From her portfolio:  Icons .

I thought I’d start with one for the Johnny Depp/Gary Oldman in Dracula fans. You’re welcome.

Timur Karakus

This one reminds me of a Pre-Raphaelite painting. I half-expect Ophelia to float by.

Skadi van Terror

Not everyone can pull off either a neck tattoo or asymmetrical fringe, but you do both admirably, sir. And, per usual, I really want to know what that tattoo looks like.

Tobias Monsieur Guillotine

This portrait reminds me of Miss Havisham, one of my all-time favourite fictional characters.

Inga

I love the baroque feel of this one. At first glance, it looks like a painting, rather than a photograph. Marat on his way to the bath.

Luca Thompson

The ever-winning combination of a (tastefully) nearly-nude, beautiful woman with interesting make-up and awesome tattoos. The skeleton key on her wrist is a bonus.

Denise Miller

A big part of this is the make-up. You get the humanity–the freckles, but there’s also some sort of shading to bring out his marvelous bone structure. He looks like he’s been carved from marble.

Mirko

The way the fabric is moving makes it look like it was taken underwater, which clearly isn’t the case. Silk and a fan? Her hair isn’t moving? I’m going with just beautiful. Well done.

Sarah

Below is a (very small) sampling of some of Makris’ recent work. It’s untitled, hence no captions.

I would like to state for the record that I am in love with the model below, whoever she is. I just want to gaze upon her visage. She reminds me of a cross between Tilda Swinton and Alison Goldfrapp.

I believe this set is called Diadema, but don’t hold me to that. Either way, prepare yourself for the beauty:

If you’d like more of her work in your life (and why wouldn’t you?), like her Facebook page .

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Procrastinating doing research one day on Facebook I happened across bizarre little creations that reminded me of contemporary voodoo dolls. Intrigued by Medusa and Cthulhu, I clicked further and came upon the Grinch and Winged Monkeys from Oz (with machetes) and Salad Fingers and thought, ‘I must interview this wonderfully macabre, talented person.’ Said person, Kim, was happy to oblige.

Thank you so much for agreeing to chat with me. Your little creations are adorable and creepy, my favourite combination.

Creepy and cute happen to be my favorite combo too, a bit heavier on the creepy, though, I always hope.

How did you get into making these great little creepies? And how long have you been doing it?

A few years ago I was just knitting socks and hats and things, and my friend who only crocheted had started amigurumi , and happened to buy me a book for my favorite of all days, Halloween. It was my gift with the stipulation that I make some xmas gifts, which was completely cool with me. The book is called Creepy Crochet by Christen Haden . I made a couple of the crochet weebles from that book, and decided I could venture out on my own. AND a friend asked me to make some Left4Dead zombies for his fiance for Valentine’s Day. When those were a hit, I decided I could do this….

Medusa!

What would you call what you do? Is it crochet?

It is crochet, I do occasionally knit parts–chances are if I’ve made a female doll with a dress, its knitted. Not sure why.

What materials and tools are in your kit?

SO much yarn!!! I really only use a few hooks, they’re down in the 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm range, which is small but not the smallest. I have a pliers, for sewing and bending the 24-26 gauge wire I use for armatures, I use polymer clay to make some of my wee accessories, eyeballs and handles to the weapons I make. Sometimes I make a character that’s holding a sword or a hatchet, so I’ve got aluminum sheeting, wire cutters and files. and paint, bloody weapons are more fun than plain, unused ones. Needles of all sizes, and rainbows of threads.

Skull keychains

Bloody weapons are so very much more fun than plain, unused ones.
What other materials do you like working with?

I use fabric sometimes, there are some things that can’t really be crocheted–some of my characters wear capes, which need to flow more than crochet does. This year I’ll be adding some things with wings, so I’ll be having someone make some wings for me, as well as trying to make a few sets myself, so I’m going to try to work with fancier wire and some cellophane, as well as embossing powders. I like adding small beads and charms and wee bits, details are everything to me.

Nosferatu

What’s been your favourite thing to make thus far?

I made Medusa, and she’s pretty great! I had wanted to make one, she’s a favorite mythology character, and a friend asked me to make one for his daughter’s birthday, so I was stoked!

I just made a posable tree, and now I’m staring at trees outside, wondering if I can make that one, or how hard would it be to replicate that bark…

I also just recently made a character from a friend’s book. I wanted to make a really good doll, kind of stretch myself…she’s got great boobs and bum, She came out really nicely!

Posable Tree

How do you decide what you want to make? And once that decision has been made, what’s the process from there? Designing, etc.

About 95% of what I make is custom order, literally, someone messages me and asks if I can make a zombie of their pet, or Cthulhu, or whatever. If it’s a movie character, I always ask for their favorite picture, so I know what look I’m going for, then I try to find as many photos online as I can, movie stills, costume pictures, from different angles, so I can get the right picture in my head. I work with the pictures up on my computer, it’s about 3 feet from my face. When I made Charles Manson, I had the Life magazine picture up on my computer so his crazy eyes were staring at me for probably like 3 days. If it’s not something specific, Cthulhu, I ask the person for a few pictures they like, so I can still have an idea of the direction to go. So very many people give me so much leeway to creating. I check my yarn to see if I’ve got the “right colors” or go shopping with pictures on my phone so I’ve got good color references. Then I pick horror movies to watch while working and go.

Good old Chuck

Charles Manson must have been interesting to make! Was he the most surprising request thus far? (If you ever set up an Etsy shop perhaps you could do a line of serial killers. Release them in sets like macabre beanie babies.)

Um, I think he’s been the oddest request, yes. I can understand all different kind of horror movie characters, and zombies of family members, but it was the oddest. I had no idea how folk would take it either, would they love it, or would they be a bit weirded out by someone making a soft, posable Charlie… Strangely enough folks loved him, all the way through construction, since I show in progress pictures. I’ve had 2 other folks ask me about having their own Charlie Manson, one is asking for one without wire, but a bit more plushie, for his daughter.

For his…daughter… uh huh.
You mentioned watching horror movies while working–do you ever listen to music when working?

I do occasionally listen to horror movie soundtracks on Pandora, but I realized it’s the ambiance in the horror flicks I like.

Who wouldn’t want their own Golem?

You’re involved in yarn-bombings. Please tell me more about that. What’s involved, how did you get into it, etc.

I remember seeing an article about yarnbombers, ones who hid their faces, since technically it’s graffiti and illegal, and being intrigued. They also mentioned that some folks’ installations were taken…and that made me smile. I decided I’d help fill the world with my own yarny brand of love. Sometimes I make flowers and hearts, for outside yarnbombs while I’m shopping, more often I make skulls, different colors, some with hearts or flowers, kind of like sugar skulls. There’s usually a small tag that says something like “creepy things need love too. find me a good home.”

I mentioned to a group of crocheters, or hookers, that I like to yarnbomb, and explained the premise, bringing a bit of yarny love to a place you don’t normally see it, and so many folks jumped on board. Lovely folks made wee stuffies or bunting or flowers or awesome bookmarks, and we all tried to do it nonchalantly, One lady’s blanket on a horse was part of their local news cast! They all were so thrilled, and giggled and smiled and most of all enjoyed themselves, and were so happy when someone had taken their anonymous gifts, it’s kind of addicting.

Yarn Bomb Hearts

I’d like to include photos of your work–including the Medusa and Cthulhu and Charles Manson, as well and the skulls and some other little things I like. Are there other things you’d definitely like me to share?

I’m a bit proud of my Victor Crowley. I made the first one for a customer’s order, and he was so thrilled with his doll he shared pictures on Fb with Adam Green, of Hatchet. I was contacted by the head of hair and makeup F/x, girlfriend of director BJ McDonnel, and asked to make one for his “movie viewing room.” so I did. I made a 10″ Victor Crowley, with her head as the “dead head” he’s holding I made his hatchet too,

Pretty recently a creation I’ve made, a character in an as of yet published story helped the author propose marriage to his girlfriend at the World Horror Convention!

Victor Crowley

That warms my dark little heart.
Do you have any plans on opening an Etsy shop?

I do have plans for a shop, but my problem right now is no stock. I literally don’t have anything lying about. The last time I made something that wasn’t for custom order, I posted it on my facebook page and within 40 minutes it was sold.

That’s a pretty great problem to have!
What’s the best way for people to contact you?

Facebook is probably the easiest place to see everything I’ve made, it’s where I post it all.
Folks who already have an idea of what they want can email me here at kimperial1492@gmail.com
This is my Pinterest account.
Also, I just started a deviantArt account.
Kim’s blog is  KreepyKim’s Freak Boutique

If you like what you see here, check out her work on her sites and give her some love!

Thank you so much, Kim!

The post Kim’s Sticks and Strings appeared first on The Autodidact in the Attic.

Mortys is a French animation about Death (if Tim Burton designed Morticia Addams this is probably what she’d look like) who has a young son. Being Death, though, she’s quite busy and doesn’t spend much time with the boy, so he gets a computer that can help streamline the system. And it does. A bit better than planned.

The animation is gorgeous, the script is amusing (I laughed out loud), and the soundtrack is a perfect compliment.

The post Mortys appeared first on The Autodidact in the Attic.

A Calendar of Tales began as twelve short fiction pieces based on the Twitter responses to prompts, which Gaiman posted one per hour on February 4, 2013.

The Prompts

January: Why is January so dangerous?
February: What’s the strangest thing that ever happened to you in February?
March: What historical figure does March remind you of?
April: What is your happiest memory of April?
May: What is the weirdest gift that you’ve ever been given in May?
June: Where would you spend a perfect June?
July: What is the most unusual thing you have ever seen in July?
August: If August could speak, what would it say?
September: Tell me something you lost in September that meant a lot to you.
October: What mythical creature would you like to meet in October and why?
November: What would you burn in November if you could?
December: Who would you like to see again in December?

December prompt illustration by Melody Sale

Gaiman chose his favourites and then wrote short stories using those over a 3 day period. (The man is a writing machine. And possibly insane.)

Then they posted a pdf of the stories online for free and encouraged people to submit illustrations; the best of which were added to a digital book ( Calendar of Tales Ebook .) Don’t worry, you’re not breaking laws by downloading it–they’re being given away.

Gaiman recorded audio versions of the stories and, once those were posted, people were invited to make videos (films or animations), as well. The best of the best of all of these can be seen in the online digital ‘book’, A Calendar of Tales . The Blackberry site (they sponsored COT) has even more images and videos .

March prompt illustration by Igor Derevenec

All of the stories are well-written and inventive–they are  by Gaiman. I was going to give a break down of which ones I liked best and least, but you know what? The entire book takes less than an hour to read and there are no bad stories. Get a cup of your favourite hot beverage, put your feet up and read the entire thing.

(Don’t go to the website until you have a couple hours to spare to look at all of the illustrations and videos, though, because people are mad talented. Seriously.)

The post A Calendar of Tales appeared first on The Autodidact in the Attic.

Three people–one suicidal, one in an abusive relationship, one unable to keep her hands off other people’s possessions–suddenly find themselves each in their own warped dimension. They’re in areas of the Devil’s Carnival, but they don’t know it yet.

Meanwhile we’re introduced to the stage manager (who looks remarkably like the Penguin in Batman Returns) who is giving instructions to the carnival’s performers for that evening’s show. Each person is considered an ‘act’ and assigned a second from the carnival. The greedy woman is paired with a person running the sort of game where you throw coins into the top of an Ostrich egg (The Twin). The girl in the abusive relationship is paired with the knife thrower (The Scorpion) with some help from Victorian Gothic icon Emilie Autumn.

Emilie Autumn as the Painted Doll

The suicide is paired with the Devil himself. When asked who he is, Old Nick says, ‘…In your case, I am the excuse you give when you cannot follow the rules.’

Each person is meant to learn from the mistakes that landed them there in the first place. The greedy one is supposed to learn to be happy with what she has or else she may lose it all, the one in the abusive relationship is meant to learn that abusers are liars and will never stop abusing you, and the suicide… you’ll just have to see…

The emotional backbone of the story is the suicide trying to find his son, who is with the Devil. Not to worry, though. Old Diablo is kindly reading Aesop’s Fables to the boy. The fables pertain to the stories of the acts of the evening.

It’s that rare unobtrusive musical, where the music enhances the plot, rather than stopping the action so people can sing about their cereal. The make up is spectacular–all of the performers are unique and the Devil is incredible –and if there is any CGI it blends seamlessly.

The Devil’s Carnival also has a fun, interactive  website with videos, merch, info on the characters and a preview of the next film in the series.

It was unlike anything I’ve seen before; if you’ve seen anything like it, please leave a comment below because I’d love to see it.

The post The Devil’s Carnival appeared first on The Autodidact in the Attic.

The Guardian by Kris Kuksi

Which, of course, wasn’t bloody attributed. Happily, you can drag and drop images into the Google Images search bar and it will show you matches.

And that’s how I discovered Kris Kuksi , who does some of the most incredibly intricate artwork I’ve seen. In his sculptures, he uses mixed media and, from what I can tell, bits of Neil Gaiman’s nightmares.

His sculptures tend to fall into themes:

Classical

Kris Kuksi Neo-Dionysian

Kris Kuksi Hercules vs Diana

Kris Kuksi The Emperor

Religious

[These are Christian in origin, but Kuksi explores other religions, as well]

Kris Kuksi Seven Deadly Sins

Kuksi Sins Detail

The full size piece is available as a completely kick-ass  iPhone skin .

Kris Kuksi Eden

Kris Kuksi The Last Judgement

Military

Kris Kuksi Admiral Otto von Howitzerhead

Kris Kuksi Sub-Sonic Dissidence Propulsion Device

But, of course, my favourites are the:

Macabre

Kris Kuksi Tribute to the Madness of Beethoven

Kuksi Beethoven Detail

Kris Kuksi The Decision

Kris Kuksi Surrealist Carnival

Kris Kuksi Surrealist Carnival Detail

My favourite of the macabre is Through Death United, because it reminds me of memento mori and charnel houses and such.

Kris Kuksi Through Death United

Kris Kuksi United Through Death Detail 1

I also like how they appear to be flirting, even in death. Whether they were together or apart in life, they’re practically blushing and giggling at one another on the other side of decay. Warms the heart, it does.

Kris Kuksi United Through Death Detail 2

All of his works are quite large–several feet wide and high. You can click on any of the images above to see larger versions, which still don’t capture all of the detail. Luckily, his website has multiple details of the sculptures so you can see more of the all the little bits and bobs. And there are myriad bits and bobs.

If you want to give the gift of beautiful nightmares (and who wouldn’t?) then you could pick up his book Kris Kuksi: Divination and Delusion , available on Amazon for $33 USD. I would love anyone who gave me this.

His paintings are nearly photorealistic, which is always technically impressive, and his drawings are intricate and handle shadow well, but they’re not as mind-blowing as his sculptures.

The post Kris Kuksi: Sculptor of Beautiful Nightmares appeared first on The Autodidact in the Attic.

If you’re beginning to despair over the vampire romances clogging the shelves of your local book shop and would like nothing more than to read something a bit more challenging; a series to lose yourself in, say, then hold onto your knickers, because there’s a new dark fantasy series set to kick off in September called the Waking Dream.

The author, Michael Hibbard, will explain more in the interview but, but in brief, there is a cycle similar to Buddhism enlightenment between Sleepers and Dreamers and Immortals. Most people are Sleepers. Dreamers are Sleepers who awaken and realise they can affect reality (Matrix-style), and Immortals are Dreamers who realise they are Immortal. There’s also time travel and jumping in and out of bodies and  all sorts of other fantastic (in both senses of the word) things happening. There’s philosophy and religion and intellectual things, as well. All part of your brain will be engaged, is what I’m saying.

Hibbard kindly agreed to answer a few questions.

The Author St Louis Cemetery #1 — Resting place of Marie Laveau

When is the first book in the series coming out and where are you in that process?

The first book will be released on September 22, 2013.  I’ve chosen this date because it is the first day of Autumn and Devlin is an Autumn tale.  Right now, the cover has been completed, the copy edits have been submitted to the publisher by my editor, and we are on target to have the book out on time.  My collection of short stories Immortal Memories will be released on Halloween of 2013.  Both books have illustrations that I’ve done over the years — some of which you can see on the Waking Dream Website and on my Instagram account .

It’s a nine-part series–how plotted out are each book?

Every single book has been carefully designed to fit into a great whole.  The entire plot has been outlined, and many of the books have already been started.  The entire series is broken down into three trilogies — The Transformation Trilogy, The Shadow Years Trilogy and the final Trilogy is named, but it would be a spoiler for me to divulge its name at this time.

The universe your books inhabit is…the size of a universe. How long have you been creating it, so to speak. The dynamics of it–how it fits together?

The Waking Dream is my interpretation of the universe, more than just a literary interpretation, but a literal interpretation.  The ideas for the Waking Dream began back in 1995 when I was running a free-form role-playing channel on IRC (Internet Relay Chat).  The focus was to create an interactive story with a framework that anyone could interact with.  I set the storyline and others just interacted with what I set forth.  At one point I had over 80 players engaged in the world itself.  At the time, I was a freelance web designer, which afforded me a great deal of time for me to role-play, sometimes for 10 to 12 hours at a time. Waking Dream was intended to become a game, because when you come to understand the nature of the Waking Dream, you realize that life really is nothing more than a game.

I have spent over 15 years documenting the dynamics, studying world religions, philosophy, quantum mechanics and cosmology to make my world as “real” as possible.  I want people to believe that they have the power to change their world through their own Weirdness — their own individuality.   The Weirdness comes from the term Quantum Weirdness which I have philosophically pondered my entire life.   Weirdness is the product of a primordial force which has been talked about in so many religions, philosophies and science.  I liken it to the Tao, Dark Energy, the Holy Spirit, the Force, the Field and the Akashic Record.  It is the source of all magick that has been diluted by the over-population of our planet.

The Symbol of Gabryal, the Lord of Shadow

There are groups of people, Sleepers, Dreamers, Immortals, etc. Give us a brief description of each one.

This has been the most arduous aspect of selling the concept of the Waking Dream.  It can be offensive to some, and enlightening to others.

Dreamers are those of us who have the ability to affect the Waking Dream, and have the ability to use their Weirdness — their own form of magick.  And Weirdness can be exhibited in many different ways — telepathy, empathy, second sight, fortune-telling, alchemy, wicca, witchcraft.  It is up to the individual to find their Weirdness.  A Dreamer is an immortal spirit that begins its existence in my form of the afterlife — or what I call the InBetweenLife.  They first begin as a consciousness that coalesces like a star does.  Once they become self aware, they choose a Sleeper to inhabit and assume their identity once they’ve made the connection.  They can assume the identity of any sleeper at any stage in life.  But once they have assumed this identity, they forget all of their previous lives, and begin the journey towards Awakening.  A Dreamer must Awaken to begin using their Weirdness once more — I like to think of it as learning how to drive the vehicle they’ve just purchased. Only 1-2 % of Earth’s population are Dreamers.  And there are Dreamers all across the universe, but once a Dreamer chooses a planet, they are bound to the planet until it is uninhabitable.  This is an important aspect of the series, because one of the Prime Immortals is determined to leave the planet, and thinks that they have found a way to do so.

Immortals are Dreamers who have reached the most sublime level of existence which is akin to enlightenment.  Once they have realized they are an eternal being, they remember all of their lives and can draw from their past lives experiences.  This allows them to command the Weirdness much more effectively.  There are Celestial immortals of which there are 6 who were have been immortal since they first formed in the Spaces Between — the Governors of the Dream so to speak.  The series focuses on the 5 Prime Immortals who are bound to Earth — along with the other lesser immortals who are not nearly as old or powerful as the 5, or the Celestials.  The Waking Dream will start over when all Dreamers have recognized their Immortality.  Immortals can inhabit Dreamers (with their permission) or any Sleeper at will.

Sleepers are the rest of the population.  The analogy is that the Dreamers and Immortals are the architects of the Dream and the Sleepers are the ones who do the bidding of the Dreamers and Immortals, unable to use their Weirdness — though they are entirely made of Weirdness.  They are those who have no will to change the world.  They simply live in the world.  This is not to discount them as living beings, because all living beings are sacred under the Creator, however, they do not have an active role in the Waking Dream — other than their over-population has become the genesis for the Transformation of the Dream.  Each Sleeper requires Weirdness to exist, and there is only so much Weirdness available to our world.  This is how I’ve accounted for Magick leaving our planet.  But, one of the Immortals wishes to change all that.

And is it our universe or a parallel universe or a completely different universe?

I like to think this is our universe.  If you look around, really look, some of the things I have posited in the novels and in the Libellus Somnium (The Little Book of Dreams) are simple truths.  We have simply forgotten that life is to be enjoyed and luxuriated in — we shouldn’t have the strife that we do.  In short, I want this to be our universe.

The Original Crier at Twilight (Tristan)

Justin (The Crier’s) blog is a fantastic introduction to this expansive world you’ve created. Often, no matter how well an author knows their characters, once they start writing them, they learn more about them–has keeping Justin’s blog changed what you’ve known about him and the universe he inhabits?

I have to chuckle when I think about this question, because I’ve learned more about myself than I have about the universe by writing Justin.  Justin has multiple personality disorder — as all Dreamers have a mental illness of some variety that allows them to suspend their disbelief.  We have been herded into a belief system, whether it be religious or philosophical.  What I have found by writing the Way of the Weird — Justin’s Blog — is that we all have many aspects of ourselves that we should explore to better understand our goals and dreams in the universe.

The Crier’s Blog has allowed me to slowly allow people to accept some of the ideas I am presenting, and force them to think, rather than just tell them some fantasy tale.  The fact that we can think, create and exist is in of itself Weirdness.  We fight against gravity and build amazing things.  But we’ve forgotten that we are all One — we all come from the Spaces Between, the realm of the Weird, and we will return there again and again.  Justin has become my prophet to overcome fear because it is only when we can overcome fear that we can truly begin to live.  It does not matter if we die tomorrow, as long as we enjoyed today.

And yes, Justin’s Blog has allowed me to refine the aspects of the Waking Dream, and expand on it via his postings of the Libellus Somnium.  The Book of Seers was an entirely new plot line that came out of the blog itself.

The iconography is interesting, almost Egyptian–did you design those and what do they each represent?

I and my son designed the iconography for all of the Waking Dream.  The Eye of One, the most prominent aspect of the series, is a primitive variation of the All Seeing Eye which has its beginnings in Egypt. One is the first Immortal and he is the one that the Dreamers of Devlin pay homage to.  The other icons are all very Egyptian, because they were one of the most enlightened race on the planet before their demise.  One of the oldest immortals in the series is Shemhazai, who realized his Immortality at the time of Akhenaten and Nefertiti — who first introduced the concept of one God to the peoples of Egypt.

I wanted the icons to be simple, yet powerful in their meaning.  I could tell you what each one means, but that would be a spoiler.  They will be explained as the series progresses. Each of the Immortals has an icon because they have their own followers who wear the icons as signs of reverence.

All of the icons, and illustrations are mine, other than the new cover designs by the publisher.

You’ve obviously done a great deal of research and reading over a long period of time, will you be posting any sort of bibliography for people interested in learning more?

Yes, I plan to set up a page on Way of the Weird that will detail all of the books I’ve used to create this philosophy.  There are so many that books are stacked all over my office — my sanctuary.  But here are some key books that I’ve used to formulate the Waking Dream Universe:

– The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury — Science Fiction
– God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert — Science Fiction
– Illusions by Richard Bach — Literature
– The Little Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery — Literature
– Meditations by Marcus Aurelius — Philosophy
– All the Works of Poe and Lovecraft — Literature
– The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald — Literature
– The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner — Southern Gothic
– The Metaphysics by Aristotle — Philosophy
– The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene — Science
– All of the Books by Michio Kaku the physicist — Science
– The Theory of Relativity by Einstein — Science
– All the works of Nicola Tesla — Science
– This is it by Alan Watts — Zen
– Various Works of Robert Monroe — Metaphysics
– The Bible — Religion
– The Kaballah — Religion
– The Torah — Religion
– Of Good and Evil — Nietzsche

This is just to name the most influential.  I could go on because over fifteen years I have collected a massive library.

There’s a bit of Existentialism and Satanism (of the Laveyan variety) in the universe of the books. Of being self-aware in a herd of those content to like what the media tells them to. And in Satanism, forgetfulness of past orthodoxies is one of the Satanic sins. You clearly pay a great deal of attention to past belief systems. Were Lavey or the Existentialists on your list of reading?

I have read Lavey, and I respect his philosophical perspective, but I wholly reject the concept of heaven and hell.  That is not to say that there isn’t good and evil — my dexter and sinister and of course, the Beast.  And the Waking Dream is dripping with existentialism.  Kierkegaard and Nietzsche were my biggest influences from an existentialist perspective.  But, there is also a great deal of stoicism in my writings.

I was fortunate enough to attend a Jesuit College in Pennsylvania, which is where I lived longer than here in Virginia.  I was also fortunate enough to have an exorcist as a teacher and friend.  We cannot forget the things that have gone before us.  I have looked back as far in time as I can from a philosophical and religious perspective and all I see are patterns.  Patterns that have persisted up until today.  It is time for something new, something unlike the world has ever seen before.  At some point religion, philosophy and science must converge, or we as a civilization will collapse.  We can see evidence of this with every news story.  I want people to see that they can live and be happy, its just a matter of accepting that the mere fact you exist is wonderful in and of itself with no further interpretation required.

Lavey also completely rejects the idea of heaven and hell. He didn’t believe in God or Satan, knowing them to be sides of the same coin.

In the universe of the Waking Dream, is there any sort of punishment for wrong-doing? Is the average Sleeper told they’ll be reincarnated as a dung beetle or are they kept in line by threats of everlasting torment in some hell dimension, etc? 

The concept of religion was created by the second Tier of Immortals, the Magician and the High Priestess.  This was created to keep the Sleepers in lives.  Sleepers are empty vessels until they are filled by a Dreamer.The Immortals have a different way of dealing with wrong doing.  To keep power in check, and keep an Immortal from running amok, the Ritual of Banishment was created and given to the earth-bound Immortals.  Any Immortal on a higher or equal tier of Immortality can perform the ritual, if they see it as necessary.  Once banished, the Immortal’s essence is scattered in the Spaces Between and it takes a century to reform and thus return to the Waking Dream.  This is a huge part of the plot of the first book.  And it is hinted at in the So Long But Never Good-Bye story. As for Dreamers, causality handles all infractions against the Logos of the Weird — The five principles that guide the Dreamers in their quest to understand themselves and to attain Immortality.  The five principles are: Coexistence, Uncertainty, Causality, Self and Respect.  And this is enforced by the Beast — the Eater of Sins — who exacts justice through the eye for an eye vehicle.

I also enjoy learning about world religions for the patterns, as you say. Humans seem wired to believe and do the same things ad infinitum –and because they don’t study world religions they think they’re the first ones to come up with whatever belief system.

When you say that you want people to see that they can live and be happy if they just accept their existence is wonderful are you saying that thinking too much is what makes people unhappy? (Not that I’m disagreeing–too much navel-gazing just means you know far too much about your own belly button lint.) But if so, how is that different from other ‘feel-good’ movements from, say, the 60s? And how does that mesh with the proscription of ultimate self-awareness of Existentialism?

No, I’m not saying thinking too much makes people unhappy.  I’m saying that people have focused on the wrong things.  It’s much different than the feel-good movements.  It’s about self exploration, understanding harmony in your life, and being self-aware as well as outwardly aware of those around you.  It’s more of a stoic perspective than existential.  If we can simply learn to enjoy the simplicity of existence and stop worrying about how much money we have, or things we have, or our status, titles, ad nauseum .

At the end of your existence, whether its in the Waking Dream or our current world, the only thing you can ever take with you, no matter how you try, are the thoughts and experiences that define you.  I am not writing my books to be rich or to buy things.  I am writing my books to get people to see that they must learn to shed their pettiness and that we are on a terrible path.  The only way we as a civilization will survive is if we can work as one world and remove the imaginary lines that separate countries, cities and neighborhoods.

At the end of the Dream, we are all One.

Michael, thank you so much for your time. Good luck with the edits and I look forward to reading Devlin!

If you’d like more info, Waking Dream Online  is about the series and  The Way of the Weird  is a blog kept by one of the characters, Justin the Crier at Twilight. The  about page  of that site introduces the concept behind the books and is the best place ta begin to get an idea of the scope of the universe.

Aside from the sites directly related to the Waking Dream series, Hibbard has an author website called  Mind Grunge  and a  Twitter account .

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You know those days where you seem you have woken up in a slapstick comedy–you’re tripping over your own feet, stepping on rakes and bashing yourself in the face with the handles–that sort of thing? Well, even Death has days like that. Dji Death Fails tells the story of one of those days. The poor being only wants to reap one soul. One!

With music by Gogol Bordello .

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I’m currently reading Casting the Runes by M.R. James in preparation for my first steampunk project–making a hollow book to house my mp3 player. Montague Rhodes James (Montague is a fantastic name) was a Victorian ghost story writer. I do love the Oxford World’s Classics mini hardbacks but this is the second one I’ve read that  had spoilers in the introduction. Dear Introduction Writers, I would like some background on the author, please, not your favourite bit in the book. Thank you, Someone Who Has Not, As Yet, Read the Book.

James could certainly write a blinding ghost story. ‘The Mezzotint’ is well-known and  appears in many collections, but I haven’t come across a weak story in the collection. Malevolent spirits and objects that characters should have left well alone are the chief spooks of choice.

As for the project, I’m following the guidelines on this very helpful site and cutting out an extra hole for the earphone jack. I know some people will have a fit about destroying a book, but you can blame OUP because their Oxford World’s Classics Hardcovers are just the right size, 6.6″ x 4.6″/16.8 cm x 11.7 cm. I’m going to make a Victorian-style cover for it with a mad title like ‘Little Victoria and the Ghastly Motorized Velocipede of Darkmoor Manor’. Right now I’m trying to find an illustration to use as a template for the front cover. I’d like a black and white drawing of a little girl in Victorian garb, holding a magnifying glass. My husband’s looked all over and can’t find one… it doesn’t seem like an unreasonable request, though, so I’m going to keep looking.

[This is a post from a now-defunct blog. Original post date: August 17, 2007. The book turned out well for a first effort, though we couldn't find the right sort of image, so it sits on a shelf with the other, intact, mini hardbacks.]

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