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Woe to the goth who does not partake of the Internet! For
he/she shall be relegated to the humdrum of real time with all its imperfections!
The Internet is probably the largest source of entertainment for goths
of the industrialized world, and the percentage of goths on the Net is
high, with newsgroups, chat channels, and thousands of goth Web sites
available for the consuming! This virtual goth haven offers contact, from
local to international, with the like-minded, all beyond the speed of
light.
One of the best goth sites has been the online goth magazine gothic.net.
Barren Mckeeman is the delightfully cynical mastermind behind the highly
successful six-year-old Web publication. "Gothic," says Darren,
"stood for clanky chains and ghosts in castles long before Joy Division
started whining.
" Gothic.net was started by a bunch of Internet professionals as
a response to the crush of their day jobs. We all love horror fiction,
so we decided to publish short stories online. I got the domain name and
suggested it to my friends after spending a bizarre weekend in Niagara
Falls in the entourage of Poppy Z. Brite and Caitlin Kiernan—sometimes
I say it came out of a drinking contest with Ramsey Campbell that we both
lost horribly. Horror writers are cool!"
Barren admits that it's not easy running an all-goth Web publication.
"It's hard finding good help. Most of the people who work for us
are goth-as-fuck. Because of this, they are also notorious flakes. It's
great for trade shows where we are the center of attention, but often
it shows in the fact that we skip editorials, cut corners on coding. Our
machines are all recycled from trash heaps. It hasn't been that hard to
keep going, though. I put this down to the fact that we're just better
than the average goth at this. [We're] publishing something to print out
and read on the toilet."
Running gothic.net has a lot of advantages, including nominations for
awards, and parties! "We have outrageous parties—the last one
in Hollywood we had this guy who played Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw
Massacre 3 as a bouncer!" But what really makes it worthwhile for
Darren are the accolades from publishing peers, and the e-mails he receives
from grateful goths. One in particular touched him. "Five years ago,
an e-mail from a thirteen-year-old girl in Kentucky came in that's still
stuck to my fridge. It says, 'I love your webzine, it gives me a reason
to live. I'm your fan for life.'"
Another popular net magazine is Dark Culture (formerly The Gothic Preservation
Society), run by Mistress Cinka, also on the net for six years. "Initially
I had this mad plan of ridding the world of Marilyn Manson and his preteen
minions, [joke!] I fantasized about creating my very own magazine. I wanted
to create a place where people of a gothic/dark nature could come together,
share their thoughts, their artwork, meet people. I wanted to create sort
of a literary community. I'm also attempting to not only focus on the
past (music and artists), but current events, up-and-coming. I try to
maintain a balance between old school and the new school."
Mistress Cinka says, "I've been in the [goth] scene for twelve years.
Dark Culture is my heart and soul. I couldn't love it any more than I
do. Sometimes I feel we're 'the little site that could,' and this gives
me hope." She prides herself on integrity. "We don't kowtow
to record labels, we try to tell it like it is, and everyone's invited.
As the goth culture waxes and wanes, I want Dark Culture to be part of
what keeps the scene breathing. Our best review is from Mick Mercer in
21st Century Goth: 'You will actually need a brain inside your head for
this one. It isn't soporific in any way."
Grave Concerns e-zine focuses on music. Julie Johnson from Albany, New
York, started it four years ago in her spare time. She's a grade seven
and eight Spanish teacher. "I wanted people to get to know bands,
both the
I58
THE GOTH BJBLE
Counesy of The Comtesse Despair
smaller and the better-known bands. If someone reads an interview or a
review and finds out about a new band they might like, that's great. I
really want to help the bands."
Seven years ago, Julie says she did not know she could write. Now, besides
Grave Concerns e-zine, she has also contributed to Black Monday magazine
in London, Sideline magazine and Gothic Beauty. "Gothic bands and
fans are really driven," she has observed, "and have a great
dedication to the scene. There is something about the gothic scene; we
are very hard workers, and I feel we don't have big egos like other subcultures.
The Internet is a great tool for goths to come together. One of my most
enjoyable experiences is forming with Joshua Heinrich our band Orangabelle
5, after we met doing only my second interview when I had my original
personal page, Gothgirls Web of Gothic Darkness. We have since released
four CDs together."
The Internet is alive with good goth sites. Some of the best general sites
are Dark Side of the Net; Gothic Resources; Scatheweb; A Study of Gothic
Subculture: An Inside Look for Outsiders. There are also some wacky and/or
macabre Internet sites that goths love, like rotten.com. One Web site
that appeals to the dismally inclined who like their morbidity with a
dash of humor has a free e-mail newsletter, Morbid Fact du Jour, sent
by the mysterious Comtesse DeSpair, who "sits in sullen silence at
The Asylum Eclectica, located at The Castle DeSpaire in the Valley Dementia,
Catalonia."
The Asylum Eclectica is a Web site begun six years ago when the Comtesse
was "at home nursing a broken arm sustained when foolishly I attempted
to Rollerblade. I started the Web site as a narcissistic outlet to indulge
my obsessions. It also helps fill my artistic urges, although, in truth,
over the years I've become much more of an archivist." The site features
macabre sections filled with grim facts often presented with Mor-ticia
Addams—style ghastly humor, for instance: Morbid Fact du Jour (which
can be sent to your e-mail box for free); Malady of the Month; My Brush
with Morbidity; All Things Dark & Gruesome; Garretdom; and the Morbid
Sightseer.
Her mailing list is enormous, and the Comtesse updates it regularly. She
feels aligned with all morbidly inclined souls across the planet, includ-
WHEH GOTHS RELAX
159
tME COmtESSE DESPAIRS FAVORJ_tE mOKBJD FACt
. this one always comes to i
t's because of the extraordinary pathos;
steel magnate I
; one of the most ruthless and successful businessmen of the late 19th
and early 20th century. He was also
1891. Martha Fuck
ed to suffer great t
e-the greatest of which was the excruciating death of Prick's beloi
was born on August 5,1885-an apparently healthy and happy child. For two
years she flourished until she developed a chronic illness at the age
of two. No doctor could diagnose the mysterious condition until, two years
after onset, Martha's nurse noticed a small wound on her side, from which
puss was oozing. To her horror, the nurse wiped the puss away and found
a pin protruding from the wound. Apparently, Martha had swallowed the
pin prior to the onset of the illness and it had been slowly working its
way down through her body, skewering any organs it came across, and leaving
a trail of destruction in its wake. The wound was cleaned and dressed
but aseptic procedures were in their infancy at the time, and the internal
injuries continued to fester and worsen over the course of the remaining
two excruciating years of her life. During this time. Martha was in near-constant
pain, lost all of her hair, and lost weight. During the summer of 1891,
the wound opened again and a large amount of puss poured out. The
nurse called for Henry who exclaimed in desperation. "What shall
I do?" But nothing could be done and the child died a few hours later.
Her death left a void in his heart that could never be filled. As per
the Victorian customs of the day, Prick would not speak of Martha, except
for a brief announcement on her birthday that she would have been so-many
years old that day. When a bank that catered to children's accounts failed,
Prick performed one last memorial to Martha's memory. He printed up checks
to send to the children to replace their lost money. Each check was engraved
with Martha Prick's image.
ing goths. "Those of us who find the dark side of life fascinating
have to deal with a certain stigma thrust upon us by society. You're not
supposed to take enjoyment in reading about horrifying things, crack morbid
jokes about tragic occurrences, willingly seek out images of death. It's
very gratifying when you stumble upon people who share a dark worldview,
with whom you can be honest about your interests without having to worry
about the white coats coming with a straitjacket. It's a great feeling
to find kinship with others when you've been told you're an aberration."
The Comtesse does not consider herself goth, although she "dresses
in black" and her house is "filled with skulls, crows, Nightmare
Before Christmas memorabilia, dark art. . . ." She laments, "I
greatly admire goths, and sometimes wish I could join in the fun . . .
but I think I'm destined to forever be an outcast among outcasts."
She sees her work as a service to the macabre-minded. "My site allows
a forum for the preservation of the darkly arcane. For example, there
aren't many sites out there where morbid nineteenth-century newspaper
articles are actively collected. My site also helps keep psychopaths from
getting bored, which can only be of great benefit to all segments of society!
I probably should receive a Medal of Honor!"
THE GOTH BJBLE
I60
Courtesy ofX-tTa-X
net.gotb
When it comes to goth on the net—Internet chat lines and channels,
Web rings and newsgroups—two self-confessed net.goths discuss what
it's like. Cavalorn, thirty-four from the UK, has been a net.goth for
seven years. He runs New Aeon Books, an online metaphysical bookshop.
Macross Ascendant, twenty-eight, from the US, has been a net.goth for
twelve years. He hosts an Internet radio show for impradio, and also oversees
the Alt.Gothic newsgroup's annual party, Convergence.
defining netgotb
Cavalorn: "A member of the gothic subculture with net access, who
participates in Internet-based gothic communities."
Macross: "The origin of the term net.goth is a sarcastic joke attributed
to SexBat and other 'founding' members of the alt.gothic newsgroup. Over
the years it's become a generic term describing anyone gothic who also
uses the Internet to communicate. I'm an old-school hardass, and I firmly
stand behind the Usenet alt.gothic newsgroup usage being the only thing
that makes one a net.goth. Everything else is just goths on the Internet
[wink]."
online chatter
Cavalorn: "I don't use Web-based chatrooms at all. I use IRC (Internet
Relay Chat), on undernet, #gothik, #gothick, efnet and in the UK on #uk_goffs,
which is usually abroil with relatively inane conversation. But topics
come and go. They are rarely about anything exclusive to gothic culture,
more about sex, humor, or both."
Macross: "I used to spend too much time on undernet and efnet, #gothic,
and related channels. I've happily recovered from that period of my life.
Chat rooms are the never-ending international tournament of bullshit.
It's anonymous, ambiguous, and cheap, like a Teflon coating for personality
disorders."
up- and downside of internet gotbing
Cavalorn: "Participants generally are highly intelligent and have
an excellent sense of humor. My friend Boo asked me to tell you the best
thing is the cyber.pOOn [cyber sex]. Another friend, Ratty, says the best
is you 'don't have to see the bad clothes and eye makeup.' The worst part
is definitely the politicking. Alliances form, relationships evolve and
fragment, emotions are frayed, and the camaraderie suffers for it."
161
WHEH GOTHS RELAX
Macross: "The best is leaving the house and finding something to
do with real people in a real destination. Using all the senses and muscles
instead of only the eyes and fingers. The worst? Doing nothing, producing
nothing but methane and waste water, losing touch with reality, friends,
and the short time we all have as mortals."
Cavalorn: "Three words. 'Sexy death chicks'—or 'sexxy deth
chix,' as we like to spell it. . ."
Macross: "Low self-esteem, laziness, escape."
scAtn or spam
Cavalorn: "I realized that the woman I had thought I was talking
to and flirting with was in fact a man who had stolen her identity. I
did the decent thing and e-mailed her to let her know what happened."
Macross: "Realized I had wasted nearly a year of my life sitting
at home or at work alone in front of a computer typing to people I didn't
really know or like instead of spending time with my friends and family
in the real world. I neglected myself, my friends, my family, my job.
My attitude and my life were a sad state of affairs. Wallowing in self-pity
and pretending to live and rule in an imaginary world of text is as addictive
and destructive as any chemical narcotic, maybe even more so."
lor* and b^te relationship twtb tbc nucbinc
Cavalorn: "I don't hate my computer at all. It's a tool, not a narcotic."
Macross: "Back in the 1920s, the leaders of science and industry
thought that harnessing the power of coal to generate heat and create
steam to power engines was mankind's greatest achievement, and that no
other achievement could ever surpass what had been accomplished, thanks
to coal. About coal they wrote, 'Anything is possible.' I regularly consider
replacing my desktop computer with a lump of coal, as I suspect I would
at once be far more productive."
trirtiul gaming
Although Medea says, "I would rather socialize on the computer than
play games," many goths play computer games. Among The f Section,
the overwhelming favorite is The Sims, short for simulations, a computer
world that can be interactive via the Internet with other players, and
allows players to construct and guide the lives of virtual people. It's
the
162
THE GOTH BJBLE
modern world's Victorian dollhouse. Most of The f Section have good things
to say about The Sims. Marcelous says, "It's a great game, if you
fix it up first, download some gothic people and accessories." Angel
in PVC admits, "I like to control their lives." For Rois, The
Sims is a tension release: "When I'm really cranky, I kill them eight
at a time and work out my frustrations that way. Most other games give
me vertigo."
Mistress Cinka, editor of the net.goth magazine Dark Culture, shares an
article she wrote on The Sims. "About two years ago, my younger brother
had me check out a computer game entitled The Sims. I thought it was cool
enough, but what got me hooked was seeing the cute little goth Sim my
brother had created . . . scary enough, it looked like me. I was gone.
I began playing like mad. I had no concept of time. Day turned into night.
If I saw the quiet blue light of morning, I knew I'd been playing too
long. After a few months of insanity, I went cold turkey . . . that is,
until the latest expansion pack came out.
"Sims, short for simulations, is a game that allows the player to
create an entire world from scratch. The graphics are fairly advanced,
and character actions are often frighteningly lifelike. You must care
for your Sims; feed, clothe, educate, and make sure they get to the bathroom.
Sims even have a varied amount of careers to choose from, complete with
paycheck at the end of the day.
"In many ways, playing Sims is like playing God. There are few limitations
and many variables. You control a Sim's personality (astrological sign),
their environment, their interactions, and how well they do in 'life.'
Sims can be gay, straight, or bisexual. They can get sick, fall in love,
suffer from depression, have babies, leave home, get into fights, and
yes, die. I've even heard of spontaneous Sim combustion. From hair color
to wallpaper, you design nearly everything. Very little is left up to
chance. It's sort of like the board game Life, but far more complex.
"Several expansion packs have granted Sims access into new worlds,
like a downtown area, and Vacation Island. Players across the globe have
spent their free time creating a countless number of skins (clothes, hair,
face, body type) along with thousands of objects (anything you can find
in your house and more). The quantity is staggering, and there is no real
way to describe it in its magnitude. Simply, it's a very fun, but very
time-consuming game.
"Goth Sims are not hard to come by, and are scattered all over the
net.
WHEH GOTHS RELAX
163
One of the best is Ophelia 's Little Page About the Sims. Her site is
beautiful to look at and her skins are truly unique.
"For more dark skins, see Evil Sims. Here you'll find Father Karras
(The Exorcist), Evil nuns, Anton LaVey, Alex from A Clockwork Orange,
Elvira, and a bunch of other horror/ sci-fi personalities. Woo fun!
" The Sims Resource has a vast array of gothic skins as well. You'll
find Buffy (entire cast), general goths, several punks, and hundreds of
other dark personalities. Darkside of the Sims has a small but nice-looking
collection of vampire Sims, along with an Evil Alice.
"In essence, since you have utter control over your Sims, you can
make them into anything you want. Many goth players design vampire crypts,
haunted mansions, Medieval castles, or simply modern homes with every
gothic convenience. Some players act out story lines, and others play
for the sake of playing.
"Sometimes God is a vengeful God. As ruler over your Sims' lives,
you have the power to kill them. Check out The Guide To Kill Sims. There
are several ways in which to murder your Sims. One of the more popular
methods is fire. When a Sim dies, the Grim Reaper floats in on a cloud
of skulls, waves his hands, and carts the body away. A small urn or tombstone
is left in your Sim's place. Your house is now haunted! Sims Slaughter
has even more ideas for Simicide."
Goths have other favorite, traditional computer games they like, for example,
the graphically stunning Alice, created by American McGee. Quake and Doom
are two of the more popular games.
But computer games are not universally loved. Lestat de Lioncourt, one
of The | Section goths, sometimes reacts physically to some computer games.
"I like War Craft 3 — check out the undead and the night elf
clans, pretty gothic and druidic."
And there 's always the traditional: Goth: A Horror Trivia Board Game
is a Trivial Pursuit for the darkly inclined.
THE f SECTION ON VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE
"The story we have now is so complex, and it's great."
Deacon Sytb "A well thought-out system. Very informative."
"I love V:TM. I'm oh-so Toreador!
I love the gothic, romantic style.
And the options."
fur^rock £kn>ynytb
"Mostly for the politics.".
An excellent movie from Chile that depicts the connection between goth,
vampires, and role-playing is young gothish director Jorge Olguin's Sangre
Eterna (released by Fangoria Films in North America as Eternal Blood).
Not only that, but the movie gives other goths a good look at how Chilean
goths go clubbing.
WantonBlooe>: "[White Wolf
role-playing games] put you in a world
of darkness where supernatural is a
matter of everyday. Also, everyone
dresses funny so it is amusing."
164
THE GOTH BJBLE
By far, the most popular real-time role-playing game for goths is Vampire:
The Masquerade, from White Wolf gaming. The company's World of Darkness
series includes Werewolf, Wraithe, and Mage, but Vampire has extra appeal
for goths. The vampire game is really a complex masquerade party. People
get together and assume a character, then dress up and act out that character,
sticking to the rules of the world. In Vampire: The Masquerade, the premise
is that all vampires are descendants of Cain [who, in the Bible, slew
his brother Abel, Adam and Eve's other son]. Those whom Cain begot are
first generation, and their children second gen, and so on. All vampires
belong to a clan, of which there are several, such as Brujah (tough witches),
Nosferatu (the original resuscitated corpses), Toreador (the beautiful
and artistic ones), and so on. Players pick a clan and a generation. They
must also decide if they want to play with the Camrilla (generally the
good guys), or the warlike Sabbat (generally the bad guys). Both sects
live hierarchically in a city ruled by a prince who is constantly being
overthrown, usually through political intrigue. It is an intricate world,
based on aspects of mysticism, philosophy, and spiritual disciplines gathered
from cultures from around the globe, and White Wolf has published tons
of books of rules and information on all of the above. Each game played
has at least one storyteller, who is the arbitrator of the world's rules.
Role-playing games give participants, especially the young, a chance to
learn the possibilities of interaction in the real world by role-playing
in a safe and contained environment they can go home from afterwards.
Role-playing can assume the position that fairy tales fulfilled in the
past—a story that shows something of human actions and interactions,
with wins, losses, obligations, and rights, as well as consequences of
actions. And in the same way that fairy tales altered a bit from place
to place and the ending could go any which way depending on who told the
story and what moral he or she focused on, role-playing ends differently
each night.
Some goths are against role-playing games, such as LordMadd, Madame X,
and Malinda, who says "I see the whole idea as an opportunity to
lose who we really are and pretend to be something we never can be. Honestly,
if I get hit on by one more teenage boy who thinks he's a vampire (eternal
acne, how sad would that be?), I'll scream." TankBoy "used to
play as a kid, but they're boring now. People are much more fun to play
with. Tactile dark room full of fuzzy comfy things anyone?" museumbitch
says "They put me
Indimdtution "I mostly went to
hang out with my friends, and because I
had a crush on a Chicago boy who used
to come down to play. He's a friend of
mine now."
(Diss £ynx "I've played many
World of Darkness games like Vampire,
Werewolf, Mage, Changeling. Also
Shadowrun, and Runequest. I enjoy
gaming because it's a nice escape into a
fantasy world, which helps alleviate work
stress, and also it's a way to exercise my
creativity. It combines the best of fiction
writing and improv theater."
SUpcl "Vampire was okay. Cheesy, though."
the etnl one "I had a short stint
with Vampire. I don't have the
patience it takes."
165
WHEH GOTHS RELAX
to sleep!" And for Paola, "The very idea bores me. I'd rather
read a good novel than hear friends conjure up a bad spoken-word plot!"
relaxing n>itb comix
Charles Addams drew the Addams Family cartoons for The New Yorker, where
they appeared from 1935 to 1988. The morbidly funny characters we now
know as Morticia or 'Tish; Gomez; and the grimly adorable Wednesday, among
others, went on to their own popular TV series in the sixties, made several
movies, and were reincarnated for another TV series in the 1990s. They
are cherished images for goths.
But the most beloved comics in gothland are those created by Neil Gaiman.
Goths adore his mega-award-winning Sandman world. Miss Lynx admires him
"for turning comic books into a real work of art." Kate feels
that "his beautiful fantasy world intersects with the world I live
in." Slave! credits Gaiman with making "the most effort to create
a modern mythos or fantasy, due to the impact that Sandman made in art
and literature."
Neil Gaiman doesn't really know why he is so popular with goths, but speculates,
"I suspect it's because I don't try to write for them [goths], but
I do write characters and places and things that they can identify with.
Most of the fiction people have given me to read 'aimed at goths' is terribly
earnest and depressing. Most of the goths I know like funny—even
if their tastes in humour tend toward the dark—and they like real."
Neil admits he was never really goth. "If I was ever part of a movement,
I was a punk. (We didn't have goths back then.) If I was five years younger
I might well have been a first-wave goth, and if I was fifteen years younger
I might be a goth now. Instead I'm just an author with a rather monochromatic
wardrobe, and a mind that wanders towards graveyards."
He sees goth as a natural phenomenon. "Truth to tell, I suspect that
goths are born, not made. People who think there is something deeply cool
about graveyards in autumn and summer lightning, and know that they just
don't look right in summery pink leisure suits, probably didn't get that
way through reading fiction. Although they may recognize themselves in
fiction (as I did, as a child, in [Ray] Bradbury's story 'Homecom-ing').
It's a process of recognition."
Asked about Sandman's conception, Neil says, "All I was trying to
do was tell a story that mattered in monthly comics form. Anything beyond
that was gravy."
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THE GOTH BiBLE
Of all the characters in Sandman, the cute, friendly, and helpful gothish
girl Death is the one most goths relate to or empathize with. Neil says,
"I wanted to write the Death I wanted to meet. And I was tired of
literary Deaths who carried the burden of angst about their job—she's
been doing it for a long time. She's good at it."
The image for the character Death is based on photographs of goth super-model
Donna Ricci, who in her spare time owns an alternative modeling agency,
and also runs a vampire nightclub. As Donna said to Bite Me magazine (issue
No. 5) about modeling for Death, "I used to go to comic book stores
and sign autographs and pose for pictures and traveled all over California."
Neil told Donna she was a perfect match with the character in his mind.
Neil is an eclectic writer. Besides his comic series, he writes fiction,
and screenplays for film and television. He has also written music. One
of his most recent novels is the award-winning Alice-in-Unnervingland
"children's" book Coraline. "I wrote Coraline for my daughters,
both of whom have more than a streak of Wednesday Addams in them. (Holly,
my oldest, announced she wanted to be a goth, when she was fourteen. 'Don't
do that,' I said. 'Ah,' she said, with relish, 'you're trying to stifle
my free expression.' 'No,' I said, 'it's just that, when you're together
with all your goth friends, and they tell you how awful their parents
are, when it's your turn to tell them how awful I am they'll just ask
if you can get them my autograph, and that won't be much fun.')"
His novels include: American Gods, a funny yet serious confrontation of
the American way of life; the delightful fairy tale Stardust; and the
shadowy world beneath London of Neverworld. All of his work is amusing,
biting, and . . . dark. "Why do I love darkness so much? Ogden Nash
put it best: 'Where there's a monster, there's a miracle.' I love the
magic you can find in dark places. Most of my next novel for children
is set in a graveyard, after all." That would be The Graveyard Book.
The \ Section fondly mentioned Edward Gorey over and over, for his incredible
cartoon drawings, (see Chapter 11)
Other extremely popular comics are the delightfully disturbed and misunderstood
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac (aka/77/M), I Feel Sick! and Squee, all by
San Jose's darkly talented comicmeister Jhonen Vasquez. Also mentioned
again and again were the wonderfully wicked Oh My Goth and Humans Suck,
both by American Renaissance man Voltaire, who is also a singer/musician
with CDs to his credit.
167
WHEH GOTHS RELAX
to sleep!" And for Paola, "The very idea bores me. I'd rather
read a good novel than hear friends conjure up a bad spoken-word plot!"
relaxing nritb cotnix
Charles Addams drew the Addams Family cartoons for The New Yorker, where
they appeared from 1935 to 1988. The morbidly funny characters we now
know as Morticia or 'Tish; Gomez; and the grimly adorable Wednesday, among
others, went on to their own popular TV series in the sixties, made several
movies, and were reincarnated for another TV series in the 1990s. They
are cherished images for goths.
But the most beloved comics in gothland are those created by Neil Caiman.
Goths adore his mega-award-winning Sandman world. Miss Lynx admires him
"for turning comic books into a real work of art." Kate feels
that "his beautiful fantasy world intersects with the world I live
in." Slavel credits Caiman with making "the most effort to create
a modern mythos or fantasy, due to the impact that Sandman made in art
and literature."
Neil Caiman doesn't really know why he is so popular with goths, but speculates,
"I suspect it's because I don't try to write for them [goths], but
I do write characters and places and things that they can identify with.
Most of the fiction people have given me to read 'aimed at goths' is terribly
earnest and depressing. Most of the goths I know like funny—even
if their tastes in humour tend toward the dark—and they like real."
Neil admits he was never really goth. "If I was ever part of a movement,
I was a punk. (We didn't have goths back then.) If I was five years younger
I might well have been a first-wave goth, and if I was fifteen years younger
I might be a goth now. Instead I'm just an author with a rather monochromatic
wardrobe, and a mind that wanders towards graveyards."
He sees goth as a natural phenomenon. "Truth to tell, I suspect that
goths are born, not made. People who think there is something deeply cool
about graveyards in autumn and summer lightning, and know that they just
don't look right in summery pink leisure suits, probably didn't get that
way through reading fiction. Although they may recognize themselves in
fiction (as I did, as a child, in [Ray] Bradbury's story 'Homecom-ing').
It's a process of recognition."
Asked about Sandman's conception, Neil says, "All I was trying to
do was tell a story that mattered in monthly comics form. Anything beyond
that was gravy."
166
THE GOTH BJBLE
Of all the characters in Sandman, the cute, friendly, and helpful gothish
girl Death is the one most goths relate to or empathize with. Neil says,
"I wanted to write the Death I wanted to meet. And I was tired of
literary Deaths who carried the burden of angst about their job—she's
been doing it for a long time. She's good at it."
The image for the character Death is based on photographs of goth super-model
Donna Ricci, who in her spare time owns an alternative modeling agency,
and also runs a vampire nightclub. As Donna said to Bite Me magazine (issue
No. 5) about modeling for Death, "I used to go to comic book stores
and sign autographs and pose for pictures and traveled all over California."
Neil told Donna she was a perfect match with the character in his mind.
Neil is an eclectic writer. Besides his comic series, he writes fiction,
and screenplays for film and television. He has also written music. One
of his most recent novels is the award-winning Alice-in-Unnervingland
"children's" book Coraline. "I wrote Coraline for my daughters,
both of whom have more than a streak of Wednesday Addams in them. (Holly,
my oldest, announced she wanted to be a goth, when she was fourteen. 'Don't
do that,' I said. 'Ah,' she said, with relish, 'you're trying to stifle
my free expression.' 'No,' I said, 'it's just that, when you're together
with all your goth friends, and they tell you how awful their parents
are, when it's your turn to tell them how awful I am they'll just ask
if you can get them my autograph, and that won't be much fun.')"
His novels include: American Gods, a funny yet serious confrontation of
the American way of life; the delightful fairy tale Stardust; and the
shadowy world beneath London of Neverworld. All of his work is amusing,
biting, and . . . dark. "Why do I love darkness so much? Ogden Nash
put it best: 'Where there's a monster, there's a miracle.' I love the
magic you can find in dark places. Most of my next novel for children
is set in a graveyard, after all." That would be The Graveyard Book.
The f Section fondly mentioned Edward Gorey over and over, for his incredible
cartoon drawings, (see Chapter 11)
Other extremely popular comics are the delightfully disturbed and misunderstood
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac (aka/77/M), I Feel Sick! and Squee, all by
San Jose's darkly talented comicmeister Jhonen Vasquez. Also mentioned
again and again were the wonderfully wicked Oh My Goth and Humans Suck,
both by American Renaissance man Voltaire, who is also a singer/musician
with CDs to his credit.
167
WHEH GOTHS RELAX
On the gothic comic short list is the quirky Internet goth strip Writhe
and Shine by Robert Tritthardt, who, when not writing comics, like his
comic protagonist Writhe, DJs at local clubs. Asked if he believes goths
everywhere can relate to his comic set in New Orleans, Robert says, "Yes,
they relate. They have told me so. The most common e-mails I get say 'It's
like that here in my city too!' and 'Are you writing a story about me?!'
Goths around the world can relate to Writhe and Shine because it's about
them. Well, more appropriately it's about me and my experiences in the
subculture, but my experiences are not unique. The scene is the same in
every city. The music may be a little different and people might have
cooler clothes, but all the people are exactly alike. So I focus on New
Orleans because that's where I am right now. It also helps because everyone
thinks that New Orleans is the Gothic Capital of the World. Probably because
of those vampire books. It does have its unique charm, and I like drawing
street scenes."
Robert began his comic career with a strip in college about an alien.
"When I moved to New Orleans I really wanted to start drawing again.
I also wanted to show people that I was more than just some girl's boyfriend.
... I wanted people to know me for me and not for who I was associated
with. So I made up this character based on me. I called him Deadboy at
first, thinking that he was going to be a zombie. But I decided to write
something that was real, as in no monsters or magic. I based all the characters
on people I knew at the time, but the characters eventually began to develop
into their own entities. Since I was used to drawing four-panel comic
strips, that's what I started with. I made up this story and did about
ten strips. It took me a few months because I had to work at a real job,
I had no drawing table (I used to sit in the bathroom with a plank of
wood balanced on top of a milk crate), and the place where I lived wasn't
air conditioned. Sometimes I drew at a coffee shop called Kaldi's, but
it closed down. In April 1999, we hosted Convergence 5. I produced about
300 ashcan comic books of all the Writhe and Shine strips and handed them
out in people's goodie bags. I think people really liked them (even though
it was some terrible artwork). So I kept going from there. I eventually
got tired of the comic strip format and decided to tackle an actual comic
book. Right now I have over 150 comic strips and I am working on book
#2."
Writhe and Shine comic book #1, distributed by Cold Cut Distribution,
is sold out, but Robert thinks, "You might get lucky and find one
at your
168
THE GOTH BJBLE
local comic store." He produces other work under the umbrella name
Uber Comics. His future plans? "A Writhe and Shine animated cartoon.
I just need to find the time and money. ..."
Other comics popular with Goths include: The Crow (James O'Barr); Gloom-Cookie
(Serena Valentino and Ted Naifeh) — see the cover of Elegy magazine;
Donna Mia, Hellraiser, Purgatori, andLenore (Roman Dirge).
sporting gotbs
Goth and sports would not seem to be on the same team. Many of The \ Section
said the sports they enjoy are "dancing and sex." Goths often
have bad childhood experiences with enforced sports, especially team sports,
or in some cases, encounters with aggressive jocks. It's not surprising
that an overwhelming majority are not interested in sports. TankBoy thinks
"sports contribute nothing to society but date rape." Cemetery
Crow says, "I believe your whole environment is where you should
train, not in miserable cattle ranges for abused office sitters."
HOW TO MAKE PROPER ENGLISH TEA
1. Boil water, pour a little into the teapot, swirl it around, then toss
it away. This warms the pot.
2. Place one teaspoon of loose tea per cup, plus one extra for the pot,
into the warmed teapot. (For tea bags, one per person, one for the pot!)
3. Fill with boiled water and stir a few seconds with a tall spoon to
"elevate" the tea.
4. Place the lid on the teapot and steep for 2 to 5 minutes. The longer
it steeps, the stronger but more bitter the tea will be.
5. Stir again before pouring.
6. If your guest requires milk in his or her tea, pour the milk into the
teacup, then pour in the tea, which "scalds" the milk, giving
it a different flavor.
7. Add sugar as required.
tea, bigb Ano lott)
The Duchess of Bedford (1788—1861), one of Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting,
complained of a "sinking feeling" in the late afternoon. Back
then in England, only breakfast and a dinner late in the evening were
served. So the Duchess invented afternoon tea, to which she invited friends,
around five P.M., and it kept them going. The Queen approved, and a tradition
was born.
Food at these teas included crustless sandwiches composed of such ingredients
as peeled and thinly sliced English cucumbers with butter and spiced with
salt and pepper, and shrimp or fish pate. Also on hand were toasted bread
with a variety of jams, scones, and crumpets served with Devonshire cream,
assorted pastries, fruit compote, or traditional English trifle. These
sandwiches, by the way, invented by John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich,
became known as the tea sandwich.
Presentation is everything, and the Duchess no doubt hauled out the silver
tea service and bone china cups and saucers. Back then, it was the parlor
maid who would bring the tea tray to the drawing room. The hostess would
proceed to serve her guests in grand style, while the ladies spoke of
gentle subjects, and gossiped outrageously.
The terms high tea, low tea, and afternoon tea are interchangeable now.
I69
WHEH GOTHS RELAX
SCOPES Fit FOR^A Kjric OR^QUEER OF
n cups all purpose flour
salt to taste
1'/tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups raisins or currants
1 egg, beat it well
2 cup butter cut into small cubes 1 cup milk or buttermilk black food
coloring
Sift together all the dry ingredients. Cut butter into that mixture with
two sharp daggers. If daggers are unavailable, use steak knives. Do this
until it resembles the Epsom salts you'll need in your bath later to soothe
your muscles after all this kitchen work. Add the milk or buttermilk,
the raisins or currants, and a couple of drops of the black food coloring.
Dough should be a bit sticky. Either wear latex gloves or dip your hands
in flour and mould the dough into a ball. Knead it gently while you listen
to the opening stanzas of the angels singing "This Corrosion."
Flatten these balls to 1" thick. Cut circles using a wide shot glass.
Now comes the artistic part: paint the circles with the egg that you've
beaten. These creatures will bake somewhere between 11 and 16 minutes
in a 425* F oven. They should be light golden-grey when you take them
out. You need to eat them warm, with Devonshire cream, maybe some preserves,
because when they get cold and hard they are only good for paperweights.
FAUX DEVonsNJRj
For real Devonshire cream, you have to boil unpasturized milk. It's easier
to fly to England than to find unpasturized milk. Here's a good fake recipe.
3 ounces Philly cream cheese
1 tablespoon sugar or Splenda or even honey, if you're so inclined
13 grains of salt
1 cup of the heaviest cream you can find
Mix the first three ingredients together, then whip in the cream until
it forms the stiff peaks you see on meringue. Put it in the refrigerator
while you go have that Epsom salts bath.
High tea was not the tea of the aristocracy but actually a working-class
tradition. The "high" part referred to sitting on high stools
in a tea shop, or standing at a counter or buffet table. High tea was
served generally around five or six P.M., and consisted of a substantial
meal with hot dishes, hefty sandwiches, scones, heavy cakes, biscuits,
and, of course, plenty of tea. High tea was a cross between afternoon
tea and supper, and for many workers was the main meal of the day.
Most of the world's top hotels offer guests a pricey high or afternoon
tea, serving the food on three-tiered silver trays. From time to time
guests
THE GOTH BJBLE
170
Bat Plant Tacca
Photo by Hugues Leblanc
of such hotels will see a murder of goths descend en masse on the restaurant,
dressed in their best Victorian velvets, satin corsets, and ruffled shirts,
lifting the Royal Albert bone china cups with gloved, beringed fingers
and blackened fingernails. The best hotels recognize such stylish extravaganzas
as free entertainment for their guests.
Goths are more likely than the average person to own a silver teapot,
and hosting an elegant afternoon tea at home makes a pleasant social event
for friends. Served between three and five P.M., it also fits right in
with the gothic timetable.
gotb gardening
The quest for the black rose—that romantic symbol of eternal love
of death—exhausts goths. How to find that rose with no hint of blue,
purple, or deep red hidden at the base of the petals? David DeMarco of
the Black Rose Floral Company delivers the bad and the good news about
black roses. "Black roses have been around for centuries, unfortunately
in myth only. Currently real, true black roses do not exist. We have heard
a wide variety of stories, from rose breeders who are cross-breeding the
darkest red roses over and over to come up with a marketable black rose,
to stories of the industry sneaking out at night and ripping out rosebushes
of people who had proclaimed they had a true black rose plant growing
in their yard! Where the truth really lies, I'm not sure, but I do believe
that crossbreeding must be going on. Why all the mystery, confusion, and
aura about black roses? At least part of the answer is this: On the darkest
red breeds of red roses, when the plant produces rosebuds, the buds appear
to be black. They really do look like black roses, but once the bud matures
and the rose blossoms, you see the true color in the inner petals."
Distressing as this reality might be to goths, there is a happy alternative.
The Black Rose Floral Company specializes in black-only rose arrangements
and bouquets, which can be ordered online and delivered. They use fresh
roses, dried, then dyed black, and also black silk roses. The company
now has a warehouse, but they began in a garage six years ago, and when
they opened, "We had no idea our products would be so popular in
the gothic community, but they certainly have been." Goths make up
about a quarter of their customers.
David admits that normal people buy black roses for entirely different
reasons than goths do. "Most of our customers have specific reasons
to
171
WHEH GOTHS RELAX
order our products, such as to get revenge, or embarrass someone, or for
a milestone birthday — our black rose wreaths are unique, and quite
popular for the thirtieth, fortieth, fiftieth, etc. Goths, on the other
hand, are much more likely to order one of our centerpieces, or a wrapped
bouquet that they can put in a vase at home, or send to a fellow goth
for a wider variety of everyday occasions."
When it comes to gardening, completely black blooms are rare, and consequently
full of mystery. Some of the common and readily available black flowers
include: Black Prince pansy, black viola, black sweet william, black tulip,
penny black, black and white columbine, and ace of spades. Exotic black
flowering plants are often found in exotic locations, and consequently
are difficult to grow in most of the world — for instance, Tacca
chanterii, also known as the Black Bat Plant because the flower's whispy
petals resemble the wings of a bat. Tacca chanterii seeds must be sewn
quickly after harvesting, and germination takes nine months!
Those in the know say a good way to focus on black in a garden is by using
foliage like Hillside Black Beauty, and Black Negligee. One new blackish
cultivar is James Compton. Other flowers and plants to consider are the
iris Black Knight, with its blue understones, and the dark asters Prince
and Lady in Black. Plants that grow blacker the more sunshine they are
exposed to are Sambucus Black Beauty, and the ruffled-leafed heuchera
Black Beauty. Black mondo grass, aka Ophiopogon planescans Black Knight,
is colored dark gray and grows slowly, barely creeps, and makes a nice
sensuous base in a garden. Good black grasses for container gardens are
Lysi-machia nummularia aurea, and Mondo grass. A trick with black plants
is to avoid planting them under a shrub, where they will not be prominent
but will end up looking like a shadow of the shrub, leaving a black hole.
On the other hand, that too could be a cool effect!
cultiDAting the perfect gotb
Many goths love to garden, and three who do discuss the flora in their
lives. C.B., one of The f Section, has been goth gardening for about seven
years in her backyard in Buffalo, New York, and has won awards for her
roses. Rain, one of the six goth parents, currently has a container garden
in Columbus, Ohio, with nine years experience with her black thumb. Martine,
a member of the goth band Masochistic Religion, has been goth
172 4- THE GOTH BJBLE
gardening for about ten years, currently on the roof of her building in
downtown Toronto.
C.B.: "Before getting cats, I planted mainly abortifacients and other
poisonous plants (belladonna, Solomon's seal, and those herbs they tell
you not to use while pregnant). Now, it's wormwood, hyssop, nicotiana,
moonflowers, black tulips (alas! a rather dark purple), night-scented-stock,
and roses. Lavaglut (lavaglow) is a striking dark-red floribunda rose.
It is very cool to be able to get and track down plants that were in existence
when your favorite author was alive. Smell the same flowers that Poe smelled!
'Old garden' roses bloom only once per year but can be quite old—even
from the 1790s!—and are very special. Actually, I think white flowers
are better for a 'goth garden,' because they glow under moonlight, and
you can actually see them at the time most of us sit outside lounging
around in our velvet finery. Moonflowers bloom only at night. Talk about
a flower created just for goths!"
Rain: "I grow poppies and ivies. I used a row of black tulips in
front of the house for a non-traditional look."
Marline: "A good goth garden design is not just about surface. It
has some deeper meaning. It is poetry and architecture. I like dangerous
beauty: delphiniums, monkshood, digitalis, belladonna. I like fragrance:
shrub roses in white and red, plus a Blue Nile rose, oriental lilies.
My garden is like an opiate; it transports me. I have black hollyhocks
and pansies. I have a ginkgo tree I'm trying to keep short and horizontal.
My favorite arrangement of the past has to be a four-by-eight-foot plot
I called 'The Killing Fields,' in which morning glory and mexican bamboo
were pitted against each other in a death niatch that would not be won
this century. Also, the baby's breath in the lavatory bowl was a nice
touch."
Goth gardeners tend to use unusual ornamentation in their gardens.
C.B.: has "an iron cross tombstone, date of death October 31, 1888!
I only put it out on special occasions, due to the neighbors."
Rain: likes to include "ornaments like fairies, blue glass/wire butterflies
with climbing ivy, and roses."
Martine: utilizes "barbed wire, police motorcycle fenders placed
on either side of the stairs, melted baby doll heads on metal spikes atop
the fence, to which were lashed hand-bleached beef femurs, smashed electric
guitars, over and through which grew ivy. At the bottom of this garden
* 173
WHEH GOTHS RELAX
was a galvanized metal Mastaba-style tomb 12x8x8 feet. In the last garden
there was a griffin holding a ball, a cast iron lamp, some stone urns,
a stone lion, and a pond with a fountain in it."
The goth gardeners have suggestions for gothing up a garden, whether it's
in a yard, in a container, in window boxes, on a rooftop, indoors, outdoors,
or anywhere growth is possible.
C.B.: "Even if it dies, you can just leave the plant there, and that
would be goth too."
Rain: "A lot of goths I know lean toward herb gardens, for home use.
I've planted herbs in the past to use for cooking, but I know others who
use them for home remedies."
Marline: "Get a photo of yourself in your garden. Regretably, neither
my gardens nor myself show up on film. However, I believe that the Gothic
Society [of Toronto] is in possession of several photos of me, beating
Morpheus at croquet while very drunk on the absinthe I made from my gardening
exploits. Absinthe is, of course, very good for you, and gives you human
powers!"
raising the gotb learning curt>e
Many people relax by reading magazines, and goths are no exception. Beyond
the usual music and fashion publications, intelligent goths are constantly
seeking information on obscure and arcane subjects and minutiae outside
the realm of interest of the mainstream. For eight years, out of San Francisco,
Loren Rhoads has been publishing the magazine Morbid Curiosity, which,
she says, "focuses on the morbid aspects of real life, both as a
catharsis for the writers and as a reality check for readers." These
are personal-account articles, like "people who have battled cancer,
or escaped murderous boyfriends, or survived urban violence." In
addition, there are brushes with the supernatural, visits to odd and creepy
places around the globe, medical catastrophes, suicide attempts, war horrors
. . . anything a human being can experience and still survive. "The
UK's terrific glossy magazine Bizarre calls Morbid Curiosity 'fascinating
front-line journalism,' which I thought was high praise."
Courtesy ofLoren Rhodes, Automatism Press
174
THE GOTH BJBLE
Courtesy of The Sentimentalist
Loren obviously dearly loves her publication and the people who submit
material to it, but there is a downside, one which led her to a story
of her own. She has a constant correspondent, a man she finds frightening;
he is imprisoned for knifing his roommates to death. "I tried to
dissuade him from sending in his story, but finally he submitted it. It
took a week before I could bring myself to read it. I believe there is
enough cruelty in the world. I insist on a sense of humanity and compassion
in the stories I publish. This guy had no empathy for the two human beings
he removed from the planet. His greatest regret about the murders is that
they landed him in prison. After I rejected the story, he sent me a Christmas
card. He still wants to be friends. I'm afraid he'll show up on my doorstep."
In the goth world, there are several lovely publications which apply an
especially exquisite touch to the artistic exploration of obscure subject
matter, often resurrecting the past.
Madeline Virbasius-Walsh is editor of The Sentimentalist out of New York
City. She began the publication six years ago as a "small literary/art
quarterly with a modern interpretation of some of my favorite fin de siecle
literary and artistic journals [of the nineteenth century]." Originally
this in-print Victorian's curio cabinet was published in black and white
to "recall the spirit of those older, now infamous journals. Our
focus was on contemporary underground/alternative artists, poets, musicians
and writers who have a sort of turn-of-the-century aesthetic in their
work. An old-world-meets-new kind of feeling."
The magazine includes features on European cities, fashion spreads of
goth clothing designers, band and artist interviews (for example, Peter
Murphy, David Bowie, and Rasputina), and reviews, and has had articles
on goth-interest subjects like Art Nouveau jewelry, pre-Raphaelite fashion,
absinthe, Victorian society, and the films of Klaus Kinski. Madeline says,
"We also put some focus on obscure poets and artists who deserve
exposure."
The Sentimentalist Web site has taken on a larger focus over time, and
now frequently runs contests, with prizes like the latest Mediaeval Baebes
CD. Madeline says "We plan to do more contests in the future."
WHEH GOTHS RELAX
175
Counesy of Ver Sacrum
UOrigini tetitrati tfef'DnKU If (jntruf (juynof, Anttmin Artaud,
Another stylish magazine given to arcane subject matter is Pisa, Italy's
Ver Sacrum (Sacred Worm), run by Luca de Santis, aka Christian Dex. This
delightful publication began as a photocopied journal in 1993 and by 1995
went to print, and now runs online. Luca says he publishes online to allow
more international contributions, but "We love the 'historical' [printed]
| version of Ver Sacrum too much to neglect it completely, so sooner or
later it will be reborn from the ashes."
In addition to the usual aspects of goth such as fashion and music, every
issue has "a monographic set of articles that analyze a specific
topic from various points of view. We have dealt with vampirism, female
images in decadent literature and art, the Black Plague, Gothic in literature
and art, witchcraft, death rituals, horror theater, eroticism and perversion,
and so on. Our goal is to analyze the gothic spirit, wherever it casts
its dark shadow. To get in-depth to the root of gothic." For Luca
personally, the magazine "has been a sort of escape into a spiritual
and artistic world, compared to the disillusion and crudeness of everyday
life."
Ver Sacrum (named for the nineteenth-century literary journal) also published
the first book on the gothic in Italy, Gothica, which sold out quickly
and received quantity and quality mainstream press. Another venture was
a collaboration with the gothic fanzine Neogothic, wherein they organized
"a real unplugged Ataraxia concert, held in a deserted village in
the mountains near Bologna. You had to walk thirty minutes to get there.
People came from all parts of Italy, bringing the candles and torches
that lighted the event at night. The singer was so touched by the atmosphere,
he cried. It was magic!"
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