Page 1 of 10

help wanted - fantastichorror.com

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 4:07 am
by JJ Burke
hey folks, i'm putting together a website called fantastichorror.com, which is a showcase for original fiction and artwork. right now it's just a way to share and appreciate good stuff, but i'm thinking it might branch into some very small-time print publishing, like making booklets that can be sold cheap.

can i interest anyone in submitting some finished work for the first volume? or maybe you would like to help run things.. either way, speak up. it's basically a pro bono project, not trying to be ambitious or fancy about anything. but it'll be nice and clean and classy looking, so you could find a lot worse things to do with your creative efforts.

does this sound like something you'd like to support? i'll share control of the operation with anyone who wants to get that involved. this is an open invitation! think about it, get back to me

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:18 am
by Hodgson
I've just sweeping up behind a long project; shouldn't be more than a matter of days while I polish/proofread. After that, I expect to become a lot more active. So you can take it as a yes--I'm interested and eager to contribute.

By the way, the brag page looks great.

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:38 am
by Hodgson
By the way, will you be taking any non-fiction? If not, Woodruff might be able to use it for the EG. I was thinking of matter ranging from reviews and retrospectivies to articles on subjects related to horror (dreams, ancient cities, disasters, diseases and other strange things that begin with D).

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:18 am
by JJ Burke
there are a few ways non-fiction might work.. if it's not too journalistic, you know, if it has some elements of invention or creative interpretation to it, then yeah. i think escapism is of the essence here.

i'm also open to photography, again if it has a more-than-concrete impact

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:23 am
by Hodgson
JJ Burke wrote:there are a few ways non-fiction might work.. if it's not too journalistic, you know, if it has some elements of invention or creative interpretation to it, then yeah. i think escapism is of the essence here.
Well, if that's the case, then I might try something a little more experimental. I've read essays/articles framed as fictions. I'm not sure how to describe it offhand except that the facts are freed from the constraints of formal presentation or conventional tone, and put into a more or less concrete scene or context, usually with a first-person narration. Does that make sense? Or should I just write something of the kind and let you decide then?

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:27 am
by JJ Burke
that sounds intriguing. i'll check out anything you want to try

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 9:49 am
by Hodgson
All right. I think what I'll do is call it something like "House of a Thousand Doors". It will be a little like House of Mystery, one of those old horror comics, except that the narrator will be an almost ordinary man introducing not fictional stories for the most part but matters of fact, entering the scenes he describes through various doors in an enormous house.

If it works well, I can continue it and gradually interlace the various narrations/essays with scenes from his past, filling in the nature of the house, etc. Let me work on this and I'll try to get back in a week or so with a sample and/or the completed work. I'll be starting a week's vacation this Friday and will have a fair amount of time to write when I'm not otherwise occupied.

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 11:38 am
by Hodgson
I actually didn't see that there was a message board before, but I'm registered now.

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 12:08 pm
by JJ Burke
your plan could turn out pretty good, i think. unless i come up with something new, i think i'll submit 'the coyman manuscript' in serial form.

i've barely started building the message board.. i haven't made any threads yet, but you are welcome to get the ball rolling any way you see fit. i figure the board can serve as the home page until we have compiled our first volume of content.

another way people can easily help is to recommend talented writers & artists we can contact. the way i'm envisioning it, getting content is going to be more proactive than just sitting back and waiting for submissions. i'm working on a pitch to persuade creators to share their work on a non-commercial basis..

more on this later

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 2:39 pm
by Jesus Prime
I'll throw you some stuff, if you want. I've some poetry and what have you that you could take, and I guess anything on the Temple I've written is fair game. If the piece I'm working on now isn't published, I'll let you have it too.

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:51 am
by NickolausPacione
Let me know how this comes out -- you should do it more in a print format. I will toss you some of my older catalog that was on diary-x if you like. I need to find it though.

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:08 am
by JJ Burke
cool! i really am interested in the cheap print method of distributing little books.. it feels very grass-roots and authentic to me. but the main priority at this point is just to collect a good pile of material and make it look pretty on the website.

the key is to make the creators feel good about the treatment of their product. so often i find creative work out there that's just floating in the middle of a cluttered web page, or slapped together in a haphazard format like so much filler. but at fantastic horror, the content is given the star treatment

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:22 pm
by krakenten
Recently, I've begun to think of how some of the current hot buttons in the strange might be brought into the Mythos.
Shadow people, EVP and cryptoids have promise, since they seem to have a lot promise.
Just a thought.

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:48 pm
by JJ Burke
if you're thinking of contributing, great

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:14 pm
by krakenten
Actually, I am.
Recently I've discovered that York County, PA is an absolute hotbed of superstition and magic, along the lines of the New England of Lovecraft's heyday.
There are local legends of monsters, haunted places, a Hell Mouth and the Pennsylvania German tradition of Hexarie.
Add to that Satanism, hoodoo, Voo-Doo and the ghastly history of murder and sexual abuse, and you get the sort of place where Nyerlathotep takes his vacations.
This is a crazy place-with a pronounced case of Stephen King's "Derry Disease"-no one seems to remember these things for very long!
I'm still doing research.
If you want dark and angry, this is the place for you.