I was digging through some SF book reviews I wrote a while back, and it occurred to me that one of the authors would probably be of interest to gothier sensibilities as well. Here’s the review of Tim Powers I did for the Other*Worlds*Cafe:

Tim Powers! Whee! Tim Powers tips perilously close into straight fantasy, and…I don’t care. To be perfectly honest, the only real science fiction novel that Powers has written, Dinner at Deviant’s Palace, really, really sucks. Really, really hard. All of his good stuff–and it really is amazingly good–involves vampires, the last “inspiration” of Thomas Edison, or the reincarnation of King Arthur.

Now that that ugly truth is out of the way, I can talk about how much Powers’ work feels like SF without actually being it.

Powers–along with Blaylock and Jeter–was a disciple of P.K. Dick, and it shows in some of his work. There’s a strong undercurrent of weird running through his novels. He also has some of the most labyrinthine plots, which draw together–in what seems like an entirely rational fashion–some of the most disparate elements, that I’ve ever encountered. Powers’ great strength is to take real historical facts–the Turkish attack on Vienna, the death of Lord Byron, World War II espionage, amongst others–and string them together with entirely plausible behind-the-scenes supposition that neatly “explains” everything that happened against a context of pure fantasy.

Books to look for include:

• The Drawing of the Dark – A down-at-heels adventurer discovers that he is the highly-unwilling reincarnation of King Arthur, brought back to save the West from obliteration by attack from the East. This is the book that introduced me to Powers, and the fact that beer turns out to have a large part in the salvation of civilization certainly doesn’t do any less to endear it to me.
• The Stress of Her Regard – If pressed really hard, I’d probably have to name this one as my favorite Powers novel. Described by the publisher as a “horror-adventure,” it follows the travels of a man who has unwittingly proposed marriage to a lamia (a rather specific type of malignant female spirit). It manages to shoehorn Byron, Shelley, Polidori, all kinds of vampire literature, the founding of Venice, European folklore, and homunculi into one novel, and tie them all together. I think DaVinci’s in there somewhere, too. This is a creepy, atmospheric novel, hard to read alone at night but even harder to put down.
• Expiration Date – The essences of the dead are breathed out in their last exhalation, and can be kept in little jars, to be snorted by “ghost junkies.” Powers took the curious fact that Henry Ford captured Thomas Edison’s dying breath in a glass vial, and managed to hang an entire novel on it (actually two, since there’s a sequel, Earthquake Weather). An 11-year-old boy accidentally becomes possessed by the spirit of Edison, and becomes the center of a feeding frenzy of ghost eaters trying to absorb the late inventor’s genius. As with other Powers works, a really ridiculous amount of seemingly-unconnected things all tie together so seamlessly and plausibly that you halfway wonder if they aren’t actually linked.

I haven’t got ’round to Powers’ more recent stuff, such as Declare and Three Days to Never, but from reviews it seems that his novels just keep getting better and more complex. I mean, really complex. Take a look at the Amazon review of Declare:

This supernatural suspense thriller crosses several genres–espionage, geopolitics, religion, fantasy. But like the chicken crossing the road, it takes quite a while to get to the other side. En route, Tim Powers covers a lot of territory: Turkey, Armenia, the Saudi Arabian desert, Beirut, London, Paris, Berlin, and Moscow. Andrew Hale, an Oxford lecturer who first entered Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service as an 18-year-old schoolboy, is called back to finish a job that culminated in a deadly mission on Mount Ararat after the end of World War II. Now it’s 1963, and cold war politics are behind the decision to activate Hale for another attempt to complete Operation Declare and bring down the Communist government before Moscow can harness the powerful, other-worldly forces concentrated on the summit of the mountain, supposed site of the landing of Noah’s ark. James Theodora is the über-spymaster whose internecine rivalry with other branches of the Secret Intelligence Service traps Hale between a rock and a hard place, literally and figuratively. There’s plenty of mountain and desert survival stuff here, a plethora of geopolitical and theological history, and a big serving of A Thousand and One Nights, which is Hale’s guide to the meteorites, drogue stones, and amonon plant, which figure in this complicated tale. There’s a love story, too, and a bizarre twist on the Kim Philby legend that posits both Philby and Hale as the only humans who can tame the powers of the djinns who populate Mount Ararat.

Whoa, Nelly.

Anyway. Powers. Good author, highly recommended.

If you have to pick just one book mentioned above to read, I’d recommend The Stress of Her Regard. It’s full of vampiry goodness, and the “secret history” aspect is very well done.

Incidentally, another of Powers’ books, On Stranger Tides, was optioned by Disney as part of the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Good stuff.

In my continuing effort to have acquaintances say, “You do what?” whenever they speak to me, I’ve recently added beekeeping to my list of hobbies.

Suburban and even urban beekeeping is increasing in popularity, and since it’s a subject I’ve been interested in for quite some time I finally decided to take a class offered by my local beekeeping club.* They’re an enthusiastic and friendly bunch, and like many gonzo hobbyists they’re eager to make all of us love their hobby as much as they do.

The classes have been interesting, covering topics ranging from sustainable pest management to how to bribe your neighbors so they don’t object to you keeping 50,000 stinging insects next door.** They even assigned each of us a mentor–mine bears a striking resemblance to a young Dumbledore–to help us get started. (Which is good, because there is one heck of a lot of new information to absorb.)

I hived my first package of bees last weekend, and as is apparently traditional I have named the queen. Lilith (queen of the damned) and her minions are buzzing around in my front yard, and I couldn’t be happier.

Shadow Jack, incidentally, has suggested that we eventually might sell beeswax and honey on the site, claiming that the products are the work of “zom-bees” using nectar collected exclusively from funeral lilies. Shadow Jack has a screw loose.

Anyway, bees. If you’re interested in exploring the hobby, check to see if there’s a local club you can join, take a look at books such as The Backyard Beekeeper or Beekeeping for Dummies, and look for relevant blogs (like Backwards Beekeepers) and forums (like Beesource). Come…join us. We have honey!

*Minor digression: In the first class we went around the room and explained why we were interested in beekeeping. One person had a small orchard and wanted to improve pollination. A couple of people wanted to help stave off CCD. When they got to me I joked, “My husband won’t let me keep goats, so I figured I could get away with smaller livestock.” At the break, three different women approached me and commiserated about the goats. A few weeks later I called a bee equipment supplier to order my hive, and while the nice lady was processing my order she asked why I was taking up the hobby. I explained that I’d been interested in it for a while, then made the same, “plus my husband refuses to let me keep goats” joke I’d made in class. She immediately said, “My husband won’t let me keep goats either!” There is apparently a huge number of women whose goat-havingness is being thwarted by our husbands, and we’re all turning to beekeeping to console ourselves. Someday we will raise an apian army and sting the bastards.

**They also recommended that we have our doctor write a prescription for an Epipen, even if we weren’t allergic. Just in case. This is the first hobby I’ve ever considered that has the potential to kill you. It’s awesome.

(Bee photo courtesy of Empress Pam, who watched the hive install.)

Anéis Alice: surpreendentes – These Brazilian rings celebrating the new Alice movie are just gorgeous. I especially love the mushroom one.

The Internets – There’s a “ghost in the machine” joke in here somewhere.

Wild Boars – I think the caption should read, “And then they ate him.”

Things and Places Inspired by Coffins – A roundup from Oddee. I’ve blogged about a few of these before (and we sell the coffin purse).

Entomologia – Images from a gallery show featuring art made with preserved insects.

These Bones for Hire – I love this “noir” painting by Bonni Reid.

Tree Railing – There’s no information on what material these “trees” are made of, but they’re certainly a unique replacement for stair railings. (Hat tip to Kitten Herder)

The Loving Dead – In the runup to print publication, writer Amelia Beamer is serializing her novel about “sex and zombies” online.

Zakka Life posted these instructions for making super-easy throw pillows decorated with doll clothes: It’s really nothing more than tacking the clothes to the pillow with a running stitch.

Given the variety of doll clothes available, it would be easy to make some wonderfully gothy pillows using the same technique. Make or purchase throw pillows in dark brocades or other luxurious fabrics and look for doll-sized ball gowns, Halloween costumes, or naughty underwear to stitch to the front. It could hardly be easier.

A set of pillows like this would also make an unusual gift, particularly if they followed a theme (nurse, witch, etc.) that was meaningful to the recipient.

Here’s a rather marvelous DIY lamp idea: Artist Ryan McElhinney piles writhing mounds of action figures and other toys around lamps, then lacquers them into something right out of Hieronymous Bosch. I’m not entirely sure I could sleep with one of these things next to my bed.

Basic lamp kits are cheap, and old plastic toys are easy to find at garage sales and thrift shops. Arrange them to your liking, glue them together, then paint and lacquer. Top with an appropriate shade, put the thrashing, shouty mass (there are some very angry-looking toys on the market) on your bedside table, and bingo! Instant nightmare fodder.

The artist uses the same technique to decorate mirror frames, and I’m sure you could do something similar to lots of other objects like vases or wreaths. This might be a unique way to repurpose an outgrown collection of small plastic toys that you aren’t quite ready to get rid of entirely.

(via BoingBoing)

Billing itself as having “a story for every storey,” Grow House Grow! specializes in wallpaper designs with a narrative background.

They’ve got some designs inspired by female Victorian naturalists, such as Ms. Treat, whose illustrations of carnivorous plants influenced Darwin, and Ms Ward, whose dual interest in microscopy and drawing insects is captured by late-Georgian silhouettes interacting with oversized bugs (I especially like the figures leading a mantis on a leash and reclining on a giant spider).

There are also patterns inspired by Edward John Smith (the ill-fated captain of the Titanic) and by the death of Ka Cox, who was associated with Aleister Crowley. Even the color variations are evocative: Choices for Captain Smith include “Silhouette,” “Epoque,” and “Promenade,” and Crowley’s are “Felt Leaf,” “Primrose,” and “Veil.”

As is often the case for quirky, high-quality wallpaper, it’s fairly pricey. On the plus side, they offer “sheets” as well as rolls, so it might be possible to feature a small amount on one wall and use less-expensive paper on the others. You could also use it to decorate a non-wall surface like a decoupaged tabletop.

(via The Steampunk Home)

This foam-and-latex mirror frame is currently on clearance at Terror Syndicate for $55. I think something fairly similar could be DIY’d pretty easily and inexpensively if you’ve got an existing mirror (or picture frame) that you’d like to skullify.

Foam skulls and bones are popular Halloween props, so they’re fairly easy to come by. If you don’t want to wait until Halloween decorations start showing up in local stores,* you can find them online year-round: Searching for “bag of bones” will turn up a lot of products like this, and you can also get foam skulls with flat backs here. If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you can also cast your own bones: this article at MAKE explains how to make foam skulls.

You’ll probably want to choose a wooden frame, since adhesives might not stick as well to slick metal or plastic (and if you use hot glue to attach the bones, it may also melt plastic). It doesn’t matter whether the frame has dents or nicks, since it’s going to be covered with bones, and you’re also going to paint it so the color isn’t important either. Nose around local thrift shops for ugly old frames that you can convert.

Lay the bones on the frame, moving them if necessary until you’re happy with their arrangement, then glue them in place; you may need to cut flat spots on the backs to seat them properly. Decorate as desired. For a rotted-corpse look similar to the example above, use pantyhose and latex to make sticky-looking “skin” (this tutorial goes into detail on that process). You can also make drippy-looking strands with hot glue similar to the method used for this frame, or use papier-mache or polymer clay to smooth off cut edges and add detail. When thoroughly dry–which may take a while if you use latex adhesive–spray-paint the desired color. You can also hand-paint additional detail such as “moss” or “ichor” if you like. (You can also go in a completely different direction and cover the whole thing in glitter and fake gemstones if you’re feeling particularly perky.)

Add a mirror or appropriate photograph and hang with pride. Cheap! Easy! Customizable! Whee!

*Incidentally, I like to wait until right after Halloween when everything goes on clearance, then stock up on craft supplies for the rest of the year. I’ve got more fake skulls in my basement than you can shake a femur at.

Zombie Shadow Caster – I have never needed much help self-inducing a case of The Fantods, but if you require creeping-out assistance, this thing that makes zombie shadows on the walls will probably do the trick.

4 by Poe – If you’re a Poe aficionado, this upcoming collection might be of interest.

Flashlight: Brand New Moon – w00t ad copy is always hilarious, and this one is nicely topical. (Hat tip to Kitten Herder)

8-bit Wedding Invitation – A geeky German couple created a video game that guests have to win in order to see their wedding details.

Miniature Bell Jar – Tiny glass bell jar kit, perfect for displaying itty-bitty treasures.

Alice in Wonderland Bedroom – Squiddoo lens with ideas for themed bedroom decor.

Monster Squad Remake – Topless Robot sums up my sentiments better than I could.

Reduce, Reuse, Reanimate – This T-shirt touts the environmental friendliness of zombies. (From Order of the Stick, which is highly amusing if you like gaming.)

Empress Pam recently turned me on to an interesting decorating idea found in an unusual place: The restroom of a DC restaurant called Oyamel. (She’s not the only one who’s noticed it, either; about half the reviews I found online mentioned the restroom decor.)

One wall is lined floor-to-ceiling with small shadowboxes, each containing a calavera or other ethnic artwork, not to mention a hell of a lot of glitter. They’re like miniature shrines, and are perfect for highlighting small treasures. This would be a great way to display a collection of small items (like the calaveras), and each box could be decorated differently to really showcase its contents.

The Oyamel shadowboxes look fairly deep, so they probably wouldn’t be suitable for a small room where they might eat into the floor space. A wall of shallower boxes or a border of deeper boxes at eye level might work better. You’d also need to be careful if you put the shadowboxes in a bathroom or kitchen where humidity or aerosolized grease might damage the display items. “Real” shadowboxes with glass fronts can be expensive, but since these lack the glass you could build your own simple wooden boxes or even use sturdy cardboard. Cheap, easy, and highly unique.

(Photo from this site)

As much as I rip on Disney, I have no problem admitting that they know how to make a scene. There are a zillion little details throughout the parks that add enormous ambience, from “fireflies” in the trees in New Orleans Square to evil-looking skulls in the background decor at Disney Villains.

Taylor at Disney Imaginations has posted instructions for re-creating a few of these details, such as the LED fireflies, the floating candelabra in the Haunted Mansion, and the Tower of Terror elevator dial. He’s also got a nice selection of links to other sites with additional how-to guides.

If you’re looking for some fairly easy decorating tidbits, some of these projects might be fun to tackle.

(via Mr. Macabre)