Interstitial Fiction:
According to the Interstitial Arts Site (subtitled "Artists Without Borders") "Interstitial Arts is an idea, a conversation, not a hard-and-fast definition Ñ- and it's a conversation we invite you to join. Delia Sherman also writes there: "Interstitial fiction defies categories and laughs at expectation; Interstitial fiction breaks the rules. Interstitial novels lurk near or on the borders of two, three, or more genres, owing allegiance to no single genre or set of conventions."

So, there you go. End of Note. Back to the article...]

Cutting Edge:
This term's meaning shifts -- often from person to person -- so I can really only offer what I think it means. For ME, cutting edge means that the fiction usually refuses archetypal, supernatural aspects -- unless those elements are used so originally they become antithetical to traditional horror. Cutting edge can be hard, soft, quiet, psychological, surreal, eerie, avant pop, post-modern, literary, alternative, have erotic, and sexual aspects, etc. The idea is that it is not exactly the same old thing -- even if the departure is only stylistic rather than purely thematic.

Dark Fantasy:
A term that could arguably be applied to most horror and sometimes is, but generally it means a fantasy story that can have supernatural elements but is not the supernatural fiction of vampires, werewolves. etc. You'll often find stories like Robert E. Howard's of Conan the Barbarian referred to as dark fantasy. A "purer" reference in this context, however, would be Karl Edward Wagner's doomed immortal anti-hero Kane. Characters/fictions that originated in graphic narratives (comics) like James O'Barr's The Crow and modern interpretations of Spiderman and Batman are dark fantasy.(Although the heroes and magic of "sword and sorcery" is sometimes dark fantasy, "S&S" generally belongs to the fantasy genre more than horror.)

Dark Fiction:
Back in 1994 I started using the term "dark fiction" to (1) allay the fears of writers and readers who didn't want to be associated with "horror", a word that's always been troublesome and was, at the time, falling even further out of favor in some circles; (2) have an inclusive term that covered more than some folks thought horror did; (3) use as the title of the AOL workshop --Dark Fiction/Horror Writers Workshop -- for the first two reasons and also because, in alphabetical listings "d" was preferable to "h". It wasn't original, of course, but I honestly don't know where/when it started to be used to label a particular type of fiction. (Thomas Monteleone used the acronym HDF in the introduction to the first volume of the Borderlands anthology series to refer to "contemporary horror, dark fantasy, and suspense literature." I don't think he used it for long, though.) In any case, for the first couple of years I was repeatedly told that "dark fiction" was not an acceptable term, that no one in publishing used the phrase, that it meant nothing, and that, surely, I meant "dark fantasy." Well, that was probably true then, but I used it anyway. Now I see it used all over the place.

Erotic Horror:
Usually "erotic" means sensual sexual content integral to the story and can be as mild as "romantic suspense." Many editors and writers prefer the term "sexual horror" over erotic, as the sex in horror can be far from nice or arousing. "Erotic" can be stretched to mean graphic, intentionally explicit sex in a story meant for a pornographic market. The code word being "explicit."

Extreme:
It's, well, extreme. It goes straight to the blood-and-guts and aims for the gross-out without hesitation. In guidelines you might find terms like "splat," "splatter," or "splatterpunk" and "gore," "grue," and "gross." (Most GLs tell you to AVOID these things.) Splatterpunk, by the way, was just a label made up to describe the "young Turks" bringing a more visceral, gritty edge to horror 10-15 years ago.

Gothic:

1. English Gothic: Novels and tales that developed as a reaction to the Age of Rreason and dominated English literature from 1764 with The Castle of Ortanto by Horace Walpole into the early 19th century. Characteristic theme is the stranglehold of the past upon the present or the encroachment of the '"dark'"ages of oppression upon the "enlightened" modern era. Enclosed and haunted settings (castles, crypts, convents, mansions), gloomy images of ruin and decay, episodes of imprisonment, cruelty, and persecution are used to express this.
2. American Gothic: Charles Brockden Brown (1771-1810), considered America's first novelist, gave Gothic an American setting and more of a psychological interest in aberrant mentality. Gloomy atmosphere plays a smaller role in American Gothic, psychic breakdown plays a larger role.
3. Although sometimes used as a synonym for "horror," it shouldn't be. Although there is academic debate, gothic can probably be identified by themes of a character being *trapped* -- by location, by family destiny, whatever. Joyce Carol Oates extends this to what she calls "assaults on individual identity and autonomy."
4. An entirely different meaning arises when Gothic or Goth subculture is refered to in connection with horror fiction. Any attempt to define Goth winds up stereotyping an extremely diverse subculture. It's also wrong and probably stupid and calling fiction "Goth" is just the same. Since the stereotypical goth wears nothing but black, too much eyeliner, and is full of gloom, pretension and angst, then I suppose "goth fiction" is the first form of literature to wear make-up.