Feb 20
Mexican philosopher Manuel DeLanda called cities the “mineralization of humanity.” Invertebrates like snails, clams, and nautiluses generate outer coverings of calcium to act as their homes. Now humans have begun to do the same, “mineralizing again when they developed an urban exoskeleton.” What might happen if those shells developed personalities of their own and began …
Dec 15
Or this might happen to you! …or, more terrifyingly, you may yourself turn into a Christmas cookie…
Dec 05
I decided to have a little fun with my annual post on Christmas horror. Creepy-looking elves abound on the internet creating their own little Uncanny Valleys, and it’s just as easy for AI Art engines to make them as well, whether or not they were intended to be creepy. So I am trying an experiment. …
Aug 12
Part 1 is here ———————————————————————————————————- A Child of Charn (cont.) “Come,” Anthen said, taking her arm and leading her out of the crowd. “The rest is just more of the same. It’s best if you don’t witness it.” There is more, Saffla thought numbly. More slaves, more creatures, more chariots and drummers and …
Mar 31
Mystery Flesh Pit National Park World concept by Trevor Roberts Begun 2019 This is a different kind of review as it’s not for a book, movie, or game, but a shared concept world. The Mystery Flesh Pit is the creation of Trevor Roberts, a concept artist and writer who started playing around with the idea …
Mar 30
As I talked about here, H. P. Lovecraft’s Elder Things were such a unique creation both of their time and for SF in general that their caliber was not duplicated for many years. There were echoes of them in the BEMs (bug-eyed monsters) of the lurid SF pulp covers of the 1930s through the …
Mar 30
Miskatonik University may be the most beloved of Lovecraft’s imaginary locations. This Ivy League college, known for its library of occult books and daring expeditions, lies near a river of the same name which runs through imaginary Arkham, Massachusetts, * which Lovecraft based on Salem. He even drew his own map of the city to …
Mar 28
In this post I’ll examine Elder Thing depictions done in different media and styles. This is an Elder Thing stripped down its basic elements: starfish head, wings, cucumber body, five tentacle legs. I’m guessing it’s a petroglyph painted on some exposed shale rock, which since has been desecrated by bird poop. The creator of the …
Mar 26
In Part II of this series I’ll be taking a look at the Elder Things interacting with their natural environment — either the snowbound Antarctica of At the Mountains of Madness, or their titanic cities of long ago. This illustration of the creatures shows them checking out a ship that has been stuck in the …
Mar 24
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Translation by Olena Bormashenko Chicago Review Press, 2012 (Originally published 1972 in the USSR) [ Challenge # 34: A book by more than one author. ] Roadside Picnic is an SF classic. Originally published in the USSR at the height of the Cold War — and Communist censorship …