A Simple Poet ... gone Goth

[A Simple Poet]

Hello.

I was delighted to find this forum. I have a similiar experience over at a Tolkien based message board, but Gothicism is not as prevelant there. I love the Gothic literature genre. I would not say I dress Gothic, at least in the popular fashions of today, but rather I tend to favor more vintage dress bordering on Victorian Style ... though admittedly I do not believe clothing makes one a Goth.

I am really quite bored as a writer. I like writing poetry and experimenting with form, but I am itching to write prose again, particularly what I term the Gothic Space Opera (keeping with the pulp titles made popular in the early 20th century.). Sure, there are space pulps but none of them are quite Gothic horror (at least not in the mainstream).

At any rate, I am glad to be here and hope to encounter many likeminded inidviduals.

ASP

[Godslayer Jillian]

Yes, the Victorian style!
Yeah, the clothes don't make you gothic, but it's always nice to feel elegant

[Cicero]

Gothic Space Opera sounds... interesting. I'd love to read some of your prose and poetry.

Welcome.

And Victorian clothing is beautiful. My favourite period in fashion history without a doubt.

[Godslayer Jillian]

Mine too. I always say I should have born a century ago or two centuries in the future (I feel it will go back to elegance but with a lot more freedoms)

[crimsonjoy]

Yes, Victorian dress is always good; one of my favorite styles...
Welcome, have fun here.

[Queenofdarkness57]

Welcome, yes please post some of your work! OOh ya, victorian style is the best! Pretty gowns*drools*

[A Simple Poet]

Thanks for the kind words, I look forward to corresponding with all of you.

[angel011]

Gothic Space Opera sounds like fun. Welcome!

[A Simple Poet]

Yeah, well I do not have any concrete samples of Gothic Space Opera yet. Hell, if I procrastinate as I always seem to, I likely never will. But for once I am excited about the prospect of jumping into a genre that may or may not even exist. There is just WAY too much bad fiction out there and it has left me, bored.

[Sobeh]

I can sort of see how it'd be, this Gothic Space Opera - some sort of Windjammer/Steampunk space world fueled by magic a la 18th century esotericism, with the appropriate plethora of demons and space beasties, plus a few standard shadowy folk akin to the classic vampires, perhaps a twist on that theme. No aliens though, the only sentience in the deep of the night ought to be human or ethereal... having either Greys or something like the Star Wars pantheon would make it a bit too lazergun-pew-pew, in my opinion.

Whoa rant, sorry - welcome aboard!

[A Simple Poet]

Sobeh,

You kind of nailed it, but I would likely de-emphasize the fantasy just a bit. I would have aliens but they would be mystical too, and I would not have as many species as popular fiction like Star Wars, Star Trek, et al. I also intend to use Steam/Clock Punk too.

I like your angle with the ethereal because that is how I see it too. I have a broad picture of the setting in my mind with a ruined Earth, but that's about as far as I dare reveal at this point.

[Cicero]

Have you read any Victor Kelleher? He's actually an author for young adults, but he has a trilogy based on the past and future of the human race, with a sort of ethereal science fiction twist - especially with the future aspect of it. Not many aliens per se, but definitely mysterious extra-terrestrial beings. I can imagine he might have a similar vision to yours.

[A Simple Poet]

Cicero, I'll look into it. I am still researching/inventing this genre and I am nothing if not meticulous and anal so it will take some time. I do have ideas for stories swirling in my head though and I may be hammering some out in the next few weeks ... first drafts, at least.

Thanks to all for the warm welcome. I intend to milk this Intro thread, especially as a place for those whom I befirend here to interact with me (and each other).

[A Simple Poet]

As a relative "newbie", I am contemplating opening a thread for ideas of a the Gothic Space Opera genre. Or should I just do it here and assume a less pretentious posture?

[A Simple Poet]

Oh I guess I never did this ...

1. What do you do?

I work in Transit Marketing, but I tell people I'm a writer.

2. Where are you from?

Florida, but I wish I could tell people someplace more exotic.

3. Who is your favorite author?

Bradbury, Chandler, Tolkien, Hemingway, Shakespeare, too many to count
My favorite poets are: Byron, Tennyson, Keats, Browning, T.S. Eliot, Milosz, Donne, and Rimbaud

4. What are your favorite films?

Predictably, the Dead Poet Society, LOTR Trilogy, Garden State

5. What music do you want played at your wedding?

We had Queen played at our Wedding

6. At your funeral?

Ironically, any Queen song from the Highlander soundtrack would work.

7. This IS a gothic website, so... how do you want to die?

Cravenly, in my sleep.

8. What kind of casket would you want?

Something that can take the water pressure because I want to swim

9. What's your FAVORITE outfit?

Dark Guybara shirts w/ jeans. Black shirts, Grey Shirts.

10. What's one thing you miss about being a little kid?

Not being one. I grew up too damn fast. I could use a little more irresponsibility

11. What's your favorite band?

Queen, Blues Traveler, Live, Green Day, Crash Test Dummies, Five for Fighting

12. What kind of education do you have?

I hold a B.A. in History and I am two classes away from a second in English: Creative Writing.

13. Why did you join?

For illumination and escape from the mundane

[Metatron]

3. Who is your favorite author?

Bradbury, Chandler, Tolkien, Hemingway, Shakespeare, too many to count
My favorite poets are: Byron, Tennyson, Keats, Browning, T.S. Eliot, Milosz, Donne, and Rimbaud

WOAH. I'm impressed...You've pretty much just named most of my favorite writers. My favorite poem ever written is The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson. Welcome aboard.

[Crom Crauch]

ever read Arthur C. Clarke by any chance?

[Cicero]

I agree with Metatron... Those favourite authors are indeed impressive. I can't think of a single one on there that I dislike in the slightest.

I've been reading a lot of Keats recently, and if he weren't long dead I'd probably marry him. Or perhaps I will anyway.

[A Simple Poet]

I read Clarke when I was younger without a healthy appreciation of science fiction. I just recently acquired all of the 2001 books and may explore the Rama series later, but I am more interested in the Pulps, not so much for their "quality", but rather for ideas that I can improve and use in my writing. I love literary Modernism (check out the wikipedia Modernist Literature if you are unfamiliar with that term), and I hope to write Gothic Space Opera stories with that methodology. Admittedly, it will be a challenge.

The Lady of Shalott is a great poem, and I like the Waterhouse painting as well. I really enjoy Idylls of the King though and recently wrote a paper comparing the Arthurian legend from Tennyson, William Morris, and A.G. Swinburne's point of view. It was a romp!


I neglected to add ee cummings to my poets list as well....my favorite poem by him and a poem that defines me is: pity this monster manunkind

Xnguela, how do your dreams about the Lady end? Hopefully with death because that is what she represents, the death of the objective poetic voice. That, and she dies in the poem.

[A Simple Poet]

I have tried to write from my dreams. I would think that poetry would come easier than prose (that is, when my dreams afford a concrete enough image about which to write), but I get strange short stories instead.

[spookypurple]

Isn't that how Graham Greene came up with "Our Man In Havana" (is that title right?)?

[A Simple Poet]

It might be, I am not terribly certain though.

[spookypurple]

I once wrote a script from a dream I had. I think I mentioned it somewhere else... Although there was this other one that turned into a novel... Hmm. May revisit that one.

The dreams that you can 'sit back and watch' seem to work best for that, for some reason. For me, anyway.

[WolfMoon]

Poet, you have been a great addition to our little family, welcome.

[spookypurple]

Yup. I'm with WolfMoon on that one.