Cleaning out some spiritual dirt

I used to read horror fiction.

Not just good honest fantasy and horror.

Dark horror.

The world is a violent, dangerous place so let's wallow in blood, gore, death, and destruction horror.

Distort your view of the world horror.

With a dash of dangerous, destructive sex horror.

Yeah, in the end, in so many of the works, good somehow triumphs - but only after a lot of nasty wallowing. And often with a little twist in the end that suggests maybe the horror is just waiting to jump out again when you're not looking.

I'm not talking about straight ahead fantasy or science fiction - even though they can can contain some horror elements. Out of the Silent Planet, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings and others remain on my shelves!

Just the dark stuff.

I always felt a little uneasy as I read such dark works, so as I began trying to grow spiritually I found that I could no longer read such tales. Maybe some rare people can read such writings without it soiling their souls - but I am not one of them.

I find that what you chose to read does affect the way that you think and view others and the world.

I got rid of my dark horror book years ago.

The other day while cleaning, I rediscovered my collection of horror magazines. (I am a pack rat!)

Yes, they contain some stories that are not dark - but they are full of dark tales as well.

Our local library accepts donations of magazines. These will not be donated. I don't want the darkness to affect others' souls.

Today our recycling box welcomed years' worth of Weird Tales (which once even published one of my poems - but never paid for it!), Cemetery Dance, and more.

They were cluttering our house, and tempting me to read them again.

I have a enough temptations to deal with.