Hypnagogic State

Alice has her Fool.

As he’s climbing through the walls,

say “Hello” to Roach.

(For Adam)

“Agnes, it’s Billy!”

FE is a new exchange.

Drunk Barb gets the point.

(The remake is an abomination for which someone should publicly apologize. Flogging optional but welcomed.)

Joshua Hoffine has been getting quite a bit of notice lately for his dark, fairytale inspired pictures. Hoffine uses his own children as models and does as little digital work on the images as possible. His blog details the behind the scenes process that includes building sets, getting blood spatter correct, and monster creation.

Vault of Horror has a great interview with Hoffine up. An excerpt:

What led you to delve into this type of warped fairy tale imagery in your work?

I used to read fairy tales to my daughters. I fell in love with the imagery of these stories. I had decided to make a series of photographs based on fairy tales. While I was preparing for this project, I began reading Stephen King’s Danse Macabre. In that book, he suggests that horror films are modern fairy tales. My mind started moving in another direction, and I ended up making a series of photographs based on childhood fears instead.

Many classic fairy tales, such as Little Red Riding Hood. Hansel and Gretel, and Bluebeard, function as cautionary tales about the potential dangers of the world. Likewise, so do many Horror films. The dangers of the world are represented symbolically or metaphorically – as monsters, ogres, trolls, child-devouring witches, and so on. The same also can be said for horror films.

Many famous horror films are, in fact, closely related to classic fairy tales. PSYCHO draws heavily upon Little Red Riding Hood. Norman Bates, like the Wolf, dresses up as ‘grandmother’ before slaying his victim. Both stories are predicated upon the idea of ‘the wolf in sheep’s clothing’. Both the Wolf and Norman Bates adopt a mask of normalcy in order to hide their monstrosity and violent intent.

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is a modern-dress version of Hansel and Gretel. Only the kids in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE are lured into the witch’s house not by candy, but by their search for gasoline – an understandable motivation during the gas shortages of the 1970s.

Rider’s on the storm.

Oh no! Finger bang misfire.

Pancakes with a bite.

Sigourney’s mullet

“Get away from her, you bitch”

Bishop is the king.

Evil Ed cackles,

“Oh, you are so cool, Brewster!”

Now he does gay porn.

(That last line is a statement, not a judgment. Consenting adults can do whatever they want- on or off camera- as far as I’m concerned. But I would love to see Stephen Geoffreys in another horror film that can capture his brilliance.)

Based on a recommendation from Christopher Green, I submitted my story “Nomenclature” to the crit group Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (or OWW). I’ve had the story at OWW for exactly three weeks and have received four critiques, two of which were very helpful.

I received word today that “Nomenclature” will be an Editor’s Choice story for this month’s OWW newsletter, which comes out on the 20th. I’m ashamed to say that I actually had to look up what that honor meant:

The Editors’ Choices are chosen from the submissions from the previous month that show the most potential or otherwise earn the admiration of our Resident Editors. Submissions in four categories–science fiction chapters, fantasy chapters, horror, and short stories — receive a detailed review, meant to be educational for others as well as the author.

I’m nervously excited to see who my reviewer is going to be. Last month’s Resident Editors included an editor from Strange Horizons. But I am more anxious to see what they have to say. The EC reviews are fairly detailed and it seems a rare opportunity for a writer on the bottom rung (such as myself) to have a chance at that sort of feedback.