Monthly Archives: September 2018

Gravity Crashes

03 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by in Lovecraftian arts, Scholarly works

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One single academic paper on Gravity Falls, since 2014? One. One. And even that fails to mention Lovecraft. Odd, as there are some fairly large clues in Gravity Falls, on that particular influence…

Anyway, the one paper I found is: Lorna Piatti-Farnell, “What’s Hidden in Gravity Falls: Strange Creatures and the Gothic Intertext”.

Checked for others: Google Scholar, Google Search, Google Books, and JURN. One other paper proved to only be a slight abstract for a conference paper, on the changing status of animation in general.

Which means there’s huge potential here, I’d suggest, for independent scholars to publish a thoughtful book that tells academics to wake up and smell the popular culture.

“There’s never quite been a show like Gravity Falls” — Nerdist.com.

“Gravity Falls is the best thing on TV […] consistently, laugh-out-loud funny every week [yet] It’s neither vulgar nor stupid […] I don’t care how old you are, if you’re not watching Gravity Falls you’re missing out. […] the perfect TV show.” — Forbes.

“Saying goodbye to Gravity Falls is like saying goodbye to childhood all over again […] something that’s almost unheard of in entertainment […] uniquely wonderful” — Polygon.

“Gravity Falls is a clever, clever show [that] takes care to layer its delivery, slowly building nuance, offering relatable scenarios and interludes of silliness to balance out its more philosophical elements. You need to watch Gravity Falls […] the narrative arc is positively balletic in its elegance.” — Ars Technica.

Some free book covers

02 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by in Lovecraftian arts

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Need a free book cover for your bona fide book? Here are three I knocked out some while ago.

Turner’s public domain engraving titled “Lake of Thun”, Photoshopped to remove ‘quaint’ rustic figures, cropped, and a re-colour to make it more icy and less sepia. Might suit a thunderous book of northern weird sea-poetry.

A Photoshopping of the public domain “The Lost Path” (1920) by Charles M. Tuttle. Again, suitable for a book of weird poetry or similar.

‘Raven’, a failed Photoshop doodling with public domain sources. Someone might find it useful for a slim volume of macabre bird poetry… or something like that.

Rhode Island School of Design – new online collection

02 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by in Historical context, Odd scratchings

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Rhode Island School of Design (RSID) have announced that…

“starting in September [2018], our website will provide open access to our entire collection [in online digital form] at risdmuseum.org/collection“

It might be worth a rummage, to see what locally-relevant historical material they have and how far back it goes. Although as yet the URL is still non-functional.

London Reimagined: an anthology of visions of the future city – free ebook

01 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by in Odd scratchings

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Way back in the 2000s I put together a quick sampler, mainly for my anticipated classroom use, titled London Reimagined: an anthology of visions of the future city. I’ve just found it again, and have decided to give it away free as a PDF. It’s not a critical edition or anything like that, and I’d produce it to a far higher standard these days. But for anyone who wants it, it’s meant to serve as a ‘taster’ for non-academic readers. Specifically those who might be interested in getting an overview and making a start on the Victorian fiction and poetry which envisioned the destruction or takeover of London.

Download the PDF

Lost in Time: Newly Discovered Cosmic Horror

01 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by in New books, Scholarly works

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The NecronomiCon 2019 convention Memento Book theme will be “Lost in Time: Newly Discovered Cosmic Horror”. The call for this is now open, and the submission email is: necronomiconsubmissions@gmail.com

Seems likely to be mostly new fiction on the topic (they want stories of “lost gods, unearthed histories, new myths, and freshly exhumed horrors”). But note that they also have space for “essays and non-fiction … on authors or fiction/film that have been mostly lost to time”.

Submissions open today, 1st September 2018. There’s mention of token payment for the 2,000-5,000 word stories, but no mention of payment for scholarly essays (which, arguably, involve a lot more work and expense to produce).

Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia – now on the Kindle

01 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by in New books

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Newly-available for the Amazon Kindle in the UK is the respected Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia. Amazon notes it as “3rd Revised edition edition (1st July 2018)”. Looks like a £10 digital version of the 3rd Revised edition paperback of September 2008, though I’m uncertain if it’s a digital facsimile or a new layout. It covers the entire mythos, the original work from Lovecraft and also the voluminous lore produced by those who followed.

I’ve always balked at wrangling a slab that big through the postal service, as I have a stupidly tiny modern letter-box and can’t change it. But now I have a 10″ Amazon HD Fire tablet (some software royalties finally paid out) the book is looking enticing. And it would be keyword-searchable, albeit only via Amazon.