Posted in Art, Books, tagged Anime, Art, Arts, books, Culture, Darth Vader, Design, Entertainment, film, Galleries, History, Humour, Japan, Movies, Reviews, Samurai, Star Wars on May 16, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Updated 16/05/2013
If you need something to reignite your love of the Disney-Lucasverse Star Wars: The Complete Vader is an excellent coffee table book from Random House at a bargain price!
There are plenty of glossy images, pullouts and keepsakes with a surprisingly thorough text, so even hardcore Star Wars fans should see or read something new.
Posted in Books, Uncategorized, tagged Anne Rice, Articles, Arts, Casting, Clive Barker, Entertainment, Features, Hellraiser, Inspiration, Matt Bomer, Nightbreed, Re, Reviews, Social Media, Top Stories, Vampire Chronicles, Wolf Gift, Writing on February 28, 2013 | 2 Comments »
I cannot think of a better way to close Library Month than as the sanguinous fleshy stuffing in an Anne Rice and Clive Barker sandwich. Please tuck in 
This February The Grande Dame of Grand Guignol and The Master of The Macabre (via official administrator, Alex) were kind enough to recommend and share features from www.lilywight.com with their huge online communities.
Just click the links below for these unmissable posts ~
“The Wolf Gift” scored this generous review by Lily Wight and I’m grateful. Also note the cool use of Ran Valerhon’s art in this review. Love it.
~ Anne Rice, 19th February 2013.
http://lilywight.com/2013/02/13/a-present-from-anne-rice-the-wolf-gift-matt-bomer-christian-grey/
Here’s a new blog post on Nightbreed by Lily Wight.
~ Clive Barker (administrated by Alex Ghastbrow) 21st February 2013.
http://lilywight.com/2013/02/21/clive-barker-cabal-nightbreed-directors-cut/
Thank you, fellow imagineers x
Posted in Books, Movies, Reviews, tagged Art, books, Books of Blood, Cabal, Clive Barker, David Cronenberg, Entertainment, film, Galleries, Hellraiser, Midian, Movies, Nightbreed, Reviews, Tribes Of The Moon, Writing 2013 on February 21, 2013 | 31 Comments »
Cabal is the natural evolutionary step from Clive Barker‘s groundbreaking short story collection, Books Of Blood.
This slim novel offers post-Cronenbergian body horror, Freudian identity issues, an original mythology for monsters and includes a rampant serial killer: more than enough material for a lifetime’s worth of sequels and spin-offs.
Cabal’s naturalistic dialogue, deft character strokes and punchy yet eloquent prose render the most extraordinary flights of fantasy entirely plausible so it remains a great pity that – despite an open ending – Barker has never returned to continue the journey of anti-hero, Boone.
Fans will have to make do with Barker’s own darkly brilliant movie adaptation, Nightbreed; recently re-edited for a must-see Director’s Cut. Click the link for further information http://www.clivebarker.info/morenightbreed.html
Posted in Books, tagged Arts, books, Inspiration, Libraries, Neil Gaiman, reading on February 19, 2013 | 7 Comments »
Will libraries survive the next generation? Only time will tell.
Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged Anne Rice, Art, Christian Grey, Entertainment, Matt Bomer, Reuben Golding, San Francisco, Superman, Vampire Chronicles, werewolf, Wolf Gift, wolfman, Writing 2013 on February 13, 2013 | 14 Comments »
It is nearly forty years since Anne Rice refined and defined our contemporary Romantic Vampire archetype with her seminal and controversial novel Interview With The Vampire.
Rice may have returned to The Universal Studio Monster Vault (vampires, mummies and now wolfmen) but her latest foray into the supernatural is distinctly light on familiar Gothic tropes and offers something entirely current via the imagination of an author steeped in history and mythology.
The Wolf Gift is a superhero origin story with the werewolf or “Morphenkind”, Reuben Golding, glorified and elevated into a shape-shifting biological missing-link: a creature designed to track and destroy the very essence of evil.
The bright, breezy world of modern San Francisco offers architectural and natural majesty a world away from the grim, historical Grand Guignol of Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. There is surprisingly little Fantasy here as Rice comes closer than ever to explaining her story’s wonders with real science. Religion and Catholicism, once Rice’s most prevalent concerns, are here reduced to the passive, infrequent presence of an agnostic family priest.
Rice loves to pepper her work with pop-culture references resulting in an astute self-referentialism which makes The Wolf Gift the most playful of all her novels. Reuben himself is aware of the looks and career which define him as a “Superman”.
Those who have found Rice’s previous novels unwieldy will discover a brisker pace and a manageable cast of characters, each of whom – in typical Rice style – is more admirable, brilliant and beautiful than the next. Rice is an unashamed aesthete who favours all that is sublime in nature, art, craft and engineering. Her prose is lush, richly detailed and decorous although her critics may find this cloying.
Rice loves to flaunt her extensive research and a suggested species mythology promises a new series that will unfold, much like The Vampire Chronicles to take in history, travel and esoteric enlightenment.
The Wolf Gift is the book that fans of vintage Anne Rice have been waiting for.
Reuben in the Window. ©Valeron. Image features Matt Bomer, Anne Rice’s preferred casting choice for Reuben Golding and a potential Christian Grey.
Posted in Art, Books, tagged Arts, Coleridge, Comics, Environment, Gothic, Graphic novel, Nick Hayes, Poetry, Romantics, The Rime Of The Modern Mariner on January 29, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged Games, Goth, Horror, Role-playing game, Roleplaying, Urban Gothic, Vampire, Vampire Clans, Vampire: The Masquerade, White Wolf, World of Darkness on January 22, 2013 | 4 Comments »
Vampire: The Masquerade‘s role-playing world offers plenty of intrigue and diversity but the chronological re-editing of multiple novels tends to mar an otherwise engrossing series.
Vampire Hesha’s story is over-written and uneventful yet it dominates this second collection because the drawn-out build-up to major events causes structural shortcomings.
With future volumes offering more conclusions and twists this is still a series worth sticking with and a great introduction to the realm of role-playing games.
Click here for a review of Volume One 
Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged Comics, Dante, Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, English Literature, Graphic Novels, Literature, Poetry, Seymour Chwast, The Divine Comedy Graphic Novel on January 18, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Students of English Literature should be eternally grateful for this Graphic Novel adaptation of a core classic.
The simple black and white noir-style graphics contemporise the satirical content whilst aiding differentiation between the many realms and circles in Dante’s compelling trawl through a unique afterlife.
Chwast’s vision is a brief and entertaining read that may just inspire you to seek out – and perhaps better appreciate – Dante’s original.
More Graphic Novel interpretations of Literary Classics please!
~ Pop back tomorrow for another twist on Dante’s Divine Comedy! ~
Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged Gaming, Horror, Like The Vampire Diaries, Like True Blood, Like Twilight, Roleplaying, Vampire, Vampire Romance, Vampire: The Masquerade, White Wolf on January 12, 2013 | 7 Comments »
Every vampire fan should be well aware of White Wolf’s seminal role-playing game system, Vampire; which effectively collates and categorizes every bit of vampire lore and literature up to and including the work of Anne Rice.
This book owns a hefty title – and well it might – for boasting a doorstop-sized collection of spin-off novels and associated writings re-edited chronologically into a complex and epic drama.
With numerous authors at work there is some jarring in the narrative style and the structure suffers, albeit necessarily for the books conceit. Certain events are needlessly re-played from different characters’ perspectives without providing extra insight whilst dramatic tension is often lost when chronology forces precedence over plot.
There is however so much going on that new readers of all tastes are bound to find something to engage them and for fans and completest The Clan Saga makes an engaging curio, a bold editing achievement and a broad introduction to White Wolf’s inescapable influence on the Vampire genre.
Posted in Art, Books, tagged Adult Comics, Arts, Comics, Fables, fairy tales, Fish + Chocolate, Graphic novel, Kate Brown, Surrealism on January 10, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Posted in Books, tagged Art, body painting, Book, Carl Spitzveg, Graphic novel, Library, Old Enchanted Library, reading, Sexy Librarian, The Bookworm on January 8, 2013 | 25 Comments »
It’s cold and dark outside, Blogsprites – but you’ll find a warm welcome in The Arcade Of Arts & Arcana Library throughout January and February!
We’re opening 2013 with books, books and more books – a few reviews, some old favourites and new curios, art and graphic novels – film, tarot and even the odd cute animal gif might sneak their way in too
Now, where shall we do our reading?
Posted in Books, Movies, tagged Boba Fett Day Of The Dead, Darth Vader Day Of The Dead, George Lucas, Gotye, Gotye Star Wars Parody, Han Solo, Han Solo Costume, Harrison Ford, I Only Take Orders From One Person, Lucasfilm, Mexican Day Of The Dead, Science Fiction, Smuggler, Somebody That I Used to Know, space pirate, Star Wars, Star Wars Day Of The Dead, Star Wars Tattoo, Star Wars That I Used To Know, Stormtrooper, Stormtrooper Day Of The Dead, Super Stormtrooper on December 8, 2012 | 2 Comments »
May was book month and the momentum generated by this post made May 4th the busiest day of the year at The Arcade Of Arts & Arcana (most auspicious for a Star Wars Fan)!
http://lilywight.com/2012/05/01/here-we-go-gathering-books-in-may/
Just to get you a little more excited about Disney’s future Star Wars projects here are the years’ top Star Wars picks…
http://lilywight.com/2012/05/25/darth-vader-has-a-throbbing-saber/
…and finally…
Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged Arts, Christopher Tolkien, Gandalf, Hobbit, Istari, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Middle-earth, Numenor, Tuor, Ulmo, Unfinished Tales on November 28, 2012 | 12 Comments »
The diligent Christopher Reuel Tolkien seems every bit as inspired and devoted by Middle-earth as his more lauded father.
The Unfinished Tales: Of Númenor and Middle-earth is the first compilation of findings and fragments edited by Christopher for publication after J.R.R. Tolkien’s death.
Be warned adventurer! The more you delve into Middle-earth the further you will want to go!
The revelations concerning major characters from The Lord Of The Rings, which bridge The Hobbit to its epic sequel, will make readers’ believe they have stumbled on their very own treasure horde.
Considered editing makes it possible to simply enjoy the tales or refer quickly to the copious notes for a more enlightened, academic experience.
It is an ideal read for anyone keen for some Hobbit homework.
Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged Art, Arthur Rackham, Arts, Children Of Húrin, Dragon, dragonslayer, Fafnir, Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Middle-earth, Mythology, Norse, Oral storytelling, Sigurd, Tolkien on November 9, 2012 | 7 Comments »
Another full-length prose novel from (the admittedly deceased) J.R.R. Tolkien is too good to be true and infinitely more satisfying than all those collected fragments with endless footnotes.
It’s business as usual with The Children Of Húrin as ancient oral-storytelling traditions pervade Tolkien’s reliably rich and evocative prose.
Húrin has much in common with Norse dragon slayer Myths and is almost unbearably tragic. It’s a great place to start with pre-Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings’ history and the maps and glossaries are essential – although why Tolkien is the only author who can get away with such things remains a mystery.
It is a book to make you homesick for Middle-earth all over again.
Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged Art, Arts, Dragon, Elves, First Age, Galadriel, Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Middle-earth, Morgoth, Movies, Silmarillion, Silmarils, Smaug on November 7, 2012 | 10 Comments »
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey arrives in cinemas on December 13th! If you can’t wait that long Lily Wight ~ The Arcade of Arts & Arcana will try to satisfy your cravings with Tolkien related posts throughout November.
You’ll find book reviews, art, news, film and the usual curios. There’ll be a chance to peruse a fascinating Halloween Tarot spread and if you’re feeling those winter chills I’ve got Seven Sunshine Awards to give away so put your hairy feet up and pass the pipeweed
Let’s get started with a flash review of a book that definitely deserves a trilogy of movies…
The Silmarillion
Ronald Reuel Tolkien.
Posted in Books, tagged Casting, Celia Imrie, Emma Thompson, Gothic, Horror, Imelda Staunton, Julie Walters, Never The Bride, Paul Magrs, Whitby on October 17, 2012 | 3 Comments »
The episodic structure and “kidult” style mire a book worth reading for its genius premise: pensioners battle the supernatural in UK Goth Capital, Whitby.
Magrs inventively homages all the genre classics with warmth and wit whilst Brenda and Effie paper the cracks with the sheer force of their personalities. Two great roles for Julie Walters and Celia Imrie or Imelda Staunton and Emma Thompson perhaps.
A silly, frothy yarn perfect for Sunday tea time telly.
Posted in Books, Movies, tagged Case of Charles Dexter Ward, Chris Sarandon, Cthulu, Gothic, H P Lovecraft, Horror, John Terry, Occult, The Resurrected, Weird on October 9, 2012 | 6 Comments »
H.P. Lovecraft’s longform novel makes a fine introduction to the author’s original mythos and recurring themes but, like Poe before him, the style and structure of his weird tales has not aged well and demands patience from modern readers.
The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward reads much like a dry historical legal document and Lovecraft’s obsession with architecture is interesting but not thrilling. The lazy dénouement owes much to Dracula – and vampire fans might catch the name “Ferenczy”: a major player in Brian Lumley’s superb Necroscope series.
Lovecraft’s short fiction is far more satisfying but completists and occultists will love this nonetheless.
View a trailer for The Resurrected (adapted from The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward)…
Posted in Books, tagged Apocalypse, Book of Revelation, Glastonbury, Horror, Jago, Millenium, Psychic Spies, supernatural on October 7, 2012 | 3 Comments »
This Glastonbury set tale of a millenium apocalypse has dated following it’s year 2000 setting, yet still offers a gorily fun interpretation of The Book of Revelations which will please fans of King, Barker, Herbert and Lumley.
There is a comfortable soap-opera quality to the slow-burn character-building of colourful locals and visitors. But in the final act, as chaos descends, the diversity of their living nightmares causes a loss of focus.
Some of the sexual-horror is just plain nasty and there is a missed opportunity to explore the dynamics of cult religions with more intelligent depth.
As an entry into the sub-genre of supernaturals versus psychic spies it makes a sufficiently fun but hardly a life-changing read.
Newman can do better.
Posted in Books, TV, tagged BBC, Faerie, Fairy, Halloween, Horror, James Herbert, Once, Secret Of Crickley Hall on October 6, 2012 | 3 Comments »
This Halloween the BBC will be airing a brand new three-part adaptation of James Herbert’s bestseller The Secret Of Crickley Hall.
In the meantime you might like to consider this short sharp review of Once…
Herbert does little to shift his low-brow Stephen King associations with this perfunctory foray into the world of faery.
A spooky house and a missing testament provide Scooby Doo plotting while flat characters and shallow research create a strangely uninvolving tale of mixed-up folklores.
Frequent sexiness will keep you reading but Herbert’s work remains dogged by seventies style misogyny.
If you’re a Herbert fan you’ll love it regardless, but this is lazy work.
Posted in Art, Books, tagged Comics, Constantine, DC Comics, Entertainment, Graphic Novels, Horror, John Constantine, Vertigo on July 31, 2012 | 7 Comments »
Vertigo’s paranormal PI deserves to be as iconic as any DC or Marvel hero.
Grubby, British, sociopolitical and astute, Constantine’s adventures will appeal to those who want smarts with their supernatural.
There are bigger, more epic story arcs than the standalones in this volume but time in Constantine’s company is always well spent.
Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged Art, Comics, Graphic novel, Horror, Humpty Dumpty, Movies, Nursery rhyme, Pictures on July 28, 2012 | 5 Comments »
Billy Majestic’s arresting Graphic Novel, Humpty Dumpty is a Science Fiction/Horror yarn and definitely not recommended for children.
Vivid colours and smooth digital blending achieve a film-like look; entirely appropriate for a snappy origin tale which plays like a movie storyboard and makes no qualms about its B-Movie intentions.
Redneck grotesques, small-town cops and ethereal aliens provide familiarity whilst the titular Humpty is an atrocity to remind you of the heyday of direct-to-video prosthetic horrors. Humpty’s conception and birth stray into uncomfortable exploitation territory but once the monster madness is underway sequels seem both likely and gory good fun.
For more unique images follow the link to The Gallery.
Posted in Books, Movies, tagged 50 Shades of Grey, Arts, Casting, Christian Grey, Entertainment, Entertainment News, Entertainment Weekly, Fifty Shades Of Grey, Matt Bomer, Top Stories, Truth & Rumours on July 25, 2012 | 16 Comments »
Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged Adventuress, Art, audreyniffenegger, Culture, Fiction, Pictures, Reviews, Time Traveler's Wife on July 8, 2012 | 9 Comments »
Audrey Niffenegger, best known as the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife, spins a macabre yet enchanting novel in pictures.
The Adventuress, an ethereal yet tenacious heroine, is created by an alchemist, has a love affair with Napoleon and gives birth to a cat in a quest of Fairy Tale subversions and surreal post-feminism.
The text may tell us of wedding revelry and honeymoons but the fragile images betray subjugation and abuse as The Adventuress is repeatedly betrayed by the promises of love and motherhood. This is a story in which transformation can lead to madness and happy-ever-afters may only be attained through cleansing fire or the release of death.
Niffenegger’s images combine the uncanny distortions of German Expressionist cinema with a sketchiness which invites universal interpretations.
A truly beautiful, unique and inspiring work.
Click the pic for a book you might like.
Posted in Books, tagged Arts, books, Britain, Diamond Jubilee, drug wars, History, Queen Victoria, Victorian, Women's rights on June 27, 2012 | 8 Comments »
Victoriana June is coming to a close so here is my last book recommendation and some more pointless trivia
*Postage stamps, matches, refrigerators, lightbulbs, antiseptic, inflatable tyres, cars, buses, telephones, iron bridges, railways, cameras, bandstands and promenades are all Victorian inventions.
*After the death of Prince Albert (1861) Queen Victoria dressed in black and had fresh clothes and a wash-stand prepared for Albert every day.
*She also spoke of “the mad, wicked folly of women’s rights”. No comment.
*Only two British monarchs have reached their Diamond Jubilee. Victoria celebrated hers in 1897.
*Britain and China went to war… over Opium trafficking!
*A large part of the world still speaks English today because of Victoria’s empire.
*The Commonwealth is made up of countries which were once under British rule.
*The River Thames was so thick with sewage that paddle-steamers could hardly move. After 30 years of work a new improved sewage system was completed in 1875. It is still in use today.
*Victorian architecture favoured Medieval Gothic and Classical Roman or Greek styles.
*The first Victorian computer was called the “analytic engine”.
All facts borrowed from The Victorians by Robert Hull.
Posted in Books, Movies, tagged Big Ben, Charles Kingsley, Edward Jenner, Great Ormond Street Hospital, History, News, The Water Babies, Victorian on June 25, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I have been mining some fantastic kids’ books this month so here are some more of my findings.
*Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital opened in 1852. If you scroll down the sidebar you will find a link to Children With Cancer UK.
*Edward Jenner helped to wipe out smallpox in just 40 years when free vaccinations became available in 1840.
*The bell residing in the Houses of Parliament clock tower was cast in 1858 and named for building supervisor Sir Benjamin Hall. Big Ben of course.
*Building ships from steel instead of heavy iron was a very good idea.
*Charles Kingsley’s The Water Babies (1863) influenced Parliament to pass the Chimney Sweeps Act. The use of children as sweeps was finally stamped out in 1875.
*Today southeast Asia produces 90% of the world’s rubber. Rubber seeds were originally sourced in South America, shipped to the UK for cultivation at Kew Gardens and re-distributed to Malaysia and Indonesia.
*The first bicycle, the Penny Farthing, was made in 1883 with solid tyres and no brakes.
*The first electric underground railway opened in London in 1890. The system soon became known as “The Tube”.
*Many UK newspapers were founded in the Victorian era. The Times rose to prominence by reporting on the blunders of The Crimean War.
*Many Scots families emigrated to Canada (settling Nova Scotia or New Scotland) due to their own, less well-known potato famine.
All these facts are borrowed from The Victorian Age 1837-1914 by James Harrison.
