I’m still in the research phase of Project Martense and came across a YouTube video about Phil Hine’s The Pseudonomicon, hosted by AI using two voices. I think it’s a Google product. Normally, I would stop listening to something like this within the first few seconds, but I couldn’t because the AI-generated voices make the wild topic of using H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos in Magick rituals banal.
I began Project Martense this week in earnest.
I’m still waiting for ideas and themes to come together, but so far I know it’s about H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, kaiju, the complete and utter destruction of New York City, and the apocalypse. Great fun!
During the weekend I’ve been researching how chaos magicians incorporate the Cthulhu Mythos into their rituals. First, who knew? Secondly, there are far more articles, essays and books out there about the topic than I expected (see below).
I’ve been test driving the Offprint app to convert the online articles I came across to ePub to read on my Kindle and so far it’s working like a charm. I use Instapaper to read articles on my Kobo but I’m durned if I can figure out how to get my highlights saved to my Obsidian notes, so using Offprint with my Kindle seemed like they way to go. Except I can’t save the highlights from the articles I read only Kindle to Obsidian, either. Curses! If you have advice on how to achieve this on either my Kindle or Kobo without a subscription I would really appreciate it.
Articles
Books
Essays
Finished reading: The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot by Frank Miller 📚 While not at the eye watering detail of Hard Boiled, Geof Darrow kicks kaiju ass illustrating this kinetic comic! Well worth the re-read.
Some bands I can only listen to in the fall. Play them for me in the spring or summer, and they sound ridiculous. Pretentious, even.
But once the temperature drops, the days get shorter, and everything starts dying? Suddenly, they’re brilliant.
So, naturally, I’ve been listening to a steady diet of Misfits, Samhain, and Rudimentary Peni (especially Cacophony), which might be one of the most perfectly autumnal records ever made).
I asked my buddy Keith what he listens to when the season turns, and he came back with Danzig, Mercyful Fate, Type O Negative, HIM, early Cradle of Filth, Amebix, Death in June, and The Devil’s Blood.
Apparently, autumn has a very specific soundtrack, and much of it involves corpse paint, questionable religious imagery, and folk who probably own too many candles.
What bands only make sense to you in the fall?
Finished reading: Practical Magick Ancient Tradition and Modern Practice by Mitch Horowitz 📚
Finished reading: Hard Boiled by Frank Miller 📚 I haven’t read this since it was released in 1990. God Lord, what an experience! It’s a cyberpunk Where’s Waldo chock-full of ultraviolence, pornography, urban decay, and pop culture, illustrated by uber maximalist Geof Darrow. There’s so much detail that I’d need a magnifying glass to take it all in, and each page was nearly headache-inducing. Can’t wait to read it again!
Finished reading: BLACK SWORD HACK by Kobayashi 📚 I’ve been re-reading the Elric series and tempted to run a RPG inspired by the series. Black Sword Hack seemed like a good place to start.
For the last two years, I read one story by H. P. Lovecraft a day during October. This year, I planned to read Thomas Ligotti, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Maybe next year. Instead, I’m reading Lovecraft Unbound and The Dark edited by Ellen Datlow, Algernon Blackwood: The Complete Supernatural Stories by Algernon Blackwood, and Complete Works (Novels, Poems, Horror Short Stories And Others) by Arthur Machen.
Finished reading: Creepy presents Berni Wrightson: the definitive collection of Bernie Wrightson’s stories and illustrations from the pages of Creepy and Eerie by Bernie Wrightson 📚 I picked this up a year ago, and I’ve been waiting until October to read one story a day. There are tales I’ve never read before, and classics I cherish, like “A Martian Saga,” “The Laughing Man,” and H. P. Lovecraft’s “Cool Air.” 🎃
Finished reading: Polostan by Neal Stephenson 📚 I added this book to my stack a year ago, not knowing much about it except that one of my favorite authors, Neal Stephenson, wrote it. I still have no idea what the series is about, other than that this novel introduced us to our protagonist.
Finished reading: The Fisherman by John Langan 📚
Not Lo-Pan but Wenchang Wang, the Chinese Daoist God of Literature, Scholarship, and Examinations.
Finished reading: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn 📚
Finished reading: Ani.Mystic - Encounters with a Living Cosmos by Gordon White 📚
Finished reading: Complete Ghost Stories by M. R. James 📚 Cozy ghost stories.
Finished reading: Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment by Jed McKenna 📚
Finished reading: Liber Null and Psychonaut The Practice of Chaos Magic (Revised and Expanded Edition) by Peter J. Carroll 📚
