Neo Noir and the Fiction of Darkness
Neo-noir is contemporary dark fiction, and Richard Thomas is among the most accomplished authors and lecturers in the field. Built on the backbone of classic noir and hardboiled fiction, neo noir has evolved to be so much more than that. It is a genre-bending sub-genre that includes edgy literary fiction, as well as fantasy, science fiction, and horror. It also touches on niche storytelling like magical realism, slipstream, transgressive, and the grotesque. Whether or not you ever write neo-noir fiction, this presentation will share much about creating scenes and themes with a sense of foreboding.
Richard Thomas is the author of three novels, three short story collections, a novella and more than100 short stories. He has won contests at ChiZine and One Buck Horror, and has received five Pushcart Prize nominations to date. He is also the editor of four anthologies: Exigencies (Shirley Jackson finalist) and The New Black (Dark House Press), The Lineup: 20 Provocative Women Writers (Black Lawrence Press) and Burnt Tongues (Medallion Press) with Chuck Palahniuk (finalist for the Bram Stoker Award). In his spare time he is a columnist at LitReactor and Editor-in-Chief at Dark House Press. He has taught at LitReactor, the University of Iowa, StoryStudio Chicago, and in Transylvania. Richard's novels include Disintegration and Breaker (Random House Alibi), and Transubstantiate (Otherworld Publications).
Registration and Socializing 9:00-9:30
Program 9:30-12
