I had the opportunity to work with some extraordinary artists this year. Huge thanks to Alcebiades Diniz Miguel, Márcio Simões and Bethany White at Raphus Press who all did truly magnificent work on Secretariat. Thanks also to Dan Ghetu and Damian Murphy at Mount Abraxas Press for including my story Horrill Hill in their remarkable Cioran anthology Wounds of Wounds. Much gratitude to Mark Beech at Egaeus Press for including my novelette The Sorrows of Satan’s Book in his wonderful anthology Book of the Sea. I couldn’t possibly ask for better circumstances and instances to work with these immensely talented publishers, editors, designers- all truly great artists. And humbled to be in print with such wonderful writers in these two anthologies. I am also grateful for those who have responded to this work including Des Lewis, Mark Andresen, and Dejan Ohnjanovic of Rue Morgue, and all those who have responded or supported my work. Heartfelt gratitude. You look up, and year is coming to an end already! Immensely looking forward to 2019. Happy Holidays and New Year.
Category Archives: Books
The Secretariat of Tenebrous Anatomies
The Secretariat of Tenebrous Anatomies by Karim Ghahwagi. With an introduction by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel. Poster Artwork by Bethany White. Handcrafed at Sol Negro Atelier by Márcio Simões. Interior design and layout by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel. Raphus Press, August 2018.
2 handcrafted volumes: a story (40 pages) and a rulebook Afterlife (90 pages), a black or white compass on thick card, and an A3 poster / gameboard hybrid designed by Bethany White. A pamphlet: I’ll be your mirror, and you’ll be my mirror by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel, while stocks last.
Copies of this special limited edition can be purchased direct from Raphus Press here, and from other select fine booksellers.
Wonderful video below from the Raphus blog Bibliomania which also features additional videos and scans of my original rules notebooks, and exciting ongoing new projects from the very forges of Raphus Press.
Egaeus Press Book of the Sea and The Last Resort
A collection of dark, strange or uncategorizable pieces for which the sea provides the great mystery; stories and poems which explore its pull on the human heart, its alienness, its treachery, its unfathomable vastness; and more than anything, what it makes us creatures – us unwelcome, gill-less land-dwellers – do, be, become.
The full contents are as follows…
I: Ligan
Others’ Tears by David Yates
Waiting by Rosalie Parker
In The Hold, It Waits by Tom Johnstone
The Figurehead of the Cailleach by Stephen J. Clark
The Sorrows of Satan’s Book by Karim Ghahwagi
II: Flotsam
The Storm Brood by Colin Fisher
By Severn’s Flood by Jane Jakeman
Breakwater Lodge by Michael R. Colangelo
Dancing Boy by Colin Insole
Below Decks by Jonathan Eeds
The Final Flight of Fidelia by Albert Power
III: Jetsam
Withernsea by Martin Jones
Sailing to Trebizond by S.A. Rennie
The Damnation of Captain M’Quhae by Charles Schneider
From Whence We Came by Jonathan Wood
Some Pages from the Journal of James Morris, Founder, Sable Island Humane Establishment, 1801 by Tim Foley
IV: Derelict
Cut Through with Skeins of Shallow Light by Joseph Dawson
The Night They Came by D.F. Lewis
The Woman from Malta by George Berguño
The Lighthouse by Richard Sheppard
The Woman Who Walked in to the Sea by Steven Pirie
Edited by Mark Beech
The book has 320 pages; is a lithographically printed, sewn hardback with coloured endpapers. It is limited to just 400 copies.
ISBN 978-0-993527883.
It can be ordered now for £35.00, inclusive of postage worldwide here and from other fine booksellers.
The triple vinyl gatefold of Anders Trentemøller’s The Last Resort is available now here
From Pokerflat recordings:
”The original vinyl-pressing only included a selection of songs from the original 13-track album release. It missed out on songs which had been released on singles or didn’t “fit” on the so called “vinyl edition”. Due to ‘public demand’ and simply because this album deserves a proper vinyl release we are happy to finally present, for the first time, the full album on vinyl. It spans over three vinyl discs and is packed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve which also holds a download-code.”
1. A1. Take Me Into Your Skin
2. A2. Vamp
3. B1. Evil Dub
4. B2. Always Something Better
5. C1. While The Cold Winter Waiting
6. C2. Nightwalker
7. D1. Like Two Strangers
8. D2. The Very Last Resort
9. E1. Snowflake
10. E2. Chameleon
11. F1. Into The Trees – Serenetti Part 3
12. F2. Moan
13. F3. Miss You
The original collage film live visuals from the opening track, Take Me Into Your Skin, have just been released and can be seen here.
The Secretariat of Tenebrous Anatomies
My novella, The Secretariat of Tenebrous Anatomies, is now available for pre-order from Raphus Press in a limited edition. Split into two volumes consisting of a story and a rulebook written by the principal character featured in the first story, the set is additionally accompanied with an A3 poster designed by Bethany White, which also serves as a game board. Alcebiades Diniz Miguel provides a very generous introduction, where he writes: ‘It is a fantastic and puzzling construction, a tribute to the wild imagery intended by authors like Kafka and Mervyn Peake.’
Early orders additionally receive a complimentary Raphus Press debut pamphlet of The Bestiary series, the first part of which is called I’ll be your mirror, and you’ll be my mirror by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel.
Publication date for all four parts: 2 limited edition handcrafted books, an A3 poster by Bethany White, and a pamphlet by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel is early July, 2018. All pre-orders placed by May 31st, receive the benefit of reduced shipping. Orders can be placed here
Egaeus Press BOOK OF THE SEA
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky
I: Ligan
Other’s Tears by David Yates
Waiting by Rosalie Parker
The Figurehead of the Cailleach by Stephen J. Clark
In The Hold, It Waits by Tom Johnstone
The Sorrows of Satan’s Book by Karim Ghahwagi
II: Flotsam
The Storm Brood by Colin Fisher
By Severn’s Flood by Jane Jakeman
Breakwater Lodge by Michael R. Colangelo
Dancing Boy by Colin Insole
Below Decks by Jonathan Eeds
The Final Flight of Fidelia by Albert Power
III: Jetsam
Withernsea by Martin Jones
Sailing to Trebizond by Sandra Rennie
The Woman from Malta by George Berguño
From Whence We Came by Jonathan Wood
Some Pages from the Journal of James Morris, Founder, Sable Island Humane Establishment, 1801 by Tim Foley
IV: Derelict
Cut Through with Skeins of Shallow Light by Joseph Dawson
[As yet untitled story] by Charles Schneider
The Lighthouse by Richard Sheppard
The Night They Came by D.F. Lewis
The Woman Who Walked in to the Sea by Steven Pirie
Publication is likely to be May, 2018, though more details will be made available in the weeks to come from Egaeus Press
It is an immense honor.
This vast archive of nothingness
Just in time to spread some Christmas cheer, and saturate those first winter days of the new year with the blackest of inks and dyes, Wound of Wounds: An Ovation for Emil Cioran, is now available from Mount Abraxas Press.
Inquiries to purchase the book from the publisher can be sent here: exoccidente@gmail.com. The book will be available from Fantastic Literature in the UK, and Ziesings in the US as soon as they receive their copies. Two deluxe hardback volumes in a beautiful single slipcase, edited by Damian Murphy and D.T. Ghetu with artwork by Louis Soutter and Edvard Munch. With stories:
Misanthropos Eugene Thacker,
Bach’s Marionettes Douglas Thompson,
The Aristocracy of Weak Nerves Justin Isis,
This Disquiet Demiurge Alcebiades Diniz Miguel,
He is Heading Your Way Already Rhys Hughes,
The Translator of God’s Silence Thomas Strømsholt,
Saint Severina’s Fire Damian Murphy,
Horrill Hill Karim Ghahwagi,
Dead Engrained Skin Jonathan Wood,
The Funeral Cry Stephan Friedman,
Obsolete Systems, Adam Golaski,
The Genealogy of Night Andrew Condous,
The Infinite Error Jon Padgett,
The Treasons of the Rue de L’Odeon Colin Insole,
Pay No Worship to the Garish Sun D.P. Watt,
The European Monster Part II Adam S. Cantwell,
Writing Instructions Charles Schneider
Wound of Wounds an Ovation for Emil Cioran
WOUND OF WOUNDS
An Ovation for Emil Cioran
A Mount Abraxas Anthology
With Art by Louis Soutter and Edvard Munch and
various Photography by Diverse Hands.
Edited by Damian Murphy and D.T. Ghetu
Two deluxe volumes in a single slipcase.
December 2017
__
Let our wounds bear witness to the cult of the irrational, to the ultimate futility of human endeavor, to the inevitable spectre of perpetual decay and to the scandal of the first act of Creation. Who can deny that history is but a shadowplay of vanities and borders; that our prayers are snuffed like candle flames in the all-encompassing indifference of the Absolute; that time itself is weighted against us like a river that cannot be diverted from its course; that even our bodies are built to fall apart, incapable of withstanding the terrifying essences for which we suppose them to be the vessels? We cling to destiny with the ecstasy of shipwrecked mariners, though we know it to be a dead end.
__
Misanthropos
Eugene Thacker
Bach’s Marionettes
Douglas Thompson
The Aristocracy of Weak Nerves
Justin Isis
This Disquiet Demiurge
Alcebiades Diniz Miguel
He is Heading Your Way Already
Rhys Hughes
The Translator of God’s Silence
Thomas Strømsholt
Saint Severina’s Fire
Damian Murphy
Horrill Hill
Karim Ghahwagi
Dead Engrained Skin
Jonathan Wood
The Funeral Cry
Stephan Friedman
Obsolete Systems
Adam Golaski
The Genealogy of Night
Andrew Condous
The Infinite Error
Jon Padgett
The Treasons of the Rue de L’Odeon
Colin Insole
Pay No Worship to the Garish Sun
D.P. Watt
The European Monster Part II
Adam S. Cantwell
Writing Instructions
Charles Schneider
__
We will proceed with fiery sermons and scathing condemnations, written over the course of a single sleepless night, scribed beneath the light of our afflictions and sealed with the blood of our iniquities; we’ll pen testaments to the intoxication of the exile, the self-abnegation of the poet, the secret narcissism of the mystic, and the immolation of the saint in the intolerable fires of perfection; what is needed is nothing less than a full-scale assault upon the bastions of fate and servitude—black epistles written on discarded cigarettes, smuggled in the broken hearts of the defectors, on the merits and the tedium of the labor of abandonment.
Emil Cioran, you have a lot to answer for.
__
He does.
For inquires and details, write to: exoccidente@gmail.com
Europa Interview and reading at Bibliophage
I am interviewed by author and publisher Alcebiades Diniz Miguel on the Bibliophage website on the origins of Amerika and Europa. To accompany the interview, he has also created a film with beautiful graphics and with an audio excerpt of our conversation. The interview and the film can be read and seen here at Bibliophage.
Alcebiades Diniz Miguel is the author of the magnificent collection Lanterns Of The Old Night. His fiction has recently appeared in All IS FULL OF HELL a panegyric to William Blake. His imprint Raphus Press, has just published three beautiful chapbooks: Monsters, Black Mirror and The Origins. They will look like this on your living room table as pictured on the bottom tier below, and can be purchased here.
And Des Lewis has completed his wonderful real time review of Europa.
Image by Des Lewis
I was tempted to pull some of his remarkable and eloquent and surprising passages and insights from his reading, but this is one journey into Europa that really has to be experienced in its entirety. You can embark on that journey here.
EUROPA IS PUBLISHED
Death of Simon Magus by Denis Forkas Kostromitin and Appassionata by Jiri Anderle
Europa
by Karim Ghahwagi
Art by Denis Kostromitin Forkas and Jiri Anderle
Mount Abraxas, August 2017
Deluxe cloth boards, illustrated end papers, color frontispiece page,
3 color text inside, extra thick dust jacket, silver silk ribbon, 14 inches x 6 inches, Limited to 93 hand numbered copies and 8 copies with an alternative cover.
Ever since Amerika has disappeared, the Supreme Chancellor of Europa and his military apparatus have been on high alert. Caustic with fear and paranoia that they could be next, the Supreme Chancellor’s Purple Guard and the D.S.V. now rule the walled- in jigsaw of nation states with an iron fist- and the occasional motivational slogan. Dogs and baboons in military uniforms routinely march on the streets, rockets are tested fired into the Atlantic in the direction of the disappeared continent, huge air balloons release hourly precipitations of info confetti upon the hoi-polloi as special treats, service announcements and surveillance alerts blare out of static filled speakers on every street corner, sprawling Mar-a-Lago detention centers are strained by the large influx of newly arrived American refugees.
But the fires of revolution are starting to stir in the ancient forges of Europa. Now rumors are circulating that the steady stream of American refugees have been infiltrated by infernal forces. All six thousand paintings of the Supreme at the National Portrait Gallery have vanished overnight. Postal services are in flux. Carousels are all turning in the wrong direction. The Roshlon mannequin of the Great Dictator Himself at the Albion Waxworks seems to have been reassigned to the Fifth Dimension. Chimneys over London release huge clouds of blackened smoke in fearful symmetries. Suddenly Travel Writers, Epic Poets and the occasional Pamphleteer are subject to increased scrutiny and suspicion… Meanwhile the Eternal Detective, long dormant in a strange, fugue-like space, has begun to stir…
Reservations can be made here with the publisher and with Ziesing Books in the US where copies are exclusively accompanied with signed cards. In the UK copies are available at Cold Tonnage Books and Fantastic Literature.
Europa is a short novel available as a part of a wonderful trilogy set published in the same format consisting of the novella Abyssinia by Damian Murphy, and a collection of 4 novelettes: The Ruins of Eden and Other Witcheries by Harold Billings.
While we await the Great Eclipse
Mounting Abraxas
It is a great honor and pleasure to announce the release of four new books from Mount Abraxas out in August. The books come with full page illustrations, and with 3 colour text within. Format: 14 inches x 6 inches. Illustrated endpapers, full colour frontispiece page.
Abyssinia
Author: Damian Murphy Art by Jose Gabriel Alegría Sabogal. An original long novella.
Europa
Author: Karim Ghahwagi Art by Denis Forkas. An original long novella / short novel.
The Ruins of Eden and Other Witcheries
Author: Harold Billings Art by Luciana Nedelea. A collection of four bleak stories of the occult and the weird folk.
Deeper Flowers Thrive
Author: Oliver Smith Art by Luciana Nedelea. A collection of four occult sea stories.
Reservations can be made here with the publisher and with Ziesing Books in the US and with Cold Tonnage Books in the UK.
Real-Timing the Dark Fantastic
Image by Jeffrey Harp
Author, editor and publisher D.F. Lewis has done a wonderful reading of all the stories in ALL IS FULL OF HELL here.
And you can find a link to all his Real-Time Reviews for 2017 here, a veritable living, breathing map of the fantastic fiction that is emerging into the world in these troubled times. Venture deeper, and you will find more than a decade of reviews and ruminations, all writ in an erudite, enjoyable, idiosyncratic style; a treasure that I suspect will become, (and already is), one of the most important and essential chronicles of fantastic literature of the past two decades.
A list of his publications can be found here
All his reviews (39 Volumes so far) have been collected in book form, and are available here
ALL IS FULL OF HELL Published Today
Study for Flooded Bell Tower II: An Imaginary Belfry by Denis Kostromitin Forkas
≈≈≈≈
ALL IS FULL OF HELL: a Panegyric for William Blake is published today by Mount Abraxas (an imprint of Ex Occidente Press). Copies can be reserved direct from the publisher, and with Ziesing Books in the US by emailing: info@ziesings.com, and with Fantastic Literature and Cold Tonnage in the UK. Edited and gorgeously designed and produced by D.T. Ghetu and Damian Murphy with illustrations by Denis Kostromitin Forkas.
Table of Contents
Trefoil is the Grail of Perdition by Sebastian Montesi, The Kings of Cobweb and Dandelion by Colin Insole, Feast of Fire by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel, Ghost of a Flea by Rhys Hughes, Shadow of Horror risen in Eternity by Stephan Friedman, Great, Pale World by D.P. Watt, Horrox by Andrew Condous, The Secret Wound in Life by Joseph Dawson, Torso in the Shadow by Adam S. Cantwell, Burnt the Fire of Thine Eyes by Oliver Smith, King Mob by Philip Fracassi, La Fleur Infernale by Leopold Nacht, I Want! I Want! by Henry Jovial, Christian Singles by Thomas Phillips, Wollstonecraft by Karim Ghahwagi, The Golden Mile by John Howard, Nocturnal Gardens by Ramon Lasalle,The Living Rapture by Jonathan Wood, Synarchy of Molten Bones by Deathspell Omega.
Photography by D.T. Ghetu
More pictures and ordering information here
ALL IS FULL OF HELL : A Panegyric for William Blake
All Is Full of Hell
A Panegyric for William Blake
Mount Abraxas / Ex Occidente Press
An Anthology of Fiction, Art and Death Poetry
Illustrated by Denis Kostromitin Forkas
Large Format Hardcover
Edited by D.T. Ghetu and Damian Murphy
May 2017
Let us begin,
In whisperd hymns
and mumbling prayers.
Is Nicodemus still in vigil weeping?
Blow Your Trumpet Gabriel!
For Albion is rotten to the core.
Blow Your Trumpet Zachariel!
For Jerusalem has fallen.
Blow Your Trumpet Michael!
For We are All Sick with Love.
Blow Your Trumpet Raphael!
For there are Vipers in Our Dreams.
Blow Your Trumpet Selaphiel!
For All is Full of Hell.
Table of Contents
Trefoil is the Grail of Perdition by Sebastian Montesi
The Kings of Cobweb and Dandelion by Colin Insole
Feast of Fire by Alcebiades Diniz Miguel
Ghost of a Flea by Rhys Hughes
Shadow of Horror risen in Eternity by Stephan Friedman
Great, Pale World by D.P. Watt
Horrox by Andrew Condous
The Secret Wound in Life by Joseph Dawson
Torso in the Shadow by Adam S. Cantwell
Burnt the Fire of Thine Eyes by Oliver Smith
King Mob by Philip Fracassi
La Fleur Infernale by Leopold Nacht
I Want! I Want! by Henry Jovial
Christian Singles by Thomas Phillips
Wollstonecraft by Karim Ghahwagi
The Golden Mile by John Howard
Nocturnal Gardens by Ramon Lasalle
The Living Rapture by Jonathan Wood
Synarchy of Molten Bones by Deathspell Omega
Copies can be reserved with Ziesing Books in the US by emailing info@ziesings.com, and with Fantastic Literature and Cold Tonnage in the UK.
Amerika
My novella Amerika is sold out at the publisher, but copies are available from these fine booksellers:
America has disappeared. Resources at the US Embassy in Copenhagen are a little stretched, and the extraordinary circumstances therefore require extraordinary measures, even if it means drawing upon the services of the world’s second greatest living detective – a disillusioned American expatriate called Mr. Denmark who is currently living in Copenhagen. Meanwhile, a travel writer called Mr. Sweden finds himself in a precarious position as the very subject matter of his next travel book seems to have disappeared. Copenhagen is gripped by a deep sense of unease. Bookshops and countries are disappearing, animals wearing Bowler hats are overrunning the city, the central immigration services have been beleaguered by tuxedo wearing penguins- infernal forces might be at work. And then there is that walking, talking Mauser-toting cat who might or might not be in cahoots with the Execrate Himself. A weird occult novella in homage to Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita.
Below is a piece of concept art that was not included in the book. The first five people who email me a picture of the book on their shelves will receive a signed copy of the artwork with a handwritten passage quoted on the reverse side, free, anywhere in the world. Email me your picture and postage address to sotjensen(at)gmail.com
Artwork will ship, and offer good through to February 1st, 2017.(If the world is still here)
Videos Celebrating National Poetry Month
Julian Simmons asked me if I wanted to contribute some form of visual interpretation of any poem of my choice, in celebration of national poetry month. You can see his humorous introduction to the series below, in the guise of his brilliant character Asgarth Wilson.
I had so much fun doing the first piece, the poem Oculus by Vladimir Nabokov, that I decided to do a second short piece, an installation video, based on a poem by J.G. Siminsky called The Seeds, which you can also see below. I am sure that Julian is open to many more poems, and readings, and you can contribute to his channel. I want to thank Cora Ripatti and Elaine Smith, as always, for their contributions and readings.
In more video news there should be a couple of videos shot all the way last year, coming out in the early summer. Also, in collaboration with Kura, we have decided to release a trilogy of interconnected collage videos which were featured on their tour in support of their album Halfway to the Moon.
Travels in the Librarium
I keep promising myself to one day bring my books in Europe, North Africa and the US to a single location. I imagine every volume finally nestled in some final, all encompassing mythic library, like in Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose, a booby trapped labyrinth filled with mirrors and secret passageways. There are however, a number of advantages in having your books scattered on the shelves of different collections, sometimes thousands of miles apart: the joy of rediscovery when you return after a longer absence, of stumbling across a volume you had forgotten you owned. The trouble is of course when you look forward to reacquainting yourself with certain books, and then seem to have trouble locating them, and you then assume (hope) that the volume in question is likely sitting on some shelf on another continent. (Where is my first hard back edition of Silence of the Lambs? Or what happened to the signed copy of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary?) I thought I would pick some books from my collection in Denmark at this point in time. I was going to add some pictures of graphic novels and comics as well, and maybe even mumble some words about each volume. But I think all these books below gave me a great deal of enjoyment, and just seeing them again, ignites all sorts of memories, fragments, sensations. I thought I would pick thirty or so books, snap some quick shots of them one snowy afternoon and put them here in alphabetical order.
Photo Portfolio
Summer is over, if there were any leaves left in LA after the particularly dry and hot season, they would be turning. The last two weeks saw old forces returning in the form of a new Aphex Twin album!, and a new edition of Space Hulk from Games Workshop! (Try combining the experience, the crackle of vinyl is particularly cinematic as you flame genestealers in claustrophobic corridors.)
The immensely talented author Michael Marshall (Smith) has finally, FINALLY I say, had some of his incredible body of work translated to the screen and the result is The Intruders TV series from BBC America. Now they should just go ahead and produce his adaptation of Clive Barker’s Weaveworld. Speaking of Clive Barker, the gentleman has had three art shows open here in LA this year (or was it four?), and those paintings are wonderful to experience up close, thick paint and scratches, a sight to behold. Come Halloween there will be a release of Barker’s own extended cut of Nightbreed,which is also going to be some occasion.
There should be two music videos coming this year, or when labels decide to hit the go button. They were immense fun to make. They will probably be the last two stop motion films for some time. (I say this every time and then someone shares something too excellent to resist.) Hopefully those previous seven films can be collected at some point. Right now I am working with immensely talented and supportive producers and we are going to go away and make something exciting, and then come back here at some point.
A NEW VIDEO REEL AND BOOKLET
Video Works and Black Static
Principal photography for the Killt Spirit film project (Still image above) is done and features performances by Ted Haler (Strange Days) and Kindred Lansdown. This was a really great experience and I am looking forward to the November release. I have signed on to do three music videos, the first of which will start production next week. I am really excited by these three videos which will feature interconnected narratives that span from present day Los Angeles and far, far into the future, to the dark depths of space, and heavy on supernatural horror, noir detective fiction and dystopian science fiction themes. Also, my short story Human Resources which appeared in the Des Lewis edited short story anthology The First Book of Classical Horror Stories, has received a review by Peter Tennant in Black Static! He writes: ‘Music is incidental to ‘Human Resources’ by Karim Ghahwagi, which appears to be channelling Thomas Ligotti’s attitudes to the world of work, with an omnipresent and mysterious company and people engaged in pointless labour, the mood of the piece powerful, dystopian and disturbing.’ I highly recommend this collection which has great stories by Colin Insole, Mark Valentine, John Howard, S.D. Tullis, D.P. Watt and many others. My novella Amerika is available in a limited hard back edition from Ex Occidente Press and you can grab it here and from the great Cold Tonnage Books here.
