The Gist 19: Dark Days Ahead
A roundup of news from this week at Gestalt Media.
It’s currently 7:55 a.m. The sun should set soon. I can’t remember a time when it wasn’t dark. Is this the end?
Humans have an innate wariness of the dark. Our senses were designed to primarily support eyesight as the principal method of danger recognition and navigation. Without it, we feel understandably more anxious. In the dark, it’s hard to tell who or what is nearby. For ancient humans, it was difficult to assess the facial expressions of others in the community. This made communication much more difficult before a proper language was established.
Fire, with all its benefits, presented a powerful solution to both problems. It lit up an area that allowed people to gather, huddle in large numbers, warmed and protected by the knowledge that it was much more difficult for anything to sneak up on them. It also provided an intimate space, where communities, weary from the stresses of communal living, could come to face to face with one another, perhaps for the only time that day. Robin Dunbar, as mentioned in previous posts, speaks about social grouping as the key element that diffuses tension and creates bonds with humans in close quarters. The fire became a kind of sanctuary where ancient people could sing, dance, and perhaps most importantly, tell stories.
Evidence shows that while these gatherings centered on the mundane during the day, food, social politics, and gossip…at night, the subjects turned more personal. Bonded by a mutual fear, a desire for warmth, and a need for community, people began telling grand stories, engaging in deeply philosophical and spiritual narratives. This instigating element, fire, remained a part of our lives for thousands of years.
Prior to the industrial revolution, a biphasic sleep pattern, where people would sleep for a few hours, wake and discuss matters by candlelight or contemplate or conduct business, then go back to sleep, was common. The soothing warmth of firelight has been a constant throughout human history up until the early 1900s, when electricity began to replace fire for good.
Today, we mimic those patterns, but they take on a distinctly modern look. In the winter, as the days grow short and (the worst idea ever) Daylight Saving Time plunges us into artificial cicadian rhythms, we no longer gather with our neighbors around the flickering flames of a fire; we join our families (or sometimes solo) and huddle around the glow of a television. At night, we cast the blue shade of phone screens into the dark and scroll feeds until sleepiness takes over once again. The community we once encouraged is now distant, impersonal, and the stories we tell of grand adventures are movies and social updates.
Times have changed, yet somehow the instincts that make us human remain. The same urges that once drove our survival remain. Evolution takes a slow pace, and learned skills, once designed to keep us safe, are slow to change. So, for whatever it’s worth, as the days grow short and it feels like the light is only a visitor that leaves too soon, it’s the caveman within that longs to wrap in warm furs, find a close friend, and share a story or two until the sun returns.
Self-Scare Updates
The main reason updates have been sparse here is that we are that busy. The number of incredible interviews that have been scheduled and completed in the last two weeks is both staggering and deeply encouraging, not only for the content, over twenty-five hours worth, but also for the quality. I am honored to speak with such accomplished and knowledgeable fans of this genre. Experts such as:
Bridgette Brenmark - A Bachelor of Music, a Masters in Costume Design and Adult Education, Composer, Painter, Sculptor…Bridgette is a many-faceted and fascinating individual with a deep knowledge of the horror genre and a deep love for it as well. We had a great conversation about everything from religious upbringings to the validity of remaking classic stories.
Christine Harrold - The founder of Horror Reader Weekend, Christine has more energy than one interview could contain. I truly enjoyed our ever-changing topics that covered horror as a lifestyle, the importance of community, and the close bonds we form with fellow fans.
Destiny Sanders - An LCSW in Florida focused on trauma-informed care, grief and loss, hospice support, and chronic illness management. Destiny knows about the darker sides of life and carries that knowledge with such a light and engaging presence that I think we could have talked for hours (we did…twice). Covering colonialism, gender and racial politics, and the horror of giving yourself injections.
Becky LeJeune - 5 years as an acquisitions editor at The History Press before joining the Bond Literary Agency in 2014. I tried counting the number of times she said ‘fun’ describing horror, but gave up. A lover of the industry and the genre, we had a great time discussing the importance of passing down horror stories to our children.
Clay McLeod Chapman - “..like a tattletale psychiatrist turned rodeo clown, Clay McLeod Chapman races back and forth along the serrated edges of everyday American madness.” Stoker and Shirley Jackson nominated novelist, co-writer of Quiet Part Loud, a 12-part horror podcast from Jordan Peele/Monkeypaw Productions, and award-winning filmmaker. This doesn’t even begin to cover the achievements, but in short, Clay knows his shit. We had a very accelerated discussion of fairy tales, J-Horro, and cultural appropriation.
Todd Keisling - Two-time Bram Stoker Award(R)-nominated author of Devil’s Creek, Scanlines, Cold, Black & Infinite, and most recently, The Sundowner’s Dance, among several others. In my personal experience, Todd has always had an imposing…some may say intimidating presence in person, but is, in reality, one of the mellowest, most engaging storytellers to just sit back and listen to. We discussed video stores in the ‘80s/’90s, being cool & making up your own horror stories.
Chris McAuley - Chris McAuley writes prose novels, magazine short stories, video and tabletop games, and audio dramas. Together with Bram Stoker’s Great-Grand nephew, Dacre Stoker, he has created the StokerVerse franchise. Babylon 5, Terminator, Star Trek, what hasn’t Chris done? This was one of those cases where I completely left interview mode behind and just dropped into ‘Let’s talk horror’. Incredibly well-informed, engaging and entertaining…I got to receive a Master’s level lecture on Dracula lore and more than a little humor surrounding our favorite IPs.
Dr. Scott L Pratt - Chief Information Officer (CIO), holding a Ph.D. in Psychology from Northcentral University, a Master of Business Administration (MBA), and a Certified Scrum Professional-Scrum Master (CSP-SM). Scott has a massive wealth of knowledge on human psychology and the multi-disciplined approach that is required for making broader connections in a modern world. He was very gracious about my continued Rocky Horror references and shared some solid insights on the spectrum of ‘evil’ in villains and the first-hand experience of violent trauma and how it affects us moving forward.
Norman Prentiss - Two-time Bram Stoker Award winner (2009 & 2010) and multiple appearances in Best Of anthologies, Norman is an accomplished storyteller, but more than that, a unique spirit that captures your attention immediately. We spoke at length about horror as a guide in our youth, why we consume stories but also why we tell them, and how that interaction really defines the genre as a core human experience.
Melanie R Anderson - Coauthor of the Bram Stoker and Locus Award-winning Monster, She Wrote. She is an assistant professor of English at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. Her book Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison (Tennessee Press, 2013) was a winner of the 2014 South Central MLA Book Prize. She cohosts the Know Fear podcast. To say I was excited about this interview is a vast understatement. Melanie is very considered in her comments, but every one was filled with insight, and I thoroughly enjoyed her synopsis of hauntings and why we engage with the paranormal.
Lisa Kröger - Coauthor of the Bram Stoker and Locus Award-winning Monster, She Wrote. She holds a PhD in English, and her short fiction has appeared in Cemetery Dance magazine and Lost Highways: Dark Fictions from the Road (Crystal Lake Publishing, 2018). She cohosts the Know Fear podcast. Such a deep well of knowledge and insight. We got into the weeds of The Blair Witch Project as a feminist turning point, and its highly unlikely parallels to the *shudder* Sci-Fi classic Event Horizon.
Mark Allan Gunnels - Has written more books than I’ve read in any single year. It’s truly prodigious. He has co-written with talent such a John R. Little, worked with (it seems) every publisher I know, and become a mainstay on the horror anthology scene, and gave a great TED Talk on empathy in the horror genre. Also, a friend, we had a wonderful discussion about growing up queer in the south, seeing yourself as the monster, and the power of horror to drive empathy.
We have ten interviews to go, and we’re shutting down, pushing hard into assembly mode ahead of 2026. I am absolutely floored, honored, and astounded by the talent and support we have received for this project. It has been my truest privilege to have some of these conversations, and every one has been an insight into the minds and hearts of the creators that bring our darkest moments to life on the page and screen. Thank you all, and I can’t wait to share the results of this deeply rewarding labor.
The Gist
It’s dark and I don’t like it
Self-Scare is wrapping up interviews with some of the horror world’s best talent
“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.” — Edgar Allan Poe
“For each of us as women, there is a dark place within, where hidden and growing our true spirit rises... These places of possibility within ourselves are dark because they are ancient and hidden; they have survived and grown strong through that darkness.” — Audre Lorde