From their 2024 album, I Will Commit A Holy Crime: Tandem, which you can order from their Bandcamp HERE.
This is the Thomas Ligotti issue, back from around the time Ligotti first exploded on the Weird/Horror literary scene. Opening story, "Netherscurial" is a great example of why Ligotti was heraled early on as a kind of wünderkind - so many familiar, Lovecraftian tropes, all turned on their ear and used to build something new and truly horrifying.
"The problem is that such supernatural inventions are indeed quite difficult to imagine. So often they fail to materialize in the mind, to take on a mental texture, and thus remain unfelt as anything but an abstract monster of metaphysics? an elegant or awkward schematic that cannot rise from the paper to touch us. Of course, we do need to keep a certain distance from such specters as Nethescurial, but this is usually provided by the medium of words as such, which ensnare all kinds of fantastic creatures before they can tear us body and soul. (And yet the words of this particular manuscript seem rather weak in this regard, possibly because they are only the drab green scratchings of a human hand and not the heavy mesh of black type.)
Watch:
Holy smokes! How did I miss the trailer for Julia Ducournau's third movie, Alpha, when it dropped last month? Here it is, and I'm happy to say this follows Neon's trend of assembling trailers that show me enough to make me want to see the movie (I would see anything Ms. Ducournau without knowing anything other than her name is attached), but not in any way that tells me anything substantial about the film. Yay Neon!
This looks remarkable. Ducournau's voice is so strong it permeates every shot herein.
Read:
With the year coming to a close and my reading all over the place, I didn't want to start another novel, per se, but this is the time of the year I read a lot, so I cracked out another of the Weird Tales I purchased back in May.
"The problem is that such supernatural inventions are indeed quite difficult to imagine. So often they fail to materialize in the mind, to take on a mental texture, and thus remain unfelt as anything but an abstract monster of metaphysics? an elegant or awkward schematic that cannot rise from the paper to touch us. Of course, we do need to keep a certain distance from such specters as Nethescurial, but this is usually provided by the medium of words as such, which ensnare all kinds of fantastic creatures before they can tear us body and soul. (And yet the words of this particular manuscript seem rather weak in this regard, possibly because they are only the drab green scratchings of a human hand and not the heavy mesh of black type.)
But we do want to get close enough to feel the foul breath of these beasts, or to see them as prehistoric leviathans circling about the tiny island on which we have taken refuge. Even if we are incapable of a sincere belief in ancient cults and their unheard of idols, even if these pseudonymous adventurers and archaeologists appear to be mere shadows on a wall, and even if strange houses on remote islands are of shaky construction, there may still be a power in these things that threatens us like a bad dream. And this power emanates not so much from within the tale as it does from somewhere behind it, someplace of infinite darkness and ubiquitous evil in which we may walk unaware."
The story is also peppered with truly epic and disturbing illustrations by Harry O. Morris.
You can read the full story on Ligotti's website HERE.
Playlist:
Oliver Nelson - Stolen Moments (single)
Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons
Deftones - private music
Dreamkid - Daggers
Gylt - Desk Jockey (single)
Weird Studies - Episode 50: Demogorgon; On Stranger Things
Ministry - HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES
Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits
Prince - Purple Rain
Billy Joel - Greatest Hits
Replacements - Tim
David Bowie - Low
Tim Curry - I Do the Rock (single)
Bakermat - The Ringmaster
Jungle - Volcano
Foo Fights Greatest Hits
Foo Fighters - Rumors
Hatebeak - Number of the Beak
Soul Coughing - "Ruby Vroom' Remixes
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Blue Meanies - Full Throttle
Southern Mysteries Podcast - Episode 179: The Mystery of Diamond Bessie
Southern Mysteries Podcast - Episode 178: Little Boy Lost
Southern Mysteries Podcast - Episode 176: The Mystery of the Surrency Poltergeist
Southern Mysteries Podcast - Episode 173: The Forgotten Eleven of New Orleans
Weird Studies - Episode 143: On UFOs
AVTT/PTTN - The Avett Brothers & Mike Patton
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