About Me

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Adalbert is a forum for me, to post ephemera, photography, poetry, occasional travel notes, and various spontaneous motions. Cover photo: Parsonage where my great-grandfather spent his early years. Taken near Liegnitz, Silesia, ca. 1870. The "xothique" portion of the web address is a nod to Clark Ashton Smith's fictional continent of Zothique.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Ice City of the Gorgon



Ice City of the Gorgon, by Richard S. Shaver and Chester S. Geier, in Amazing, June 1948. Cover painting by Robert Gibson Jones. I read the story a couple weeks ago; it was a tolerable sci-fi adventure, which drew on Greek mythology. The piece held the subtlest echoes of both the Shaver Mystery and At the Mountains of Madness.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Weirdo Magazine


 Weirdo 1, spring 1981, Weirdo 6, summer 1982 (during the time of R. Crumb's editorship). Last Gasp, or "Last Gasp Eco-Funnies," published the magazine.




From the Nu:Wave in Comix: Mini-Comix article, Weirdo 6. Clark Dissmeyer: "He's got lots more!" On Oddities: "Psychotic little zine published by Roman Scott..."  Through this venue and certain other publications we encountered some kindred minds.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Algernon Blackwood letter, Nov 13/27



A letter from supernatural writer Algernon Blackwood, to an unknown recipient, on Savile Club stationery. The author mentioned his non-affiliation with the London Mercury. The reference to the individual soliciting a drawing from Blackwood is intriguing.  From my collection (gift of a friend).

Text: 

Dear Sir,

       I am in difficulty about finding time for the drawing you kindly suggest, as I'm getting ready to go abroad, but I have otherwise no (?) of any kind if you think it of any interest in my art. I have, however, no dealings with the "London Mercury" you mention (if I read you correctly) and I gather they have not commissioned the drawing have they?

      Perhaps you would kindly tell me how to reach Farnborough Rd -- from Marble Arch, say?  

                                                      Yours truly

                                                       Algernon Blackwood


"After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, the Danube enters a region of singular loneliness and desolation, where its waters spread away on all sides regardless of a main channel, and the country becomes a swamp for miles upon miles, covered by a vast sea of low willow-bushes. On the big maps this deserted area is painted in a fluffy blue, growing fainter in color as it leaves the banks, and across it may be seen in large straggling letters the word Sümpfe, meaning marshes." Algernon Blackwood, "The Willows"