Or this might happen to you! …or, more terrifyingly, you may yourself turn into a Christmas cookie…
Category: Horror
Dec 05
Creepy Elves: Real or Fake?
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
A Child of Charn, Part 2
[Narnia Fanfic]
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 [Review]
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
Children of the Elder Things, or Echinoderm Horror
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
Worldbuilding Wednesday 3/30/22: Shunned Locations
xxxx(Lovecraft IV)
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
The Art of the Elder Thing (Part III)
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
The Art of the Elder Thing (Part II)
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
[Reading Challenge 2022]
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 …
Mar 23
Worldbuilding Wednesday 3/23/22: Shady Characters
xxxx(Lovecraft III)
Humans in Lovecraft’s universe did not fare very well. They were transformed into monsters or disembodied brains, driven mad by forbidden knowledge, or became cannon fodder against ancient gods. That’s for the male humans. Female humans fared better. Mostly, by keeping out of his stories. But when they appeared they were witches, or the mothers …