Places to shop dark fiction (horror, fantasy, SF, noir)

[Randy D. Rubin]

Richard, I feel foolish asking this but what is a noir story?

[RichardThomas]

well it's just French for black, or what i write, i call it neo-noir, or French for new-black - i just think of it as contemporary dark fiction - you've heard of film noir (Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep), neo-noir has less rules, less formulaic - i'd say directors like David Lynch, David Fincher, Christopher Nolan - authors like Dennis Lehane, some of Palahniuk, and relative unknowns like Stephen Graham Jones, Will Christopher Baer, and Craig Clevenger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-noir
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardboiled

I also look at it as "transgressive" literature as well, man vs. anything (himself, society, govt, technology, rules, etc.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgressive_fiction

[Randy D. Rubin]

Thanks richard, I think I may have several dark stories of that nature.

[RichardThomas]

you could really group crime, thrillers, mystery, noir, neo-noir, hardboiled in the same group - the main different I SEE between neo-noir and many of the other detective related or mystery related stories is that you don't have to have the same formula: detective or cop with a crime or problem to solve, woman in danger, femme fatale, thugs, etc. - it can be anything - for me it's a lot about mood and tone, the setting and what you focus on, how the mindset of your protagonist works, and some feel that neo-noir has to be tragic, no happy endings - many feel that these are "losers" in the sense that they lose a lot, have fractured lives, and are falling apart in some way

i'd say neo-noir could be Blade Runner, Memento, Inception, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Fight Club, Seven, etc.

[Dan Hocker]

I also think a lot of time Noir is also associated with a 50's era setting, even though that 50's era setting is not a requirement.

[RichardThomas]

sure, and that's probably another difference between noir, or classic noir, and neo-noir - good point, dan

[Randy D. Rubin]

Do you think Jim Butcher's "Wizard for Hire" series falls in to this noir genre?

[RichardThomas]

Do you think Jim Butcher's "Wizard for Hire" series falls in to this noir genre?

it's a mix of fantasy and noir, but sure...I mean, Stephen King's Dark Tower series was a mix of just about everything

[Randy D. Rubin]

How write you are, my friend. Thanks for the schoolin'.

[JJ123]

Richard Thomas:

My apologies for not replying to you on a more timely basis. Thanks for your input, I appreciate it. You bring up an excellent point: why self-publish? I think I will take your advice and try a little harder (thanks for the tip on that agent site).

However, I'll say this: I'm starting to think that maybe, for me, self-publishing is the only way to give my work even a fighting chance in the marketplace. I've had too many rejections over the years and I figure something about my approach must change. I'm trying to start a new YA series and it is very, very difficult to interest the powers that be.

[JJ123]

MLouisDixon:

Sorry I'm just replying now. I actually have done Zoetrope, but haven't been on that site in ages. Perhaps I should go back, thanks for the suggestion. I also tried to connect with film students there, but had no success. Triggerstreet is another place to try, I'm part of that, too, but alas, networking success eluded me there, as well.

[Alvin Moore]

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