JJ Burke
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|  | "Payment for Services Rendered" by John Correll
« Thread Started on Dec 9, 2008, 7:42am » | ![[Quote]](http://s2.images.proboards.com/buttons/quote.gif "[Quote]") |
Hello, and welcome to the public discussion forum of Fantastic Horror. The topic of this thread is "Payment for Services Rendered" by John Correll, featured in Issue #9.
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 text, you'll find a link back to this thread.
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JJ Burke
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"El Oso Acuoso"
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| | Re: "Payment for Services Rendered" by John Correl
« Reply #1 on Dec 10, 2008, 2:04am » | |
what grabbed me most about this story was its resemblance in tone and style to the classic twilight zone with rod serling. there were a few old-west episodes, and if someone told me that this was one of them, i'd believe it. seriously, as i read this, i saw it all in my head in black & white, with some of those same actors who appeared on the show.
i thought professor grimes made a pretty solid point in comparing his goods and services to those offered by organized religion, but his 'comeuppance' suggests that morality favors the church, at least in the estimation of the narrative. it's a sort of traditional, god-fearing american decency vibe that harkens back to the clean-cut sensibilities of the early 1960s, when rod would step out from behind a covered wagon in his pressed suit and say, 'just another prairie town on the trail from here to there. people live in this town even if there's not much to live for...'
it may not have been the author's aim to conjure up the spirit of the twilight zone, but he very effectively has, if you ask me.
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deadpan80
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| | Re: "Payment for Services Rendered" by John Correl
« Reply #2 on Dec 10, 2008, 1:02pm » | |
Well... I'd say you nailed it right on the head. One of my major inspirations is Mr Serling and his work on both TZ and Night Gallery. I don't know if I was aiming for the church's morality to win out over Grimes' dark view of the world--- since neither truly help Elwood's illness in the end--- but I can see how this can be perceived that way, especially with Perkins' assessments in the end. I was trying to blend old style TZ with a twisted Tales from the Crypt-style ending--- and then let the reader have the final judgement as to what happened. "Did God/ morality intervene or was it a simple twist of fate? Did Grimes really meet his executioners or was it drunken guilt?"
But you are right--- Rod Serling all the way on this one. Sometimes I had to catch myself from emulating him too closely.
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