I’ve mentioned Tim Powers’ books previously, including the excellent vampiric “secret history” The Stress of Her Regard. Stress follows Michael Crawford, a man who unwittingly proposed marriage to a lamia, across Europe as he tries to free himself from his bloodthirsty bride. He encounters a number of Romantic poets and authors–Byron, Keats, Shelley, and Polidori amongst them–and discovers that lamia can act as artistic muses…for a price.
Powers wrote a postscript to that novel called A Time to Cast Away Stones, which can be found collected in The Bible Repairman and Other Stories (there’s a free excerpt at Tor). In it, Edward Trelawny schemes to remake the connection between humans and monsters, hoping to use his alliance to free Greece from the Turks.
Now Powers has released a true sequel entitled Hide Me Among the Graves, in which the vampires have returned. Set in Victorian London, veterinarian John Crawford sets out to save his young daughter from the attentions of a vampiric wraith, eventually joining forces with the Rossettis (poet Christina and painter Dante), who are the unwilling students of a supernatural muse.
One of the things that makes Powers’ “secret histories” so engaging is the deftness with which he weaves the fiction into actual events. He is quoted as saying, “I made it an ironclad rule that I could not change or disregard any of the recorded facts, nor rearrange any days of the calendar – and then I tried to figure out what momentous but unrecorded fact could explain them all.” So all of the deaths, wars, disasters, and other historical events in his novels are accurate…and then he takes you behind the scenes to see the hidden supernatural machinations which “caused” them.
Great stuff; highly recommended. I’m thrilled that there’s another chapter in this particular corner of Powers’ universe.
I mentioned the Inn at the Crossroads blog a while back but hadn’t really been keeping up with it, so I’m delighted that the fabulous JoAsakura clued me in to the fact that they’re expanding beyond Westeros-specific dishes and into other fantasy venues.
One such excursion is their lovely Snow White-esque enchanted apples, eerily darkened with food coloring and given a nicely rustic touch by using twigs as handles.* I love how sinister-looking the glossy black coating looks.
If you use twigs instead of skewers you would definitely want to make sure you know what kind of wood they are–using something like oleander would be a spectacularly bad idea–and make sure they haven’t been sprayed with any pesticide (or, if you get them from a craft store, that they haven’t been treated with a preservative). Cutting them from the tree would probably make them easier to rinse off vs. collecting them from the ground, although obviously you’d need permission first; wandering into a national park and hacking at the trees is generally frowned upon.
You would want to ensure that the apples are thoroughly scrubbed (some apples are waxed, which will prevent the coating from sticking properly) and thoroughly dried before dipping. I might also suggest either suspending them over a basin until they begin to harden or holding them upside-down for about a minute after dipping rather than placing them directly on a Silpat or waxed paper. That would let a lot more of the excess coating drip off instead of creating a hard puddle of candy around the base, leaving you with a more naturally apple-shaped finished product.
And, of course, you can change up the recipe to use whatever candy (rather than caramel, which wouldn’t be as glossy) coating suits you; this cider-based recipe looks tempting.
However you do it, these are a splendid and super-easy addition to a party table. Who knew nothing but a little food coloring could be so effective?
(Thanks, JoAsakura!)
*As I was writing this, I became more and more convinced that I’d seen something like this before, possibly from Martha Stewart (which came up negative, although she does have these neat-looking “poison” apples), and finally a thorough scouring of my archives turned them up here. I’m assuming this was the Inn’s inspiration, although it’s possibly just convergent evolution.
MonsterList – I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this before. It’s a giant list of Halloween projects, from instructions for making a 13-Hour Clock to a technique for faux weathering a spooky wooden sign. (Hat tip to Cookie)
At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past – Interesting history of night, covering everything from aristocratic masquerades to the use of hands of glory.
Chocolate Chilli Zombie Graves – These cute decorations could be used on a variety of desserts, from chocolate mousse to brownies.
BoingBoing recently featured a “mad science” display illustrating the “Teratogenic Effects of Pure Evil in Ursus Teddius Domesticus,” and commenters helped identify it as the work of Allison Lonsdale, done for a display at the 2010 ConDor convention in San Francisco. There are photos of the whole exhibit here (first three images), plus a transcript of the signage text.
In particular I was amused by the first item under Protocols, “A sample of Pure Evil was obtained from the ruins of an exploded toaster in the south of England,” as a sly reference to the ending of Time Bandits. I also liked the dryly bland note about the fate of the experimental subject receiving a 1000ppm dosage; after developing dental hypertrophy, ocular luminescence, and extreme behavioral changes, “Subject was then euthanized with a sustained burst of automatic weapons fire.”
I love everything about this idea. Not only would this kind of science-fair display be a dynamite art project (a collection of stuffed-and-mounted monsters labeled with species names, for instance, or a survey of the relative efficacy of various vampire repellants), those of us with grade-school kids also have the opportunity to subvert an actual science fair project. I don’t believe there’s anything in the rules against investigating the feasibility of the reanimation of dead tissue via lightning bolt. The heck with baking-soda volcanoes; if Shadowboy’s first science fair doesn’t get the rules amended to specifically preclude me from suggesting future experiments, I’m doing it wrong.
Jane of All Trades turned me on to this “bridal bouquet stuffed in a bird skull” design by Gisèle Ganne, who states that the elements are traditional French wedding symbols subverted to show the inevitability of the breakup.
Ganne appears to be at the forefront of the divorce-jewelry trend, with a number of designs available for sale at Boticca–pricey, but quite lovely–and additional photos at her site. Check out her other work, too; she has some attractive mourning jewelry.
Other divorce rings include BR Paterson’s line engraved with sayings like, “Over You” and “So Long,” Spritzer and Furman’s split heart, and Diana Maynard’s “broken band” design. I also quite like Vagabond Jewelry’s amusing but highly impractical guillotine ring.
Sites commenting on the trend range from pearl-clutching “Why would you want to remind yourself of a divorce?” to “Heck yes, celebrate your freedom.” I myself can think of a lot of things I’d rather blow a couple grand on, but am otherwise unmoved. What do you think? Weird, or cool?
The Spooky Men’s Chorale is an Australian group which describe themselves thusly:
The Spooky Men’s Chorale is a vast, rumbling, steam powered and black clad behemoth, seemingly accidentally capable of rendering audiences moist eyed with mute appreciation or haplessly gurgling with merriment. Based on the twin pillars of grand foolishness and the quest for the perfect subwoofer-rattling boofchord, the spookies seek to commentate on the absurdity and grandeur of the modern male armed only with their voices, a sly collection of hats and facial hair, and a twinkle in the eye.
Their Facebook page lists their genre as “beardgaze,” which sounds about right.
The marvelous Sisifo recently pointed me to this splendid “purple bubbles” nail design by Pumpkincat210, and this video tutorial for tentacle-themed nails by april981, and then suggested:
I was thinking it would look cool if the nail ideas were fused together to look more realistic. Not the colors. Just the ideas. The base coat could be the bluish green, you could still use the purple dots, and then put smaller white dots on them to make them look like the suckers on the tentacle.
To which I can only say, Hells yeah.
I love the idea of three-dimensional tentacle fingernails. In addition to the blue-and-purple theme, it would probably look splendid in black and neon green.
Perfume as Costume – Interesting ideas for complementing a costume with fragrance.
The Lego Dead – Fairly easy zombie-themed cake. The covering appears to be textured fondant; I’m not entirely sure what the “blood” is–possibly more fondant–since it looks solid instead of runny.
Stuart McLachlan – Artist who specializes in “paper styling.” A couple of his creations might be useful costume inspiration, such as this “spiral staircase up to a spooky cliff” gown.
Roach Party! – Tumblr blog devoted to all things cockroachy. (Hat tip to Cat)
Making Vinegar at Home – Easy instructions for making homemade vinegar. One of the options they mention is tequila vinegar, so I assume it’d be possible to make vinegar from something like absinthe if you’re so inclined.
I’ve mentioned Tim Powers’ books previously, including the excellent vampiric “secret history” The Stress of Her Regard. Stress follows Michael Crawford, a man who unwittingly proposed marriage to a lamia, across Europe as he tries to free himself from his bloodthirsty bride. He encounters a number of Romantic poets and authors–Byron, Keats, Shelley, and Polidori amongst them–and discovers that lamia can act as artistic muses…for a price.
I mentioned the 
BoingBoing recently 
Apparently they’re a thing. Who knew?
