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| This ghost is sad because he got kicked out of a red castle (right) and also because of what this post is about |
I probably should have posted this earlier, but anyway, listen: for the past God alone knows how many years, I have spent every October reading and writing about horror fiction for my The Kind of Face You Slash project. And I loved doing it! Sometimes! But not so much recently. I read countless (you could probably actually count them without much effort) horror stories and novels, and wrote about what I read every day for 31 days. Every November 1, I told myself I wasn't going to be doing it again next year, and then around May of the following year I'd start thinking about the writers and stories and books I could cover next time. So it kept going, and I was, and am, hugely grateful to the people who bothered to read and comment on my posts.
Two years ago, though, I was feeling burned out pretty much from October 1 to October 31. I had nothing else to say about the genre, or couldn't think of anything, and it felt like a terrible chore that was eating up all my free time. Last year, a friend recommended that I bring in guest writers to help carry the load, which I did, and which I think worked out extremely well. All the writers who agreed to write a post (for free) did a great job, but coordinating all that brought on new pressures and stress I hadn't anticipated. So well before last year's project was done, I knew, without question, that in 2014 I would not be doing any version of The Kind of Face You Slash. And I'm sticking to that. I'm not doing it this year. Even if I suddenly decided I wanted to, which I haven't and won't, I've done no preparation at all, and it's simply not conceivable. So The Kind of Face You Slash is done.
For now! I promise nothing. It might actually really be done forever, but it would be stupid to say that because what the hell do I know. But it's absolutely not happening this year. Lots of other blogs and "web sites" do all sorts of fun and interesting horror-related things in October, so there'll be plenty to read. And I'm not shutting down the blog that month anyway, it'll still be running right along at the same snail's pace you've come to depend on. But no The Kind of Face You Slash for a while. Sorry, and thanks.
Boooooooo.
ReplyDelete(Well. It had to be said.)
However much I might miss TKOFYS, I also completely understand the burnout & headaches it must have produced. Take a well-deserved break, whether temporary or permanent, and know that your annual non-stop horror-blogging has been well and truly loved.
Also ARCHIVES. Maybe I'll just start at the beginning and re-read them this October, with the added bonus of being able to enjoy the new posts simultaneously...
Start at the beginning?? Oh I shudder to think about reading those...
ReplyDeleteBut thank you very much for your patronage, sir!
I second Jules, on all points - not just your admirable efforts and the pleasure they have been to read, but the very real temptation to dip in again.
ReplyDeleteIt was also a pleasure to take part in what I will consider nothing less than the penultimate year of The Kind of Face You Slash - and if that label proves wrong, I only hope it does so for many more right reasons...
Damn it. I was hoping you'd devote this October to my absorbing, uniquely twisted NaNoWriMo novel of the zombie apocalypse, THE LIVING DEAD MEET THE RACIST MISOGYNIST REDNECK CRACKERS FROM HELL. Not just because I wrote it and would welcome the free publicity, not at all, but because you could really have had a ball spending the month on unpacking the themes and tropes and metathematic signifiers of this genre-subverting revolutionary text.
ReplyDeleteYou could have spent weeks just on analyzing the unique twist, which is really the subtext, to wit: the revelation that the shuffling corpses with the insatiable urge to devour live flesh are not in fact monsters, or the Other--no, they are US, and more specifically, me. And that the real monsters are in fact the white redneck monster people. Shocking, subversive, revelatory stuff, if I say so myself, and believe me, I do. Indeed, perhaps it is better this way. The world may not be for such a radical subversion of genre. The social upheaval could prove catastrophic.
(Needless to say, I echo the preceding responses.)
So The Kind of Face You Slash is done.
ReplyDeleteHooray (for your sanity, I mean). It's tough to decide to call it quits on something like this. For years, I not only hosted big October proceedings at my place, I even put out trailer videos. And then, it became a job instead of something I loved and then so did the blog and, well, that was that.
It's good to take the pressure off, especially when it's self-imposed.
I just wanted to add that I feel the sorriest for that ghost. Buck up, little guy, it'll be okay.
ReplyDeleteBlippeldee, blappeldee, bloo!
ReplyDelete"If it ain't Wham, it ain't ham!"
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear it, Bill, because TKOFYS was the first place online I saw someone reviewing '80s horror fiction that wasn't the same-old same-old King/Koontz/Laymon (can't remember how I found you, maybe searching David J. Schow). But when it's a drag on you you gotta cut it loose because if you don't enjoy it, no one else will!
ReplyDeleteAndrew - thank you very much. As you know, you and the other Palimpsesters were very encouraging when I first had this idea, and I never would have carried on with it without your boosts.
ReplyDeleteJohn - well listen: that's a new kind of horror fiction. That's horror fiction that forces us to look in the mirror. That's horror fiction written by a punk-rock angel shooting his Harley typewriter down America's fat throat. And so on. If more guys were writing shit like that, I'd never stop!
ReplyDeleteGreg - When I complained semi-privately about how tired I was of this, you told me that you imagined I couldn't have much more to say after all these years, and I sure don't. There's no reason to keep going, at least for a while. It would just be me going through the motions, and it wouldn't be any good.
ReplyDeleteWill - thank you. I was very happy to see that you'd started reading, way back when, and having someone around who knew their shit like you do was very encouraging.
ReplyDeleteYou got that right, daddy-o. This ain't your old man's whitebread horror we're talking here, Jackson, this is the REAL DEAL, the NEW WORD ON THE STREET, the POST-NEW WAVE of TERRORPUNK that's gonna break down all the boundaries and shake up the establishment and kick out all the old farts and bring in a whole bunch of new ones. This is the TRUTH, screaming IN YOUR FACE, chum, and if you ain't WITH the program then you're AGAINST it, just one of those racist old white patriarchal suckers with their old fogey ghost stories trying to keep everyone else DOWN. Well, their time is UP, bub--is YOURS?
ReplyDeleteOh, and thanks, man. I never dreamed of getting blurbs that awesome. Damn, I think there's enough there to spread out over my next three NaNoWriMo books, too. (Due out the first, second, and third week of NaNoWriMo month, whenever the hell that is.)