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These are the Newsletters I have written so far for Writing.com. |
| As one of your Fantasy editors, my goal is to challenge you to think outside the KNOWN and to help you inject your tales with fascinating facts while jagging left and right through troublesome frolics and teethe-writhing dilemmas. Perhaps we can help each other to safely jog through these twisty turns of radical thought, alternate viewpoint, and dynamic detail. Come! Let’s head down the Path of Dimensions, untextured by any earthly array. In other words, let’s drop out of reality for awhile. Shall we?   Horror’s Hairy Habit of Encroachment  When science fiction and fantasy are swept into the land of horror, the public seems to like it better, or at least Hollywood does. Why is that? I understand that horror carries with it the beating heart of fear, the adrenalin rush of life on the edge of death (or beyond.) But does the skewered limbs and dripping flesh, the squirting blood, and the eye-plucked barbarianisms of all that gore equate with good science fiction or the delicious fantasy of wizard magic, dragon wisdom, or herbal witch lore? I believe these individualistic realms have no business being melded on our stately bookstore shelves. Maybe a small divider could form the castle moat between the springs of innocence and --- this modern love of red-hued gushers of violence. I suppose there must be some site for the blendings -- the mutations, the smearings of the genres, the sneaking, creeping formerly friendly leprechauns, dwarves, and elves now gone amuck -- but to fit our purist of the PURE -- spine to spine, nuzzling against the sides of zombie skewers busily cleaving flesh and skin -- such amalgamations with our chaste, wholesome, and often unicorned adventures – I think should never befall. We, the lovers of these softer genres, should be allowed our friendly aliens without the brazen scorn of those who prefer munching demons from worlds which savor human flesh. Magicians and witches, long known for peaceful endeavors and for their understanding that white magic is the only kind that fosters happiness, should endeavor to kill their villains without brutality, to purge the earth of evil via clean and bloodless conduct. Ah, I understand that villains are essential. Some deviant must forever rear his ugly head – the ogre from the dark woods, the greedy tyrant, the black knight whose soul is darkened by malevolence. But must these miscreants daub their skins in blood? Must they rip and tear and smear the world with endless, mind-altering spews of red coagulations? Couldn’t there be – just once – a rogue averse to catsup’s visual effects? Is this too much to ask? What do you think? Must we always endure such bloodshed, such cruelty, and those curdling screams from death’s last puncture in our formerly more peaceful domains of science fiction and fantasy? Or should there be a safe harbor, a magic kingdom, where no one’s consciousness is ever impaled by horror? After all, isn’t that really why we read these genres – to escape from the violence of the news – from this horror-filled land where evil walks among through our days and nights? Please give me feedback on this article. I really want to know your opinion. Simply plug into the bottom of this FANTASY NEWSLETTER and get your name NOTICED (fame, acknowledgement, glamour!) in my next newsletter! Also, I’m trying my first user poll:
Please place your vote.   This month’s featured:
I love a good alternate ending. This piece has no violence – not even an evil villain. The author, in fact, prevents the violence and the evil from rearing its toothy smile.
A delightful poem that really gives you a jerk and a laugh at the end. No violence. No villain. Just good fun (unless we had to wear that horrid thing.)
This is a story of magic and deceit that gives a reader goose bumps. It’s marvelously done! Again no blood and screams, only a dire fate and a promise of revenge.
A villain doesn’t need a sword to pierce both heart and soul. This story shows how EVIL can gently weave the “fly” into his web.
All right, I confess, sometimes a little violence is needed to build the tension. This story is so good, it rose up and bit me in the ankle.
Yes, there’s some violence in the one, too, but it’s the kind that’s necessary in order to build up the concept. This is a great beginning of a novel. Very different, very well done. *********************************************************** I love getting to choose stories and poems for the FANTASY NEWSLETTER. If you have something you’d like me to consider, please e-mail me or submit it at the bottom. (If you e-mail me, though, please mention the FANTASY NEWSLETTER so I know that you want me to consider your piece for the newsletter.)  I love to hear comments on my newsletter too! (Hint! Hint!) *********************************************************** ***********************************************************  Last month I wrote about the purpose of a giggle. I asked what you thought about having humor in science fiction or fantasy. Only one person gave me feedback on that. I believe that every good story needs a few laughs. :) Dean Koontz's Frankenstein:Prodigal Son has a lot of humor in it. I have no preference when it comes to fantasy characters. I think that they are all interesting as long as the writer makes them that way. Keep up the good work, Ash Ash  Sure, they’re interesting, but doesn’t HUMOR spark the spark plug of interest? Others said: Hmm... Well, I wouldn't give anything to answer this question, but I like to think... I like dragons fro some reason. Oh, if you can accept Pokemon for fantasy, that'll be cool too. =) crush_40 I really know nothing about Pokemon. Isn’t he from outer space? Yes, a ladder as a zero! It's the ground! I have found it more times than I care to remember. (Ha) Great newsletter! sleepy . I’m glad you agree a ladder starts at zero. It’s a puzzler to me how many people don’t agree with that. And thank you for the compliment. It’s very, very appreciated. . Vampires and elves are my fav, although if done well, magicians can be awesome too!! Poplar I agree that it’s fun to write about all of them. The lands of fantasy grow wider and more delightfully green all the time. Man!...there is so much content and activity on this site. I love how nice everybody is; emailing me, encouraging me, reviewing me, responding to me, directing me, giving me GPs, sending me newsletters (BRILLIANT STUFF), but people - I GOTTA GO TO BED!!! Love, PhiSchmo phischmo Yes, I have the same problem. Isn’t it unfair that REAL life keeps getting in the way of our PLAY? Thanks for the compliments!  *********************************************************** |
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