Tag: HorrorFam

Recommended Reading/Listening: PseudoPod 886: “A Wonder of Nature, In Need of Killing” by VG Campen

PseudoPod 886: “A Wonder of Nature, In Need of Killing” by VG Campen

I loved this story, especially given the wonderful voice acting by narrator Sevatividam. Very strong vibes of “illegitimate lovechild of True Grit and H.P. Lovecraft.” Recommended for those who enjoy voicey first-person narrators, down-holler riverside oxy-and-meth country Americana, turtle soup, and county fairs.

You can listen to this story wherever you get podcasts, or at the following link, which also features the full text for those who prefer reading over being read to:

PseudoPod 886: “A Wonder of Nature, In Need of Killing” by VG Campen

(art credit: “Kalmarian swamp turtle” by Halycon450 released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License)

AI “Art” I Sorta Like: “Pooky Park”

OK, those scare quotes are unfair; this is indeed art, even if the creator is phoning in bits where he or she could certainly have applied a small amount and greatly improved their work.

Yes, “Pooky Park” is credited like so:

This is an AI-generated 1950s TV commercial for a family theme park called Pooky Park, where customers are chased by giant, somewhat terrifying puppets. Script: ChatGPT Photos: Midjourney Video: PikaLabs, Runway

That leaves the impression that someone typed “Make a 1950s TV commercial for a family theme park called Pooky Park, where customers are chased by giant, somewhat terrifying puppets” into ArtGT, hit the GO! button, and it pooped out this short, festive romp whole.

But that’s not how any of these tools work. For example, I can tell you from experience that Runway only gives you three or so seconds of footage at a time. The creator is eliding the fact that a lot has gone into editing the visuals and creating the audio. Yes, the script sounds like it’s straight ChatGPT (“Colossal howdy-doody-type puppets”? 🙄), and us thus hella week. But this is still an excellent creative application of new artistic tools—evidenced by the fact that I watched it and shared it not because of the gimmick (“AI made this!!!1!“), but because it captivated me and entertained me and unsettled me and made me want to share it with other people so they could be captivated and entertained and unsettled, too. And that, my best belovéd, is what art is all about.

Know Some Nerds? Wanna Give ’em Books as Gifts?

I write horror, SF, and DIY stuff—occasionally in book form. If you want autographed/personalized copies for your lovelies this holiday season, I can help!

Here’s the rundown on what I’ve got on hand:

  • Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred: Seriously Geeky Stuff to Make with Your Kids: Just like the title promises. A weird range of projects: Tickle boxes that shock you, PVC didgeridoos, sock squids, and more.
  • Junkyard Jam Band: DIY Musical Instruments and Noisemakers: Again, we like titles that make description redundant. These are oddball little homebrew instruments and effects: an electric ukulele, a synth or two, thumb pianos, lofi audio effects, etc.
  • There Was No Sound of Thunder: A Time Portal Novel: Fresh out of college Taylor lucks into a cushy job in human resources. Now he’s tangled up with dishonest bosses, domestic terrorists, meth dealers, the “Problem of Too Many Hitlers,” and threats to space-time integrity. What’s a fella to do?
  • There Was a Crooked Man, He Flipped a Crooked House (a cosmic horror novel): Downtrodden Glenn and his none-too-bright sidekick Lennie work for a crooked real estate baron flipping houses in downtrodden Detroit. But this latest flipper has some odd geometry, a really off library—and a knack for keeping itself occupied.
Limited Offer: Autographed and Personalized Books!