Well, there hasn’t been much weird pondering for a bit – but now, I’m back, and thanks to China Mieville’s excellent introduction to the Modern Library edition of ‘At the Mountains of Madness’, once again I’ve been a-pondering H. P. Lovecraft. China sees him as a kind of crazed pulp modernist, breaking out of traditionContinue reading “We’re the Shoggoths now”
Category Archives: Horror
No ideas but in THINGS
Well, for various reasons a slight hiatus here at Allumination; most recently because I am shattered, having been enjoying an epic cycle commute between Clapham Junction, Acton, Stoke Newington, Acton, Oxford Circus and at last Clapham Junction again over the last couple of days! Very satisfying. So this is going to be more of aContinue reading “No ideas but in THINGS”
‘Ghosts’ lives!
Well, much excitement here at Allumination Central as my short story, ‘Ghosts’ has hit the streets in the latest issue of ‘Midnight Street’ – and it’s the cover story! Which I didn’t know about at all until my copy popped through the postbox, so a lovely surprise. Anyway… the story’s about the problems of exploringContinue reading “‘Ghosts’ lives!”
Vastation
On horror, and I’ve been pondering John Clute’s concept of Vastation. He defines it as the moment in horror when artifice is stripped away, and the world is revealed in its true, bleak, sanity blasting magnificence. In Lovecraft, it would be the moment when you find out about Cthulhu; in Stephen King, the point atContinue reading “Vastation”
Serial killing
A note today that’s not so much about horror as about thriller. I’m halfway through ‘The Lonely Dead’, the second book in Michael Marshall’s (better known to genre fans as Michael Marshall Smith) Straw Men series. It’s compulsive reading. Having finished the first one, ‘The Straw Men’, I went straight out and bought two andContinue reading “Serial killing”
H and I go movie
Well, a short entry today pondering ‘Carnival of Souls’ and last night’s piece of filmgoing, ‘Yella’. They are related, both being spooky and subtle tales of the possibly supernatural, but I can’t tell you why because I’d blow key plot twists So instead of anything specific, a very quick thought. Writers who are primarily realistsContinue reading “H and I go movie”
Remembering Tim Page
I’ve just been set thinking about Tim Page by an introduction to one of the stories in this year’s ‘Year’s Best Horror’. He was one of my teenage heroes, perhaps the best photographer to cover the Vietnam War. So, I’ve been rooting round on the web to take another look at his pictures. What’s strikingContinue reading “Remembering Tim Page”
Crossing Lovecraft
Today as it turns out is looking very hectic, and I’m out and about tonight, so instead of a long typed-in-the-evening post about Hal Duncan (I’m going to a talk on Norse Gods, etc), here’s a short rant about H. P. Lovecraft. Not so much about Lovecraft, in fact; more about August Derleth’s misappropriation ofContinue reading “Crossing Lovecraft”
Flattering amnesia
John Clute makes a fascinating point in the current Interzone – ‘[contemporary planetary] horror is what happens when amnesia fails’. He goes on to reference W. G. Sebald, who alas I haven’t read, so of course I fell to thinking about H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe – and, of course, amnesia itself. What’s fascinatingContinue reading “Flattering amnesia”
Swamp moralities
Well, it’s been a wonderful period of battery refreshing and book rewriting. The book’s in good shape now – 20,000 words shorter, more emotionally coherent and much, much more focussed. So that will be going out to various people over the next few weeks. Very exciting! And of course I’ve been doing much re-reading. InContinue reading “Swamp moralities”