Be My Victim: A Discussion with Laird Barron on Literary Horror and Anti-Intellectual

[nomis]

An interesting interview with Laird Barron about anti-intellectualism in today's Horror world.

And a special congratulations to own "starrysothoth" whose wonderful "Grim Reviews" site gets a mention.

SF Signal: Be My Victim: A Discussion with Laird Barron on Literary Horror and Anti-Intellectualism

[matt cardin]

I always enjoy Laird's interviews, and this one is no exception. He's such a smart and literate guy.

[Nemonymous]

Two events today (Christmas Eve) that shed light on each other and not in expected ways. More to be said I expect on this subject after Christmas…in any comments below on this thread?
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(A) Laird Barron's interesting take at above link on anti-intellectualism in Horror Fiction. And on the presence of gratuitous violence or even pornography.
In my own small way, I’m trying to support literary horror with my real-time reviews. Including a recent one of a Laird Barron book. In fact some horror – on the face of it - is not literary or is shallow … but if you dig deep into the text and themes, one sometimes finds things there that perhaps the author did not intend. Ranges of meaning through serendipity or through other forces of which we are unaware or cannot explain?

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(B) Fortuitously starting today my real-time review of Black Static #20 with this story :

<<The Compartments of Hell by Paul Meloy & Sarah Pinborough
“…but then who knew when this #### had started hitting the fan?”
It’s Christmas Eve and if this is Santa Claus’ present to me – it’s certainly a present to the world from out of the blue – a post-apocalypse “it’s the thought that counts” – as those who have cracked and spiked enough are protected from the most gruesome, brain-ripping images I think I have ever read. By a long way! And I’d would have spliffed and spliced what I just said with not only a prayer of thank you but also a f**king prayer of thank you. And I don’t usually swear. This #### hit this fan, then, when these two authors came together – and produced this gotterdammerwrung (sp?) of guts. It’s spilled all over Christmas. No exaggeration.>>

An ostensibly gory and un-literary story, but really very literary indeed when one studies it. I shall probably have more to say about this story later in the review to reflect that.

[Evans]

I thought it was an open secret that Paul Meloy is infact Richard Staines with an extra zero in his I.Q.

[hopfrog]

An excellent interview, and it got me to Amazon where I have just order'd IN THE MEAN TIME.