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Dec 6, 2009, 3:40am

Discussion of Issue #3

FH Forum :: Featured content of Fantastic Horror :: Past Issues :: FH#3 :: "Follow Through" by Chris Stevens

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Topic: "Follow Through" by Chris Stevens (Read 423 times)

Hodgson
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"Follow Through" by Chris Stevens
« Thread Started on Nov 27, 2007, 10:36am »

Hello, and welcome to the public discussion forum of Fantastic Horror. The topic of this thread is "Follow Through" by Chris Stevens, featured in Issue #3.

Writers and artists love to get feedback, especially when it's thoughtful and constructive. Please take a moment to share your thoughts, and help keep the Fantastic Horror community alive!

If you haven't read the story yet, STOP RIGHT HERE and go read it!! This discussion may contain spoilers. At the end of the story, you'll find a link back to this thread.

« Last Edit: Nov 27, 2007, 10:46am by Hodgson »

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JJ Burke
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Re: "Follow Through" by Chris Stevens
« Reply #1 on Jan 4, 2008, 12:15pm »

this story has just the right amount of humor in it, in a way that doesn't weaken the horror mood. the narrator has funny, not overdone character traits, so he wins a little extra sympathy, and the horror is enriched because of it. the other thing i like about 'follow through' is that it's an unresolved perspective. we never really know if he's crazy or not, and being told one way or the other would do nothing to improve the story.

i think we'll see a lot more from chris stevens here at FH. nice job, chris!

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suctionmule
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Re: "Follow Through" by Chris Stevens
« Reply #2 on Jan 6, 2008, 2:35pm »

I echo J.J.'s comments re finding that difficult (rare might better fit the bill) balance between humor and horror. To make a character humerous at times in a horror story should be a natural extension of reality (we "are who we are").

But when writing horror fiction, that balance has to be struck delicately, lest we seem "non-serious" to readership (the old: "Hey, what gives? I was cruising along, enjoying this horror bit, and you yank my chain with some sort of joke?" Sad but true, we can lose readers that easily. In this instance, a very good job of finding the balance!

Ron

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monstersinmyhead
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Re: "Follow Through" by Chris Stevens
« Reply #3 on Jan 7, 2008, 11:26am »

Thanks for the nice words. This was a story that kind of got away from me and wrote itself. The concept was just a guy who sees monsters and has to take a little pink pill to make the monsters go away. Kinda like "They Live" from John Carpenter. I pictured battles and fights and what not. Instead it turned into this, which is far better then the original story I thought of so I'm glad it got away from me. As for humor in horror, I think its like anything else; it can't be forced. Like gore, you can't have humor just for the sake of having humor. It has to serve the character or plot in some way. Its like a cop cracking a joke at a bloody crime scene. Sometimes a little humor is necessary to take the edge off.

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aexombie
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Re: "Follow Through" by Chris Stevens
« Reply #4 on Jan 10, 2008, 3:37pm »

the humor in the beginning up until the middle definitely gets the readers beyond the 'hook'. i like the family being monsters, sometimes feels like that. i especially liked the ending. that we knew what was coming, and it hadn't been done yet because kids were invovled. getting around the 'red tape' makes the story better imo.

well done. thanks for the read.

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alx

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They Live
« Reply #5 on Jan 29, 2008, 8:51pm »

Although I also found the narration to be very humanistic and authentic, the element that struck me the most was the ambiguity surrounding the monsters- I was far from convinced that the narrator was reliable. Even he doubts himself and this was the most horrific aspect in the story- the fact that he may have slain his family out of delusion

Of course, this notion is made all the more terrible due to the touching way he describes his love for his son

And it gets even more disturbing when you read the author's biography! I trust that this is a work of fiction and only the feelings of love and pride for his son were drawn from life

With regards to They Live, I am also a huge fan of the film. Amusingly enough, I watched it recently and was annoyed by the cheap tag they used for the title. I thought they should've went with something more like this...
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monstersinmyhead
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Re: "Follow Through" by Chris Stevens
« Reply #6 on Jan 30, 2008, 6:13pm »

Although I have taken many a pink pill to chase the monsters away, I assure you this is a complete work of fiction. My ten year old is a total monster as any ten year old can be, but he's completely human and not currently in harms way. I'm the one my family has doubts about.

Nice artwork. Have you tried contributing anything to the site?

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alx

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Re: "Follow Through" by Chris Stevens
« Reply #7 on Jan 30, 2008, 8:50pm »

I'm sure you'd never do anything like that to your son (or even your wife) but it did kinda creep me out when I read your bio... Keep up the good work!

Quote:

Nice artwork. Have you tried contributing anything to the site?

That's a great idea! Do you think I have enough time to get something in by issue four?

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JJ Burke
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Re: "Follow Through" by Chris Stevens
« Reply #8 on Jan 30, 2008, 9:54pm »

Quote:

Do you think I have enough time to get something in by issue four?

you know you're on the cover, don't you? i mean, 'with teeth' is. anyway, issue #4 is very close to being uploaded tonight.. any subsequent offerings will have to fall into a future issue.

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alx

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Nobody gets me
« Reply #9 on Jan 31, 2008, 3:23am »

I know, I was just having some fun... Good luck hitting your deadline

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Re: "Follow Through" by Chris Stevens
« Reply #10 on May 20, 2009, 6:03pm »

i usually do not go crazy for stories written in this p.o.v. but i enjoyed this very much, and am glad that i decided that i needed something to read tonight.

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