I was going to talk about fear then I got cold feet. It's been overdone, and when something's done well, there's no point in wasting more ink, or in this case, web space.
How many times can someone cover The Beatles' "Yesterday"? How many more alien invasion scenarios will be fictionalized (See: CBS, NBC, and ABC)? H. G. Wells
still holds the patent to that one.
There's nothing new I can add to the discussion of fear.
For that, read H.P. Lovecraft's essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature," where his
now-famous statement first appeared: "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is
fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
It's funny. As a horror writer you try your best to come up with something unique, or uniquely frightening or compelling because it's all been done before - the book of Ecclesiastes, uses this a thematic refrain. Writers of the 21st century can no more "reinvent the wheel" than an ant could play Gershwin's Piano Concerto No. 2 on a blade of grass.
But every generation has a movement, a sound, a defining quality. I lived through the 90's and now 10 years later, I can see the story arc that American popular music has taken, as well as the resurgence of the Western to TV (Deadwood) and other media…the gradual decline of the Sci-Fi Channel and the difference between the Clinton and Bush administrations (don't worry; I'd make a less-than-brilliant political commentator).
Yeah you've got Battlestar Galactica and some might argue Stargate SG-1 (I still don't see the big deal). But look at what it lost: Farscape (one of the best sci-fi shows on TV), The Anti Gravity Room (a half hour show devoted to comics), and Sci-Fi Buzz (a show devoted to science fiction literature, culture, and film, which featured Harlan Ellison as a regular commentator, and where I first heard the name Neil Gaiman. If it wasn't for that show - and Sandman - I probably never would have gotten back into comics, and my point of view on the art of fiction would have been mostly shaped by the New York Edition Prefaces of Henry James).
So, what's Arlington Corner going to be?
Initially a monthly column of about 600 words where I'll talk about horror fiction, film, personal commentary, updates on Arlington, maybe some works-in-progress, and whatever else comes up. Like I said, no politics. I don't know from politics except what I learned in college, and even that seems to have been terribly wrong (oops, was that a political swipe?)
I write for a living, as a reporter for a local newspaper. I'm mild mannered, but I've yet to manifest any super powers or flight ability. (Damn.) My fiction has appeared in various print and Online publications, and one even won the Web Master's best short story of 2001 for "Murder by Definition." (Let me know if any of you can track that story down. I'd love to see it again. It was actually written in 1998, but that's all I remember. That, and an homage to Robert Heinlein.)
I hope you take a look around the site and find a few things you'll like. Time's run out for now boys and girls.
Till next…
