The Precious
Today it was time to indulge in some serious nostalgia. Not just a visit to my favourite lunatic asylum but also a sneak peek at the work in progress that is Sculptures by the Sea which officially opens this Friday.
Then there was also the matter of decadent indulgence. Back in December 2014, New Edition book shop was filled with an assortment of gorgeous tomes all out in time for the Christmas craziness.
Including this one
The walls are adorned with promotional pictures from China Mieville’s “Kraken” which must be a good 5 years old by now but is the perfect theme for a book store located in the university quarter of Fremantle and less than 5 minutes walk to the Indian Ocean.
It was while flicking through this book that I had the idea - “What if New Edition were really a recruitment centre for an ancient Kraken cult?” and figured this would be fun idea for a possible plot for next November. And never mind just the book store - the whole town could be in on the scheme. The following 12 months provided an abundance of circumstantial evidence in the form of street art and assorted graffiti.
Of course the inner serpent would have none of this nonsense. There is only one true faith and that is the Church of Serpentology and NO you do not need this infernal tome or any other for research purposes. Not just because you already have several paperbacks with most of the stories and they are all online these days anyway. But this book is a ridiculous $49.99, it weighs a ton, is suitable only for a rather large coffee table and anyway you could probably get it online for half the price. But most importantly of all - you do not NEED it and you cannot justify wasting precious pennies on such decadence when the book shop is filled with endless rows of interesting and useful books.
So reason and logic prevailed. That was until the evening of a big Nanowrimo write in. There was a table full of books and mysterious envelopes as prizes. I picked the one from New Edition. It was worth 30 silver sickles with a use by date of NEVER unlike most vouchers which are valid for between 6 and 12 months.
Now this was the perfect excuse for some decadent indulgence. The summer solstice seemed the most auspicious time to snaffle the Squid. Problem was that it was not there. After all, the book was published in November 2014 and was not going to be hanging around taking up precious space on the shelves waiting for Izzie to win the lottery. There were also many other gorgeous books on the shelves worthy of serpent attention including the Thing Explainer (complicated stuff in simple words)
No harm in asking. They said they would have it back in stock in mid January and today was the first day since then that I have darkened the doors of the store. Once again I could not find it in the Sci fi and Cult fiction section so asked at the counter and one of the book sellers came back with the big black tentacled tome within the minute. It turns out that it was in the classics section along with the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe, the Annotated Alice, Annotated Brothers Grimm and an assortment of other enormous, gorgeous and very expensive books.
So I handed over the gift voucher and 20 silver sickles and took possession of the Tentacled Tome. From there I made my way to the new arts centre (and old lunatic asylum) and sat in the gorgeous courtyard browsing through the pages and all the pretty pictures until it was closing time. Then I was off to catch the bus to see the sculptures by the sea.
So inspired by the monstrous abominations on the pages, an assortment of strange sculptures on the sea shore shining and glowing in the spooky light of the setting sun, it was a gorgeous way to end the day.
Back in the real world there are soul sucking vampires, weasels, werewolves, zombie prime ministers and other evil monsters lurking and snivelling and indulging in their usual arse covering, back stabbing, cost cutting goblin ways but the dreadful recent resurrections of Tony Abbott and John Howard, the triumphs of Trump and the simpering sniveling litany of excuses spouted by Goblin George Pell are best left for another day.
They are where the true incarnations of horror and cosmic monstrosity can be found.
Then there was also the matter of decadent indulgence. Back in December 2014, New Edition book shop was filled with an assortment of gorgeous tomes all out in time for the Christmas craziness.
Including this one
The walls are adorned with promotional pictures from China Mieville’s “Kraken” which must be a good 5 years old by now but is the perfect theme for a book store located in the university quarter of Fremantle and less than 5 minutes walk to the Indian Ocean.
It was while flicking through this book that I had the idea - “What if New Edition were really a recruitment centre for an ancient Kraken cult?” and figured this would be fun idea for a possible plot for next November. And never mind just the book store - the whole town could be in on the scheme. The following 12 months provided an abundance of circumstantial evidence in the form of street art and assorted graffiti.
Of course the inner serpent would have none of this nonsense. There is only one true faith and that is the Church of Serpentology and NO you do not need this infernal tome or any other for research purposes. Not just because you already have several paperbacks with most of the stories and they are all online these days anyway. But this book is a ridiculous $49.99, it weighs a ton, is suitable only for a rather large coffee table and anyway you could probably get it online for half the price. But most importantly of all - you do not NEED it and you cannot justify wasting precious pennies on such decadence when the book shop is filled with endless rows of interesting and useful books.
So reason and logic prevailed. That was until the evening of a big Nanowrimo write in. There was a table full of books and mysterious envelopes as prizes. I picked the one from New Edition. It was worth 30 silver sickles with a use by date of NEVER unlike most vouchers which are valid for between 6 and 12 months.
Now this was the perfect excuse for some decadent indulgence. The summer solstice seemed the most auspicious time to snaffle the Squid. Problem was that it was not there. After all, the book was published in November 2014 and was not going to be hanging around taking up precious space on the shelves waiting for Izzie to win the lottery. There were also many other gorgeous books on the shelves worthy of serpent attention including the Thing Explainer (complicated stuff in simple words)
No harm in asking. They said they would have it back in stock in mid January and today was the first day since then that I have darkened the doors of the store. Once again I could not find it in the Sci fi and Cult fiction section so asked at the counter and one of the book sellers came back with the big black tentacled tome within the minute. It turns out that it was in the classics section along with the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe, the Annotated Alice, Annotated Brothers Grimm and an assortment of other enormous, gorgeous and very expensive books.
So I handed over the gift voucher and 20 silver sickles and took possession of the Tentacled Tome. From there I made my way to the new arts centre (and old lunatic asylum) and sat in the gorgeous courtyard browsing through the pages and all the pretty pictures until it was closing time. Then I was off to catch the bus to see the sculptures by the sea.
So inspired by the monstrous abominations on the pages, an assortment of strange sculptures on the sea shore shining and glowing in the spooky light of the setting sun, it was a gorgeous way to end the day.
Back in the real world there are soul sucking vampires, weasels, werewolves, zombie prime ministers and other evil monsters lurking and snivelling and indulging in their usual arse covering, back stabbing, cost cutting goblin ways but the dreadful recent resurrections of Tony Abbott and John Howard, the triumphs of Trump and the simpering sniveling litany of excuses spouted by Goblin George Pell are best left for another day.
They are where the true incarnations of horror and cosmic monstrosity can be found.