Is it Draugveil AI? At this point, the Ukranian underground ‘band’ needs little introduction. Three weeks ago, that album cover dropped and magnetised the derision of kvltist and casj metalhead alike, as well memelords far outside the metalsphere. The brave and curious gave it a listen and found that, well, actually, there might be something meritious there after all. And then the real twist hit. The suggestion that Cruel World of Dreams and Fears, Draugveil’s rose-wreathed debut LP, was AI-generated. This one has hit hard for me, as we shall explore below. But first, we gotta get to the bottom of this. Is Draugveil AI?
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The Real Best Stories of H. P. Lovecraft
So: you wish to explore the squamous and eldritch pleasures of the real best stories of H. P. Lovecraft? Fear not. For in reading that most terrible and forbidden volume Necronomicon, I have discovered and unearthed the ten of his greatest. Lovecraft is, in many ways, the father of American horror as we know it. He’s also hella wordy and deliberately archaic in style. His work can be sublime (see this list) or utter dreck (The Dream Quest of Uknown Kadath – there’s five hours I’m never getting back).
Well. The moon is gibbous. The dark is stygian. Let’s explore the antediluvian libraries of Lovecraft’s cyclopean works.
Honourable Mention: The Whisperer in Darkness
A cautionary tale about the dangers of long-distance friendships. Also why you should never trust people who insist on writing letters instead of just talking to you. Our protagonist gets roped into a conspiracy about alien fungi from Yuggoth and doesn’t realize he’s in trouble until the reader is practically screaming it at him. It’s a bit of a slow-burn and hasn’t made my top ten. But something really stuck with me about The Whisper in Darkness. Think brains. Think space. Think no bodies.
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2024: A Year of Writing
2024 has been a funny old year for my writing. In fact, it’s been a year of so much upheaval and change that, looking back from the tail-end, I can’t believe it’s all happened in the space of twelve months. I look at my reading list and can’t believe I read The Goldfinch and books by Merisha Pessl and Katherine Min so recently. They feel like they belong to another chapter in my life. As does so much of my writing. Let me walk you through my 2024.
New Digs 2024
The Lady K and I made the decision to relocate early in 2024 and things moved at record speed – we moved from Brighton to Salisbury in April. I love Salisbury. I grew up on Salisbury Plain and I’m thrilled to be back. But there was a complication. We moved in April and the academic year finishes in July. I chose to teach at my Sussex-based school until the academic year was done. There were a few reasons. I didn’t want to have the extra pressure of joining a new school in the final term and I didn’t want extra change at a time of so much upheaval. Mostly, I really enjoyed my school and wanted to finish up properly with a class I’d really bonded with. Of course, for twelve weeks, I’d be living and working two hours apart.
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The Best Children’s Horror Books: Ten Chilling Reads for Young Readers
Being both a teacher and a horrorhead, I was thrilled when my Year 5 class asked if I could recommend any children’s horror books to them. Well, these books from my personal collection offer just the right amount of creepiness to keep kids engaged. Let’s take a look at ten of the best horror books for children. Prepare to capture imaginations, send chills down spines and maybe even keep your kids up a little later than usual.
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The Dragon and the Cross: A St. George’s Day Poem
A couple of years ago, I started writing a St. George’s Day poem. I had this idea, see — well, more of an image, in my head. I’d seen a billboard with an England fan’s face on it. White greasepaint, red cross, as solemn as if his life depended on the match. Who knows, maybe it did. I don’t have much truck for football myself, but it did spark an idea in me. Rather than St. George a chivalrous knight, why not St. George a berserker, a raging, painted warrior fighting for his faith against his hellish opponent? I could write about that.
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