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The Mighty Eye-Mouth in the Skydouble-click on Sedonic Eye to enlarge in a separate window; eye-text enlarges here |
Phantacea Publications is pleased to announce
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Daze Today — Gambit Tomorrowdouble-click to enlarge in separate window; more visuals re Gambit are here and here |
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"Goddess Gambit"- 'The Thrice-Cursed Godly Glories' -
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Already here ..."The Thousand Days of Disbelief"Phantacea Publications is pleased to announce the three mini-novels constituting
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Jim McPherson's PHANTACEA Mythos| Rollovers re Mosaic Novels | Notes on Mosaic Rollovers | Newest Mini-Novels | |
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The background image for this page and this panel are variations of the collage/cover I prepared for
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Anheroic Fantasy since 1977Collages for covers and handouts prepared by Jim McPherson from a combination of his own photographs and scans from magazines as well as postcards bought in situ. The
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Hit here to initiate orders directly from amazon.com and some its affiliates. Books from Phantacea Publications currently available include Kindle versions of Libraries, bookstores and bookseller collectives can place bulk orders through Ingram Books, Ingram International, Coutts Information (and Library) Services, Baker & Taylor, and a large network of other distributors worldwide. Some of the Phantacea comics and graphic novels can be ordered through Drive Thru Comics. Or, if you prefer to order directly from the publisher, email or send your order(s) via surface mail. No matter where you live or what currency you prefer to use, I'll figure out a way to fill your order(s) myself. Please add an additional 12% to cover Canadian and provincial taxes as well as Canada Post rates for shipping. At present Phantacea Publications can only accept certified cheques or money orders. BookFinder.com lists both of the original versions of the mosaic novels: Another interesting option for the curious is Chegg, which has a rent-a-book program. Thus far its search engine shows no results for phantacea (any style or permutation thereof) but it does recognize Jim McPherson (a variety of them) and the titles of the novels. As for the Whole Earth (other than the Hidden Continent of Sedon's Head, at least as far as I can say), this page contains a list of a few other websites where you can probably order the novels in a variety of currencies and with credit cards. |
Greetings. Welcome or welcome back, as the case may be. Mini-Novels Now Available Worldwide
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Both
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Comments are always appreciated. With your permission, I may reproduce some of them somewhere at sometime. Until then, as I used to end off this sort of thing when I was publishing comic books, be pHantacizing you. JMcP
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"Janna Fangfingers"Now available from Phantacea Publications
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Devils & DeviantsHave to say deviants (the half-sons or half-daughters of Master Devas while possessing mortal men or women) tend to be more sympathetic characters than their seemingly immortal half-parent or parents. Guess that's because mortality makes mamas (and papas) more, um, simpatico. The Smiler figure's from New York's Metropolitan Museum. Can't currently recall where the Janna figure came from but do know the wild-eyed fellow's from a postcard I bought in Germany. He was supposed to represent Sraddha Somata. Too bad I couldn't find a picture of a black, bald and bearded hybrid-Utopian in my photo-archives. Top of Section - Upwards |
Raised, not RazedGood effect, eh? It's called "embossing" on Photoshop, in case you were wondering. What is razed during That it survived, or is surviving, in the Year of the Dome 5980, does not necessarily mean it will continue to do so. Hence the 'Launch 1980' story cycle that began with War-Pox and carries on in In some respects, aspects of Fangers could therefore constitute a prequel to the Launch sequences. Top of Section - Upwards |
Viennese VetalaThis effect is called "tiling" on Photoshop. I like it. As for why I called her the Viennese Vetala, that's because I shot her there. (All right, so I cloned in the 3rd eye. Big Whoop!) Artist's name is Egon Schiele (1890-1918). A contemporary of Gustav Klimt, the Wikipedia webpage re him is here. If he was still around I'd hire him. He's captured the relationship between Nergal Vetala and Janna become Fangfingers damn near perfectly — emphasis on 'damn'. Top of Section - Upwards |
1000-Daze DeviantsThere are all sorts of deviants in 1000-Daze. In truth they tend to dominate proceedings throughout much of the novel (or mini-novels, as reality has presented itself). I'll have to get back to you as to where most of the collage's components came from, but I do want to note especially that I didn't shoot the fellow with the quill in any museum. Nope, I shot him on the streets of Vancouver. Yep, he – whom I so often use to represent Squiggly 'The Q's for Quill' Tethys – is a wall-painting. Top of Section - Downwards |
Tomcat Tattletail
Tomcat Tattletail is the faerie-type Harmony's so enamoured with in Hellion especially. There's more on him here, here, here, here, here and here. As you may have already noticed, I used the same image, which I shot in NYC, again in the collage next door. With respect to the Tura reproduced here, I've commented on it here and here, no doubt among a number of other places by now. The Legendarian makes mention of it while speaking with APM All-Eyes and some of the Baby Byronics in Contagion. He claims he met Cosme Tura while visiting Italy sometime previous to the eventful midsummer's night of 5474 YD. Which, I might add, is entirely plausible given Tura's dates (ca. 1430–1495). What's definitely a, um, phantacea pHact is that Jordy believes Tura must have been on the Inner Earth at some point in time relatively then-recently. Otherwise, how could he have copied a Tethys original of Morgan Abyss? Top of Section - Upwards |
Fauns Frolic Feverishly
Sooth said, they do a lot more than frolic feverishly – and I'm not just referring to how fabulously they play the syrinx or panpipes while more like prancing about than dancing. For one thing, if this collage can be trusted (which it can't), they also seem to float contentedly once they're done whatever they were doing ever so feverishly. It all has to do with the pheromones they secrete, you see. (In Hellion they are, to say the least, positively demonic.) As for why this collage can't be trusted, as both Harmony and her triplet brother, Lord Order, discover in Hellion, metamorphic demons do fauns just as well as they do anything else – which isn't perfect but certainly is well enough for the moment. Simultaneously, or at least almost in the same moment, Uncle Abe and Bedazzling Belialma discover denim-demons can do double-duty as panting pants. All in all, they'd thereafter all agree, if they got the chance, it's a very hardening experience all around. Except, that is, for phantacea's most famous fauna, Pusan Wanderlust. For her, the experience isn't so much electrifying as it is electrocuting. Top of Section - Upwards |
NYC's Faux Bosch
Many painters tried to emulate Bosch's style in the 16th and 17th centuries. I took this picture of one such painting (unaccredited as near as I could discover) in New York City's Metropolitan Museum in 2009. I use part of it at the bottom of Hellion's cover in order to represent Magnus Minus, the mighty Minotaurus of Minius (Absudyl), which lies directly beneath the Weirdom of Cabalarkon (Sedon's Devic Eye-Land on a map of the Hidden Headworld).
(Double-click to enlarge map to its 1978-standard black on white format.)A clickable version of the map is on the Peculiar Places page whereas the more than just moderately amazing story of what I spotted in Cairo's Egyptian Museum is retold here and here. There's more on Magnus Minus, who appears as a daemonic demiurge in Hellion, here, here, here and here. Top of Section - Upwards |
Daemonic Royalty (Daemonicus & Primeval Lilith)
The figure representing Primeval Lilith, the Demon Queen of the Night, is by Henry Fuseli (1741-1825). I used it on Hellion's cover as well as on the mock-up I prepared for 1000-Daze, two versions of which can be seen here. Fuseli called her Great Night so how could I not choose her to stand in for one of phantacea's most misunderstood stand-outs? Below Lunatic Lily (who's still a mass murderer no matter how justifiable her actions could be considered), the Smiling Fiend, or someone similar, seems to be in one of his two-eyed Daemonicus moments. I took it from a postcard I bought in Germany back in 2008 whereas the background is from a postcard I bought in Sintra, Portugal, on that same 6-week European vacation. As for whether Demon Queen Lilith or Demon King Daemonicus-Smiler even appear in either mini-novel, well, let's just say not explicitly and leave it at that. (Or not — after all, as per here, they are noted in Hellion's Character Companion.) Top of Section - Downwards |
The Rat-Catcher of Hamelin
Yes, I cannot spot the signature of Jordan "Q for Quill" Tethys in this shot either. Yes also, in the Legendarian's defence, it is a copy of the a stained glass window he purports to have done early in the Outer Earth's 14th Century. And, no, none of the rats are tee-tees. They're children. The koppen or calvary-like hillock is shaped like a tholos. though. As for the cave's entrance, well, at a stretch it might pass for a skull-shape or golgotha. Myself, though, I don't stretch that far. The copy reproduced here dates to 1592. It's by Augustin von Moersperg. The actual window was destroyed in 1660. (This information is from FT 264, of which more here.) Top of Section - Upwards |
The Anonymous Fiend
The Smiling Fiend is obviously not smiling in this shot of Budapest's famous Anonymous. That said, given what Smiler's main attribute appears to be throughout the phantacea Mythos — namely that no one can remember him unless he's standing right in front of him or her and mindfully wants them to remember him — Anon has to be him. It's almost impossible to hit a webpage on either of the two main phantacea websites that doesn't reference Smiler. One taken from Hellion is here. A bunch of others link from here, here, here and here. Top of Section - Upwards |
Herta Heartthrob
As already noted, Albrecht Durer, age 4, and the hound Drang (whose name I admittedly made up) appear a few times during Contagion. It's my contention that Durer, like Bosch and the notorious Spanish inquisitor, Torquemada, were recruited by Contagion Collectors led by Tomcat Tattletail and Herta Heartthrob and thereafter actually spent some time on the Hidden Headworld. Strikes me as obvious, especially when it comes to Bosch and Durer. I mean, where else would they have come up with such fantastical imagery firsthand, especially at the tail end of the Outer Earth's plague-ridden 15th Century? I initially constructed this image with Harmony, the Unity of Balance, in mind. However, as eventually revealed in Contagion, it might just as easily apply to Herta Heartthrob. I first described it here but I've since learned that the nose on the statue I shot in NYC (a Roman grave marker) was knocked off deliberately. To do so apparently prevents the ever-so-lifelike figure coming to actual life. The practice was quite common in the early days of Christianity — it certainly beat decapitating statuary, which Christians were quite fond of doing as well in Mediaeval Europe. The practice presumably led to our verb 'to deface'. Top of Section - Upwards |
Ring-Gotten Devils
Virtually ever since I began phantacea on the Web in (gasp!) 1996, I've run a feature entitled Serendipity. It chronicles all sorts of serendipitous discoveries that make me wonder how much I've actually made up and how much of phantacea is real. Consider now ringots. Those familiar with the comic books (Aristotle 'Ringleader 2' Zeross) and/or the Web Serials (Angelo 'Ringleader 1' Zeross) will have recognized them straightaway. Centuries before either Zeross, father or son, came along, they figure rather irreplaceably in both Hellion and Contagion. Intriguingly, nay serendipitously, guess what Bosco, age 26, must have spotted in the aforementioned Garden of Earthy Delights besides the Juggler (double-click for a cut-out)? Yep, a ringot — and not just any ringot either, but one containing Metisophia, the Legendarian's devic half-mother. How do I know this? Well, in Aka Titanic Metis, she doesn't feature in Hellion because she's been ring-gotten. (Her purloined cauldron does, however.) And the Juggler's on the cover of Contagion at least in part because his belly shows Metis ring-gotten. Only, I just realized that about a year after I prepared the cover. Talk about serendipity delayed. Top of Section - Downwards |
The Sedonic Eye-MouthThe mighty eye-mouth in the sky above Sedon's Head is depicted about to slurp up the Cosmic Express. The artwork is by Ian Bateson, circa 1986. The original appeared on the cover to phantacea Phase One #1, of which more is here and here. As per here, a slightly different version of the Sedonic Eye-Mouth appeared on the back cover of The flip-side of this postcard is here. As already noted, aspects of Fangers could constitute a prequel to the 'Launch 1980' story cycle. Top of Section - Upwards
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Goddess Gambit
Sample chapters from the 2004 rewrite of the web-serial are here. It's unlikely they'll make it as is to 2011's Gambit but they'll be close. Although for Vetala's Soldier the titular Goddess is, of course, Nergal Vetala, three other devic goddesses play a Trigregos Gambit in the novel. They are dot, dot and, um, well, sort of ... Top of Section - Upwards
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Devils in Disguise
The 'Devils in Disguise' collage belongs here in the sense that Gambit carries on from where an aspect of Fangers leaves off. A few details re the shots that went into this collage are here. As for why the incomparable Harmony is wearing a shroud, well, um, let's call it symbolic for the moment. All shall be revealed before Mithramas 6011 — assuming there still is a Sedon's Head upon which Mithramas is celebrated. Top of Section - Upwards
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2011 pHant Ad
The five novels thus far released by Phantacea Publications. The text reads:
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There are plenty of websites that display artwork by Hieronymous Bosch (Bosco, age 26, in In terms of Bosch, I took the Juggler and the lower edge of the front cover for Contagion from a triptych entitled 'The Garden of Earthly Delights'. For reasons made clear therein, it's called the Garden of Earthy Delights in Contagion. The mini-novel also makes clear that Bosch didn't make it up — at least he didn't within the phantacea Mythos. 'The Ascent of the Empyrean', which appears on both the front and back cover of Contagion, is one-fourth of a major work entitled 'Visions of Beyond'. The version I used is from a poster replacing the actual painting in the Doge's palace of Venice. Apparently the original was being cleaned while I was there in 2008. As for Durer, the putto (who once ate Sinistral Envy), Drang (not yet a dachshund, thus not yet having wolfed down the murine crud containing Camorva Freeflight) and Herta Heartthrob (a technically daemonic, hence soulless, earthborn eidolon given flesh) come from Melancholia. (Should perhaps add, as a bonus teaser, that Herta is a melancholic angel in the sense that she has wings and is lovely, except she seems plagued by sadness at her own lack of fulfillment. Above all else, she wants to wholly devour the Unity of Balance, whom even she perceives as Beauty Incarnate, instead of simply settling for gathered-up scum-cream left behind on Tholoi hearthstones that Harmony used to get to the Outer Earth in pursuit of Tomcat Tattletail – a character introduced as such in Hellion – long, and often, pre-book.) Both Death and the goatish Devil came from 'The Knight'. The 'Four Horsemen' came from just that. As for why he depicted the rider with the Scales of Justice (unless it's for weighing produce in times of pestilence, drought, and/or consequential famine) as a man instead of the most incomparably gorgeous woman ever beheld by everyone, well, assuming the phantacea Mythos isn't pure fantasy, Dire was only 4 at the time of Contagion and might have been missing his mother, if not his dog. The British Museum has piles of Durer's prints. It even puts out a small hardcover that can probably be ordered online as if just to prove it. I scanned in the ones I used for the covers on this page, as well as its background images, from art books I already had at home. Just by the bye, Durer's Death (upper left corner in graphic beside this paragraph) looks a lot like old King Cold, Tantal Thanatos, did in the comic books. Which is doubly appropriate since Cold is one of the aforementioned Death Gods of Lathakra – the other being immediate sister Methandra, Hot Stuff, Mithras's Virgin (in both Feel Theo and Hellion, though no longer in the comic books) or just plain Heat (after her attribute) – and Thanatos is the name of the Ancient Greek God of Death. Just as interesting (to me anyhow), Durer's Devil might well be someone the recurring deviant, Pusan Wanderlust, would fall for in both Hellion and Contagion. That's because, as also per here, Pusan's a female faun or fauna and everyone knows what fauns are best at doing, a lot. NOTE: the last two images in this panel don't double-click. They roll over, rather effectively I feel.Top of Section - Downwards |
The background image for this page and this panel are variations of the collage/cover I prepared for "Janna Fangfingers" ; the background image for this panel, and the one above it, are variations of a black and white collage/cover I prepared for War-Pox's 1000-Daze bonus chapter; as also per here and here I did a colour version of it as well; some of the shots that went into these collages can be seen here and here; as for why Durer's 4 Horsemen remind me of Thrygragos Lazareme and his firstborn Unities, that's here; |
Webpage last updated: Autumn 2011There may be no cure for aphantasia (defined as 'having a blind or absent mind's eye') but there certainly is for aphantacea ('a'='without', like the 'an' in 'anheroic') Interactive PDFs of some of the Phantacea Mythos books and graphic novels released by Phantacea Publications are available for downloading from One Book Shelf and its frontline ordering sites: Drive Through Fiction and Drive Through ComicsTop of Page - OnwardsAlternative Ordering Information for PHANTACEA Mythos mosaic novelsDownloadable order form for additional PHANTACEA Mythos Print PublicationsCurrent Web-Publisher's CommentaryJim McPherson's Worldwide Email Address -- jmcp@phantacea.compH-Webworld 1996-2006: THE WEB SERIALSpHantaBlogWebsite last updated: Winter 2017/18 Written by: Jim McPherson -- jmcp@phantacea.com
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