7/29/2013 9:28:27 AM: Let me try to do this as succinctly as possible. The word 'splatterpunk' was a throw-away joke that David J. Schow came up with at the bar at the World Fantasy Convention in 1986.  The reason he came up with that goofy word was this: Over the previous couple of years, a handful of writers had sprung up -- from pretty much out of nowhere -- with pretty radical takes on the tidy structures of 'regular' horror fiction. None of us knew each other before then (or even knew OF each other, by and large). But we were all attacking the problem of 'normal' horror, from some pretty wild angles. There was Clive Barker, straight out of London, with his ground-breaking BOOKS OF BLOOD. There was Dave Schow, writing these mind-blasting short stories from the gutters and gambles of Hollywood. There was Joe Lansdale, blowin' out of Texas, his wild vision really starting to take off. And there was the Skipp & Spector thing, stomping through the black New York City jungle night. We were all very different, stylistically. But we had a couple of things in common, which lumped us together in peoples' minds: 1) unflinching violence, often described more elaborately than was previously the custom; 2) frank, usually weird, often hilarious, frequently disturbing sex; 3) a general CULTURAL SUBVERSIVENESS, that playfully but deliberately fucked with everything that was safe and conventional and -- to our minds -- kind of chickenshit about regular, normative, conservative horror. And it's THAT quality -- more than the sex, the violence, the rock 'n' roll rhythms, the cinematic imagery, etcetera, etcetera -- that distinguished that impromptu group of writers, to me. Less the 'splat', in that sense, than the 'punk'. Which means punk as SOCIAL POLITICS, not just as wardrobe choice. Punk as in fun-lovin' trouble-makin' outsider-intensive dance-and-fuck-all-night critique of buttoned-down, tight-assed, only-do-it-with-the-lights-off horror. And people in the horror scene were trying to figure out what to call this phenomenon. (Cuz that's all it was. A spontaneous eruption in the arts. Like God said, 'MAKE IT WEIRDER!' and a handful of us jumped.) And because William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, and such had just got the jaunty name 'cyberpunk', Schow said, 'Yeah, I guess they'll have to call us 'splatterpunks' now.' And everybody laughed. And fifteen minutes later, it was all over the convention. And within a few months, there were articles about it everywhere from TWILIGHT ZONE Magazine to the VILLAGE VOICE to PENTHOUSE. Such is the power of a single stupid word, when its time has come. This, of course, is simplistic as hell. But I'm doin' it off the top of my head, so forgive me. If you really wanna know what the word means, read the stuff that the people were talking about then. Read, for example: Clive Barker The Books of Blood 1-3 The Damnation Game David J. Schow Seeing Red Lost Angels Silver Scream (editor) The Kill Riff Joe R. Lansdale The Nightrunners The Drive in John Skipp and Craig Spector The Light at the End The Cleanup The Scream Book of the Dead This is all stuff that came out around the time period we're discussing, here. (Other examples might or might not include Ray Garton's Live Girls and S.P. Somtow's Vampire Junction.) So, in conclusion: splatterpunk is not regular horror, only grosser. (MANY grosser things have been written since, from what I hear.) Splatterpunk is a dopey joke name for subversive, no-holds-barred horror that rocks, and not in a regular way. If it means anything at all.

10/19/2012 9:27:28 PM: Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.    

2/9/2012 9:24:15 PM: My life just dramatically changed. I am the danger. I am the one who knocks!

1/24/2012 11:08:33 PM: Really getting into FX work lately. If you're interested in being a zombie let me know. 3 to 6 hours of make up work. I shit you not, I know what I'm doing. Foam latex is my specialty. Getting into head caste and teeth work as well.

12/17/2011 11:15:28 AM: How soft your fields so green, can whisper tales of gore,Of how we calmed the tides of war. We are your overlords.