This is Who

Thank you to those who responded to the challenge in my last post.

Theo (whom I play with in noisms' Three Mile Tree campaign, and whose weird and wonderful updates on that campaign always bring a smile to my face) spoke in the comments of how the four characters are the personifications of anthropomorphized walled cities in some liminal Goetiaverse, competing in beflowered tournaments for the favor of the Lich Queen Callisto Meffit.

And Semiurge posted this fantastic story spanning four generations of the house of Albuminauc, containing some wonderfully poetic turns of phrase ("he grubby-hid with shady sorts in shaded spots", "mawkish rakes milked venom from each other's mouths", ...)

Above is Sereaglea Albuminauc, fifth generation of the house of Albuminauc. sole offspring of Rud Albuminauc and Carpaglea Vennonis, daughter of the last Margreve of Vennonis (a sizeable village teetering on the crest of the Grens Hills to the North of Marlo). Sereaglea it was, in her guise as fisher queen, who brought a final end to the haunting haggearts of her forebears. 

(I feel somewhat guilty for not putting anything like as much effort into this as Semiurge and Theo did; apologies, my brain is on strike)

Yakanory and the dark fiction of James Burt

 The first review of Mostly Harmless Meetings is in, and interestingly it looks at it not from a gaming perspective, but as a work of literature: "a sort of Borgesian/Oulippian take on British rural folklore". I like that! Admittedly I've not read any Borges (I've just ordered a copy of Labyrinths, and I'm told that he also wrote a monster manual), and the closes I got to Oulipo was Georges Perec's Life, A User's Manual, which I've managed to abandon twice, because I can only take so many lists (here's an idea: a random stuff-in-the-attic generator, for 20th century horror games, based on Perec's lists; a sort of "Life, A User's Tables"). You can read the review, by my friend James Burt, here.

I have recently been reading, and been very impressed by, James's own work: dark, weird, sometimes horrific short stories. His story A Disease of Books impressed me so much that I resurrected a project I started during the first COVID lockdown: Yakanory. Basically me reading stuff aloud, this started with me reading Dr Seuss tales to friends' kids over Facebook Live, then briefly took on a bit of a life of its own. My reading of A Disease of Books is below, and I've put quite a few other readings up on YouTube and plan to do more soon. You can generally tell how manic I was at the time of recording by what I'm wearing (and I always was a little manic, otherwise I don't think I'd have had the courage to do something like this).

You can buy more of James's stories for dirt cheap over on Etsy, read his blog and follow him on Twitter. But first, are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...

A Middle-aged Man Returns to Viriconium

Viriconium comic, in German, by Dieter Judt

Deep in work-work and in lieu of anything new to say, I'm rehashing this passage from my personal blog.

When I discovered the OSR 18 months ago, it surprised and pleased me to discover how much influence M John Harrison (or at least his Viriconium sequence) seemed to have over the movement. Mike Harrison's writing has significantly altered my views on literature at least twice in my life.

Ironically, I seem to remember Mike once mentioning that he'd heard people were roleplaying a version of Viriconium; he was perplexed as to why and how. At the time I understood that Viriconium was a tricksy illusion, only meant — only able — to exist in its original written medium. I now understand a little better how aspects of Viriconium can seep into a game setting.

So, these are some thoughts I had on Viriconium when the final Viriconium story, “Jack Of Mercy's”, was published (in You Should Come With Me Now)...

What We Have Left

Some time ago I wrote a series of short stories. Here is one of them. They will be published as a book, once they are edited. That should be some time before 2030.

If you would prefer to listen to the story (and I recommend that you do) you can hear me reading a slightly older version of it on my Soundcloud.

Here is What We Have Left: