#Kathryn Ptacek

[atomic-crusader]

Read in 2023

Gila! by Kathryn Ptacek (under the name Les Simons) 1981

8/10

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Kathryn Ptacek (editor) - Women of Darkness - TOR - 1989

[horrorblogplsbekind]

Horror and Me

Having been born during the month of October, I have a strong association of celebration and excitement with horror fiction. Often I would choose to go to the cinema with a group of friends and enjoy the latest horror film to celebrate my birthday, or have a themed traditional party where everyone dressed up in cheap Halloween costumes. And so, despite having been petrified by several episodes of Dr. Who as a child, horror as a genre has become one of my favourites to indulge in, especially if I’m watching a film with someone more sensitive to being scared that doesn’t mind being teased every time they react.

My current favourite horrors are more grounded in reality, touching on more rational fears that may appear less frightening at face value but leave a more impressive mark after the fact, where I finish a film or a book and continue to reflect on its concepts throughout the following weeks. G. Neil Martin states that ‘younger children are afraid of symbolic stimuli, whereas older children become afraid of concrete or realistic stimuli’(1) which would explain my transition from hiding behind the sofa at the sight of Pennywise the clown to binge watching analytical YouTube commentaries on films such as I’m Thinking of Ending Things.

Our cultural fascination with horror intrigues me because ‘the genre may give us insight into psychological processes and social interactions’(2). Why is it that we enjoy consuming media intended to make us uncomfortable? Do we find pleasure in the rush of adrenaline while being reassured by the lack of physical danger? I think that’s probably the case, at least for me. ‘Humans have an adaptive disposition to find pleasure in make-believe that allows them to experience negative emotions at high levels of intensity within a safe context,’(3) argues Mathias Clasen, which suggests to me that the way society has allowed for humanity to live in less stressful and physically dangerous environments has caused us to experience genuine fear much less frequently than we may have evolved to endure, and so we seek out these feelings in the media we choose to consume.

I find myself preferring horror stories that invite the reader to relax and ease into the story with the use of comedy, causing the shift in tone when they introduce the horrific aspect to catch their audience off guard and thus increase its effectivity. Kathryn Ptacek’s short story Dollies does this frequently which may be why I enjoyed it so much. ‘nevertheless, I announced to my mother one day that Elizabeth 1, an oversize baby doll my grandmother had sent me and for which she had made beautiful clothing by hand that I didn’t appreciate at the time, had died from smallpox’(4) Here Kathryn uses the contrast between the joyful connotation of the verb ‘announce’ with the darkness of death to create a sense of comedy to her story. She concludes the paragraph with the ominous line ‘somehow I knew’(5) to foreshadow the terror of the conclusion to her tale, creating a feeling of unease and apprehension within readers. I found myself smiling after reading that section because I knew I was in for a treat.

Another favourite form of horror fiction of mine is the interactive storytelling of videogames like Until Dawn. Ironically, I find that videogames can fortify the sensation of being out of control that many horror stories personify in spite of how the player should be in control of their character. The immediate assumption that you should be in charge of the game is what makes it so much more terrifying when you find yourself losing that control as the monster and/or creepy atmosphere is introduced. When I played Until Dawn, bad things happened to the characters regardless of the choices that I made, rendering me powerless to escape all of the scary scenes similarly to if I were simply watching a horror film. ‘The player’s lack of consequential options, diminished agency, and limited control are crucial to the meaning of the text,’(6) argues Allison Tanine, highlighting the importance of control in horror. If the loss of control is part of what terrifies us about horror then our emotional reaction to the genre must derive from our own survival instincts, where we have evolved to identify situations where we are at risk in order to avoid them, overriding our recognition that we are merely observing a story and aren’t physically in danger. Afterall, it’s ‘better to jump at shadows and waste a little energy than to shrug at the noise from the dark woods and be devoured by a predator’(7).

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

 (2, 3, 7)Clasen, Mathias. “Evolution, Cognition, and Horror: A Précis of Why Horror Seduces.” Journal of Cognitive Historiography 4:2 (2017):  242-254. Accessed 02 February 2020. https://doi.org/10.1558/jch.37083

 (1)Martin, G. Neil. "(Why) Do You Like Scary Movies? A Review of the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films." Frontiers in Psychology (2019). Accessed January 28, 2021. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A603119118/AONE?u=ucwinch&sid=AONE&xid=25aeb27f.

 (4, 5)Ptacek, Kathryn. “Dollies.” In New Fears, edited by Mark Morris, 333-349. London: Titan, 2017.

(6)Tanine, Allison. “Losing control: Until Dawn as interactive movie.” New Review of Film and Television Studies 18:3 (2020): 275-300. Accessed 02 February 2020. DOI: 10.1080/17400309.2020.1787303

[thehorrorgene]

Horror and Me

Amidst growing up, the horror genre had been somewhat embedded within my life due to the primary socialisation in which I endured. My mother was the most influential, as she would watch films and television series including themes and ideas of the supernatural; vampires, witches, werewolves – you name it. My first vivid memory of being familiarised to aspects of horror, was my introductory to the 1998 series Charmed at the age of 4, then shortly after reaching the age of 5, Doctor Who made its return to the BBC, ultimately scaring me and many children with its pilot episode yet, the fundamental concept of fear intrigued my young self. And then… started my obsession.

The Autons in Doctor Who manifested an initial psychological fear, some labelling it as learned fear, for mannequins and antique-looking dolls. I remember refusing to enter shops or even pass shop windows with glass clearly shielding my skin from the human-shaped plastic. I also remember evading the once Georgian workhouse, the Red House Museum, or at least as much as I could. There was a corridor with a dead-end, lined with aisles of mannequins dressed from Georgian attire to Victorian and modern, showcasing how time and society had changed. Thus, all I could imagine when they entered the valley of plastic were my families deaths. And how this was it. How would I live without them? Where would I go? Who would I live with? By freeing my already huge imagination, those types of thoughts clouded my better judgment, up until I saw them emerge from the shadows alive.

Another early fear of mine, which has crossed over into my adult life, are anything and everything associated with clowns. I have avoided clowns for most of my life and I can’t remember and pinpoint a specific time for when I accumulated such a distasteful fear and discomfort for them as they have managed to bring me to tears before. Fiona Macdonald in 2016 for a BBC article delved into how the clown is seen as disturbing to many. A study was taken, asking more than a thousand individuals and tests ‘concluded that “being ‘creeped out’ is an evolved adaptive emotional response to ambiguity about the presence of threat” in other words… “a person is creepy if we are uncertain about whether he or she is someone to fear”.’[1] As in Kathryn Ptacek’s Dollies[2], horror notions of threat are seen in isolation and the destroying of innocence, further highlighting a commonly used motifs from the parent genre the Gothic such as ‘power and constraint’[3] leaving an audience in distress. Dollies closely link to the text titled Frightening Fiction, as it states ‘one effect… is likely to be the reinforcing of the status quo. By putting normality in jeopardy, it creates a desire for its return and future security’[4], underlining an understanding to the lore of attraction; that every action has an equal or opposite reaction. Yet, a stimulus of fear simultaneously became a reality as the article was written as lunatics dressed as killer clowns created hysteria across the globe, following a social media trend that proceeded further than it should have to begin with.

My belief is fear, whether it’s innate like my fear of heights, or learned through observation and experiences, function as subconscious warnings in our minds, stopping from mental self-infliction.

An unsettling quote from Ptacek’s Dollies lingered with me for a while after reading it as the words showcased why I love to write how I write now; I love to kill every character I create, adult or child to unease you there, reading this.

‘I laid my fingers gently across her nose and mouth. It didn’t take long. She didn’t really even struggle… I watched for her chest to rise and fall, and when it no longer did, I bent down and gave her a kiss on the top of her head, and then I got up and crossed to the closet and put her on the shelf beside the other Elizabeths.’[5]

 WORD COUNT (WITHOUT QUOTATIONS) - 537

[1] Fiona Macdonald, “A surprising history of the creepy clown.” BBC Culture, 19th October 2016, Accessed 5th February 2020 http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20161019-a-surprising-history-of-the-bad-clown [2] Mark Morris, eds., New Fears (London: Titan Publishing Group Ltd, 2017), 333. [3] Matt Elphick, “Horrific Origins,” Lecture, Winchester University, 2020. [4]Kimberley Reynolds, et al. eds., Frightening Fiction (London: Continuum, 2001), 8. [5] Mark Morris, eds., New Fears (London: Titan Publishing Group Ltd, 2017), 348.

SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Elphick, Matt. “Horrific Origins.” Lecture. Winchester University. 2020. Fiona Macdonald, “A surprising history of the creepy clown.” BBC Culture, 19th October 2016. Accessed 5th February 2020 http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20161019-a-surprising-history-of-the-bad-clown Kimberley Reynolds, Geraldine Brennan, and Kevin McCarron Frightening Fiction. London: Continuum, 2001.  Morris, Mark, eds. New Fears. London: Titan Publishing Group Ltd, 2017.

[danbfierce]

Here is the cover reveal for the HWA Poetry Showcase that I've been honored to be a part of. Along with a list of other talented poets, the article also gives credit to those who were the judges and the editor of the anthology: Angela Yuriko Smith. The Horror Writers Association presents their ninth annual poetry showcase featuring a selection of the best original dark poetry from the past year. Edited by Angela Yuriko Smith with judges Lee Murray, Maxwell I. Gold and Frances Lu Pai Ippolito, this year features Stephanie M. Wytovich, Geneve Flynn and Naomi Simone Borwein as our featured poets. Cover artwork by Kyra Starr. Appreciation to HWA President John Palisano for doubling the payment to poets and awarding poets both payment and a contributor copy instead of poets choosing between two options. The artwork for this year’s cover pays tribute to Peter Adam Salomon, the founder of both the HWA Showcase and National Dark Poetry Day, celebrated every year on November 7. The following poets have also been selected to have their work included in this year’s showcase: Mary A. Turzillo, Christina Sng, Alessandro Manzetti, Victoria Nations, K. H. Vaughan, Cassondra Windwalker, Jacqueline West, Carina Bissett, Hillary Dodge, Lucy A. Snyder, Colleen Anderson, E. F. Schraeder, Sara Tantlinger, Ann K. Schwader, Corinne Hughes, Monica S. Kuebler, Janine Cross, Kathryn Ptacek, Holly Lyn Walrath, Gary Robbe, Marge Simon, Stephanie Ellis, R. Leigh Hennig, Austin Gragg, M. Lopes da Silva, Denise Dumars, Gordon Linzner, Saytchyn Maddux-Creech, Ross E. Lockhart, Meghan Arcuri, Teel James Glenn, Bruce Boston, John Claude Smith, Roni Stinger, Dan B. Fierce, Madison McSweeney, Steven Clapp, Rook Riley, Timothy P. Flynn, Dianthe West, Lori R. Lopez, Terrie Leigh Relf, Lisa Becker, Donna K. Fitch, Ai Jiang, J.E. Erickson, and Gerri Leen. https://horror.org/the-horror-writers-association-hwa-announces-the-release-of-its-next-publication-the-hwa-poetry-showcase-volume-ix/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CgZD62fOUeI/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[jk-indienightmares]

Horror and the writer

Horror and the writer by Jake White

Through writing horror, I have learned that horror isn’t all that different to comedy. Like comedy, a horror’s success solely relies on its build up and pay off. For a build up to work, just enough information needs to be drip fed to the reader, enough so that the reader is left with the eerie feeling that something is going to happen. But what is going to happen and when must remain a mystery. Tension can be built by using a variety of methods, including ‘creating a conflict for your characters that could lead to devastating consequences, or introducing secondary sources of tension such as sounds and visions.’[1] Once enough tension has been built up and the reader has become isolated and completely submerged within the story, the payoff is ready to spring into action.

True horror comes from the unknown and unexpected, clichés are not recommended. If a writer wishes to truly terrorise their audience, they introduce and instill into them a fear that they were unaware they had. Alternatively, graphic imagery is always helpful when executing a payoff, something unexpected and truly gruesome can really resonate with an audience. I found this to be the case for myself whilst reading ‘Dollies, New Fears’. The story focuses itself around a young girl who is giving some dolly’s, whom she all names Elizabeth. Overtime they  present blue spots resemblent of an illness, but the young girl perceives them dead. But it wasn't until the ending of the story after she had given birth to a young baby girl, that I was truly horrified by the imagery in front of me. The line read, ‘I laid my fingers gently across her nose and mouth...she didn’t really struggle… I watched for her chest to rise and fall, and when it no longer did ....put her on the shelf beside the other Elizabeths.’[2] This line was effective in creating a horrified response as it taps into our fragile and vulnerable views towards babies. A newborn baby is seemingly helpless, so for such a sadistic act to occur against one is enough to chill the bones of any reader.

Fear can also be placed into basic and common fears, as well as using the senses to capture an audience. ‘Bird Box’ a Netflix original film directed by Susanne Bier, is a perfect example of incorporating the senses and common fears into a horror. The story follows a family who try to flee a global epidemic of horror, in which people are driven to suicide after an unseen presence shows them there worst fears. ‘To remain safe a mother and her two children blindfold themselves to avoid seeing a devastating end as they run for safety.’[3] This psychological horror was particularly successful as it took advantage of possibly one our most important, yet taken for granted senses, our site. This left audience members scared of looking for those things that made noises in the night, psychologically playing with their heads. True horror stays with the reader even after it’s over. This is only done when the readers biological responses react to the fear as if it is something physical. Have you ever noticed that even when you are scared or watching a horror film, it’s hard not to look away from the screen. Well, that’s because it’s your body's natural response to danger. When we are threatened, our bodies become aroused, which causes us to seek out and  locate the threat so that our body and brain can decipher what to do next. ‘Our heart rate rises, pumping blood around the body faster in preparation for fight or flight, and in some cases our bowel movements are prohibited’[4], resulting in some people releasing themselves unintentionally.

Overall, the key to writing a successful horror piece lies within the ability to take advantage of your readers senses and natural responses through building up enough tension that is followed by an equally terrorising pay off.

  Word count (excluding quotes): 550

 Bibliography:

[3] “IMDb”, last modified 2019, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2737304/

[2] Kathryn Ptacek, New fears (London: Titan publishing group Ltd, 2017), 348.

 [1] Now Novel, “ How to create tension in a story: 8 simple steps”, last modified 2019, https://www.nownovel.com/blog/create-tension-writing/

[4] PMC, “The biology of fear- and anxiety- related behaviours”, last modified September 2002, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181681/ 

[1] Now Novel, “ How to create tension in a story: 8 simple steps”, last modified 2019, https://www.nownovel.com/blog/create-tension-writing/

  [2] Kathryn Ptacek, New fears (London: Titan publishing group Ltd, 2017), 348.

  [3] “IMDb”,  “Bird Box”, last modified 2019, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2737304/

[4] PMC, “The biology of fear- and anxiety- related behaviours”, last modified September 2002, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181681/

[davidkell11052-blog]

Is It Essential To Use Winter Months Tires In The Cold Months?

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[domingospringtho-blog]

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[michaelsellars]

Tweeted

Kachina by Kathryn Ptacek. Cover art by Paul Stinson.#horror pic.twitter.com/xMvmJyx6Ue

— Michael Sellars | Horror Writer | Posts Horror Art (@HorrorPaperback) February 18, 2021