Creativity is suspended between memory and forgetting.
—Jorge Luis Borges
My interest in ancient lore, mythology, and traditions of various cultures across the world has been ongoing since childhood. Here I will organize my posts related to such endeavors as I trace my own involvement in the darker heritage in art, literature, and digital graphics. Enjoy the ride! Yet, it is the world of horror literature of the dark fantastic that has always held me close with its worlds of terror, weird, grotesque, macabre, and uncanny tales which since the Romantic and Gothic age of literature has been with us growing steadily into a vast dark labyrinth of story.
The Dark Art of Horror, Weird, and Uncanny
I’ll be adding digital art of my favorite dark and weird tales in this section in no particular order. Illustrating some of their tales and introducing their work to fans and newcomers alike.
Abstract Horror
Falling Out of Love || Love is Forever || Devouring Eros || Cosmic Alienage || The Path of the Unnamable || Beyondness || The Fabled Alexian Mantis || A Continuous Slide Toward the Future || The Cinematography of Time-Scape Wave Convergence || Absence – “Where are they?” || The Great Winnowing of Galactic Civilization || The Density that is Abstract Horror || The Exterminator || Anareta || She Could Not Forgive ||
Authors of the Weird, Uncanny, Grotesque, Macabre
List of Authors I’ve enjoyed over the years, which does not include those before 1940 except for the one’s I favor. I’ll be exploring each in image and text over the coming months. I’ll add the older authors in another section below this one:
Edgar Allan Poe || H.P. Lovecraft || Thomas Ligotti || Matthew M. Bartlett || Gary J. Shipley || Caitlín R. Kiernan || Adam Nevill || Brian Evenson || Adam S. Cantwell || Christopher Slatsky || Clint Smith || Joel Lane || D.P. Watt || Gemma Files || Glen Hirshberg || James Ulmer || John Langan || Johnathan Thomas || Kurt Fawver || Livia Llewellyn || Mark Samuels || Mark Valentine || Michael Aronovitz || Michael Wehunt || Nathan Ballingrud || Nicole Cushing || Orrin Gray || Paul Tremblay || Quentin S. Crisp || Ramsey Campbell || Reggie Oliver || Richard Gavin || Robert M. Price || S.P. Miskowski || Simon Strantzas || T.E. Grau || Clark Ashton Smith || M.R. James || William Hope Hodgson || Daniel Abraham || Michal Ajvaz || Clive Barker || Laird Barron || David Beauchard || K. J. Bishop || James P. Blaylock || Giannina Braschi || Poppy Z. Brite || Kevin Brockmeier || Charles Burns || Jonathan Carroll || David F. Case || Michael Chabon || Michael Cisco || Nancy Collins || Brendan Connell || Mark Z. Danielewski || Junot Diaz || Doug Dorst || Michael Dougherty || Dennis Etchison || Paul Di Filippo || Jeffrey Ford || Karen || Joy Fowler || Neil Gaiman || Elizabeth Hand || M. John Harrison || Brian Hodge || Wolfgang Hohlbein || Junji Ito || Stephen Graham Jones || T. E. D. Klein || Kathe Koja || Joe R. Lansdale || Carmen Maria Machado || Michael McDowell || Lincoln Michel || China Miéville || Sarah Monette || Grant Morrison || Scott Nicolay || Jeff Noon || David Ohle || W. H. Pugmire || Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. || Simon Strantzas || Charles Stross || Jeffrey Thomas || F. Paul Wilson
Authors before 1940:
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa || Roberto Arlt || R. H. Barlow || E.F. Benson || Ambrose Bierce || Algernon Blackwood || Robert Bloch || Marjorie Bowen || John Buchan || Leonora Carrington || Robert W. Chambers || Leonard Cline || Walter de la Mare || August Derleth || Lord Dunsany || E. R. Eddison |\ Stefan Grabiński || Sakutarō Hagiwara || L. P. Hartley || Nathaniel Hawthorne || Lafcadio Hearn || E. T. A. Hoffmann || Robert E. Howard || Franz Kafka || Alfred Kubin || Henry Kuttner || Vernon Lee || Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu || Fritz Leiber || David Lindsay || Frank Belknap Long || Arthur Machen || Daphne du Maurier || Abraham Merrit || Gustav Meyrink || C. L. Moore || Horacio Quiroga || Edogawa Ranpo || Jean Ray || Bruno Schulz || Marcel Schwob || Walter Scott || Mary Shelley || M. P. Shiel || Eric Stenbock || Bram Stoker || Theodore Sturgeon || E. H. Visiak || Donald Wandrei
Howard Wandrei || H. G. Wells
more to come…
Ancient Creatures of Mythology and Paganism
In this section we’ll explore the ancient worlds of lore, legend, and traditions surrounding the great mythical creatures of the world’s cultures that have fascinated me for a lifetime.
Creatures of Horror, Magic, and Hermetic-Gnostic Worlds
coming soon…
©2022 S.C. Hickman Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the images above without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. All images were created with Midjourney ai and are licensed by them for personal or commercial use.
The Dark Fantastic: Literature, Philosophy, and Digital Arts 