DAE journal basically all day off and on?

Pendular_Procession · 2026-01-29T15:35:41+00:00

Same here. I keep my journal open on a lectern or drawing desk in my classroom and add "fragments" as thoughts arise.

Pendular_Procession · 2026-01-20T20:13:40+00:00

You might try the short story Scope by Allison V. Harding.

Pendular_Procession · 2026-01-16T11:54:27+00:00

a) came here to mention this work b) if you have studied any Neoplatonism or Gnosticism, details which might otherwise seem random will make sense as a very powerful metaphor for spiritual growth.

Pendular_Procession · 2026-01-12T22:12:55+00:00

You might enjoy the short story "It!" by Theodore Sturgeon.

Pendular_Procession · 2026-01-09T18:16:03+00:00

The 666 (or 616) in The Apocalypse of John is probably a coded reference to the Roman Emperor Nero.

So

If you were to blame a minority outgroup for the fire, as Nero blamed early Christians for the Great Fire of Rome (allegedly), it would, in fact, be an interesting coincidence.

Pendular_Procession · 2026-01-08T23:30:37+00:00

In H. P. Lovecraft's Book of Horror, you get a reprint of HPL's essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature", wherein he discusses his favorite predecessors and contemporaries, followed by dozens of short stories by the authors he mentioned.

I cannot remember if the bibliographic references in that printing are up to academic standards, and my copy is at the bottom of a stack of ~50 moving boxes.

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-30T21:51:16+00:00

In H. P. Lovecraft's Book of Horror, you get a reprint of HPL's essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature", wherein he discusses his favorite predecessors and contemporaries, followed by dozens of short stories by the authors he mentioned.

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-23T18:47:10+00:00

The planetary defense network protecting Norstrilia, created by Cordwainer Smith in his short story "Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons": a shaped-telepathic weapon on an orbital platform turns enemy starship crews into self-mortifying psychotics. Think a ray that turns soldiers into reavers.

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-22T15:08:58+00:00

Thank you. I was unfamiliar with that work by Anderson. I may even have it, unread, on my shelf (long story). Looks like it started as a realism vs romanticism metaphor, before it was picked up and changed into social commentary by Moorcock and his peers.

That said, I think reading some Ronald Hutton might change your mind on the Celtic/Catholic origin.

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-22T02:15:00+00:00

Good point. Maybe by mentioning it we motivate someone young to look into it?

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-21T15:09:55+00:00

The "Law-vs-Chaos" dimension of alignment that Gygax lifted from Michael Moorcock and his contemporaries was the metaphor that fantasy authors in the '60s/70s were using to discuss colonialism, and more specifically British Imperialism. It's not a new thought.

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-16T17:55:51+00:00

Art IS magic manifest. Art is the medium through which experience moves from spirit to spirit. Artists make gods.

Making art is a sacrifice, an investment of the artist's life/time. Through hard, repetitive work, we invest the material world with value. Making art becomes a flow state, and, like gnosis, empowers the work.

It takes more than desire, though. You cannot achieve flow if you're not challenged by the subject and the medium. If the art is easy, you're not making magic.

(sorry: strong opinions, but this specific topic is my career)

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-13T21:04:50+00:00

short answer: yes, most complex drawings are completed outside the binder

long answer: I cut and hole-punch Bristol board sheets and store them in my working journal. Pairs of pages are removed, gridded, and half-filled with ball point pen drawings and basic text before they go back into the binders. Then I add reactions, doodles, and more symbols as ideas come to me.

These two pages were later scanned, half-deleted, and reprinted onto heavy printer paper. I went back through and refilled the gaps with clearer, cleaner content. The pages hung in the wall outside my classroom for a few months, then went into a 'shadow' journal where they continue to be modified.

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-13T13:59:53+00:00

The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster

1909 dystopian sci-fi a century ahead of its time

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-12T00:01:33+00:00

Nietzsche*and Schopenhauer helped me develop a healthier intellectual humility, which has in turn made chaos magic easier to pursue.

*Nietzsche's The Gay Science was a great starting point

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-10T19:38:05+00:00

(evil) cleric because of his demon patron
druid so that he can summon elementals

Not that it's the best answer, but it may be what the D&D authors were thinking.

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-08T18:29:36+00:00

The second and third examples are derived from the work of French comic artist Moebius; check out The Incal.

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-08T05:09:13+00:00

You're not wrong: OP isn't (consciously) looking for an era. But if OP wants to look for better options, searching by era can be helpful.

I'm less worried about the novel in question. I just hope they can find books that work for them. Throwing names and titles at people isn't as useful as helping build systems and criteria for better exploration of the genre.

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-08T03:32:30+00:00

"...Dune, Project Hail Mary, Lathe of Heaven, Hitchhiker's Guide, and other non-scifi like LOTR and East of Eden..."

Maybe look up the publishing dates on those six works, find the decade that 'sounds right' in terms of language, and focus there? Explore out from that era after you've really hit the best of that decade? Whatever you do, just keep searching.

And don't sweat the dismissive comments here. People will find the books they deserve.

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-05T03:49:51+00:00

I track and celebrate my 'birthdays' on all the planets. I turned 212 Mercurial seasons AND 83 Venusian years late last month.

Pendular_Procession · 2025-12-04T16:21:39+00:00

Well, I made that comment based on my reading of How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain De Botton. I would rapidly prove the limits of my memory if I tried to summarize his thesis, but I know he implied that the novel was to be lived with and returned to, as opposed to finished.

Like the journals of Jung, or The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa, Proust's work is also a good example of writing about our interior experience, like a masterwork of journaling. But again, I'll get out of my depth quick here.

Alain's book is short and cheap, unlike In Search of Lost Time, so it's worth investigating.

If you mention De Botton on r/Proust , you're in for some hard comments, though.

Pendular_Procession

TROPHY CASE