title: Embracing the Darkness; Understanding Dark Subcultures
author:  Corvis Nocturnum 
description: "Embracing the Darkness is a great bridge where the darkness meets the light. A great tool to understanding the misunderstood." --Dragan Dracul, Father of Clutch Arcane<br /><br />"It's nice to see such a broad spectrum of perceptions covered." --John J. Coughlin, author of Out of the Shadows<br /><br />"A poignant and introspective voyage into dark subcultures with a humanistic approach..." --Dark Realms Magazine
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  Begin Reading
  
  
  Table of Contents
  
  
  Copyright Page
  
  
  For Sarah Burnes, Julie Scheina,
  
  
  and Jennifer Bailey Hunt
  
  
  because for some silly reason
  
  
  they wouldn't let us put their names on the cover.
  
  
  We can easily forgive a child
  
  
  who is afraid of the dark;
  
  
  the real tragedy of life is when
  
  
  men are afraid of the light.
  
  
  \--PLATO
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  BEFORE
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Caster Girl
  
  
  
  
  
  I used to think our town, buried in the South Carolina backwoods, stuck in the
  muddy bottom of the Santee River valley, was the middle of nowhere. A place
  where nothing ever happened and nothing would ever change.
  
  
  Just like yesterday,
  
  
  the unblinking sun would rise and set over the town of Gatlin without
  bothering to kick up so much as a breeze.
  
  
  Tomorrow my neighbors would be rocking on their porches, heat and gossip and
  familiarity melting like ice cubes into their sweet
  
  
  tea, as they had for more than a hundred years. Around here, our traditions
  were so traditional it was hard