Sunday, December 7, 2008

i could have been sleeping

Oh, my beloved Arkham where the cloisters of olde Miskatonic U. rang with a chorus of slobbering screams of those newly made monsters who used to be my friends and classmates. August, is that you wearing the bloody beak of gore and is that really Abdul Alhazred, the Mad Arab himself standing next to our dear chancellor? Isn't he the very one who wrote the Book that cannot be named?

(The Necronomicon? You can't be shown one! The libraries never will loan one! But if it's so rare and guarded with care, why does every nut case seem to own one?)

I struggled to hold onto the last vestiges of my sanity as well as my precious bodily fluids. I didn't want anything running down my leg that might attract the attention of the tentacled ones overrunning my alma mater. I had to find a way to get to Innsmouth for help. Why do I suddenly feel like singing?

Pardon me boy,
Is this the Lair of Great Cthulhu?
In the city of slime,
Where it is night all the time..

Running this way and that finding every path to freedom blocked I suddenly heard a great whooshing sound. As dark shapes filled the sky and flame lit breath shriveled the monstrous ghouls who'd crept close to me in the gloom, I was plucked from my frozen stance and swept up to the back of a giant worm whose rider was my little sister, Kate.

I hadn't seen her for years but now wasn't the time for mentioning that she appeared to have made some strange friends in my absence and where on earth were we going? A giant bubble of light surrounded us as we flew high up into the starry sky. I must have dozed because once I opened my eyes the one thing I did know was that we were nowhere near New England anymore and another song came welling up from deep inside:

Cthulhu, you're breaking my mind.
My sanity's vanishing daily!
Oh, Cthulhu, I'm down on my knees
I'm begging you, please --- go away,
Go away!

We'd arrived in an alien world where a huge pool of dragon spawn was surrounded by a two dimensional landscape of primary colors. Had I been partaking of the illicit pharmacopeia in my sister's open saddlebag and who exactly was this strange beast who'd carried me to this unknown land?

His name was Randal, the trickster who contaminated me with the wicked Splotchy virus, on whom I will get my just revenge.

*note: Just so there's no mistake about my abilities to be spontaneously funny the songs came from an obscure place.

12 comments:

  1. Heh. Great response. I really liked your parody of Chattanooga choo choo. But then again... I hope I don't have any nightmares imagining the great mythical beast of evil of which you write.

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  2. i love your beautiful dragon city drawing: the border, the mosques (and the cross in the doorway), the balloons and dragons, even the stars that look like fireworks. it's very magical.
    ps. your sis sounds like a troublemaker.

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  3. Best ever! And illustrated! Splotchy will be so pleased. The bastard will now be infecting us every couple of months. Thanks a lot, couldn't you have just phoned it in like the rest of us?

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  4. Woo Woo! Nifty!!

    Thanks a lot for being infected!

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  5. A wonderful kaleidoscope of vivid memories and imaginations from those stories, as interesting as your colorful paintings. I don’t think you were sleeping but maybe you were day dreaming?

    Best wishes

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  6. spartacus - If you'd lived in Providence and read HP Lovecraft in his own strange city as I did, you'd be believing in Nyarlothatep too.

    sera - I don't think I'd have ever posted this one if it hadn't been for being given a story virus which just seemed to fit. It was just too big and I got lost in the details but I'm glad to see you got the gist.

    I don't actually have a sister but one like Kate would have been fun.

    utah - I did phone it in. The painting is an old one and the Lovecraftian universe was big enough for a brief raid :-)

    splotchy - Thanx

    lindsay - Those could be called fevre dreams, more like. It was a fun challenge but I don't often take on such things. Glad you enjoyed it.

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  7. I'm so glad I decided to go Lovecraft with this, because what you guys are coming up with is ghoulishly spectacular with a dash of Loki, if he was a tentacled beast from beyond the stars. If this is phoned in, you should call more often.

    So yes, be prepared for more tags. ;-)

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  8. I LOVE the Chattanooga choo-choo and Cecilia spoofs!

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  9. randal - You'll have to wait and see what developes..

    cdp - They're the best part in my opinion too. The web has become home to many fans of the Old Ones.

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  10. attracted to the nacre-coated dragon spawn
    or more accurately
    to the pearls scattered across the floor of their lair
    eyes downcast to avoid their blistering breath
    certain death the pearls
    like layered experience
    tearlike reflections of the moon

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  11. Your contribution to this form of the strain has taken it to a new level. I think you should become a science fiction writer of the raunchy female detective type who bursts into thoughtful song of the ancient kind. I am of the ancient kind as well and so burst into songfull laughter upon reading the future's lyrics. Pardon me boys...

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  12. sera - Yow! I'm impressed beyond words with that wonderful comment. Just for that I may post another painting tonight :-)

    utah - 'a science fiction writer of the raunchy female detective type' Actually, I rather like that idea and maybe I'll try it once I run out of the 'truish' stories.

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