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Paul Woodroffe’s Tempest

https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2026/09/02/paul-woodroffes-tempest/

Published: September 2, 2026 15:30

Paul Vincent Woodroffe (1875–1954) was a British illustrator and stained-glass artist, a kind of British equivalent of Harry Clarke in that he seems to have spent more time creating stained glass than he did illustrating books. Woodroffe was also an exact…

It’s Fantastic! It’s Futuristic! It’s Fatalistic! It’s Science Fiction!

https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2026/08/31/its-fantastic-its-futuristic-its-fatalistic-its-science-fiction/

Published: August 31, 2026 15:30

There’s a worthwhile documentary struggling to be born in this film which is compromised by its hyperbolic title and a running time of 48 minutes, not nearly enough to contain a history of science fiction, past and present. I’m not a media historian so I…

Weekend links 845

https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2026/08/29/weekend-links-845/

Published: August 29, 2026 18:00

Cover design by Jim Jupp, art by Arik Roper. • New music: Sorcery by Belbury Poly, or “The Belbury Poly” as the credit on the cover art has it. The description of the forthcoming release says “it grew from [Jim] Jupp’s love of early to mid-80s electronic…

Mug-wump Specific

https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2026/08/26/mug-wump-specific/

Published: August 26, 2026 15:30

Mugwump (mŭg´ wŭmp). An Algonquin word meaning a chief; in Eliot’s Indian Bible the word “centurion” in the Acts is rendered mugwump. It is now applied in the United States to independent members of the Republican party, those who refuse to follow the…

The Art of the Unknown by S. Elizabeth

https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2026/08/24/the-art-of-the-unknown-by-s-elizabeth/

Published: August 24, 2026 15:30

I was amused when I opened this new arrival to see a reproduction of the picture which is currently being used as this month’s blog header. The coincidence confirms that this is my kind of book, being a collection of paintings, drawings and engravings of…

Weekend links 844

https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2026/08/22/weekend-links-844/

Published: August 22, 2026 18:00

Crivelli’s Room I (1967) by Gillian Ayers. • “This is the first film ever made about HP Lovecraft—and almost no one has seen it. Shot in 1989–90, it features unique interviews with Lovecraft’s friends and colleagues. It has sat unfinished for more than…

Milik, a film by Mati Klarwein

https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2026/08/19/milik-a-film-by-mati-klarwein/

Published: August 19, 2026 15:30

Giving this 30-minute curio a “film by…” designation is a bit of a stretch but it was co-written by artist Mati Klarwein and also directed by him. Milik was filmed among the towns and desert landscapes of Niger in 1972, and is a rambling thing that’s not…

Symphonie Fantastique

https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2026/08/17/symphonie-fantastique/

Published: August 17, 2026 15:30

1955. Cover art by Jane Sinnickson Flora. The programme for the symphony (1845 version) by Hector Berlioz: Part One: Daydreams, Passions The author imagines that a young musician, afflicted by the sickness of spirit which a famous writer has called the…

Weekend links 843

https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2026/08/15/weekend-links-843/

Published: August 15, 2026 18:00

Total solar eclipse over Zaragoza, Spain, 12th August, 2026. Photograph by Ruiyu Zhang. • Kenneth Anger (again), in a transcript for another KPFA radio interview, in which we Anger have mentioning HP Lovecraft. Not a major revelation in itself but it’s not…

The Greenwood Faun

https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2026/08/12/the-greenwood-faun/

Published: August 12, 2026 15:30

Arthur Machen isn’t usually considered to be a Decadent author even though it was in the Mauve Decade of the 1890s that he first established himself as a writer. Machen knew Oscar Wilde well enough to recount an anecdote in later life, and two of Machen’s…