HopePunk and Why Haven't I Heard of This Before?

 So tonight I zoomed in on Skeleton Hour, a virtual panel discussion held with well-known horror writers and sponsored by the Horror Writers Association. Horror writer and teacher, Richard Thomas, said that he's writing more "hopepunk" and less dark fantasy now. The other writers, A.C. Wise, Josh Malerman,  Sarah Langan,  Lucy A. Snyder, and Usman T. Malik all agreed that after four years of the former guy, the misogyny, the racism, the conspiracy theories, that writers and readers want to feel hopeful.

Hopepunk! I'd never heard of it. I googled it up and discovered that I'm three or four years behind the times which is normal for me. About the same amount of time that the former guy was in office.  Hope punk must still be a thing since they talked about it tonight.  How do you feel about hope punk as opposed to grimdark? Ha, I learned a bunch of new old stuff tonight. I didn't know what grimdark is. Think dystopian. 

This is what the writer Alexandra Rowland said about hopepunk in Vox.

Hopepunk says that genuinely and sincerely caring about something, anything, requires bravery and strength. Hopepunk isn’t ever about submission or acceptance: It’s about standing up and fighting for what you believe in. It’s about standing up for other people. It’s about DEMANDING a better, kinder world, and truly believing that we can get there if we care about each other as hard as we possibly can, with every drop of power in our little hearts.

Also in Vox:

The concept of hopepunk arose from a political mood of resistance

One more thing about watching the Skeleton Hour tonight. Where is the button to slow Josh Malerman down? My goodness he was on a sugar high. He couldn't sit still. It was cute to watch, though. Like a big little kid who happens to write about things that tear you to pieces if you see them.