S.E. Casey's Blog, page 6

Review of Stygian Doorways

Click the book cover for a review of my short story collection Stygian Doorways from the blog of S.J. Budd.  Anyone interested in my dark, metaphorical horror my book is available on Amazon Unlimited (Free for Unlimited users, only 0.99 cents for everyone else).

[image error]          Click  for  review  by  S.J.  Budd

Also check out S.J. Budd’s website other helpful book reviews as well as her own horror collection Spells and Persuasions (kindle).

The Importance of Theme in Horror… and Zombies… and Dogshit

 

“…it’s what happens in the United States when a truly radical ideology takes over.”

This is George Romero’s answer to the question of what his film Night of the Living Dead is about.  To me, this is a most thoughtful and complete assessment, and perhaps what explains the movie’s enduring success.  Of course, on the surface the movie is about the dead coming back to life, and a layer underneath that survivalism, and another layer below that the complexity (and necessity) of social alliances.  However, the foundation on top of where everything is built is the pathology and consequence of socio-political ideologies.

[image error]I won’t lie and say that after watching Night of the Living Dead when I was sixteen (or when I re-watched it years later for that matter) that I had any inkling of this ultimate theme.  I only knew it was about something, its mood too earnest to be about nothing.  The overriding theme with which Romero directed all the action around is what elevates it above a mindless zombie flick, an unquantifiable hook in which the viewer can identify despite the fantastic elements in the plot.

Horror (as well as its cousins Sci-fi and Fantasy) especially depend on theme in this way. After all, horror stories are not ones that from which there are any direct applications. There will never be a zombie uprising, nor will there be some needy devil granting us a wish, and never we will find ourselves inexplicably locked in a haunted hotel room with our own corpse hanging in the bathroom.  These situations will never occur in real life and so there is no value in preparing for them.  And sure, while serial killers do exist, let’s face it, is any one of us interesting enough to attract their specialized gaze?  Is anyone so deluded to think if there were a Hannibal Lector out there that he would be so impressed with our intellect that he would be compelled to devise some elaborate, personalized death ritual just for us?

It’s not in the plot that horror illuminates, teaches, or scares us.  It’s in the metaphor.

Fortunately, inserting meaning into horror has little cost.  Whether the horror is literary, comic, bizarre, or an extreme gore-fest, the room to interject theme is equally afforded.

Take the example of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  I have never read this book, never will, and I think there’s a movie too which I have no interest in, but it helps explain a point. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (which I haven’t read either) is a classic dealing with the themes of the complexities of love, social reputations, and[image error] class.  None of these topics need to be sacrificed by the inclusion of zombies.  The rewriting author can simply inject the presence of the undead into the background and plot.  In theory, the book can have the same characters, the same dialogue, the prose concerning the class divide can be the same, etc.  In the parts of the book when the characters travel, they would simply have to do so while avoiding/killing some zombies.  Or, a little more cleverly, the thoughts and discussions over the undead threat between those occupying different socio-economic stratas could have been used to further the subject matter of class and social identity.  No theme needs to be sacrificed in a change to a horror style.

So can strong, serious themes be incorporated into most any conceived plot or technique.  Even The Walking Dead need not to sacrifice theme in order to entertain (and maximize) its wide PG-13 audience.  While George Romero hates the show for its soap-opera aesthetic, TWD does have its moments of depth.  In the previous season (6th?) there was a compelling story arc where Morgan (‘I Clear’) meets up with pacifist and former prison psychologist Eastman (played by the character actor John Carroll Lynch).  The Eastman character recounts a pre-apocalypse moral dilemma about his wife being killed by one of his unredeemable patients, man’s capacity for evil, and the psychology of vengeance.  I was glad they delved into this Crime and Punishment-esque narrative in detail over several episodes.  Okay, the part about Morgan being kept prisoner in a cell which wasn’t locked the entire time was trite symbolism, but generally everything worked and was philosophically fulfilling.  Way better than spending an entire segment watching Glen and Maggie moon over each other again (we get it… they’re in love, yawn).

We’ve all read or watched horror that doesn’t work past the point where it is not only boring, but depressing.  Some attribute this failure on the subject matter being too violent (first half of season 7 of TWD), or the author punching down on helpless characters, or nihilism, horror without a point.  However, while horror’s sub-genres aren’t for everyone, they all have their legitimate place, appeal, and audience.  It’s in the lack of meaningfulness that these stories fail.  A torture scene when done in a context that makes sense in advancing a storyline or character arc reads profoundly differently than one where there is little point besides the documenting of an inhumane act.

[image error]In the Marquis de Sade biopic Quills, there is a scene where the imprisoned Sade (played by Geoffery Rush) argues his writings are grand literature of high truths to which the prison’s priest rebuts, “It’s not even a proper novel.  It’s nothing but an encyclopedia of perversions…”  For anyone who has read 120 Days of Sodom, the priest is technically correct; however, there is such an eagerness and enthusiasm in Sade’s listings of sexual deviancy that that in itself gives the work some Freudian context.  Indeed Sade’s writings have persisted,  been studied, referenced, and even spawned an academic treatise from twentieth century feminist and existential philosopher Simone de Beauvior.

There are many other examples of stories or movies that despite their apparent nihilism or crudeness are able to achieve cult or even mainstream success.  Pink Flamingos put director John Waters on the map.  It’s cinematically terrible (even according to Mr. Waters) and doesn’t really have any particular high concept or metaphor.  It’s a gross out film featuring as many perversities as could be jammed into it.  To wit, in the final scene famed drag queen actor Divine eats dog shit.  Literally.  Really.  For the benefit of any millennial readers unfamiliar with the film, this isn’t Will Farrell licking some FX plasticized prop in Step Brothers, but real dog shit, no camera tricks.  Really. [image error]

Despite its filth, Pink Flamingos still maintains an enthusiastic fan base and begrudging critical respect.  Water’s admits it wasn’t much more than a pothead movie with a simple motive to gross out his friends.  But that in itself is its meaning: to be transgressive for transgressive sake, John Waters wallowing in those perverse and profane spaces where he finds his own personal brand of spirituality.

Whether exploring political ideologies, existential philosophy, or attempting to repulse and offend, there should be meaning in fiction more than to sell a book or pander to an editor to get a story published.  Without offering some perception of humanity, writing is only an exercise in craft, toiling over an encyclopedia entry for ‘coprophagia’.  It should be obvious, but the author should know why they are writing and what the story is about.  The audience will always sense when they have no answer to this question.

Stories are written to connect a reader with their own reality.  Share something as a writer and it can make a world of difference.  Who knows, maybe you can be the next George Romero.

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The Surgeon Symphonies (Black Ice Magazine) and a valuable writing lesson learned

[image error] Plague Rave – Artwork by Alex Gavrilas

I am happy that my speculative fiction story, The Surgeon Symphonies, is part of the inaugural issue of Black Ice Magazine (John K. Webb Editor).  This new magazine is best described as cyberpunk: aggressively dystopian glimpses of the future where technology has advanced to the detriment of society.

The Surgeon Symphonies is written as a near future music article, in which a new genre of music has taken root.  It deals with themes of music as a philosophical construct, classism, the wage gap, runaway technology, and of course the existential angst of mortality, the underlier to many of our pathologies.  Thanks to Better Futures Press and Black Ice Magazine for publishing.

I first conceived and wrote this short story well over a year ago as I was first starting to write for submission calls.  Rejection followed rejection for this story, but I kept rewriting each time I sent to a new market.  As I was becoming a better writer, the story took better and better form and gained depth.  Still, I couldn’t get it accepted.

My initial submission to Black Ice Magazine was yet another rejection.  Like most, it was a supportive ‘good piece, but not right for this magazine; please send us more of your material in the future’. However, the editor did say that he honestly believed in the idea and that it absolutely could work.

Along with its heavy philosophical focus, my story is sufficiently weird and fantastical.  The editor, however, told me I was holding back—if it’s weird then make it mondo-weird and dispense with the subtleties.  He offered me a rewrite, which I had never before been asked to do.  I didn’t know if he was serious or if it was just some unknown industry pleasantry, so I emailed him back stating that I would consider following his advice and rework it.

The editor gave me enthusiastic enough response (with no guarantees, of course) that I decided to give it a major rewrite.  Knowing they wanted super-strange (I assumed in the visceral sense) I ended up adding about 500 words of futuristic motion tattoos, elaborate external scars, and Pinocchio’s Anguish (you’ll just have to read it).  It was enough for it to be accepted; the constant, frenetic weirdness equal to what the editor had imagined.

Hence the lesson learned.  Understand the story’s central appeal and don’t be afraid to give the reader exactly that.

Again, thanks to John K. Webb and Better Futures Press.  Click on the picture for ordering information and a free preview of Black Ice Magazine.

[image error] click for link

 

 

 

Harlequin Midnight & The Century Coven by S.E. Casey (#Review by Theresa) #ShortStory #Horror

A review of two of my free stories by Theresa Braun. See my published stories page for links (A Century Coven is available for free for a limited time at Smashwords).

Thanks to Theresa Braun and Reads and Reels for the review!

Reads & Reels

Here are two mini reviews by Theresa for your reading pleasure.

Don’t judge S.E. Casey’s stories by the cover. Rest assured you will thoroughly entertained, feeling like someone is telling you a tale while you’re roasting marshmallows over a campfire. I am anxious to devour more of this author, not only because of his storytelling chops, but also because I’m curious to see if he’s always trying to kill off children, on Halloween or otherwise. There might be some underlying psychological fixation looming in Casey’s brain. Maybe he hated his own childhood. Or, perhaps he’s merely tapping into the time when we are most vulnerable and most easily scared…   

Harlequin Midnight (Release Date: October 28, 2015)

Each Halloween, the city of Grimaldi endures a phantasmagoric children’s play. At night, the city becomes a stage where the Harlequin, that unique performer both tragic and comic, bends everyday life and twists…

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Self-Editing for Writers and the Doorway to Enlightenment

So you’ve made the leap and are now a writer. Congratulations and condolences.  Excuse the new writer humor; surely, you have made the right choice.  I hope that these tips will save much frustration in the editing process as well as making you a better writer.

The decision to write is a personal one and doesn’t come with an editor.  Unfortunately, we writer quickly learn that writing is editing.  It is the single most important and time consuming step.  Regrettably, as will be explained, we can be our own worst enemy.

For the writer who can’t afford an editor, using friends or relatives may seem like an elegant solution.  However, be forewarned, editing is a painstaking and highly skilled process.  There is a big difference between a friend who is willing to read for you and a proper editor.  Chances are you don’t know a pro, and even if you do, they aren’t going to want to log extra hours of what they already do for a living.

[image error]Even springing for a professional editor is not a panacea.  You will still need to edit your work sufficiently enough in advance for them to even consider it.  There is no avoiding it: we all need to be our own editor.  However, don’t fret, this step in the process will improve your writing.

This post will focus on five of the best self-editing tips.  There are many more of course, but I will stick to the more holistic stratagems that tackle the inherent problem imbedded in self-editing.

The main obstacle in editing one’s own work is skim and block reading.  The purpose of the left side of the brain is to make things easier for us by sorting through the chaos of life.  It strives to make reading more efficient by skimming over recognizable blocks of text, therefore bypassing the words and phrases it already knows.  And because you wrote it, the brain is especially susceptible to this anticipatory passing over when in edit mode.  Obvious word or grammar errors are easily missed because we do not actually read them!

So, here are some of the best tips on how to counter these self-inflicted barriers:

Put the manuscript aside.  Time away will allow the mind to forget what it wrote.  I would suggest six to eight weeks away, if possible.  Let your short-term memory purge the finite details of the story.  Editing is easiest when you are reading something new and have no expectation of what is coming next.  In forgetting what was exactly intended in each paragraph, sentence, and phrase, the brain is forced to read precisely.  As will be a recurring theme, the mind needs to be tricked to be able to see things as they really are.

[image error]Edit in a different location with a different device.  Another way to reset the brain is by changing the look and feel of a manuscript.  We assume a certain mindset when sitting at a work desk than we do in our kitchen nook cradling a steaming cup of coffee.  We have different past experiences in these specific locales each with an unconscious set of expectations.  When I am at my desk, I am a writer.  When reclining on the sofa, I am a reader.  It is the same when looking at a story in a word processor versus a Kindle.  Changing the perspective from where and how you do your writing can fool the mind into believing it is reading something for the first time.

Use a text to audio reader.  Some writers read their work aloud, but I find this a half measure as you will narrate in the cadence of what was intended, not necessarily as the words really sit on the page.  The subconscious will stubbornly “help” by inserting words and changing tenses that aren’t there.  A text to audio reader will read exactly what is on the page, making none of the mind’s adjustments.  Also, find a voice that works for you.  For example, I have found that I am more attentive to a stern woman with a slight British accent.

Use a pseudonym.  This doesn’t mean you actually publish with one, but rather put a temporary name on all your drafts.  Writing a pseudonym in a manuscript’s byline and placing it into a header will subtly trick the mind into thinking it’s reading something from another author.  Again, the mind works its critical best when it believes the words are someone else’s.

[image error]To enhance this last tip, look at yourself in the mirror before you write.  Address the reflection by your chosen pseudonym.  Start talking.  Say anything and everything.  Forget who you are.  There is only that mirror self.  Let your mind drift when confronting this separate identity and carry it over into your writing sessions.

It is best to make this other you be a whirlwind of ego.  Suppress your dreamless id and prudish superego.  Have your pseudo-self be confrontational, aggressive, and abrasive.  Make them different from you.  The editing process works best if your alter-ego is intimidating and loathsome.  This will motivate you as an editor by fearing to miss an error thus incurring the ire of this mirror psychopath.  It will also positively incentivize you to catch mistakes to keep their repugnant arrogance in check.

When you have mastered giving a unique voice to your pseudonym (and only after you have mastered it), it’s time to make this other self three-dimensional, to flush out their wants, desires, and flaws.  This is complex character building: the same as you should be doing in any of your stories.  Look in the mirror.  This should be a daily ritual, but now go further.  It is no longer another person.  It is you.  Forget your real self—deny there is such a thing as a real self—there is only that mirror person.

Set up some dates for your pseudonym.  It’s easy with the plethora of dating apps.  It should go without saying, but be discreet if you have a significant other.  Arrange these rendezvous in faraway cities where your pseudonistic self can act without the risk of running into the crushing expectations of anyone you know.  And always stay in character!  Use this time efficiently to evolve that other, secret self.  And insult your date at the end of the night making sure you break off any chance for a second date.  Remember: this is research, be professional!  Besides, stirring up some drama will have an ancillary benefit when crafting such scenes in future writings.

After a few successful dates, spend an entire Sunday in the house as that other self.  Call in sick a few days to be alone only as your pseudonym.  When you’re ready, take a vacation.  Stay inside your constructed second self the entire trip.

Lose the mirror.  Walk the streets at night.  Find a deserted alley and in the darkness be that other person.  Say your name again and again.  It’s no longer a pseudonym now, is it?  No, it’s you: a writer.

Think profoundly of the repressed desires and fears buried deep inside you, those monstrous ideas that your defense mechanisms would never allow you to access, but the other, detached self can.  Steel yourself for the last step of becoming a truly superior self-editor.

Believe.  Be.  Act.[image error]

Maybe it’s that ex-girl/boyfriend for which there was no closure.  The boss who often takes credit for your work.  The degenerate bully in grade school.  The professor who told you that you would never be a writer; that you are incapable of ever understanding the difference between an author and a writer.  But you are a writer now aren’t you?  And you are powerful.

I don’t need to tell you what to do, because you already know.  Don’t you?

So do it!

Go out at night and don’t think.  Don’t overanalyze, don’t self-audit.  And always at night.  There is too much light in the day for you not to see yourself, and for others to see you.  Remember the lessons of tricking the mind.  The foolish need for consistency under the expectation and judgments will edit your spirit down to a nub.  And you are no editor—you are a writer!

The nightmares of Puck, the vengeance of Macbeth, and the madness of Lear.  It’s all yours in the night, in the darkness.

And remember: it’s all a first draft.  Writing is the proactive process, the raw emotional release.  Leave the consequences to the dispassionate editor, that tragic husk of a person, that phenomenally ungrateful piano-key who withers in the day and its light.   Let them do their job and clean up your wonderful mess.

Now look at those words left for you on the page each morning.  Those maniac thrills and vulgar enchantments.  Despair in the words that are not your own, rather the person you could have been.  No, you should have been!  It’s so easy now isn’t it?  You have completed the fifth tip.

Condolences and congratulations.  You are now a master self-editor.

[image error]

The Five Best Self-Editing Tips Every New Writer Needs To Know

So you’ve made the leap and are now a writer. Congratulations and condolences.  Excuse the new writer humor; surely, you have made the right choice.  I hope that these tips will save much frustration in the editing process as well as making you a better writer.

The decision to write is a personal one and doesn’t come with an editor.  Unfortunately, writers quickly learn that writing is editing.  It is the single most important and time consuming step.  Regrettably, as will be explained, we can be our own worst enemy.

For the writers who can’t afford an editor, using friends or relatives may seem like an elegant solution.  However, be forewarned, editing is a painstaking and highly skilled process.  There is a big difference between a beta reader and a proper editor.  Chances are you don’t know a pro, and even if you do, they aren’t going to want to log extra hours of what they already do for a living.

[image error]Even springing for a professional editor is not a panacea.  You will still need to edit your work sufficiently enough in advance for them to even consider it.  There is no avoiding it: we all need to be our own editor.  However, don’t fret, this step in the process will improve your writing.

This post will focus on five of the best self-editing tips.  There are many more of course, but I will stick to the more holistic stratagems that tackle the inherent problem imbedded in self-editing.

The main obstacle in editing one’s own work is skim and block reading.  The purpose of the left side of the brain is to make things easier for us by sorting through the chaos of life.  It strives to make reading more efficient by skimming over recognizable blocks of text, therefore bypassing the words and phrases it thinks it already knows.  And because you wrote it, the brain is especially susceptible to this anticipatory skipping when in edit mode.  Obvious word or grammar errors are easily missed because we do not actually read them!

So, here are some of the best tips on how to counter these self-editing barriers:

Put the manuscript aside.  Time away will help the mind forget what it wrote.  I would suggest six to eight weeks away, if possible.  Let your short-term memory purge the finite details of your story.  Editing is easiest when you are reading something new and have no expectation of what is coming next.  In forgetting what is exactly intended in each paragraph, sentence, and phrase, the brain is forced to read precisely.  As will be a recurring theme, the mind needs to be tricked to be able to see things as they really are.

[image error]Edit in a different location with a different device.  Another way to reset the brain is by changing the look and feel of a manuscript.  We assume a certain mindset when sitting at a work desk than we do in our kitchen nook cradling a steaming cup of coffee.  We have different past experiences in these specific locales each with an unconscious set of expectations.  When I am at my desk, I am a writer.  When reclining on the sofa with a book, a reader.  It is the same when looking at a story in a word processor versus a Kindle.  Changing the perspective from where and how you do your writing can fool the mind into believing it is reading something for the first time.

Use a text to audio reader.  Some writers read their work aloud, but I find this a half measure as you will narrate in the cadence of what was intended, not necessarily as the words really sit on the page.  The subconscious will stubbornly ‘help’ us by inserting words and changing tenses that aren’t there.  A text to audio reader will read exactly what is on the page, making none of the mind’s little adjustments.  Also, find a voice that works for you.  For example, I have found that I am more attentive to a stern woman with a slight British accent.

Use a pseudonym.  This doesn’t mean you actually publish with one, but rather put a temporary name on all your drafts.  Writing a pseudonym in a manuscript’s byline and placing it into a header will subtly trick the mind into thinking it’s reading something from another author.  Again, the mind works its critical best when it believes the words are someone else’s.

[image error]To enhance this last tip, look at yourself in the mirror before you write.  Address the reflection by your chosen pseudonym.  Start talking.  Say anything and everything.  Forget who you are.  There is only that mirror self.  Let your mind drift when confronting this separate identity and carry it over into your writing sessions.

It is best to make this doppelganger a whirlwind of ego.  Suppress your dreamless id and prudish superego.  Have your pseudo-self be confrontational, aggressive, and abrasive.  Make them different from you.  The editing process works best if your alter ego is intimidating and loathsome.  This will motivate you as an editor by fearing to miss an error thus incurring the ire of this mirror psychopath.  It will also positively incentivize you to catch mistakes to keep their repugnant arrogance in check.

When you have mastered giving a unique voice to your pseudonym (and only after you have mastered it), it’s time to make this other self three-dimensional, to flush out their wants and desires and flaws.  This is complex character building: the same as you should be doing in any of your stories.  Look in the mirror.  This should be a daily ritual, but now go further.  It is no longer another person.  It is you.  Forget your real self—deny there is such a thing as a real self—there is only that mirror person.

Set up some dates for your pseudonym.  It’s easy with the plethora of dating apps.  It should go without saying, but be discreet if you have a significant other.  Arrange these rendezvous in faraway cities where your pseudonistic self can act without the risk of running into the crushing expectations of anyone you know.  And always stay in character!  Use this time efficiently to evolve that other, secret self.  And insult your date at the end of the night making sure you break off any chance for a second date.  Remember, this is research: be professional!  Besides, stirring up some drama will have an ancillary benefit when crafting such scenes in future writings.

After a few successful dates, spend an entire Sunday in the house as that other self.  Call in sick a few days to be alone only as your pseudonym.  When you’re ready, take a vacation.  Stay inside your constructed second self the entire trip.

Lose the mirror.  Stand in the dark and be that other person.  Say your name again and again.  It’s no longer a pseudonym now, is it?  No, it’s you: a writer.

Think profoundly of the repressed desires and fears buried deep inside you, those monstrous ideas that your defense mechanisms would never allow you to access, but the other, detached self can.  Steel yourself for the last step of becoming a truly superior self-editor.

Believe.  Trust.  Act.

Maybe it’s that ex-girl/boyfriend for which there was no closure.  The boss who takes credit for your work.  The bully in grade school.  The professor who told you that you would never be a writer; that you are incapable of ever understanding the difference between an author and writer.  But you are a writer now aren’t you?  And you are powerful.[image error]

I don’t need to tell you what to do, because you will already know.

Do it!

Go out at night and don’t think.  Don’t overanalyze, don’t self-audit.  And always at night.  There is too much light in the day for you not to see yourself, and for others to see you.  Remember the lessons of tricking the mind.  The foolish need for consistency under the expectation and judgments will edit your spirit down to a nub.  And you are no editor—you are a writer!

The nightmares of Puck, the vengeance of Macbeth, and the madness of Lear.  It’s all yours in the night, in the darkness.  Be.

Remember: it’s all a first draft.  Writing is the proactive process, a raw emotional release.  Leave the consequences to the dispassionate editor, that tragic husk of a person, that phenomenally ungrateful piano-key who you are in the day and the withering light.   Let them do their job as an editor and clean up your wonderful mess.

Now look at those words left for you on the page each morning.  Those maniac thrills and vulgar enchantments.  Despair in the words that are not your own, rather the person you could have been.  It’s so easy now isn’t it?  You have completed the fifth tip.

Condolences and congratulations.  You are now an expert self-editor.

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The Red Girls

Here is my Drabble on the mysterious and alluring “Red Girls”. Posted on thedrabble.wordpress.com. Enjoy!

By S.E. Casey

He left the door unlocked.

All doors were locked the nights the Red Girls visited.

Colonel Emerick Aldrich sipped his cognac. However, he couldn’t taste it. There wasn’t much he could enjoy anymore. Even the heat from the roaring fire felt dull.

He heard the door handle rattle behind him, a pattering of little feet on the hardwood.

They stood him up like a marionette. The old man smiled, he would get to see the Red Girls, a fitting finale to his life. But they didn’t turn him around, forcing him to take one step after another toward the fire.

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The Faithful- short story up at Flash Fiction Press online

My latest flash fiction story The Faithful has been posted to the Flash Fiction Press .org website. Click here for the story link.

Some notes about the story:  I drew inspiration in writing The Faithful from the many Sunday mornings spent in a small town church as a child.  My family (less my dad, he never went) always sat in the same pew, off to the left and in the back.  My grandmother was always waiting for us.  She probably sat in that same pew for decades, everyone in the church conceding it to be hers.

Typically bored out of my mind, much of my attention was focused on the large chandelier that hung in the middle of the room.  I remember the huge dent in its copper bottom bowl that I speculated over and over again how it may have gotten there.  Strange how it may have happened suspended so high above.  Only now it occurred to me that I never thought to ask anyone.  Perhaps I knew the true answer would ruin the mystery…

I came up with a lot of stories about that dent as a child. I also admit I did a lot of imagining of what would happen if it fell.  Our family pew was safely out of range so I was free to gleefully fantasize.  It did have a menacing spike at the bottom which I wondered if it would be able to pierce someone’s skull.

So, many years later, while I don’t remember a single sermon or any other words of wisdom, I can still see that chandelier in my mind’s eye, always from the same vantage from the back and left.  I wasn’t trying to write a story about it; it just popped into my head.  I also wrote another story a few months ago in which a chandelier plays a tragic role.  Amazing what memories get caught in the subconscious…

Now I have my answer to all those past Sunday daydreams in my writing of The Faithful.  It is much different than anything I came up with as a child as I believe I may have figured out what deep down philosophically intrigued me about in the first place.

I wonder if the old chandelier still hangs.  I stopped going to church altogether directly after confirmation.  A few years ago, however, I was back in the church for my grandmother’s funeral, but I don’t remember noticing if the chandelier was still there or not…  Of course I sat in different seats that day, and had a very different perspective.

S.E. Casey

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Sugarplums and Other Carrion

My latest story, ‘Sugarplums and Other Carrion’, has been published as a part of the Christmas themed anthology ‘The Deadman’s Tome Krampus Christmas‘ (click for link).  As the title suggests this is a holiday themed story although it does not include Krampus.  Instead I wrote about a dark Christmas between-the-cracks, a secret celebration under rat-tail mistletoe while drunk on sour mother’s milk nog.

Thanks to the Deadman’s Tome for publishing my admittedly disturbing piece.  For any aspiring authors, the Deadman’s Tome is easily the most fun you can have in submitting, that necessary evil of being a writer.  Although it is a one-man operation, there is clear communication and decisions are made quickly, not dragged out over months.  Many new authors have been published here and there are no constraints on content.

For this particular anthology, it’s purposely focused with five well-defined, different short stories and one epic poem.  The other authors are Grant Butler, Mark Slade, Christopher Powers, and William Marchese.  Please check out and consider supporting some independent authors and an independent press.  Also, check out the Deadman’s Tome website/blog for other Christmas horror stories, no taboo too great, to be posted just about every other day throughout the month.

Oh, and then there’s Gary Buller’s ‘The Present’, the first story in ‘…Krampus Christmas’, a harrowing tale about that small Christmas gathering you’d rather not have about a gift that you’d rather not get.  Check out some of Gary’s other short story offerings (such as ‘The Way Out’) on the Deadman’s Tome as well, some of the most popular tales to be posted on the site.

 

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What is Existential Horror? – Some free-to-read short stories online

I describe my fiction as ‘Existential Horror’, a loose term to attempt to provide some insight into the type of stories I write.  So what is it?  ‘Horror’ or ‘Literary Fiction’ alone are too broad and unspecific as useful description.  I find that ‘Existential’ may fit as a modifier as I can consistently apply Sartre’s aphorism, “Hell is other people”, as a major theme.  Of course, this theme is but one facet of existentialism, but it does provide an important distinction.

Existentialism centers around the self and its meaning, a fervid attempt to define exactly what makes a person.  In metaphoric places of isolation and alienation (like Sartre’s hellish ‘No Exit’ waiting room), we can best imagine what is the true core of existence.  In liminal spaces away from other people’s expectations, we can confront the deepest fears and anxieties of existence itself.

Horror, of course, thrives in these absurd spaces of madness and dread.  Monsters are the representations of that which threatens our reality and the sanctity of who we perceive we are.  Stripping away the banal safety of civilization brings a terrible epiphany that the foundation of our identity may not be as solid as we have always believed.  Much like the culture shift that occurred with the realization the Earth is not the center of the universe, the conventions of horror can force us to see the parts of our individual essence that are but a mechanical function of our surroundings.  Perhaps we have always been strangers to ourselves, our family, our children; long ago inhabited by the Thing or Body-Snatcher.  In fact, these two aforementioned horror movies are specifically what I would call Existential Horror as they deal directly with the question of exactly what makes us human.  Clearly the ‘I’ is more than a just a body and a brain.  What would have to be taken away before we are no longer human, but just a Thing.

The horror in my stories don’t deal with the knife or demon, but rather with passing moments of madness, fear, loneliness—celebrations of the sublime forces that wish to wrench the humanity from us.  As philosophy is married to this concept of self essence, so do my stories take place where a small wavering of reality or a chink in our temporal cage throws a character into a downward spiral of identity dissolution.  Whether or not the described phenomena is real or perceived is irrelevant; the fact is, in the end, everything’s importance is to the impact on the self.  Hell is other people.

The frustration with Existentialism as a philosophy is that there is no easy or agreed upon definition of what exactly it is.  The most honest appraisals direct us to read the works of those who have been labeled as such (Camus, Sartre, Heidegger, Kafka) and take their themes as a proxy definition despite the many contradictions that exist (sometimes even with the same author).  So in that spirit, here is a listing of some of my short (and free) existential horror stories that can be read online (click titles for links).

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BLACK STAINED GLASS – published by the Molotov Cocktail, a flash fiction story which won second place in the yearly Halloween #FlashFear contest.  This is to date my biggest writing accomplishment as the Molotov Cocktail run periodic short story contests (awarding a total of $350 in prizes) that get many quality submissions.  The story works equally as a coming of age tale and a bloodbath.

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DOWNWARD GOD – published by the Deadman’s Tome.  This also won a weekly flash fiction contest the online magazine hosts during October.  This story invokes Lovecraft concerning the (sometimes) strange practice of yoga.  In special advanced contortions, can the yogi transcend the laws of the universe?  Inhuman poses open a door to an absurd world where indifference blooms and hell is indeed other people that are us. Namaste.

[image error]A BROKEN OATH – published by Spelk fiction.  This is one of the first stories I wrote that examines the essence of the self.  A fastidious cosmetic surgeon is forced to contemplate his being and his value.  Used to working on injuries and abnormalities, the good doctor finds a existential threatening not in extreme deformity, but rather in the exaggerations of the banal and plain.

 

LAST MEAL OF ADONIS – published by the Deadman’s Tome.  Along with A Broken Oath, this is an examination of beauty and the blind reckoning in its chase and consumption. But who eats who?  If indeed we are what we eat, doesn’t it also work the other way?

BEAUTY OF AN OUTGOING TIDE– published by Flash Fiction Magazine.  This is the first of my flash fiction stories concerning beauty that in its very form can’t help but to deceive. What traps do we foolishly race into?

If you are interested in more stories please see the full published list here: S.E. Casey published stories.