“My experience of life is that it is not divided up into genres; it’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you’re lucky.”
― Alan Moore

The Cultural Gutter is a website dedicated to thoughtful writing about disreputable art. The site is updated every Thursday afternoon. Carol Borden, Alex MacFadyen, Beth Watkins,  Angela Englert and Sachin Hingoo probe science fiction, draw out the best in comics, stare deeply into the screen, sink their fangs into horror, dally with romance, speedrun their brains on videogames and explore so much more. Our Guest Stars shine here.

Thanks to Gutter aesthetic director Brian Kirby for all his swank art. Thanks to EJ Lee for providing the fantastic art we used in the Cultural Gutter book. The Cultural Gutter’s signature nail polish, “Disreputable,” was created by Andrea Evans of MPZ Cosmetics. Thanks to Nick Hanover for donating the Space Ladies 2020 design.

Get all the swank merchandise at Guttermart!

Signature Cultural Gutter Nailpolish, “Disreputable,” provided by Andrea Evans of MPZ Cosmetics.

We do not accept unsolicited pitches.

Our Editors

Carol Borden has written for Mezzanotte, Teleport City, Die Danger Die Die Kill, Popshifter and was a writer for and editor of the Toronto International Film Festival’s official Midnight Madness and Vanguard program blogs. She’s written a bunch of short stories including Godzilla detective fiction, femme fatale mermaids, an adventurous translator/poet, and an x-ray tech having a bad day. You can find them here. Read and listen to her other shenanigans at  Monstrous Industry. For her particular take on gutter culture, check out, “In the Sewer with the Alligators.”

Alex MacFadyen is a writer, bookworm, and creator of strange liminal creatures. You can find more of his creations and musings at Critter Lab and on Instagram: @thecritterlab. For his particular take on the gutter, check out, “Murder and Intuition: Overlooking the Corpses in the Shrubbery.”

Beth Watkins has written about film for TimeOut London, The Wall Street Journal; India Real Time Blog, FirstPost, and The Hindustan Times. She also keeps up the Paagal Subtitle Blog, does podcasts (some with Comics Editor Carol) and has her own blog, Beth Loves Bollywood. You can also find Beth on Twitter at @BethLovesBolly.

Angela Englert reviews horror and b-movies at The Lost Highway and co-hosts the Horrible Imaginings podcast, the official podcast of San Diego’s Horrible Imaginings Film Festival. Follow her on Twitter: @mechaangela.

Sachin Hingoo is a Toronto-based writer and editor at The Cultural Gutter and BiffBamPop.com. He is a former writer and champion captioner for the Toronto International Film Festival’s official Midnight Madness programme blog.

When he’s not explaining some obscure historical or anthropological point while oblivious to the fact that he is slowly sinking in quicksand, SF/F Editor Emeritus Keith Allison writes about Science Fiction and Fantasty for The Cultural Gutter and runs the cult culture websites Mezzanotte and Teleport City. His book Cocktails & Capers: Cult Cinema, Cocktails, Crime & Cool might just improve your life. For his particular take on gutter culture, check out, “The Sci-Fi Life.” (Retired from the Gutter).

Romance Editor Emeritus Chris Szego reads romance. Along with poetry, mystery, sf, non-fiction of all kinds, cereal boxes (but not horror, because she’s kind of a chicken). For her particular take on the gutter, check out, “Love For Sale.” (Retired from The Gutter).

SF/F Editor Emeritus James Schellenberg lives in Ottawa. For his particular take on gutter culture, check out, “Even When They’re Wrong, They’re Right.“ (Retired from The Gutter).

Screen Editor Emeritus Ian Driscoll is the screenwriter of numerous gutter-level films including the Harry Knuckles series, Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter, The Dead Sleep Easy and Smash Cut. His day job is in advertising, which helps explain the drinking. And, because he apparently needed another thing to keep him busy, he recently became a partner in running Ottawa’s oldest surviving cinema, the Mayfair Theatre. If he had a band, he would name it Two-Panel Marmaduke. For his particular take on the Gutter, check out, “Dangerous Because it Has a Philosophy.” (Retired from The Gutter)

The Cultural Gutter co-founder and Videeogames Editor Emeritus Jim Munroe has written three science-fiction novels. His videogame column in eye is called Pleasure Circuit. His No Media Kings website is home to his projects as well as many do-it-yourself articles on movie and book making. He lives  in Toronto but enjoys an occasional trip to Liberty City, where he’s shot a lot of video. For his particular take on gutter culture, check out, “Vive Le Gutter!“ (Retired from The Gutter)

The Cultural Gutter co-founder and Comics Editor Emeritus Guy Leshinski is a writer and editor, a slapdash cartoonist and bass player, and sometime bon vivant. His comics column, The Panelist, appears every other week in Toronto’s eye Weekly. For his particular take on gutter culture, check out, “Gutter Thoughts.” (Retired from The Gutter)

Video Games editor Andrew Smale has retired from The Gutter.

Movie Editor Robin Bougie is writer and editor for the seminal Cinema Sewer magazine (retired from The Gutter)

Affiliations

The Cultural Gutter is a member site of The Mysterious Order of the Skeleton Suit (M.O.S.S.), a shadowy confederation of like-minded writers, broadcasters, creators, and jetsetters who have banded together in a bold mission to bring international intrigue and pop entertainment to the masses. Can anyone stand in the way of their diabolical schemes???

The Cultural Gutter is also a proud sponsor of The Drive-In Mob, along with the Shelf Life Clothing Company.  Find the Mob on Twitter every Thursday and join in the tweetalong with the hashtag “#driveinmob” as we watch a classic genre film double feature.  Check driveinmob.com  or @driveinmob on Twitter for the weekly schedule and learn more about the Mob’s history here.