urban Fantasy over at All Things Urban Fantasy, coincidentally the week before writing this post. Read it and you'll find there is no clear description for this subgenre, but the author provides some great examples that lead me to believe The Courier could fall under dark urban fantasy. Still, I wanted to investigate further, so like the author, I ended up on Wikipedia.

Starting at the top of the list, with the historical genre, I found speculative fiction as a subgenre. One of my favorite short story categories to read. There are aspects of distorted history in my story, and book three may have some time travel in it. Check that one off as a possibility.

Science Fiction? Well, cyberpunk may fit because my protagonist, Barry, is a computer genius, although he doesn’t get to use his skills in book 1. Who knows where it might take him in future books…evil laugh.

Am I boring you yet?

I know I was bored until I happened upon:

Splatterpunk—a term coined in 1986 by David J. Schow at the Twelfth World Fantasy Convention in Providence, Rhode Island—refers to a movement within horror fiction distinguished by its graphic, often gory, depiction of violence and "hyperintensive horror with no limits.”

Cool!

The book cover to the right was written in the 1920s though. Have to say that Story of the Eye is one of the grossest stories I’ve ever read, but still one of my favorite books. I aspire to write romance as well as Georges Bataille, although there's not much romance in my series!

Considering I've just segued into horror, add ghosts and occult. Enough said. Wrap it all up in dark comedy and you have The Courier, except I still haven't settled on a subgenre for fantasy.

Most of the first two novels in The Courier series are certainly dark and fantastic, but primarily set in a rural area of Colorado. Not until the third novel does Barry return to Denver. So is there a dark rural fantasy category? Why did they throw in urban anyways? It's not like all the evil characters in the world would flock to the cities. For all we know, cattle mutilations could be the work of vampires and zombies, and not aliens.

And now, back to the true purpose of this post. How do I write in all these genres and subgenres? Well schizophrenia runs in my family. But seriously, folks, our lives could never fit into one genre, so how could the stories we tell fit into one?

Pain is Funny

Like every writer, my early childhood played an important role in choosing the genres I write today, with television being a pretty huge contributor. In fact, I spent way too much time as a kid, staring at the old black and white tube we had in our bedroom. My tastes in programming have carried over into the dark mix of horror, fantasy and comedy I write today.

Going back down memory lane, my first influences to write horror and fantasy, surprisingly, did not come from Sister Paul (see last week's post). Instead, it all started one afternoon, at the age of four, when my grandmother allowed me to watch the 1963 B-movie, The Crawling Hand (I’m sure Greg has seen it). And at my other grandmother’s house, there were the frightening viewings of a show called Night Gallery. I watched it with my twin aunts, munching on popcorn, unbeknownst to Nonny. I liked the feeling of fear at an early age, so I became a horror addict, always on the look out for new programming that could scare the bejesus out of me or turn my stomach more violently than the last show I'd viewed. Only difference today is that I have access to a greater number of films...gotta love that.

I actually miss the good old days, when scaring small children with horrific stories was considered the norm. Find me an original fairy tale that doesn't terrorize children. Lessons are taught well through fear, but I suppose this is a subject for another post.

Now you ask, what about the comedy? Well...It all started with these three guys.

I mix the dark side with comedy because pain is funny. Don’t even try to argue it’s not. Nine times out of ten, we laugh at someone else’s expense. How else could we humans get past the horrible moments in our lives with our sanity?

Comedy writing is new for me though, The Courier being my first attempt at it in a full length novel. Luckily, it's coming to me naturally, but I also have to attribute it to raising two boys and watching A LOT of goofy horror flicks like Bad Taste (more reasons to love Peter Jackson), Evil Ed and Shaun of the Dead.

Gosh, so far I haven't even mentioned books. Yeah, I've read quite a bit of fantasy and horror. Sure, a myriad of good and bad fiction authors have helped to shape my writing. But when it comes to influences, I have to turn to nonfiction, especially in the area of philosophy and religion. And so re-enters Sister Paul. As a person who is constantly questioning my own faith, I can't help but be absolutely fascinated by spirituality, an underlying theme in my works. And, I especially love to take horrific real life situation, as in my short story Blush of the Dead that addresses gendercide in Bosnia, and mix it with fantastic characters like zombies.

Darn! I'm running out of space for this week's post. Being a Leo, I could go on forever about myself. I've got only one last thing to mention, and that is I haven't read much comedy in fiction form. Got any suggestions??