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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 2009)
OREGON S GAY/LESBIAN/BI/TRANS NEWSMAGAZINE SEPTEMBERS ?009 ¿ U S BOOKS An Eye for Horror La Femme 01 ras— <*rj\ What Terrifies You? Chad Helder Knows By GLENN SCOFIELD WILLIAMS “A good horror story should have some sort of innovation,” according to Chad Hel- der. Helder, a gay Portland writer, thought fully sips his coffee in a North Portland café, talking about the recipe for horror: “inno vation with the monster design or with the narrative or like the Twilight Zone factor, where you reach the end of the story and there’s some sort of unexpected twist. In novation is everything.” Helder’s soft brown eyes smile as he takes another sip. “In terms of monster design, I’m not a big fan of a monster who is completely ‘evil other.’ I prefer shades of grey,” he says. He places his coffee down; a friendly smile breaks his dark beard. You would nev er guess the twisted, dark knowledge behind that warm smile. Yet Helder’s horror sensi bility is so adept, at age 36 he has received the highest award given horror writers: the Bram Stoker Award. The Stoker Award is an honor bestowed by collective vote among members of the Horror Writers Association—members such as Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Clive Barker. Helder’s compilation of queer horror stories, Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet, garnered the coveted 2009 Stoker Award for superior achieve ment in a horror anthology. “The award is a little haunted house,” Helder says. “It’s very cool. But they didn’t know what to make of it when we were go ing through airport security. They had to look it over very carefully.” Helder began his career in horror as a poet. The son of a Colorado minister, Helder came out in high school, studied writing in college and moved to Bellingham, Washing ton, where he taught and created a blog to highlight his gay horror poetry and prose, UnspeakableHorror.com. The blog and his teaching efforts were instrumental in taking his horror writing to the national stage. Darren Davis, founder of Vancouver, Washington-based Bluewater Comics (re cently in the news and Just Out's own pages for its Michelle Obama, Bill Clinton and Sarah Palin comics) visited one of Helder’s classes as a guest speaker. “For years I’d been working on a novel. And basically I revised it till it completely fell apart,” Helder says. “But I put all this work into creating this world and all that detail. So I pitched it to him as a comic.” The result was Bartholomew of the Scis sors, a four-part graphic horror comic about a deranged supernatural boy who avenges his abuse through the expert wielding of a pair of rusty shears. The comic is tight and terrifically scary and immediately received acclaim. The artist, Daniel Crosier, drew, painted and burned the images into wood blocks to create a bold, theme-soaked visual LaFemme Magnifique P l u s J The 28th Annual International 5> LaFemipe Magnifique & afemme Magnrfrque* Plus Pageant k Sunday-, September 6, 2009 P* Í Doors 5pm - Show 6pm r Oregon Convention Center f 777 NE MLK Jr. Blvd. I Portland, Oregon 503 - 222 - 533 » A senes o f p a n e ls from o ne o f four ww. darcel lexv. com B a rth T /h o o lo /,n e'd Scissors e r S horror ser'es Ba m ChQd ew o f H the world that intensifies Helder’s plot. After Bartholomew, Helder went on to author eight more comics for Bluewater, kick-start ing the company’s horror comic line. Helder’s blog quickly became a meeting place for queer horror scribes. “Until I did that website,” Helder confesses, “I had no idea how many queer horror writers there were.” Among them was Vince A. Liaguno, founder of Dark Scribe Press on Long Island, NY. Liaguno and Helder soon concocted the notion of a queer horror anthology that would show off the range and depth of the genre in a way not hitherto shown. The re sult, Unspeakable Horror, is a collection of stories for every taste in the gay, lesbian, bi and trans rainbow. “For me the queer element is special,” Helder says. “In a homophobic society like ours, any kind of repressed fear of sexuality is naturally going to fuel the horror story.” “I also like the literary sensibilities that queer horror brings,” Helder continues. “Queer fiction is always on the edge of the experimental, always looking for innova tion, and I think the queer end of the horror genre really flips the whole horror genre on its head and mixes things up.” The success of the first anthology has led to discussions of a second, and Helder’s first work of his own horror poetry and prose, The Pop-Up Book of Death, is set to be published by a small press in Maine sometime soon. In ad dition, a complete, one-volume Bartholomew of the Scissors will hit bookstores in October. Chad Helder is a new force in queer hor ror. Don’t be fooled by his mild-mannered, pleasant smile. This man can scare the pants off you. J K Madaforaquaen.com •. £ laPt'Ti"* to kW«* »v* 0 ooaf Hhalk about it Ktctacr. f butbutiÉicinyiw BYifititî Wiuu [liilipvifryW to sin wwnhi ah Luid* ta tike tk stress an iHaUdif wttb fflcafeaibfaMyMIiYbrçwttbMV? Wut aere brtbucyiabpissMiiid less wirryii ye* sei Hfc? A H yc sessiii sm II fmp series fir fiys ■ L J ------- — I --------«- - «----------------- »■«--------- HYIIf Will Hl Y Wll l i r e SCI Vrai flyS. stomvWiJKfc M S 223 . I M ACS Glenn Scofield Williams writes poetry, prose, plays, periodica and porn in Portland. J 7 ar J fc n tfffc u c i l ei M n r t >CAP