Dear reader,
After discussing cancel culture last month, let’s chat about something quirky and low-key: cute horror! A genre I’ve discovered I love, much to my surprise. Like sweet and salty popcorn, cute horror might just be the best of both worlds.
What’s happening with the book – The Hawkling is out in paperback!
The Hawkling is out in paperback! You should now be able to find it in your local bookshop. A game my friends and family like to play (bless them) is to find my books and send me a photo when they’ve discovered me in a random bookshop. Here’s the latest one, from the Waterstones in Cambridge. It’s a small thing, but it’s always heartwarming. It gives me that nice little rush of – yes, this is it. I’m a proper writer, after all this time. I’m now terribly curious as to whether The Hawkling will be standing beside The Collarbound, or whether most places will only stock the first volume. I’ll find out soon!
In other news, things to look out for next month: The Commute of the Valkyries is coming out with the lovely indie magazine Shorelines of Infinity. If you’re curious about what Scottish spec fiction looks like, or you’re just in love with those gorgeous covers, you can subscribe or just browse their online shop for something that catches your eye. If you’d like to read about a woman changing careers and preparing to interview to become a Valkyrie, then check out Issue 37!
Last but not least, I’ll also be at GollanczFest on 16 March, if you want to see me chat about epic fantasy. Of course, I’m always happy to scribble in books and chat about anything SFF.
What’s happening on the page – Cute Horror
Spoilers for You & Me & Her and the Kindergarten games
Recently, I discovered I enjoy a genre we could loosely call ‘cute horror’ or, as it is called on its trope page, the ‘disguised horror story‘. The genre is one where traditionally ‘cute’ elements are blended with a horror story. Generally it’s psychological horror, although there is sometimes a touch of gore, and it is embedded in a story which presents as a romance, a slice-of-life, or another innocuous genre where nothing bad can happen. Expect children or childish characters alongside existential angst.
I like it for the obvious reason: something cute, which should not be scary, is scarier because it should have been inoffensive. I suspect the uncanny valley effect is at work here. No doubt it’s the reason why creepy children are so often present in horror – because they should be vulnerable. If they’re not, everything becomes a potential danger, even things which seemed safe at first glance. It means we don’t know where the next threat is coming from, which puts us on edge. It heightens the tension throughout the story.
The genre is also meant to shock us, which is often why horror is effective. Cute horror stories are effectively elaborate jump-scares. Although this might be the appeal for some fans, in my case, I often go into these stories knowingly, aware that the cuteness is only a cover for the horror. So I’m not sure surprise is the only factor for enjoying these.
The cute part of the story tends to be romance or magical girl stories. What I like in those is that horror dismantles the tropes it is a part of, and underlines the innate creepiness of some of those stories, that usually goes unquestioned. For example, in the visual novel You & Me & Her, the predatory aspect of dating games – which, let’s face it, are about collecting love interests like Pokémon – is underlined when one of the women decides she’s fed up with being the choice you’ve moved on from.
There is a long scene during which the player is captured by one of the love interests, who argues that because her whole world revolves around us (it does, we’re the player character, she literally cannot live happily without us), she won’t let us go. Dating sims are built around the players, who have all these love interests fawning around them, for them to pick and choose from. I find this is often problematic, especially in ‘harem stories’ with one male stand-in lead and a plethora of women to pick from. Turning the concept on its head is something I really liked. It questions this notion that we are at the centre of the world and everyone should want to date us.
The anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica (that I will hereby call Madoka Magica) does something similar with magical girl tropes. It questions why a cute magical pet would go about granting teenagers wishes and powers. The story takes a dark turn as we realise that not all deals with genies are benevolent. Madoka Magica dismantles the trope it is a part of, questions the motivations of the power-giver in a magical girl story, and addresses what it would mean to turn teenage girls into powerful beings to fight someone else’s battles. It’s as much a part of its genre as it is a playful critique of it, and it successfully builds up towards its reveals as the story becomes more and more disturbing. I suspect those are elements I like across all fiction: the pleasure of putting pieces of the puzzle together, even if the secret is a horrifying one; and the pleasure of a story that is self-reflective and self-aware.
Maybe that’s why all genre-bending stories are fun: they question the assumptions that are being made as part of the story’s conceit, and exploit them for effect. Horror and humour are both effective at this. If a parody is the humorous version, that underlines the absurd sides of the story, then horror is the version that brings forward the creepy elements.
Often, cute horror tends to lean on humour, to acknowledge the slightly ridiculous leap it’s trying to make. Sucker for Love or Kindergarten 1 & 2 are both games with horror/gore in a cutsie setting, and both of them are inherently funny. There is something about over-the-top gore, or gore in unexpected places, that is shockingly funny. In Kindergarten, when the janitor beats you to death on the school grounds, it isn’t really scary (you can reload, the graphics aren’t realistic, it’s fine). But it is a shock the first time. And then it isn’t so much shocking, as the violence becomes normalised (the principal shoots you if you get sent to his office, for example). But it is funny, and remains hilarious even as the events escalate into the absurd, such as one character chewing off their own arm to escape a trap and yet still going to class, bleeding all over the desks and the teacher.
Although these games sometimes try to scare the player, they’re never attempting to traumatise us, and ultimately they’re about having fun. It’s interesting to me that humour, in this case, is used as a sort of binding, as the element that cements disparate parts of the story together – it enables the horror and the cuteness to blend.
I notice more games than any other media come to mind. I suspect this has something to do (doesn’t it always?) with power. Horror takes away agency from the player, whereas cute stories tend to leave it entirely in the player’s hands. This is about feeling safe: the more control the player has, the more comforting the story. This might be why cute horror games tickle my fancy, because of the tension between what I’m told I can control, and that control then being wrestled away from me in order to scare me. The psychological horror of starting a story thinking you know the codes and what you can do, only to discover you cannot change some elements and the rules have shifted, is what makes this genre effective.
Cute horror can be done unsuccessfully. Most often, it fails if the two parts don’t gel. I sometimes find that, if the horror is too easy to discover, too easy to guess at through the cute story, it doesn’t hit as hard. For example, I found Cooking Companions didn’t work for me because I could tell early on what the secret was, and because I couldn’t see the link between the cute cover-story and the reality behind it. At its best, cute horror fully engages with its ‘cute’ aspect, it leans into it. It is a love letter to its original genre, but it doesn’t shy away from reimaging it.
If this is something you’re interested in exploring, I warmly recommend Madoka Magica as a starting point. It’s such a good story, beyond its genre choices. Game-wise, I’d be remiss not to mention Doki Doki Literature Club. Kindergarten is more of a puzzle game, Sucker for Love is funnier, Doki Doki and You & Me & Her are dating sims that turn sordid. These last two are slow starters, so be patient – Doki Doki Literature Club is probably the more violent/horror-driven of the two.
And if you have any recommendations for me, I’m always a taker!
What’s happening with me – Of Roots and Returns
I’ve just accepted a new job offer in gamewriting… Which is bringing me back to the UK! On the one hand, I’m over the moon. A full-time writing job, in a writer’s room, is going to be an incredible learning experience. I’m very excited at the prospect.
On the other hand, cleaning out a flat I’ve only lived in 7 months (less time than I spent in my tent last year), sorting out the dog’s paperwork, and having to say goodbye to everything I’d started to build in Clermont-Ferrand, from bookclubs to new friends to my taekwondo master, has been exhausting. Even Sancho, who is a well-travelled dog, moped around the house once everything was in boxes, looking forlorn.
After one last hike, we bundled everyone in the car and got going!