Death Metal at the Nerd Table

Yes, the analogy is back. Sorry, I couldn't help myself. (If you're new to my blog, you can go back here and read my original post about the nerd table.)

Let's see, I've done punkers and prom queens, and even ROTC...what's a good Eighties analogy without some death-rockin' headbangers?

A recent discussion started on a writers forum got me thinking about this. The topic was Christian horror. Sounds like an oxymoron, eh? But it's apparently a rising genre. It seems to encompass stories from those that raise "supernatural thriller" a few degrees to Nightmare on Elm Street with Christian heroes.

I must say this is intriguing.

I, personally, have never been able to watch slasher movies. I like creepy--think The Sixth Sense or even Silence of the Lambs--but that's about as scary as I want on-screen. I can, however read stuff I could never watch on a TV or movie screen. I've even written a couple of short stories that would qualify as dark fantasy. One may be considered mild horror, depending on your point of view I suppose. If I get any of them published, I'll be sure to let you know and you can judge for yourself.

This reminds me of high school so much, because as I've said before, I was an odd mix of punk-rocker and nerd. Well, there was another oddball like me in our geek group, who was a metal-head to the bone. I think it would curl his long hair if he knew I was using him in a warped high school cafeteria/Christian fiction genre analogy. (Actually, he went into the military--bye, bye, beloved locks....oh, I would have enjoyed watching that!)

The point is, there seems to be no bounds to the genres Christian themes can be worked into. Which means, no bounds to the stories we can write and the people we can reach. There's room at the nerd table even for the death rockers.

For the best list of subgenres I could find, not just fantasy, check out:
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/genredefinitions/