“Horror and Looking at the Face” by Fred Venturini
I’m Fred Venturini, author of The Samaritan, and I’m going to talk about horror, and tell you about the time I handled a dead body.
Why Do We Like Horror? It’s a question that has been chewed up and examined in tons of essays and interviews. The enjoyment of horror has been called a rehearsal for death, a way to soften the blow of our mortality, a way to inoculate ourselves against the true and real fears in our lives.
A closely related question for anyone who writes dark material: Why do you write the things you write? Here’s a question that Stephen King cleverly answers, “Why do you assume I have a choice?” I can’t steal that fantastic response, but I can tell you a story.
I used to be a Park Ranger at Carlyle Lake in Southern Illinois, which may conjure up thoughts of water skiing and sailing, swimming and barbecues. But dig a big hole somewhere, fill it with water, and let people swim in it, and you’re going to end up with some casualties.
I was in my early twenties, working summers at the lake, writing tickets, thinking I was a hot-shot. Polishing my badge, wearing reflective sunglasses, and thinking my pepper spray was a six-shooter. What a job, right?
Things got real when I learned about how drownings are handled. (more…)
To age is to embrace a slow hurt inside and out, to collect scars like rings on a tree, dark and weathered and sometimes only visible if someone cuts deep enough. 
