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Horror/Scary: December 28, 2005 Issue [#790]

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Horror/Scary


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  Edited by: animatqua
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

Happy Horror Holidays!


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Letter from the editor

Let’s talk some more about horror on the holidays. Specifically, horror at Christmas time since I am writing this on Christmas day.

Time. That’s an excellent subject for horror. `No time left’ has been used to death (pun intended). “The Twilight Zone” used `too much time’ very effectively as well. Specifically, the man who finally had all of the time in the world to indulge in his passion for reading---and then broke the glasses that allowed him to see, with no way to replace them.

Yes.

How about too much time alone? Or too much time with too many relatives who are 1) too critical, 2) too drunk and mean 3) too solicitous, 4) too lazy----you get the picture. These subjects have also been done over and over and over reflecting the stress of various holidays. But I haven’t seen any yet that have been done with the element of horror.

The original “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” was excellent horror. Each child subjected to the torment reflecting his or her own repeated, obnoxious trait. True horror, indeed, when we look into our own foibles: "You better watch out, you better be nice...".

There is a scary thought, too; one that often terrifies children as most parents know.

In that vein, if I was Santa Clause, how I would love to----------

1. Make my husband do frantic cleaning, cooking, child tending and repair work. All of this will be compacted, of course, within an impossibly small time frame while waiting the eminent, impending arrival of much loved (or very critical!) guests.

Wait. I did that this year. The results were not pretty.

2. Give my daughter an endless task of dishes to do, laundry to wash, and a room to clean.

Did that too---according to her.

3. Make certain holiday shoppers wait in line for eternity. Specifically, make them wait in a line behind someone with a cart full of merchandise that piles (literally) to the stars when the check out lane is marked for shoppers with twenty items or less.

And to be especially diabolical, this individual may get out of that line when he or she finally checks out their own merchandise---which is also piled as high as the stars.

4. Make certain drivers travel behind a car doing 20 miles an hour when it is critical that they be in a specific place at a specific time.

Again, they may get out from behind this car when they finally reach their destination---somewhere beyond Andromeda.

5. Make other drives ride an eternal roller coaster with cars careening in and out around them; cars driven by people who do not think the speed limit is fast enough. These weaving cars will, of course, (at lease in the U.S.A.) be passing on the right.

This driver may exit his or her own personal torment when there are no more accidents happening.

6. Make a cell phone a permanent part of the anatomy (you supply which part) of the drivers who persist in talking on cell phones while they are driving.

See above for their release from torment.

Anyway. So much for holiday fantasies.

Placing a holiday as a specific impetus for horror can be as terrifyingly effective as making a child the central, motivating factor in a horror story.

Children are supposed to be innocent, which immediately gives their `creepy’ factor a boast when they are the ones creating the horror. Ditto holidays, which are supposed to be fun, family oriented, and times of good will.

Horror speculation: What if those beautiful, life boasting holidays were filled with unbearable angst, unendurable loss, unmitigated fear, stress, and hopelessness?

Wait. For too many people, they already are.

For me, that’s the worst holiday horror of all.


Editor's Picks

No picks this month. `Tis the season to be jolly, hey?

 
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