help wanted - fantastichorror.com

[Hodgson]

thinking a little more about the educational value of fantastic horror.. e.a., you teach english. what do you think would be involved in getting some material from folks like us into the hands of students? do you think it would be well-received, or is it a minefield of parental permission and stuff like that

It's great that you're looking at ways to use the material for education purposes. But for my part, I would rather students be assigned the classics. It's somewhat disheartening to think of some schoolteacher overlooking the founding U.S. political documents, and all the works of Western philosophy, poetry, etc. (never mind the Bible and ecclesiastical history, which might be helpful if these students ever mean to attempt a proper interpretation of the former) in order to provide them the work of internet scribblers.

[JJ Burke]

i don't know about nickolaus' idea, but i wasn't thinking of lesson plans at all. more like an alternative extracurricular 'free, take one' type of thing — just sort of 'seeding the clouds' for future writers and artists.. as part of the overall fantastic horror mission, which is basically to promote the appreciation of horror with little or no regard for lucrativity.

for a scenario, let's say your school receives a stack of 'lovecraft's weird mysteries' from arkham press. has that arkham press guy just done something in service to horror, or has he just contributed 3.5 pounds of paper for recycling?

i know i would have liked to find something like that at my school. then again, i was a weirdo. (but i'm better now)

college-level distribution is probably more fertile soil for this type of thing. i just got curious when nickolaus mentioned 'the school system' as a potential destination for small press books.

[krakenten]

The death metal freaks adore Lovecraft-there's a band called Cyaega!

[E.A. Lovecraft]

for my part, I would rather students be assigned the classics.

Students should learn to love reading before being subjected to the classics, even if it means graduating high school without having read many classics at all.

[E.A. Lovecraft]

i know i would have liked to find something like [Lovecraft's works] at my school. then again, i was a weirdo. (but i'm better now)

After I burned through all the classroom assignments in my eighth-grade reading class, my teacher handed me a well worn anthology of strange tales and suggested I try reading one called "The Dunwich Horror." It's the only story other than "To Build a Fire" that I remember reading in junior high.

As for distribution, keep in mind that most high school teachers are going to use stories that are either mandated for the courses they teach or that are representative of the literary periods and/or features they are teaching. Horror stories rarely fit either scenario, and when they do, you can bet your bottom dollar that Poe and Shelley are going to win out 99% of the time. The stories are known to be safe, the teachers are extremely familiar with them, and schools have tons of copies and teaching aids for them.

College lit professors, on the other hand, tend to specialize in specific, classic periods (or on specific authors), and often view contemporary genre fiction with disdain. If you are serious about contributing free materials as a means of seeding future participation, you will probably find much more success by sending stuff to genre conventions.

[JJ Burke]

that makes sense, but i wasn't really talking about making lesson materials. i mean something as simple as mailing a bundle of booklets to be left in the library, the way you might find... uh.. 'the scholastic reader,' or whatever such periodicals are called nowadays. any kid hanging out in the library instead of going to class, which is fully hypothetical and not precisely what i did in high school, could grab one or more copies of the thing and do whatever they want with it.

i assume you'd have to meet some specific requirements about content.. stories about junkies and prostitutes probably won't fly... and yadda yadda yadda...

this is all just speculation on possible ways to branch out from the web format.. and the web format is barely in the larval stage right now. zygote even

i hope you will drop by the FH forum and check out the planning threads..

hop in, skip in,
drop in, chip in
a piece of your mind
if you're so inclined
and you just might fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind...
[promotional jingle unfinished]

[E.A. Lovecraft]

i mean something as simple as mailing a bundle of booklets to be left in the library, the way you might find... uh.. 'the scholastic reader,' or whatever such periodicals are called nowadays.

Offering free material can be a good way to build interest, but I think you're focusing on the wrong target. School librarians are subject to the same concerns as teachers. Horror, comic, and game conventions would probably enable you to reach a much higher percentage of people likely to contribute to your site.

[JJ Burke]

any recommendations?

like i said, we're some distance away from implementing any of these ideas.. but it can't hurt to have a plan

[Jesus Prime]

Get out there and find some sci-fi conventions or whatnot, you're in California after all. No need to set up a booth or anything, just bring along a few leaflets or something with the website address and maybe a sample of short fiction or poetry (hint ) to let people know what the thing's about. If you get a good reaction, consider coming back with print copies of the issues you've finished by then to sell some.

[Hodgson]

that makes sense, but i wasn't really talking about making lesson materials. i mean something as simple as mailing a bundle of booklets to be left in the library, the way you might find... uh.. 'the scholastic reader,' or whatever such periodicals are called nowadays. any kid hanging out in the library instead of going to class, which is fully hypothetical and not precisely what i did in high school, could grab one or more copies of the thing and do whatever they want with it.

i assume you'd have to meet some specific requirements about content.. stories about junkies and prostitutes probably won't fly... and yadda yadda yadda...

this is all just speculation on possible ways to branch out from the web format.. and the web format is barely in the larval stage right now. zygote even

i hope you will drop by the FH forum and check out the planning threads..

hop in, skip in,
drop in, chip in
a piece of your mind
if you're so inclined
and you just might fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind...
[promotional jingle unfinished]

I think I see what you mean now. I haven't attended college but I've prowled around to know that there are a lot of foyers, etc. where materials of all kinds are left, and we might leave copies in places like that. Conventions may be a good idea, too, but I can see where colleges in particular might be a help when and if we have printed copies. As a matter of fact, even as little as fliers pinned up among the "seeking roommate" and "will type papers" notices might be helpful. We could even do something similar for the website in the meantime.

This might bear a little more talking out as we go along. . . .

[E.A. Lovecraft]

any recommendations?

like i said, we're some distance away from implementing any of these ideas.. but it can't hurt to have a plan

One of the writers for the Dunwich Herald (R.I.P.) had a similar idea to yours. Had we pursued the project, I would have started cultivating relationships with vendors, publishers, etc. in order to have them hand out our materials at their booths--probably in exchange for online promotions. If my plan to revive the Herald as a podcast ever comes to fruition, such a promotional tactic will probably be employed.

That printing and distributing materials costs money makes it imperative for you to focus distribution on areas with the highest percentage of potential interest. Of course, if you're independently wealthy and light your cigars with c notes, then cost becomes a non-issue.

Leaving materials to be found on a college campus will have a minimal return. Keep in mind that fans of dark fantasy make up a small percentage of any student population, even among English majors. Of those, few are likely to read bulletin boards regularly or to pay attention to random junk laying around campus. Furthermore, many campuses require bulletin board fodder to be stamped with a seal of approval. Janitors will clean up materials that are lying around or posted without approval.

I'd say your first priority should be to get the word out that fantastichorror.com is up and running. Start building a network of reciprocal links with other websites, optimize your home page for search engine ranking, and start contributing to other forums with a link to your site in the footers of your posts.

Interview Darrick (from the Church of Cthulhu). The man is a master at self-promotion and will spam the shit out of other forums with links to your site. Dunwich Herald visits doubled the weeks following both our review of his rpg and the posting of his interview.

[Jesus Prime]

Interviews might be a good way to go, we've links to a few established writers and whatnot through this site.

[JJ Burke]

I'd say your first priority should be to get the word out that fantastichorror.com is up and running. Start building a network of reciprocal links with other websites, optimize your home page for search engine ranking, and start contributing to other forums with a link to your site in the footers of your posts.

before we start spreading the word, we should have a least a little bit of content for people to find when they click us. once we have something to show, i fully intend to do all those things you mentioned above.. although i could use some help in the search engine department.

i also like the idea of interviews.. and i have thought of tapping darrick for this somehow. we'd need an angle that keeps everything on the track of fiction and art, without straying too far into his realm of religion and philosophy.

thanks for the good input

[krakenten]

What? We can't worship Shub-Niggurath?

[JJ Burke]

i won't stand in your way, except to say that fantastic horror isn't a pulpit