A reader is not supposed to be aware that someone’s written the story. He’s supposed to be completely immersed, submerged in the environment.
-Jack Vance
In 1955, The Lord of the Rings was published, and promptly changed fantasy forever. In its juggernaut status, the particular breed of epic it spawned often pushed aside, in the popular mind, any type of fantasy that came before.
Just what was that? Its rough-hewn predecessors took the form of hybrid stories rooted in fairy-tale, lurid history and the raw juices of pulp adventure. Robert E. Howard’s sword and sorcery romps are a perfect example — as are H.P. Lovecraft’s nightmares, for that matter. While the characters here may be connected to grand events, this was a fantasy of short stories, not novels. Instead of a painstakingly described mythos, this thrived on brain-watering mysteries and jolt endings.
Jack Vance’s The Dying Earth hit the stands in 1950. A collection of six perfect, interlaced stories set in a time when Earth’s sun is sputtering out and no line remains between sorcery and science, it didn’t exactly produce the literary paradigm shift that Tolkien did, but it has had its pull. Gene Wolfe, Tanith Lee and numerous other authors were influenced by Vance. Gary Gygax also drew heavily from it when crafting the magic of the original Dungeons and Dragons.
I’d read about it often before finally tracking down a tattered paperback copy (it seems to come in no other form). The feeling I got when I finally immersed myself in its pages was that, growing up, these were the fairy tales I’d always wanted.
As mentioned previously on Coilhouse, I happen to think DJ Earworm is one of the most creative and engaging mashup artists out there. His latest offering, “Backwards/Forwards” is a sublime distillation of Annie Lennox’s most fabulously demented/dementedly fabulous moments in music and videography. Enjoy.
Holy schnikies! This has been by far the most overwhelming first day of magazine sales we’ve eover had. Thank you to severyone who ordered a shirt, magazine or sticker so far. Wow.
Okay, two notes about shipping
Firstly. Everyone, please check your PayPal invoice to make sure you remembered to enter the correct shipping address, and that the precious order is not about to be sent to someplace you used to live. For whatever reason, PayPal makes it easy to overlook the important step of choosing the correct address to ship to. Don’t let it happen to you! If you need us to fix your address, email Gretta ASAP.
Secondly. A note from Gretta, our lovely shipping extraordinaire: “Hello Coilhouse Magazine Lovers, it warms my ventricles to see so many returning customers and I am delighted at the sight of hundreds of new customers from around the world. This is great because this means there will be an Issue 04! This also means that some of you who ordered on the 16th, your magazines may not be shipped until as late as Wednesday, so please kindly exercise a little patience, as it is just me doing the label printing, order filling and post office deliveries. This is not a cry for pity, just a heads up. If you must must MUST have it shipped sooner, send me an email and you’ll be bumped to the top. Gotta run, lots of work to do to get your goodies to you! Lovies, Gretta”
Regular posting will resume shortly. Thank you again, everyone!
The shop is now open! Issue 03, the stickers, and the shirts are up for grabs (note: the shirts have already been printed, and are available to ship immediately).
With our past two print issues, we were content to take a couple of snapshots of the best-designed articles and show them off on the blog in hopes of enticing you to buy a copy. This time around, attempting to choose select images from our newest issue is proving to be painfully difficult. Thanks largely in part to our phenomenal creative director, Courtney Riot, each and every article had a design personality so strong, it’s clamoring to represent Issue 03. What to choose, what to omit…
Eh, screw it, this ain’t Sophie’s Choice! It’s late. We’re giddy and delirious. Let’s throw caution to the wind, yes? FULL MONTY, baby. After the cut, a tantalizing, low-res glimpse at all the articles in our latest issue. Enjoy.
It’s a big day for Coilhouse! In addition to the new stickers, today we are also premiering the new shirts, featuring our original poster girl, the Stratosphere Messenger. Here are a couple of pics. More will be posted to the store, along with details and sizing charts. Below is Zoetica and above is photographer Lou O’Bedlam, who also appears inside Issue 03.
Our next post on this blog will be it. The one that you’ve all been waiting for. The one that we’ve been waiting to post for many months now. With our next post, our shop will officially open, and you will come face-to-face with Issue 03!
In the next hour or so, here we are going to reveal the contents of Issue 03 and put it on sale in our shop (along with new shirt designs and stickers). Stay tuned!
To tide you over while we put our finishing touches on the big Issue 03 post, order here are the two new stickers up for grabs. These premium contoured vinyl stickers are water-resistant, printed with a UV finish and will last you 20 years. They cost $3.99, but the first 5 people who order Issue 03 will receive a sticker of their choice for free! (Update: congrats Matthew, Ruth, Nickolas, Charlotte and Jason!)
More pictures of the 2 stickers designs after the jump.
The “Golden Mean” snail car, a featured installation at the Fire Arts Festival this year. (Photo by Kim Sallaway.)
Heads up, Californians! The Crucible’s 9th annual Fire Arts Festival, “a spectacular open-air exhibition of astounding performances, fire sculpture and interactive art, lights up the sky at the Crucible’s new Fire Arts Arena in the freeway canyon lands of West Oakland.” Commencing this evening and running through Saturday the 18th, the festival is a full ten acres of installations, vendors, roving theatrics, circus arts, fire performers and aerialists.
For months now, Coilhouse co-editor Meredith Yayanos has been in meetings and rehearsals, preparing for this epic event. She’s a key player in The Rootabaga Opera, the featured musical performance at the festival this year. Composed by Mer’s good friend Dan Cantrell, the massive scale, multi-disciplinary work features dancers, acrobats, 20-foot high shadow puppet projections, pyrotechnics, a chamber orchestra and an Eastern European-influenced women’s choir. The whimsical narrative is based on noted American poet Carl Sandburg’s cherished early 20th century folk tales, The Rootabaga Stories.
A few of the Rootabaga Opera shadow puppets by Mark Bulwinkle. They’ll be projected onto a towering scrim and lit by arc welders.
Other featured music performances will include Poor Man’s Whiskey, BlacKMahal, Lucero, and last but certainly not least, Mer’s longtime chum and collaborator, Amanda Fucking Palmer. Mer actually postponed her move to Middle Earth, NZ specifically to participate in this event. She says “I haven’t been so proud or so glad about a music project in a very long time. I’m hoping to see a lot of our readers there!” Rumor has it she’ll be bringing her penny farthing and her Stroh along, too.
After the jump, some more related videos and images, and a long, illustrious list of artists contributing their large scale installations to the massive fundraising event.
Unlike many, I have no particular quibbles with Scientology. In terms of belief their particular brand of lunacy is no more abhorrent than omnipotent bearded men, elephant-headed deities, or reincarnation. There is something intrinsically modern about Scientology’s aliens and space-faring DC-3s. It is a a belief system with a mythology that could only have been invented by an author of science fiction. No other person would have that complete a vision or be willing to go so far beyond the pale. In that regard it is no surprise that the likes of Anonymous have pursued the organization as it has. They are, after all, infringing on prime geek territory.
In keeping with that same tone, Scientology has started a new advertising campaign comprised of a trio of commercials aimed at enticing the public. The one above is most interesting. If one didn’t know better one might speculate that it was aimed squarely at the aforementioned 4chaners, as it appears to be a none to subtle nod at a similar speech from Fight Club which, among other things, inspired the boards’s rules. Perhaps it is merely a byproduct of the organization’s many ties with elite Hollywood actors. Either way, the ads are undeniably slick and handily fit in with Scientology’s sci-fi roots. These are ads you would expect to find on the television in a Philip K. Dick novel; plastered on the billboards of some dystopian, near-future Los Angeles.
Mostly, though, they bring me back to my childhood, staying home sick from school and watching daytime television. Family Feud cuts to commercial break and a series of insightful questions flash on screen, appended by page numbers. How can a person suddenly lose confidence? Can your mind limit your success? Paper or plastic? Then, CRASH, a volcano explodes on the screen, churning up a hellish cauldron of white-hot magma, an ominous voice intoning the words “Read Dianetics, by L. Ron Hubbard. It’s the owner’s manual, for the human mind.” It had a profound effect on me as a child. At least, until The Feud came back on.
Like any other job, there are downsides to being employed at the Catacombs. The company health insurance does not cover dental, for example. Also, parking is sparse. There are also more idiosyncratic deficiencies and policies, like the recent memo I received from Zoe which informed the staff that olives would no longer be allowed on the premises. Still, for every omission or strange and drug-addled edict, there is a perk. Our co-pay is almost criminally low and the break room is always fully stocked. The company also works with other local businesses to get discounts for employees, like 10% off electrolysis (Thanks, Dave!).
Certainly the best perks though, are the company vehicles. Not only are they immaculate and well-kept, they are also available for employee use. It’s comforting to know that should the grind of panning through the silt of the web for that tell-tale sparkle become too much, one can call down to M.E.R. to have their office unlocked and sign out the company balloon for an hour. After being escorted to the roof there it will be, the cranium full and bobbing gently over the basket. Then, it’s just a matter of dropping some of the eyes and you’re on your way. Just you, your armed guard, and the endless gray vista.
Issue 03 arrived today! We’re still too giddy to write up a proper post describing the issue, so for now, we’re just showing off the cover, photographed by the talented Gustavo Lopez Mañas. Part of a haunting series called Avatars, this image was shot exclusively forIssue 03. Behind the jump, a couple more images from this 8-page series. Watch the blog carefully this week – very soon, we’ll be unveiling the rest of Issue 03’s content, the day it goes on sale, and what other goodies (new shirt design! stickers!) we have for you.
Our third issue took us further down the spiral of paper-fetish addiction; we upgraded the thickness of both the cover paper and the paper inside. This time we went with a heavy gloss for the cover and experimented with embossing for the title. Many more facts about Issue 03 are yet to come!
