I have always felt that the best way to talk about horror fiction is as a few like-minded friends sitting in some remote tavern late at night on a stormy night, telling all kinds of horror stories.Because using some theoretical rules to analyze how weird a good horror novel is written, how suspenseful the storyline is, and how exciting your heartbeat is, it is often far from scratch.It's like a magic show. Watching the magician's vivid performance on the stage is far more attractive than delving into how a certain magic trick is performed. A little over a year ago, a friend told me that he had a recurring dream many nights in a row.In the dream, a dying middle-aged woman lying in a pool of blood stretched out an arm to him, and said intermittently in a whining voice: Why didn't you save me?Why don't you save me?The woman was not big, and her outstretched hands were like shriveled chicken feet; her hair was black and greasy, long, covering her eyes and face.The blood under her body was like a flood flooding over the dam, slowly and slowly spreading to the surroundings.When she opened her mouth to speak, gurgling blood clots spewed out of her mouth from time to time, and then hung sticky on her chin.My friend said that in those nights, every time he was awakened by a dream, he was covered in sweat, his throat was as dry as a fire, and he could not speak for a long time.

The friend who told me about this dream is Li Ximin, who is now known as the "King of Horror Novels".He told me that the reason why he kept repeating this dream during that time was because during the Spring Festival that year, he saw a car accident on his way back to his hometown in western Fujian.It was a middle-aged woman who was hit and killed by a car.At that time, Li Ximin's seat was right next to the window, and he saw very clearly that the woman's blood flowed in a large area along the road, and he saw very clearly that the car that caused the accident stopped ten meters ahead like a frightened monster far away.When Li Ximin finished telling about this dream, I thought that he kept repeating this nightmare because of the lingering anxiety deep in his heart.

Maybe someone who knows Li Ximin will say: Will that retired military officer with a loud voice and a short stature like a boxer feel anxious because he witnessed a car accident?He made up such a dream story because he wanted to write a horror novel!Yes, his deadpan narration sounds like something out of a horror novel he's written. However, Li Ximin is not like he usually shows when drinking with friends, he is a rough man who is not afraid of anything; in his thick chest, broad shoulders, thick arms and short neck like a bull Behind the thick and stocky figure, in addition to the vigorous energy and bold temper, there is also an extremely sensitive, slender, and sometimes immature young soul hidden.His sensitivity is innate; according to the mystical nomenclature, the word "Min" in his real name (Li Ximin) has penetrated into his blood.

He was born in the mysterious mountainous area of ​​Western Fujian and lived there until he was sixteen.The family he was born in belonged to one of the most peculiar immigrant groups in Chinese history—the Hakka people who migrated from the north to the south because of the war.The Hakka people left their hometowns and hid in the mysterious and mysterious depths of the mountains in the south. Facing the unfamiliar living environment and the harsh reality of life, while retaining most of the bold temperament of the northerners, they gradually developed sensitivity, A refined, sometimes naive ethos.After more than two thousand years of vicissitudes, this temperament and temperament have long been deeply rooted in the blood and soul of this special ethnic group.

Li Ximin, who was born in the 1960s and grew up in that impoverished and chaotic time, fully inherited the temperament and temperament of the Hakka people.Therefore, when Li Ximin saw the helpless middle-aged woman lying in a pool of blood, his extreme sensitivity to life and death would make that tragic scene linger in his heart for a long time, making him subconsciously anxious for a long time, As if he himself was somehow responsible for the middle-aged woman's misfortune. The deeper you get along with Li Ximin, the more you will feel that this guy is a natural material for writing horror novels.This is not because he has created more than a dozen horror novels so far, but because he has heard and witnessed too many deaths. The reality of those deaths is like a haunting nightmare, following him all the time, making his soul feel uneasy .In order to relieve this inner anxiety, he must soothe those ghosts struggling and wandering in the dark depths through writing.

In the "Book of the Dead", which is set in his hometown, he wrote more than 20 death stories in one breath as an example.In addition, his hometown in the mountainous area of ​​Western Fujian is a mysterious and treacherous place, where, like many places in southern China, there are many strange and terrifying legends and stories.I have always held a fallacy, that is: the high-quality soil for Chinese horror novel writing is in the south, not the north.In most parts of the north, the land is barren, and people's lives are relatively difficult; there are few weird and scary things there, and the most common horror stories are inseparable from people who become ghosts after death.The south is completely different. The special landscape in the south not only nourishes the aura of people, but also nourishes many strange and mysterious things and the legendary voodoo culture.Therefore, when Li Ximin broke into the kingdom of horror novels like a fish in water after years of practice in literary writing, it was definitely not a coincidence.In a way, when he found the genre of horror fiction, horror fiction found him.For him, those inexhaustible horror materials have long been waiting for him; he only needs to structure them one by one with vigorous energy and writing enthusiasm.Since 2000, his performance of one or two horror novels almost every year has proved this point.

In recent years, stimulated and inspired by the popular Western horror and suspense novels and movies, Chinese original horror novels have also developed rapidly.However, compared with the deep-rooted tradition of Western horror novels, horror novels in our country are definitely in their infancy.Although some people call the classical novels about ghosts, foxes and underworld also called horror novels, these classic novels cannot be regarded as horror literature in the strict sense. Real horror novels can’t be completed by creating some terrible ghosts and evil spirits, or describing some horror scenes that make people’s skin crawl; real horror novels need to have suspense that stimulates people’s souls, and a deep understanding of human nature. A deep dive into the fear factor at play.

Therefore, although there are a lot of people who write horror novels in China, most of them follow suit, and only a few people really understand the true meaning of horror novels; in my opinion, Cai Jun who writes "psychological suspense novels" is one of them. Li Ximin, who is known as the "King of Horror Novels", counts as one, and the short-lived Guigu girl counts as half.In addition to successfully creating a suspenseful horror atmosphere, Cai Jun's novels also involve the dark psychology of human nature such as greed, suspicion, jealousy, anger, and fear.In addition to "Broken Face", which used the style of mystery novels in the underground manuscripts of the "Cultural Revolution" to describe the fear psychology of people in that special era, Gui Gu Nu's later "Sad to Death" series can be described as mystical and far-fetched. I hope she can write Make better horror stories.

Of these two semi-horror writers, my favorite is Li Ximin. This is not entirely because he is my friend, and every time he writes a horror novel, I eagerly read it carefully; but because in his novels, we can see his deep insight and torture of human nature, and we can see His in-depth exploration of the root of fear hidden in the depths of human nature. Regarding horror novels, Li Ximin does not regard them as ordinary popular literature.He believes: "Horror novels need depth, so as to arouse people's awe." He once told a reporter who interviewed him: "My novels are completed by focusing on the mutation of people's hearts and the pursuit of the root of the ugliness of human nature. "

From his earliest horror novel "Daughter of Gu", to "The Spirit Picker" and "Dance of the Black Spirit" published last year, he has always been practicing his pursuit.Of course, Li Ximin's horror novels, like many similar novels, are filled with a strange breath of death, full of a strong smell of blood, ghostly figures and faces, and ghostly creatures that symbolize the messenger of death—green grasshoppers, pointed Screaming mice, elusive civet cats and dead birds, etc.However, these are only the superficial elements of the thrilling and suspenseful atmosphere that constitutes his horror novels; each of his horror novels goes all out to dig into the mutated inner world of the characters in the novel and the roots of all kinds of evil human nature.

Those insane, even extremely perverted characters in his novels often wander in trance and fear, and the people and things around them are also stained with trance, confusion and gloomy color.The weird elements that make up the horror atmosphere of the novel are usually the result of their abnormal psychology and dream refraction. For example, in "Blood Money", Gu Chenguang, a young man with weird psychology and behavior, seems to live in his own spiritual darkroom all day long.Because of his abnormality, his sense of smell became bizarre and sensitive, his conjectures, guesses, and fears became closer to the terrifying reality of real life, and his fantasies and dreams became confused and strange.This trance boy suffers common contempt, discrimination and indifference in real life; however, it is through the perspective of this despicable boy that "Blood Money" brings out the abnormal, even ugly, The dark side of evil is revealed one by one.Gu Chenguang's father had a teacher-student relationship with a student; his mother had an affair because he was estranged from her husband; an unintentional action in his childhood caused both his parents to die of gas poisoning; He feeds poison, just to keep him from discovering the terrible secrets of his life. Not only that, this usually nervous and trance-like teenager also has a crush on him.But like all people who are excluded from the margins of society, he can't and dare not express his feelings for his secret love normally. He can only hide in the dark, kiss the stolen secret love's panties, and masturbate.Moreover, because of this abnormal psychology towards the opposite sex, the boy further discovered the evil deeds of a well-known horror novelist who perverted and mutilated girls.Gu Chenguang, a young man in a trance, reminds me of the big idiot Benji in the American writer Faulknery.If the whole novel of "Blood Money" is a gloomy spider web, then the young Gu Chenguang is a weird spider crawling on it.Through this gloomy web, a world "more fearful to live than to die" weighs you down. Like the teenager in "Blood Money," the pony in "The Spirit Picker" is a tranced, fear-torn figure on the fringes of society.When he was a child, his father's rough and ignorant education style shaped him into a cowardly and cowardly man; one of his lame legs was broken by himself because he was a deserter on the battlefield because of his cowardice.He works as a scavenger in the city. Like a dirty mouse, he drags his legs and walks in the streets of the city all day long.However, it is such a humble character who plays the role of reflecting the ugliness of the world: he found the abandoned dead baby in the trash can on the street, and he saw the homeless soul of the beautiful woman who was mutilated to death in the middle of the night It is he who smells the blood that normal people cannot detect in the streets and alleys of the city, and it is he who has insight into the inner world of another pervert with childhood trauma—Song Zhengwen.What is particularly shocking is Song Zhengwen, a perverted murderer.Song Zhengwen was almost abandoned by his parents to death when he was a baby. The indelible memory trauma made him hate life and become a demonic murderer, especially an infanticide. Abnormal childhood can be said to be the common memory of most protagonists in Li Ximin's horror novels.Another example is Li Li in "Dance of the Black Spirit".When she was six years old, Li Li once witnessed the tragic scene where her cowardly father chose to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff because he couldn’t stop the brigade secretary from occupying Li Li’s mother.Shame and hatred are deeply rooted in Li Li's memory, and caused many perverted behaviors in his adult life.The marriage between him and his wife Zhang Lan finally came to an irretrievable point, and the most fundamental reason was his childhood psychological trauma.Perhaps, Li Ximin wants to explain the real root of fear in the real world through the spiritual variation of these characters with different childhood traumas as they enter adulthood.Although his novels are filled with various horror atmospheres, the excavation of the root of this mutant psychology is the real charm of his horror novels. Looking at the works of masters of western horror and suspense novels, rooted in their own culture and tradition is a very important reason for their success. For example, Dan Brown's full use of the history of European art, the history of Christian denominations, the legend of the descendants of Jesus, etc., if there is no content that is very familiar to Westerners, it is likely that it will not attract so many readers.Another example is Ella Raven's "Rose Mary's Baby". If there is no legend in the Western religious tradition that Satan, the devil, sows offspring in the world, the charm of this horror classic will be greatly reduced.There is also the masterpiece "The Second Name" of the early Spanish horror movies, in which the evil in the world is actually based on the story about Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac to God in the "Bible Old Testament".In the record of the "Old Testament", when Abraham was about to kill Isaac and sacrifice to God, the angel of God stopped him, so he replaced Isaac with a ram; but when he went down the mountain, The "Old Testament" only writes that he went back, but does not mention Isaac.Therefore, a secret sect with a long history believes that Isaac must have been dedicated to God, and all believers must kill the firstborn son (whether male or female) in the family and sacrifice it to God.In addition, like Stephen King, who is known as the king of American horror novels, isn't the horror element in each of his novels rooted in the mysterious culture of the United States? Therefore, when many writers of Chinese horror novels followed foreign horror novel writers, imitating, plagiarizing, and fabricating many bloody horror stories without foundation "code" or "Stephen King", However, Li Ximin maintained the sobriety of an excellent writer.On the one hand, he respects the masters of Western horror novels and learns from their rigorous writing spirit; on the other hand, he is determined to compete with them to the end with his own horror works.Just like the declaration he issued in an interview with reporters: "I will not imitate their works, I will write in my style." "I put more emphasis on the cultural and psychological fear in China, and I just want to write horror novels with Chinese characteristics .” Of course, in order to create horror novels with Chinese characteristics, it is not possible to simply borrow a few ancient Chinese myths and legends, or steal a few ghosts and fox spirits from "Liaozhai".Even re-localized horror elements can only become effective horror if they are connected with the fear in our living reality.I have always liked Li Ximin's maiden horror novel "The Daughter of Gu" very much, and it is for this reason. At the beginning, when Li Ximin had the idea of ​​writing a horror novel, the first material he thought of was the legend of Gu that was widely circulated in his hometown of Fujian and many places in the south.However, he did not simply exaggerate the power of Gu poison, but combined the legendary Gu release with modern urban life.What he wants to explore with all his strength is the fear of arrogant people who bully the weak and play with women when they face poison in a city full of ugly behaviors.In another of his novels, he even linked the elements of Chinese folk horror culture with the ubiquitous fear in modern social life.A female nurse who was on vacation in the countryside encountered a grave relocation. When the coffin dug out of the ground was opened, she saw a green grasshopper jumping out.As a result, when she returned to the perilous city, she had constant nightmares, and inexplicable deaths appeared one after another.And this nurse is a mentally tired person who is tired of the city life built of steel and concrete, and is tortured by the potential dangers everywhere every day. However, Li Ximin has pushed his pursuit of horror novels further in works such as "Blood Banknote", "The Spirit Picker", and "Dance of the Black Spirit".The mysterious, supernatural horror elements provided to him by his hometown of Fujian, in these works of his are more and more just assuming the role of symbolic images expressing themes.He increasingly focused on writing about the inner fears of modern people's daily life. In his opinion: "The symbolic symbol of China's future horror culture should be psychological fear, because people's psychology is getting darker and darker now, which is consistent with our country's cultural traditions, and it is also in line with our Chinese culture. It is related to the character of forbearance and cruelty under the guise of morality.” It is based on this insightful understanding that Li Ximin described a series of events that happened behind the bustling urban life, such as abortion, infanticide, abandoned infants, infant trafficking, and infant abuse. Evil has become the background of the story of "The Spirit Picker". The two main characters in "Spirit Pickers"—Pony Horse and Song Zhengwen suffered common torture in Chinese society when they were children. Each character forms a deep reflection of modern human nature from opposite poles. The description of the lingering female ghost—Wan Wei's story in "Dance of the Black Spirit" also reflects Li Ximin's deep insight into the degeneration of human nature in the current society.Because Wan Wei is obsessed with money, she marries the upstart Cheng Deyong; Cheng Deyong sees through her scheming, tries every means to abuse her and humiliate her, and finally sees her drowning to death in a foreign country, but does not reach out to give her a hand.Lives like Wan Wei and Cheng Deyong happen around us, and the crisis hidden behind this kind of life is itself terrifying. The artistic excellence of Li Ximin's novels lies in the fact that he makes Wan Wei's ghost entangle Li Li and Zhang Lan, who are also in a dead end in their married life, and attaches to their ghosts, and returns to China to take revenge on Cheng Deyong and those like Cheng Deyong. everyone.Thus, there is no end to the depravity of the soul, no end to the fear of life, and the ubiquitous terror that runs rampant in the real world, and the path out of fear seems hopeless. In the inscription of "Spirit Pickers", Li Ximin wrote: "I picked up souls all the way / put their transparent ears / on the sharp thorns of thorns / fate sighed all the way / who told me the truth in the dark." These The verses can be said to express his accurate understanding of the spiritual plight of modern people who are confused in fear.It is only natural that his horror novels are impressive. The powerful weapon that Li Ximin uses to compete with the masters of Western horror novels is not limited to his in-depth insight into the spiritual fear of modern people.Before writing horror novels, he had practiced so-called serious literature with millions of words.The rigorous pursuit of literature makes him never engage in popular stuff that is sensational, kitsch, and repeats the art of predecessors.The idea of ​​each of his horror novels is like avant-garde experimental novels, cleverly laid out, unexpected, both inherited and innovative. For example, the handling of the opening chapter of "Dance of the Black Spirit" is very admirable.On the international flight from Bangkok, Thailand to Shanghai, China, there was a pair of young men and women who died two days before boarding the plane. What is even more strange is that no information about their boarding was found at the place of departure from Bangkok.Obviously, this idea is a remake of urban legends such as the "disappearing hitchhiker"; however, it seems that Li Ximin is the first to apply this idea to international flights. In addition, the overall conception and layout of "Dance of the Black Spirit" is also the essence of modern novels.Li Li and Zhang Lan, whose married life has come to an end, went to Thailand to spend their last time together in order to break up; in fact, they each still had fantasies about restoring their former passion in their hearts, but what they embarked on is a journey. The road that leads to death.In a tourist attraction in Thailand where signs of danger keep appearing, first a black spider symbolizing bad luck appears, then an ivory pendant of unknown origin, and the ghost of Wan Wei who is entangled with Zhang Lan, and then a pair of foreign couples who are in conflict The clues follow the figures of the characters in the novel like forked roots, and gradually unfold along with their nightmares and romances... The last few clues converge on Li Li and Zhang Lan, who have become two rotting corpses.Moreover, with the development of these clues, the secrets hidden behind each character are exposed in broad daylight like bamboo shoots. In fact, each of Li Ximin's horror novels is buried with multiple clues, and only after you finish reading can you basically see the inner structure like a hazy spider web.In particular, novels like "Blood Money" and "Spirit Picker" are developed from the perspectives of a trance-like teenager and a psychological cower. Their internal structures are complicated, just like avant-garde novels, requiring readers to go on adventures with the author. Let's create together. In "Dance of the Black Spirit", Li Ximin has moved the background of the horror novel to a foreign land, and the mysterious evil spirits in Southeast Asia have also been used by him to express the overall plight of modern humans.His creation of horror novels with Chinese characteristics is far from over.I believe that it will not be long before his unique style of horror novels will go to the world, bringing excitement, shock and enjoyment to colleagues and readers in foreign lands.