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November Hiatus

November 2, 2023

I know I just took a hiatus, but I annually participate in National Novel Writing Month, a.k.a NaNoWriMo. If you want to follow along with my progress, here’s my profile. (I’ll note that you do have to have a NaNoWriMo account to view profiles.) I’m writing a novel about a cursed bridal dressmaker, and — despite how that sounds — it’ll be a lot of fun! (Except when it isn’t.)

I spent all of October writing these Horrorclature posts, and National Novel Writing Month takes the same sort of dedication, so I have to take a bit of a hiatus until December.

I have a few more posts queued up, so don’t be surprised! (They’re mostly Harley Quinn-centric. Shocking, I know.) However, posts will not be a daily drip like it’s been for a while.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll continue to do so in December and in 2024.

AUTOSTRADDLE’S HORROR FILM ESSAYS (2022-)

October 30, 2023

I am a huge fan of the website AUTOSTRADDLE. Yes, it is a queer-centric site and I do identify as queer, but AUTOSTRADDLE is specifically a website for lesbian culture that is also trans and non-binary inclusive.

I fall under none of those labels. Okay, well, genderqueer, but I present as a dude. I feel more akin to their writing than, well, just about any other culture site out there. They have a certain sensibility — a brusqueness and forthrightness coupled with insight — that brings me joy, although I do occasionally feel like an interloper. I have numerous tabs of their posts in my browser at all times. I want to send more eyeballs there way, and perhaps maybe you’ll enjoy it and maybe even become an A+ member. (I am a proud supporter!)

I first discovered the site via Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, who wrote for the very influential A.V. Club website before the working conditions went to shit, and she is now a writer and managing editor for AUTOSTRADDLE.

Kayla is brilliant and recently posted the sequel to her HORROR IS SO GAY collection of queer-adjacent essays about horror works, which is a far better collection than what I’ve been doing all month. Among other things, it features a deep dive on the works of Jennifer Reeder, who I have posted about and am always delighted to see others extoll her films.

HORROR IS SO GAY 2 also includes a paeon to the FINAL DESTINATION franchise, which I oddly hold near and dear to my heart. (Of course they featured the log truck. I don’t think anyone can argue against the log truck scene being one of the most spectacular horror scenes in film history.) And of course, they have a post about NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2, because how could they not?

I’d be bereft to mention their selections of horror films based on your astrological sign. While I’m not all that into horoscopes, this is fun and I absolutely cannot deny that I’m undeniably a Cancer, to a scary extent, and despite — well, this entire fucking site — I have not seen any of the films they assigned to my sign.

While I’ve always identified Halloween as Goth Christmas — see tomorrow’s post — it is also Gay Christmas and Kayla linked to a fantastic piece about exactly how it became know as ‘Gay Christmas’. This is history that should be known and she’s doing the work. I would not have discovered it if it weren’t for her or AUTOSTRADDLE.

AUTOSTRADDLE is a great site, one that really knows how celebrate Goth and Gay Christmas! I do hope that you click through to some of their non-horror posts as well, as they’re writing amazing works and I’m happy to call myself a supporter, even if I’m a dude.

ADDENDUM

If you’re looking for more horror/goth-centric queer essays, I highly recommend GOTHIC QUEER CULTURE from Laura Westengard. I will warn you that it is surprisingly more entangled with trauma than I expected.