Apocalyptic Stop-Motion Rays from the Hollow Earth
I’ll be a guest at the NecronomiCon in Providence August 15-18. It’ll be my second trip out to Providence, and I’m really looking forward to it, even if all my con-going and socializing muscles have sorely atrophied in the last few years.
I’m on several panels which certainly represent the… breadth of my interests, lets say. Panels where I’ll be contributing my weird opinions and random factoids include one on the weird fiction of Jean Ray, a panel on Hollow Earth stories, one on John Carpenter’s “Apocalypse Trilogy,” and one on stop-motion animation.
Undeniably, these are all topics in which I have an abiding interest, if not necessarily expertise. I’ve read pretty much every piece of Jean Ray’s weird fiction that’s available in translation, thanks mostly to the efforts of Scott Nicolay and Wakefield Press, and while I am far from a Ray scholar, I am eager to share my enthusiasm.
Besides being a fan of Hollow Earth stories, I’ve recently written my own Hollow Earth story cycle, including tales such as “No Exit.” The cycle is completed and is just awaiting the laborious process of being turned into an actual book.
As for John Carpenter’s “Apocalypse Trilogy,” I have written about it frequently, though my best known piece on the subject might just be my best known piece period – an article more than a decade old that originally showed up on Strange Horizons and has since been translated into several languages and referenced in academic books and Wikipedia entries alike. It’s also the lead-in essay for my forthcoming book of filmw writing, Glowing in the Dark, coming later this year from Word Horde.
When it comes to stop-motion, I am back in the realm of enthusiastic appreciation, rather than expertise, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t written about stop-motion animation more than once. Of course, the form has influenced several of my stories, probably most notably “Baron von Werewolf Presents: Frankenstein Against the Phantom Planet,” which originally appeared in Eternal Frankenstein and was later reprinted in Guignol & Other Sardonic Tales. But I’ve also written plenty of nonfiction about stop-motion animation, including a lengthy and very personal appreciation of Ray Harryhausen which originally appeared in Unwinnable and will also be reprinted in Glowing in the Dark.
In addition to doing duty jabbering on various panels, I helped out a lot with the film programming for this year’s convention. And I am very excited about the feature film lineup. Probably my biggest contribution was suggesting a double-feature of Die, Monster, Die and Planet of the Vampires, as they were originally shown on a double bill. I also helped to arrange for a screening of The Primevals, which was my favorite movie of last year and which has heretofore been hard to see. And while it will be out on Blu-ray soon, it’s a movie that begs to be seen on the big screen. Finally, I didn’t have much to do with this one, but I wish I had, because they’ll be screening The Legend of Hillbilly John, one of the only movies ever adapted from the works of Manly Wade Wellman! Come see a character get killed by a break in the film!
Besides all that, I’ll be doing the usual stuff of spending too much money and time in the dealer’s room or lurking suitably around Providence, which is a very great town for lurking. If you’re going, I hope to see you there! I am usually not very hard to find…
