Let the Day Begin

Greetings all ye who seek absurdity. Welcome to Subvertbia. This is meant to be a space that will (eventually) focus on spreading my mad gospel via fiction and poetry. My name is Chad Stroup and I am an MFA Creative Writing student at San Diego State University trying to stay sane through excretion of words.

Here's what to expect/the rules of the game/the law of the blog/etc.:

-Most of what you will read here will be on the shorter side, as I typically have my longer pieces making the submission rounds, though there will likely be some longer tales featured from time to time.

-The content will often (though not exclusively) be focused on the darker side of fiction. This includes horror, black humor, and (very often) a strange combination of the two. I have a deep respect for horror; it's been ingrained within me since I was a small child (thanks Mom). I hope to occasionally take the genre to new uncharted territories. But I also don't limit myself to labels—I enjoy surprising myself both within and outside of the genres I prefer to maneuver through.

-Some of my favorite writers include Clive Barker, Joe R. Lansdale, H.P. Lovecraft, David Cronenberg (sure, he's predominantly known as a director, but he has also written most of his films), Anthony Burgess, Sam Kieth (why does it irk me so much that guys like Kieth and Barker are so infinitely gifted in more than one medium?), Rex Miller, and David Wong/Jason Pargin. If you like any or all of these writers, you are almost guaranteed to find their influence tapping into my stories at any given time.

-I may branch out to write about music and/or film at some point since those are two huge passions of mine, but we'll see where that goes. I may also spew out some creative non-fiction at some point. However, little (if any) writing about my personal life will appear. I don't think that contradicts the idea of “non-fiction.” This is not meant to be a Livejournal or whatever the kids are publicly embarrassing themselves with these days. Merely creative expression with open possibilities.

-At some point I will likely feature pieces from other writers that I feel gel well with what I'm trying to represent in this blog. Please note: these writers will be 100% sought out by me, NOT by unsolicited submissions. Sorry, but I simply don't have the time to deal with that at this point in my life (maybe someday...but not for quite a while, if ever. Got it?). Obviously, I sympathize with the other struggling writers out there trying to make a name for themselves, but I am a full-time student, full-time working stiff, have a wife and two furry, barking children, and need to fit in time for my record collecting/listening/obsessing and horror film viewings. Sleep? What the hell is that?

So, without further ado...

“Let the day begin, let the horror start...”