From Homicide to Hockey Masks...

Dark Scribe Press is pleased to announce its second print project — Butcher Knives & Body Counts: Essays on the Formula, Frights, and Fun of the Slasher Film.

From meat cleavers and machetes to summer camp carnage and sorority house massacres, from final girls and scream queens to demented deviants and dead teenagers, slasher films turned body counts into box office gold. It’s the oft-maligned — but surprisingly durable — sub-genre of horror films that uses a Freudian rulebook and bases the survival rates of its characters on vice and virtue. From the low-budget aesthetics of the 70’s and 80’s to the self-referential gloss of the 90’s and beyond, Butcher Knives & Body Counts will explore the archetype of the slasher film and trace its evolution from formula to franchise. From the inventive kills and the gory intestine spills right down to the last tagline and toe tag, Butcher Knives & Body Counts will celebrate the enduring formula, frights, and fun of slasher movies.

The project will be less a "guide" — what most would immediately associate with encapsulated reviews — and more a comprehensive collection of critical essays on the slasher film genre. In addition to opportunities for analyses of individual films, DSP is also looking for essays on various aspects of the slasher film genre. We anticipate those essays dealing with individual films to be in the 1,000- to 1,500-word range, with a slightly larger word range and some added flexibility for essays pertaining to the more general aspects of the genre.

As we did with our Unspeakable Horror anthology, Dark Scribe Press has established this dedicated blog for the project where submission guidelines, tips, and announcements will be posted. We have also posted a "wish list" of films we're looking to have covered at left. When we post our submissions guidelines, we will offer some suggested topics that will give potential contributors an idea of what we're open to in relation to the broader essays.

More details regarding submissions are forthcoming. No queries (or submissions) until we've gotten the submissions guidelines posted, please.

January 23, 2010

Timpone, Kozak, D'Auria Round Out Final List of Contributors...















Veteran FANGORIA editor Anthony Timpone (above right), original THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW actress Harley Jane Kozak (above left), and Don D’Auria, longtime editor of Leisure Books’ acclaimed line of horror novels are among the final contributors rounding out BUTCHER KNIVES & BODY COUNTS:

  • Anthony Timpone
  • Don D’Auria
  • Harley Jane Kozak
  • Kim Paffenroth
  • Bryan Norton
  • R.B. Payne
  • Scott Bradley
  • Nate Southard
  • Michael Louis Calvillo
  • Mark Onspaugh
  • Jason Walters
  • Lucien Soulban
  • Martel Sardina
  • R.B. Payne
  • Shawn Rutledge
  • John W. Morehead
  • Steve Rasnic Tem
  • Carl Hose
  • Michael Hacker
  • Jason V. Brock
  • Michael Potts
  • Tory Lowe
  • Adam Nakama
  • Stacie Ponder
  • Jason S. Ridler
  • J.C. Hay
  • Dominic McDonagh
  • Paul Milliken
  • Jeff Allard
  • Amanda Reyes
  • John Michael
  • Mike Petrucelli
  • Corey Lafferty
  • Ross Horsley
  • John Chandler
  • Camille Alexa
  • S. Michael Wilson
  • H. F. Gibbard
  • Michael G. Cornelius
  • Andrew J. Wilson
They join previously announced contributors:

  • Adam Rockoff
  • Adam Green
  • Jack Ketchum
  • Lee Thomas
  • Stephen Graham Jones
  • John Skipp
  • Cody Goodfellow
  • Jeff Strand
  • Gregory Lamberson
  • Lisa Morton
  • James Lowder
  • Peter Tennant
  • Gary McMahon
  • John Llewellyn Probert
  • Lynne Hansen
  • Mike McCarty
  • Garry Charles
  • Paul Milliken
  • JG Faherty
  • Richard Dansky
  • Connie Corcoran-Wilson
  • Dustin La Valley
  • CJ Lines
  • Mike Bracken
  • Lance Vaughan
  • Jude Wright
  • David L. Tamarin
  • Nick Cato
  • Amanda Bumgarner
  • Stephen Bacon
  • Joe Nazare
  • Rachel Kendall
  • Aliya Whiteley
  • Johnny Kalangis
  • Jesse Baget

In addition, a final list of the films being covered in the collection is listed at left.

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