Three New Sub-Genre Labels that would fit “Morgue”

“Guns and Sorcery”

“Blackened Fantasy”

“Steamgothic”

I was trying to think of a clever term to describe the setting of Morgue. It has elements of “swords and sorcery”, “Dark Fantasy”, “Epic/High Fantasy” and even “Steampunk”. Although I usually form upon those “-punk” term words I have to say that the description to this fantasy sub-genre fits my stories somewhat, though there isn’t the overwhelming element of technology present. :

“Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England “

(Read the entire Wikipedia article here)

It is true that Morgue is similar to a 19^th century Victorian England but also has a wild-west setting like America in the mid-to-late 1800s. Gunslingers, lawmen, outlaws and gangs are predominant staples to the world but so are wizardry, dark magic, demons and mythical creatures.

So I find the term “Guns and Sorcery” is a fitting term but the “Swords and Sorcery” term is typically associated with “low-fantasy” or cheesy swashbuckling tales. Morgue conjures more epic high-fantasy tales.

“Blackened Fantasy”, I thought was a clever term because Morgue is more than just “dark fantasy”. It teeters on the brink of demonic fixation. Although the stories do not promote Satanism nor do they inspire anti-Christian views, they do however have a nihilistic and misanthropic undertone. The worship of demons such as Beelzebub, Baal, Dis(Satan), is rampant throughout the world and Pagan beliefs are the norm.

So I thought, “Blackened Fantasy” would be a nice label, right?

As for the third term, “steamgoth”, I was just taking a jab at “punk”. “Goth” isn’t referring to the subculture of vampire-lusting, black-clothes wearing, pseudo-depressed juvenile outcast. It is denoting the Victorian Gothic and/or Southern Gothic elements in classical literature that are present in Morgue.

I hope nobody reads this and takes me serious. I’m not launching a campaign to get any of these three terms as an “official” label. I was just toying around with some random thoughts that had crossed my mind recently.

My stories will probably just have to fall under “Dark Fantasy” or “Epic Fantasy” no matter how many other attributes from other genres is possesses.

Still….gotta love that “Blackened Fantasy” concept.

HERE are some links worth checking out if you are interested in Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery or any other source I may (or may not) have used for this blogging.

Sword and Sorcery: Reviews of the Classics

http://www.swordandsorcery.org/book-reviews.htm

High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy on Wikipedia (I hate citing Wikipedia as a source but this is a good article to read if you aren’t familiar with high fantasy or the authors who write it)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_fantasy

Black Metal (yet another Wikipedia entry)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_metal

Shape of Despair (this is just a band I frequently listen to while writing including while I wrote this blog)

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=15041195

ALSO SOME RECOMMENDED BOOKS (on the subject of fantasy, dark fantasy writing.

The Writer’s Guide to Fantasy Literature: From Dragons Lair to Hero Quest

http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Guide-Fantasy-Literature-Dragons/dp/0871161958/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221224142&sr=8-3

Alchemy with Words: Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy: Volume One

http://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Words-Complete-Writing-Fantasy/dp/1896944094/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221224287&sr=1-2
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones

http://www.amazon.com/Tough-Guide-Fantasyland-Essential-Fantasy/dp/0142407224/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221224570&sr=1-5

Doomsday Party has been Post-poned…

By now everyone knows that the LHC fired off a perfectly acceptable beam early this morning and no black hole opened up to suck the world inside of it.

Although, keep this mind,  in most horror fiction the first experiment  usually always goes as planned.  We all think that everything is fine and dandy…

Then out of the blue…BOOM!   The gates of Hell open and the world is infested with demons/the undead/gian lizard creatures ect.

So perhaps the Doomsday Party has only been post-poned for a later date.   Unfortuntely we may not know when this date is.  It could be tomorrow or it could be next month.   One slip up with the LHC, one mis-calculation, a single “ooops, I pressed the wrong button”  and we could all be staring into the deep depths of the appocalypse.

And while some people are concerned about this experiment bringing about the end of days someone in the project decided to make an educational “rap” video to wise us up on what the hell these scientiest are babbling about.

CERN LHC Rap

—–

I think I have found an editor for ASCENSION, book one of the “Abandon All Hope Trilogy”.   It could be edited to perfection in 45-days and ready for submitting.   If everything goes as planned (meaning I have to get my ass busy) the book could be published and available by sometime next year.

In the meantime though, I am working on a collection of short stories to compliment the trilogy all featuring twisted dark fantasy tales with a deep southern flavor.   These stories will be available either through online/print magazines,  e-book format or published for free reading right here on this blog (or at least a link to a webpage featuring the story.)

Also please keep a look out for a page on this blog that will delve further into what the “Abandon All Hope Trilogy” (AAHT) is about and why you should not miss out on it.   Damnit people, I’m busting my ass here to write these stories so give them a chance.  I think they will appeal to horror fans as much as they will to fantasy, dark fantasy and perhaps even western fans.  Louis Lamour is not an inspiration of mine but I do enjoy a good violent shoot’em western and one of my all-time favorite movie characters is Val Kilmer’s portrayl of Doc Holiday in Tombstone.  “You’re no daisy…”

The trilogy  does have a lot of influence from The Divine Comedy, H.P. Lovecraft,  some E.A. Poe-ish overtones and a little bit of a “rock’n'roll”  soaked into it.

So keep an eye out for it!

(removed fiction)

Okay, so I had published a short piece of fiction here but after I read it several more times,  I couldn’t even stomach it anymore.

The cold hard truth is, I don’t think I am into writing gore and graphic sex anymore.  At least not in the overly detained style I use to use.   Shock value only goes so far before it just becomes comical. The only person in existence who can get away with shock value as an artistic art form I think would be Alice Cooper.

I am going to start making an effort of only publishing non-graphic stories.  Stories with more literary meaning than just blood and guts.

Okay, there will still be blood and guts but I’m just taking the bloody sperm ouf of the mix.

Abortion and child abuse isn’t funny…but dead baby jokes still crack me up!

Lyrics: Novembers Doom-Rain

Becoming one with madness, a chaos to embrace
Struggling for my sanity, clear skies turning gray
My demons stand before me, and taunt my every thought
The only way to cleanse my soul, is drown my dirt with rain

Water now engulfs me, it burns my sins away
Enemy preys upon my flesh as darkness burns the sky
Surface drifting further, taken from my sight
The only way to cleanse my soul, is drown my dirt with rain

No one to save me, a promise to be made
For heartsick memories, below the murky wake

In shallow water, I will drown unfeigned
My death knell rings below the flood
To wash away my sins of yesterday
And give me the chance to murder your name again

Becoming one with madness, a chaos to embrace
Struggling for my sanity, clear skies turning gray
My demons stand before me, and taunt my every thought
The only way to cleanse my soul, is drown my dirt with rain

In shallow water, I will drown unfeigned
My death knell rings below the flood
To wash away my sins of yesterday
And give me the chance to murder your name again

Listen to the song here:

Lyrics Agalloch-Dead Winter Days

There lies a beauty behind forbidden wooden doors
A beauty so rare and pure, it would make human eyes bleed and burn…

…She killed herself in the fall…

I am the unmaker, I bring death to the beautiful dawn
With pillor, cold, and a legion of dying angels…

…I killed myself in the spring…

A grim bough had hung me high
I sank the fires of the Sol
Here, nightfall reigns

I oppose the light
I gather the storms
with a sword I wield with hate
I shot down the sun with bow and flame
Pillorian for the dead winter

I am the unmaker
The pillorian…the ending
I…die…
I damn you the dead winters…

(copyright Agalloch)

Lyrics are not mine, I simply post them because I draw inspiration from the music.

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Dean R. Winters

For the time being this is the home of writer Dean R. Winters. There is currently not too much to know about Dean other than that the “R” stands for Ray.

Enough of me reffering to myself in the third person. I have recently completed a manuscript for book one in a planned trilogy. The “Abandon All Hope” trilogy is best described as a dark fantasy/southern gothic horror. The medieval-wild west realm of Morgue has become my very own vivid creation in which I hope to continue writing about for several years. The world is so extensive in my mind that a plethora of stories keep coming out of it, screaming at me to tell the tales of outlaws, gunslingers, wizards, necromancers and witches.

Ironically I always aspired to be a horror writer but my interest was diverse. I spent a year writing in the “bizarro” genre and landed my first sale in the strange ChimeraWorld#3 anthology edited by Mike Philbin. I went on to have a few more publications in the weird fiction genre.

I began writing stories set closer to my southern home and gave them my typical horrifying atmosphere. Soon my writing began to feature more and more southern themes thus I began writing in a southern gothic style.

At a later date I will share the inspiration and conception for the “Abandon All Hope” trilogy. I will also post some free fiction and non-fiction on this blog.