E.S. Raye

As I have said time and time again, I love me a good genre mashup. The more obscure the resulting subgenre, the better. Genre mashups offer a bending or re-imagining of tropes from sometimes wildly opposing creative origins, and are a lot of fun to read and write.

Earlier this year, I set out to define one of my all-time favorite category mashing subgenres (and the one my debut novel Gas Giant Gambit falls into): space-western.

The manuscript I’m outlining now, for what will be my third novel, is another of my favorite mashup subgenres: cosmic horror.

With a name like that, you’d be forgiven for assuming this subgenre is simply a sci-fi and horror mashup. And while there certainly are elements of both of those genres, it’s far more complicated than that.

Cosmic Horror

In addition to elements of science fiction and horror, cosmic–or Lovecraftian (more on this later)–horror also includes elements from fantasy and the more obscure weird fiction.

With all these categories mixed in together, this subgenre is quite broad and able to encompass an array of wildly different kinds of stories. But what they all have in common–the central and defining theme of cosmic horror–is an emphasis on the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible.

With that in mind, you’ll find a lot of stories where characters are thrust into situations, or forced into contact with beings beyond their understanding. You’ll often find these characters grappling with their sense of reality after such encounters. Entities–sometimes literally from out in the cosmos, other times from closer to home, but beyond our normal range of perception–are common. As are the madmen or cults who worship them.

And in the face of such beings, our own insignificance is often a focus.

Examples

As such a broad subgenre, with so many possibilities, there are a great many examples to choose from.

Event Horizon

Seven years prior to the start of the movie, an experimental space-ship went missing on the edge of the solar system. When it reappears, a search and rescue team is sent to tow it home.

But when they discover where the ship has been, and what it may have brought back with it, their priorities change.

This film leans far more into the science fiction side of this subgenre, with a healthy helping of gore.

The Fisherman by John Langan

When a pair of widowers head for a secluded creek in the Catskils for a fishing trip, they’re warned off with a haunting local story about dead loved ones coming back from the grave, thin places in the skin of reality, and a man–a sorcerer–arrogant enough to fish for an ancient being in the black ocean underneath the world.

I just finished this book, and what a ride! In contrast to the hard sci-fi found in Event Horizon, the sci-fi side of cosmic horror is non-existent here, instead focusing hard on the dark fantasy and weird fiction elements.

Alien

I would argue that Alien may be the most accessible cosmic horror story on this list, and perhaps in all of pop culture.

The fantasy and weird fiction elements are turned all the way down, and the sci-fi and horror tropes are turned up to max. But what makes it cosmic horror is that insignificance and the fear of the unknown.

With all the sequels and spin-off, the xenomorph has become well known to viewers. But in 1979, it was a reminder that we do not know, nor can we possibly understand, what may be waiting for us out in the blackness of space.

IT by Stephen King

Yes, Pennywise the Dancing Clown is an eldritch entity beyond human understanding–a god by some definitions.

The movies and show make this clear, but it’s even more so in the novel. Pennywise, as well as all the other disguises he uses, are nothing but a shell. His true form is so incomprehensible a mere glimpse of it puts several characters into a catatonic state.

H.P. Lovecraft

Of course, you can’t really discuss cosmic horror without talking about the bigot in the room.

H.P. Lovecraft is often considered the father of cosmic horror, to the point that his name is another word for the subgenre: “Lovecraftian.”

The fact is, several other writers before him were playing with these elements first, including Edgar Allen Poe, Ambrose Bierce, Lord Dunsany, and my personal favorite, Robert W. Chambers (who wrote The King in Yellow).

But, to give credit where it is due, Lovecraft is responsible for bring more of the “cosmic” bits to the subgenre, and there is no denying that his work has has, by far, the most lasting impact on pop culture in general, and horror in particular.

All that said, as a human being, he left much to be desired. Even by the standards his own time (1890-1937), the man was a bigot of the highest order, and took every opportunity to air his terrible views.

If you’re looking to venture into the deep and dark depths of cosmic horror, you can’t avoid Lovecraft. But if you choose to read his stories (and there is a reason they have remained in the public consciousness for a hundred years) be prepared for a fair amount of regular old human ugliness right next to the incomprehensible monsters from beyond the stars.