From The Archives: Seaside

"Sudd ott emm gos ett tos shuggwa 'net tannish k'tawl lin sud og shet en rugma!"

Like the passing of a long train at night, out of the great depths, it rose and rose and rose.  The rain and ocean spray glittered about it like falling coins.  The thing itself was dark grey and black, revealed only by the shining highlights upon its gargantuan form.  It made a noise like thick wood creaking under strain.  The protuberances at the bottom of its face parted and it bellowed like a claxon.  Its voice shook the shoreline.  

The robed figure smiled in the torrent of rain.  The ritual had taken a complete toll upon him.  He quivered with exertion and excitement.  He was a mad wanton thing.  He raised his arms and brayed into the roaring crash of the tide.
 

"SUDD OTT EMM SUUUUDD OOOOOTT RUUUUGMAAAAAAA-"

The Leviathan twisted in the shallows, sending walls of water in all directions.  The robed figure screamed as he disappeared under one rail car sized appendage. 

~

This is the last of the headers from 2015.  I had never drawn (in any detail) a cyclopean Cthulhuian behemoth.  The seaside seemed like the best place for hat level of horror.  I do have a deep fear of opaque bodies of water... that and behemoth indescribable insect cephalopod Gods.

 

For 2015, I wanted to take the headers in a different direction than the work I had been producing.  I chose to adopt a looser style.  Although the 2014 pieces all had some underlying element of dark humor or social commentary, the 2015 headers have all moved back towards the essence of the work I want to create: horror.

{13.33x4.68,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

 

Featured Creature: In The Cities

"In the cities, the effects of the plague were much worse.  Within the massive populations of larger cities, the infection spread almost overnight.  The newly dead, enclosed within the complex networks of city infrastructures, were restricted to close quarters and did not disburse into smaller groups as in rural areas.

Featured Creature: The Room Under the Bridge

Ken had been struggling with the key for several minutes.  The metal door and lock were very old and a patch of rust had accumulated around the keyhole.  He wiped the sweat away from his eyes and scraped at the rust again with his screwdriver.  He tried the key once more. Finally the blockage gave way and the key slid in with a loud click.

He had to press hard to get the key to turn at all.  It felt as though it were going to break off in the lock, but the inertia within the lock slowly relented and the key turned.  Once the lock released he tugged at the door and it opened with an audible gust.  The air within was stagnant and musty.

"Finally!"  He took a swig from his water bottle and placed his tools back in his belt.  Ken returned quickly to his truck to get a flashlight and double check the paperwork for the site: #PDOTA13  Tertiary Water Interchange under South Highway Fourteen and Old Mason road bridge.  The commission director wanted an inventory of all the older pump sites in the county before funding could be approved for the new waterworks construction next year.  Everyone in site management was working extra shifts until all the pump sites had been checked and cataloged.  This particular interchange was the oldest on his list: it had not been accessed in over seven years.  He clipped his flashlight onto his belt and pocketed a filter face mask just in case the air was worse inside.  Clipboard under one arm, he returned to the door.

Featured Creature: Gift of the Pyxis

Sigurd and Donna were fighting again.  Behind me, at the second table of artifacts, they stood over the ancient box that had been found at the new dig site and all but spat in each others faces.  An inscription translation was the item of contention this time.  I tried to concentrate on translating the runes on the sword in front of me, but they continued to escalate.

Professor Lincoln wasn't at camp today and in his absence they always went after each other.  They had not liked each other from the moment they had met.  A week in the cramped quarters of the base camp had not helped their temperaments at all.  Any professional courtesy had quickly withered until only venomous disagreement remained.  All common ground was lost.

"The inscription clearly calls this chest the Pyxis of Union!"  Sigurd said with derision.  Donna sighed heavily and flipped several pages in her notebook.  She read from her notes and glared back at Sigurd.

"The rune for death and transfiguration is clearly displayed at several key points on the chest.  It is the Pyxis of Death!"

Featured Creature: The Shard

"Nick.  I've found something, something amazing."

Tony looked ill.  His skin was very pale and his eyes had dark circles beneath them.  His hair was disheveled and he had obviously been wearing his wrinkled tee shirt and jeans for several days.  As we walked across campus, he developed a slick sheen of sweat on his face and neck.

"When was the last time you slept?"

"That doesn't matter.  What I found is gonna change everything!"  He raised his arms up as danced around euphorically.

We turned the corner of the mathematics building and moved around the backside, a shortcut through the faculty parking lot to the cafeteria.  The building butted up against a large grassy field at the edge of the university property.  Birds chirped and danced in the sunlit grass. I enjoyed the warm afternoon air despite Tony's cryptic euphoria.