Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

How do you guys feel about Satanic/demonic/occult themes in your horror books? I'm not talking about conflicted studmuffin demons that fall in love with angels or mortals or sharp-tongued Devils that prance around in Victorian-era suits... I'm talking about straight from the pits of Hell, blacker-than-black classic Biblical Satanism. Like The Exorcist or Dracula, for example. Books where the horrific Satanic themes are clearly evil, and the real suspense comes in finding out whether the light is strong enough to overcome the darkness.

Is this kind of evil too obvious and heavy-handed, or does it make for ultra-dramatic plots and bone-chilling baddies?

It's a tool, just like the psycopathic killer and the alien whisking you away to impregnate you with it's mutant hybrid offspring.

That being said, it has to be used properly. I don't think your book is going to be ultra-dramatic and have bone-chilling baddies just because you're using them for your antagonist or to spice up your settings. Done right, you could very well end up with the next Exorcist or Dracula. Done wrong, you end up opening a window with a sledgehammer, you might get the job done, but you're just going to look silly doing it.

I hear ya. Though with demons and other paranormalities being the rage these days, I think true Satanic horror has lost a lot of appeal. The aforementioned "studmuffin" demons are far more prolific than true sulphur-spitting fiends (although both are fictional concoctions, but at least the latter holds true to the "demonic ideal"). The Biblical demons pop up most frequently in Christian fiction, but those books are always a gamble (and often a bad one).

Vampires, demons, werewolves, etc. were never meant to be sexy, cool, or attractive, but there are no rules in fiction. In my own writing, I deal with a lot of Satanic and occult themes and elements, and I do lament that this genre has lost a lot of its bite in recent years, but that's just a challenge that I have to meet head-on.

Not to make this sound like a plug, but my work is completely centered on Satanism and to some their supposed Messiah, the Antichrist. I use the theme as an integral part of the story. The difference that I try to bring in is that the theme is also practiced by real characters and I try to make valid, if not really twisted, reasons why they've turned to Satanism. I even try to give a believable reason for Satan and evil on the whole.
I ask why for everything and write to flesh out the explanation.

There certainly doesn't have to be a Satan for there to be Satanism or a satanic cult in a story, but I agree it lends more weight to the whole theme if you can build a believable belief system (and perceived justification for it).

One of my favourite scenes in Icarus is a heated disagreement between a Catholic and a Christian from a more recent cult-style religious group. I don't think there is any truth at all in either character's views, but it was fun to explore where their personal beliefs came from and how they would conflict in that situation.

I've always said that proper bad guys work very well if you they appear to genuinely believe that what they are doing is correct or justified. If someone has a different belief system it can make them a threat in all sorts of interesting ways.

Wow Athanasios, that sounds really interesting. It's similar to what I've imagined in my own works. My books are primarily intended to be entertaining but I also wanted to take a serious look at what a contemporary Satanic world could look like. I didn't just want to conjure up a demon here and there； I wanted to go for the full-blown hurricane.