Ended up with a degree in English Literature.

Looking back, well- that’s irrelevant to the here and now.

So…

I read a lot of English Literature. Studied it. Don’t remember near half as much as I’d hoped to. laugh out loud… Oh well.

Bret Easton Ellis, Cormac McCarthy, Alan Moore- those authors wrote disturbing shit, earlier on in time. So I stumbled across their stuff. Chuck Palahniuk was also someone I stumbled across earlier on in my life of reading fucked up shit.

Then, I found splatterpunk, and extreme horror.

I’m not sure when those genres were founded, but- they’ve been around for much longer than I initially thought. Vader Keene has been writing extreme horror for awhile, and he’s just one name.

Stephen King, also wrote some, and still writes some, really disturbing stuff.

In fact, I believe Stephen King was the first author I came across that gave me nightmares.

R.L. Stein, but- Stephen King is a dark lord compared to R.L. Stein. And I’m not knocking R.L. at all, by no means. When I was a child, he was the king of horror to me. Then I became a teenager, and Stephen King became the king of horror, for me.

Kristopher Triana is an extreme horror and splatterpunk author. I think he even writes some stuff that’s of a similar genre, as well.

My first encounter with Kristopher Triana’s fiction work was, Gone to See the River Man.

I was profoundly disturbed, after reading that book.

Couple years later, Kristopher Triana created his own author page. Very cool, I mean that, many authors do this, and it seems to be a cool way to sell signed copies to fans, and to also give cool extras like button pins, bookmarks, and stickers. As well as other cool shit that doesn’t come with purchasing the book on say, Amazon.

And Jesus, Kristopher has quite catalog of published works for readers to read.

I think I own eleven books written solely by Kristopher Triana. I don’t need any validation for supporting him, it’s a pleasure to buy Kristopher’s novels, for me anyway.

Sometimes, when I read Kris’s work, I think, “what the fuck is wrong with this guy?” But, I’ll be damned if I’m not intrigued to keep reading his twisted fiction. It’s like, well shit- I’m already on this ride, let’s see how much more fucked up things can get. Laugh out loud. Because, it’s almost like, “am I allowed to read this?”, and, “this is legal to read?”

Reading a Kristopher Triana book is like smoking weed back when it was totally illegal. Like, if you got caught with weed, it was a potential felony charge that the good ole justice system might serve you with.

And I’ll be honest, back in the day… I think I felt super stoned because I knew I was kinda doing outlaw shit. Like, this is dangerous. We could get arrested and go to jail if we get caught.

And thankfully, that never happened. I think, haaaha (in Nelson’s voice, from The Simpsons).

Because really… What were we doing? We got high. We watched movies. We ate pizza. Basically, we had a great fucking time. And you’re telling me it’s illegal? Well, huhuhuh, whatever.

It’s like, I’m a follower of Jesus, but sometimes, I’ll take the Lord’s name in vane. Jesus Christ, Jesus fucking Christ! I don’t think Jesus much gives two shits about that. Same as, in all reality, i’m not going to hell because I read stuff by Kristopher Triana. That’s absurd. But, it’s kind of a rush. There’s always a part of me that sort of thinks, “I’m going to hell for continuing to read”. But deep down, I know that’s silly. If hell exists, I have no idea, maybe I’ll end up there- but I really doubt it will have anything to do with reading extreme horror.

As a side note, I don’t think any one goes to hell. All dogs go to heaven? Well, all humans too. Maybe I’m so wrong, but again- it’s a feel good sensation. We’re all going home, in the end.

I think the only occupants in hell are demons, like- fallen angels. I think that’s all there is in hell. Again, I could be wrong, but that’s what I think. Maybe those who actively practice black magic in attempts to kill and snuff souls. Or like, cartel bosses, and the likes. Maybe not though. I guess we’ll all find out in some way, one way or another.

I caution you to really consider that, extreme horror comes with trigger warnings. If, you’ve experienced extremely traumatic things, extreme horror and splatterpunk may indeed not be a wise choice. On the other hand, everyone is different. I’ve been through extreme stuff, but damn well no where near as extreme as the stuff written by certain authors. Which in a way helps me, because I think… It could be so much worse, than what I’ve experienced. It really could. I think, phew- at least this shit didn’t happen to me.

By the way, these posts, it’s just me having fun. In essence, I share my thoughts and feelings on certain stuff. I share memories, and tell you what I’ve learned from certain experiences.

I realize, this isn’t that astounding. But, like Hank Hill, I love it. I don’t get paid like Hank Hill does, but it’s kind of simple, boring… But I really love it. I really love to write. To talk about experiences, and observe, give insight into what I enjoy.

It keeps me busy. And that’s amazing, for me. I sometimes struggle, or have in the past, to find something to keep me occupied. Writing keeps me occupied, and I’m using my brain. Same goes for reading.

Well, that’s it for me today. I’m going to read Stone Wicked, by Jay Wilburn.

Philip Webb