Dark Pearls of Wisdom

The return of the blog and horror

Man, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I see a direct correlation between my blogging and my taking on a new job at my work. Instead of a technical editor, I’m now a print manager and buyer. That means I take the books and promotional material my organization puts out (www.awwa.org) and get them printed and distributed to those who want to buy them. It’s a fun job and requires a lot of work. I’m getting the job down now, so it’s time to blog again.

Let’s see…what do I want to rant on? Hold on, let me get my soapbox…Yeah, here it is…

I have a personal theory that trends tend to move on about 17-year cycles, give or take a few years. That is, popular culture recreates the trends that occurred roughly that long ago. During the 90s and early part of this century, clothing, movies, etc. tended to mimic the same trend lines shown during the 1970s. Now, in the year 2007, we’re seeing a return to the same themes and images of the 1980s.

One of the ways this trend line has an effect on me (in addition to letting me bring out a lot of my very old t-shirts from retirement) is in cultural tastes. I like to write horror fiction, and so keeping an ear on the pulse of the public taste is important if I ever want to be published. For the past ten years, horror has been struggling. Horror had its own section at the bookstore and several strong publishers. However, around the mid-to-late 1990s there was an implosion in the market. Too many really lousy books were being published and too many readers went elsewhere. Certain subcategories of horror fiction remained strong (vampires, sexy vampires, erotic vampires, vampires with sexy erotic themes) but many did not. Several publishers that specialized in horror went belly up or were bought by larger groups and plugged into their “genre” fiction departments.

But, as I’ve written here before, things are looking up for those who like to look on the dark side. The same trends that pulled people away are swinging back and horror is becoming hot again. Not only are books on horror selling well, but other genres have adopted horror elements and made them their own. The best example is in romance novels, the Borg of fiction, where “supernatural romance” is a hot item. Look at stories like The Da Vinci Code or James Rollins Black Order, which are thrillers with supernatural elements, or more properly supernatural technothrillers.

While some purists may not like this diversification and absorption of horror and supernatural themes, I think it’s a good thing. Horror by itself is a pillar of the fiction community, but it’s all by its lonesome. When applied with other genres and ideas, it’s stronger, not weaker. Besides, it’s not like the first time this has happened. A Christmas Carol, Wuthering Heights, Jude the Obscure, The Heart of Darkness; all of these are classics of literature, but they’re also horror stories and better for it.

posted by Neal5x5 @ 4:02 PM