Robert Dunbar's Blog - Posts Tagged "halloween"

So how do you celebrate? Personally, I have a complicated set of rituals I indulge in every Halloween. Takes a while to work up to it though. All month long there are classic movies. Night of the Demon and The Haunting. The Uninvited and Burn, Witch, Burn. Old favorites all of them.

And the night itself? This begins with music. It has to. Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre leads into Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 9, Opus 68. (The Scriabin piece is commonly known as the Black Mass Sonata. If you’ve read Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife, you’ll understand the significance.) Sometimes there's a detour through Rasputina territory. Later, I light black candles and throw white sage on the fireplace. At some point, my battered old collection of Saki stories comes down off the shelf, and I savor Sredni Vashtar or Gabriel-Ernest or Esmé. If friends are present, I read aloud. Sometimes I read aloud even if I’m alone. What the hell? An incantation is an incantation. Eventually, the Tarot cards come out of their old oak box.

I approach these seasonal observations with a fetishistic fervor, not to say a touch of fanaticism, and I’d like to say it begins each year at the stroke of midnight.

But I’d be lying.

Frequently, it’s quite early in the evening as there’s inevitably a party (which more often than not I’m hosting). After all, Halloween is still very much the queer holiday. Doubtless there are rituals that take place later in the evening as well, but I never remember those in the morning.

Mercifully…

* * *

This year I’ve already been blogging and guest blogging and doing interviews all over the place. Here are a few of the highlights:

http://www.uninvitedbooks.com/page21....

http://lisamannetti.blogspot.com/

http://rschiver.blogspot.com/2012/09/...

I’ll add more later. (You have been warned.)

There will be several more of these this month.

“Essence of Autumn”

A guest blog at October Country

http://theoctobercountry.wordpress.co...

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it…”
~ George Eliot

“Autumn wins you best by this its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay.”
~ Robert Browning

“There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky…”
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley



In the weeks ahead, I’ll have interviews and guest blogs appearing in several places. Until then, here’s a few echoes from last Halloween.

“Like some noble monster, groping toward the light.”
http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/20...

“Way back, there was love.”
http://theoctobercountry.wordpress.co...

“Witches rarely burned alone.”
http://wherethedeadfeartotread.blogsp...

Enjoy! And don’t forget to drop by the Literary Darkness group. Our group project through Halloween this year is Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Join us.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

“VORTEX, Essays from a Sea of Nightmares” by Robert Dunbar
On sale for Kindle / $1.95 through Halloween


Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/VORTEX-ebook/dp...

Vampires and werewolves, sea hags and witches – the monsters teeming in our subconscious minds are with us always. VORTEX explores the origins of some of mankind’s oldest folklore and the influence of that lore on literature, film and popular culture.

From the Introduction:
They say a basis in fact inspires most legends. They say it all the time, all those Wise Elders in all those old horror films, the high priests, the scientists, the gypsy fortune tellers. On this single issue they agree unanimously...


THE PRESS ABOUT VORTEX:

“One of the most enjoyable and entertaining nonfiction books I have ever read.”
~ FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND

“Illuminates the depth and complexity of horror throughout the ages. A real treat … opens the most dangerous door of all – curiosity.”
~ HORROR NOVEL REVIEWS

“Recommended for those who are looking for deeper insight into the genre.”
~ LAYERS OF THOUGHT

“A thoroughly engaging and enjoyable ride through some of the most horrific myths and real-life events imaginable.”
~ SCATTERSHOT WRITING

“Eloquently and intellectually written, seasoned with wry humor … a must-read for writers and fans of the genre.”
~ SOUTHERN ROSE REVIEWS

“Stunning … meticulously researched … keen sense of style … razor sharp wit and entertaining prose.”
~ LITERARY MAYHEM


Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpiIDX...
(I had fun with the sound effects on this one.)

Uninvited Books: http://www.uninvitedbooks.com

“Heroes need monsters to establish their heroic credentials. You need something scary to overcome.”
~ Margaret Atwood

We couldn’t very well let our favorite holiday pass without doing something to celebrate.

Now through Halloween, prices on all Uninvited Books titles for Kindle have been, well, slashed.

Visit our site and click on any cover.
http://www.UninvitedBooks.com/



DESCENT by Sandy DeLuca
When you dance with the Devil, can you ever make it stop?
“Richly imagined.” ~ Shroud Magazine
Only .99¢







GARDENS OF NIGHT by Greg F. Gifune
Reality is not what you think.
“Dark fiction as it is meant to be written.” ~ Literary Mayhem
Only .99¢







LITTLE BOY LOST by T. M. Wright
Why would a demon want a child?
“Wonderfully dark and creepy.” ~ Monster Librarian
Only .99¢







SHADOWS: Supernatural Tales by Masters of Modern Literature
Elegantly terrifying explorations of the unknown.
“Highly recommended.” ~ Midwest Book Review
Only .99¢







VORTEX by Robert Dunbar
Dark currents flow beneath the surface … powerful, deadly … ancient.
“Enjoyable and entertaining.” ~ Famous Monsters of Filmland
Only .99¢







WOOD by Robert Dunbar
Blessed is the creature that knows its purpose.
“Honest-to-God terrifying.” ~ Horror World
Only .99¢







DARK FOREST: Tales of a Malignant Nature
Stay out of the woods!
“Simply compelling.” ~ HellNotes
Only $2.95







MARTYRS & MONSTERS by Robert Dunbar
Dangerously dark fiction.
“A masterpiece.” ~ Dark Scribe
Only $2.95







WILLY by Robert Dunbar
Does the strange boy save him? Or damn him?
“Psychological horror has a new name.” ~ Nights & Weekends
Only $2.95








http://www.UninvitedBooks.com/

WARNING: These books may cause nightmares, but that scratching at the window is just your imagination. Probably...

“There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky…”
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley


I’m a little overworked this season (poisoning candy and putting razorblades in apples, it never ends), so I thought a medley of excerpts from previous Halloween blogs might be fun. Enjoy.


First up, it’s …

MONSTER LOVE, which appeared for the first time at the wonderful Layers of Thought site.

“Never forget that personal demons may have as much to do with secret desires as with secret fears. All those things we’re not supposed to want…”

What monster suggested your secret self? Choices like this can prove so revealing. As kids, we all invested countless hours in watching old horror movies. It’s only natural we felt more affinity with some creatures than others, only natural that they flapped and crawled and howled through our dreams. Half the little boys I knew wanted to be Dracula when they grew up, mostly so they could bite girls, but quite a few seemed instead to go through a Frankenstein stage in their teens, lumbering about and appalling everyone. A Wolfman phase could be even more problematical. (“I don’t remember a thing about last night.” Oh please.) I can’t imagine what little girls fixated on. Surely no one truly yearned to be The Astounding She-Creature or Bride of the Gorilla. And it wasn’t just movies. I could never warm to any of those irksomely wholesome novels grownups were forever trying to foist on me. Remember those books? The ones they approved of? They always seemed to involve a courageous pony or some plucky drummer boy who saves the platoon. Even back then, I could barely conceal my contempt.

I knew what I wanted. Where were my monsters? Where was the gloomth? I missed the considerations of mortality and suffering, loneliness and decay. So I might not have been the most cheerful of children – I doubt I was the only one around who preferred moonlight to sunshine. Maybe we’re a different breed of people, the monster lovers. Perhaps we’re somehow innately perverse. Maybe we’re just braver.

Read the rest of the blog here:
http://www.layersofthought.net/2014/1...


“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it…”
~ George Eliot


Then let’s head over to The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror:

“True art seldom celebrates conformity. Literature should transgress, not reassure…”

For me, the monster is always the lonely one, unloved and unwanted, the outcast. And even as a child I knew where my sympathies lay.

Always.

Dracula wasn’t a monster so much as a villain out of Victorian melodrama – foreign and sinister – a stale template even then. Of course, the hero would rescue the damsel. Was there ever any doubt? Ah, but with the Frankenstein monster … nothing could be certain. Adam was soulful. He was abject. He remains the classic outsider, the suffering archetype at the heart of so many truly great novels. What could be more terrifying than all that pain? Even now the monster is among the most supremely tragic – and most intensely human – of literary characters. All he wants is to belong. And he never can. No one will ever acknowledge his humanity. He suffers because he’s different.

Find the full blog here:
http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/20...


“Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels.”
~ Francisco de Goya


Next up: ESSENTIAL OCTOBER READS at The October Country site:

“Halloween is the climax of an eldritch season…”

More than any other book I can think of “Something Wicked This Way Comes” captures that atmosphere, the sheer essence of autumn. Recently, I had the opportunity to revisit Ray Bradbury’s masterwork with the Literary Darkness group I moderate on Goodreads … and found the experience strangely moving. So many years had passed since I’d read it. I was so young. Imagine finding an old photo of the first boy you fell in love with. There he is – forever wild and beautiful, despite the passage of years. You might not remember the passion or the tenderness. You may have long since forgotten all the negative aspects – the jealousy, the fights, his mother – but this sudden glimpse becomes a knife in your heart.

Pain can be a good thing. It means you haven’t turned to stone.

Over the years, so many writers I admire have told me that Bradbury’s classic was the book that taught them to love the darkness. Yes. Exactly. It meant a lot to me to encounter his intoxicating language again and to remember how it set my imagination on fire as a kid. Still, there was a not-so-wonderful facet this time around. Admittedly, the Literary Darkness group has close to 3000 members. Nevertheless, I was shocked by the number of people who complained about Bradbury’s prose style being “difficult.” (This? Difficult? I have to wonder what such folks would make of Joyce’s Ulysses or Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, you know, something actually challenging.) But I mustn’t dwell on that. So many members of the group reveled in the text. Many of these readers were quite young, discovering Bradbury for the first time, and I felt privileged to be the one guiding them through it.

There are only so many first times in life.

Every so often, things get to you. The "talents" who glut the genre (and the naked politicking that has so come to define it) can leave you wondering why you ever got involved in the first place. Then something like this reminds you.

Way back, there was love.

See the complete blog:
https://theoctobercountry.wordpress.c...


“Autumn wins you best by this its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay.”
~ Robert Browning




Check out SEASON OF THE WITCH at Where the Dead Fear to Tread:

Wise up. It’s not about the candy corn. Halloween is as political as a brick through the windshield of a cop car.

We have always been at war. First the Romans marched, then authoritarian religious armies – pious and intolerant – slaughtered and burned in their footsteps. What else could you call it but war? Adherents may have been tortured and maimed. Priestesses may have been put to the sword and temples sacked, but the old beliefs won’t stay buried. Even now, they lurk just beneath the sanitized surface, ready to claw their way up. Once a year, the prevailing culture acknowledges this fact … without ever admitting what it is that’s being acknowledged.

Neat trick. Never mind. The wild grace does not fade. Jack-o-lanterns still burn as brightly as any heretic. Hags cackle, and skeletons cavort. But don’t be afraid. It’s all in fun.

Isn’t it? Listen for the cries of “Satanism!” According to so many sectors of the culture, this day represents a challenge, even an outrage. In many circles, Halloween is still referred to as “the gay holiday,” and this alone offers effrontery to the status quo. Dissidents have perished on the rack for less. Much less.

This is not just war. It’s history. And which side writes the history books?

The name Halloween is a corruption of All Hallows Eve, one of many calendar events grafted onto pagan celebrations, in this case Samhain. (Doesn’t it always come down to power? Appropriating the old gods and turning them into saints and angels, even erecting shrines to them, has proved to be an excellent means of exerting control.) Wiccans still consider Samhain – the day when the spirit world and the mortal world make contact – the highest of holy days. As celebrated in queer society, Halloween becomes a transgressive festival: flagrantly unorthodox, a night of revels for the most marginally accepted (and often brutally oppressed) citizens. All Hallows Eve leads into All Saints Day – a cattle call of mythological personae, traditionally including figures like Saint Demetra and Saint Mercurius, supposed martyrs adapted from the Roman gods Demeter and Mercury, themselves based on the Greek gods Ceres and Hermes. This list includes Saint George (and his dragon), Saint Christopher (a giant), and Saint Valentine (Cupid/Eros) as well as celestial hosts of fabled others, so many in fact that early Protestant reformers could attack All Hallows Eve for being both Pagan and Papist. Another neat trick.

Then as now, propaganda and superstition remain potent weapons. Witches rarely burned alone, and never because they possessed magical powers. (The very word “faggot” refers to kindling.) However meager their possessions, every heretic rendered to ash owned something to be commandeered by church and state. If one sought true cause for outrage, one need look no further.

And the war never ends. Bats flap. Phantoms moan. No, it’s not about the candy corn. Everything is politics. It’s all about power. This Halloween take a stand; do something revolutionary. Here, have a brick. Just be sure to wear a mask.

Visit the site here:
http://wherethedeadfeartotread.blogsp...


“Heroes need monsters to establish their heroic credentials. You need something scary to overcome.”
~ Margaret Atwood


Lastly, it’s an excerpt from an interview at Dark Media:

“To this day, readers are passionate about THE PINES … and more than a few are still incredibly provoked by it.”

You have been very critical of the current trends in the horror genre. Can you elaborate on your perspective of the market right now?

Critical? Oh dear. Have I? People are always advising me to be more positive in interviews, but that’s not always easy. Or possible. Do you know the Edgar Allan Poe story where the lunatics turn out to be running the asylum? No, I’m not critical of the genre. I love the genre. What I decry is the veneration of mediocrity that’s been like a stake through its heart.

It was a huge struggle to get MARTYRS & MONSTERS out, yet it was critically acclaimed. Why is there this barrier between the industry and the readers that keeps great books from reaching the shelves?

It really was a struggle. How do you even know about this? The original publisher scheduled and canceled its release five separate times that I’m aware of, finally preferring to forfeit the advance rather than to bring the book out. (Personally, I believe they bought the manuscript based on the impact my other books had made, without realizing the extent of the queer content. When they finally read it, they freaked.) Not good. And talk about bad press. Continuing concerns about who owned what rights very nearly suppressed MARTYRS & MONSTERS entirely, and few of the other genre houses would even look at it, despite my track record. What a nightmare! I ended up working with the tiniest of micro-presses. The book should have sunk out of sight without a ripple: I was prepared for it. But then the strangest thing happened. The reviews, all those incredible raves, they saved it. Critic after critic called it “a masterpiece” or a work of “genius.” What writer doesn’t want to hear this?

WILLY is a haunting evolution from childhood to adulthood and both the child-voice and the adult-voice are equally powerful. Elaborate on this process. How did you capture the authenticity from child to man?

This book is all about the voices, and I’m not sure how to describe the process of channeling them except to say that it was hard work. Real writing always demands so much. You have to be willing to confront things deep within yourself, things any normal person would have sense enough to avoid. I mean, we all put up barriers. We need to. But a writer has to strip away anything manipulative or evasive, anything false. Have you ever encountered a person who doesn’t understand what a novel is … or who can’t grasp the concept of fiction? You’ll get comments along the lines of “so you just make stuff up?” (If you slap these people, you’ll get into trouble. Trust me on this.) They’ll never comprehend that, no, making stuff up would be lying, not writing, whereas literature must be true on a higher level. Always. Each detail. Regardless of the plot. Every word. Every emotion. Absolutely honest. I swear this book almost killed me.

You do not shy away from erotic elements and gay themes in your work. How do you use these elements to shape your stories?

We’re back to honesty here. Any artist needs passion as well as discipline. This is too hard a life otherwise. What else would carry you through? I’m speaking of the characters’ passions now, not just my own, because I tend to write about people in extreme situations. They have desperate needs, desperate longings. The erotic, the emotional – that’s all part of it. A vital part. In my work anyway.

How has your work evolved over the years? How have the changes in the horror genre shaped your writing? Do you even classify yourself a horror writer?

Good question. No, I don’t consider myself a horror writer any more than I consider myself a gay writer. I’m a writer. Period. You’d be amazed by the kind of outrage this remark has been known to incite. (At my lectures, audiences have been known to turn into lynch mobs, though that might just be a natural response to my personality.) Do you understand what I mean? My beliefs, my desires, my artistic and personal goals, these all shape the kind of writer I am, naturally, just as they shape the kind of man I am, the kind of human being. If my work has evolved over the years – and I like to think it has – it’s because I’ve become more fiercely myself, less invested in pleasing others. I’ve worked hard at this. Curiously enough, as my writing has become more personal, my readership has grown. Go figure.

The interview can be found in its entirety here:
http://www.darkmediaonline.com/into-t...


“Where there is a monster, there is a miracle.”
~ Ogden Nash


Thanks for checking these out. Trick or treat, everyone. Have a great holiday.




“What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams.”
~ Werner Herzog