Thanks GrimGent.  I love that story.  It gives me a cold tingle down my spine whenever I read it.

It's worth skipping through that thread to pages 19 and following where Darth (riffing off a few ideas that the collective wisdom of Tangency throws up) finds a rational explanation for much of what happened

And then onto page 27, where he de-debunks himself.  He'd make a fine Fortean

Edit: and another vote for Darth being an excellent writer.  Can someone dig up "Lights"? There's a line in there that gets me every single time

Quote from: GabrielThe house story has never done anything for me.  It doesn't ring right on so many different levels.

I'll have to say that I still prefer Dionaea, although it does feel a little too polished to pass as the real thing.

Quote from: GrimGentI'll have to say that I still prefer Dionaea, although it does feel a little too polished to pass as the real thing.

After poking around the "Ted the Caver" story I found a link to the original short story by Thomas Lera called The Fear of Darkness on which it is based.  Pretty good story, actually, and it has an ending for those of you who were driven crazy (maybe not literally...) by the lack of closure of the "Ted" version.


TGA

Quote from: The Good AssyrianAfter poking around the "Ted the Caver" story I found a link to the original short story by Thomas Lera called The Fear of Darkness on which it is based.  Pretty good story, actually, and it has an ending for those of you who were driven crazy (maybe not literally...) by the lack of closure of the "Ted" version.

Good horror is basically about the unknown and unexplained.  There's a certain need to leave things hanging and unresolved, because explaining everything dilutes the impact of the horror tale.

That's why I really didn't find the explanations of the Darth Tang story to be very interesting (except for the "thin reality" bits, which were similarly vague and suitably spooky).  That's why I like the end of the caver story so much.  In the case of a good horror tale, the dangling ending should provoke a "OMG!  What the fuck happened?" and not a feeling of "That's it?  Where's the rest?"

So, with trepidation, I read The Fear of Darkness.  Actually, I skipped over the first half, which seemed like a Cliff's Notes version of the caver story (although I guess the caver story is actually the fleshed out version of this).  Then I read the rest.  Hopefully it isn't a spoiler for anyone else to say that the story falls completely apart for me the moment the old man appears.  For me, the whole resolution weakens the story.  In fact, it outright ruins the whole thing.  Beyond that point it becomes something that seems like it's from a bad slasher movie or a comic book.

I don't know if the original caver story I read breaks this rule, but it was definitely applicable to Fear of Darkness: if you use the phrase "indescribable horror" to describe anything in a horror story, then the story has probably ventured into the realm of comedy.

Just my 2 cents.

Quote from: Hastur T. FannonEdit: and another vote for Darth being an excellent writer. Can someone dig up "Lights"? There's a line in there that gets me every single time.

I've collected together a good chunk of Darth Tang's stories.  PM me, and when I get home I'll e-mail them to you.  "Lights" is one of them, and probably the best of the lot.

Tom B.