Hades II (2004) by Ana Maria Pacheco.
• I’ve been reading a lot of Angela Carter over the past few weeks so the news of her house in Clapham being awarded a blue plaque was coincidental but also timely. Related: Angela Carter Online, and The Holy Family Album (1991), “a sacrilegious take on the history of Christian painting and iconography” written and narrated by Carter. Also, we’re still some distance from Halloween but take this as a precursor: Vampirella (1976), Angela Carter’s first radio play for the BBC, starring Anna Massey as a vampire countess.
• In May this year the Dark Entries record label announced the discovery of more tapes from Patrick Cowley’s pre-disco years in the 1970s. A selection from the archive, Mechanical Fantasy Box, will be released next month, together with a book of the same name reprinting Cowley’s homoerotic journal from the period.
• More Magma (there’s always more Magma): Warren Hatter on 7 essential albums from their sprawling discography. Related: Magma on film in 1972, appearing in Moi y’en a vouloir des sous, a short but typically intense performance.
• Out in November: Paul Wegener’s adaptation of Gustav Meyrink, Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920), receives a substantial blu-ray release from Eureka.
• Joe Banks’ forthcoming space-rock exegesis, Hawkwind: Days of the Underground, now has its own website.
• Mix of the week: The Stations Of Summer by Cafe Kaput.
• Photos of London’s abandoned Underground stations.
• At Dennis Cooper’s: Alan Boyce grows invisible.
• Gudrun Gut‘s favourite albums.
• Tanz Der Vampire (1969) by The Vampires Of Dartmoore | Ketch Vampire (1976) by Devon Irons | Vampires (1999) by Pet Shop Boys
Talking of the Pet Shop Boys and vampires, don’t forget the video for their ‘Heart’ featuring Ian McKellen as Dracula: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTkfK2g4pKI
Fairly sure I didn’t know about that but then I pay little attention to music videos unless there’s a reason to, like the post I wrote about videos directed by Derek Jarman.
Speaking of Carter, I recently visited Macduff, Aberdeenshire, the town where her father was born and died, and where she spent childhood holidays. The house where her father’s family, the Stalkers, lived was, until recently, a cat’s protection charity, and we spoke to an old woman who claimed to have known Carter’s aunt and uncle, but was unaware of their wild English niece. I like to imagine that, if she ever comes across one of Carter’s books, she can think, ”Oh, that’s John and Katie’s niece!”
P.S.
Whilst I was in Aberdeenshire, I also managed to visit New Slains Castle, which you might know for the DRACULA connection. We also stayed in the Kilmarnock Arms, where Stoker penned some of his novel, and quite possibly in the same room as he. Stalker and Stoker, two writers of Gothic vampire tales who had connections to north-east Scotland.
Given my interest in the Strugatsky/Tarkovsky nexus, there’s something very satisfying about her coming from a family of Stalkers.
My family is from Dumfries but I’ve never ventured farther north in Scotland than the two major cities.