Oh my.

The Folio Society has released a gorgeous edition of William Golding’s classic novel with paintings by Sam Weber. Unfortunately, it is only available to members and the entry fee ain’t cheap.

Lord of the Flies [Folio Society] : DRAWN!

While we’re on the subject of lurid pulp covers, here’s a link to a gorgeous (albeit small) gallery of Plan 9 and Glen or Glenda director Ed Wood, Jr.’s pulp covers.

The Killer in Drag cover seems misleading: at best, that is a killer in post-operative transsexuality, not drag. And given the cover copy for Satan, Demons and Dildoes — “A journey into the darkness of man’s soul!” — the unwary reader, expecting the dildonic probing of the redhead on the cover, might instead have been exposed to a cautionary tale about pegging.

If I had to pick a favorite, though, it’s this one: Watts… The Difference. The title punningly attempts to reference the recent Watts Race Riots, but the book itself seems to have had a very different plot, according to this Ed. Wood Jr. bibliography: “A series of flashbacks as a Hollywood cowboy actor and his lover reminisce. While not a transvestite-themed novel, one of the main characters does have an angora fetish.”

Other novels that Ed Wood wrote include such luminous titles as The Sexecutives, Night Time, Lez and the unforgettable It Takes A Homo.

Ed Wood Pulp Covers [Flickr] : Thanks, Dad!

OF WARS & WITS & POWER 02

Stunning bookcases by Daniel Loves Objects; your tomes encased in the silhouettes of towering missiles balanced on the backs of golden, AK-47 toting toy soldiers, frozen in time as they march off to face the enemy. I’m not sure how functional something like this would be, but then again I don’t particularly care, either.

DANIEL LOVES OBJECTS! [coroflot] : core77

I am thrilled by machinery’s force, precision and willingness to work at any task, no matter how arduous or monotonous it may be. I would rather watch a thousand ton dredge dig a canal than see it done by a thousand spent slaves lashed into submission. I like machines.

- Boris Artzybasheff

I’ve featured the work of the late Boris Artzybasheff several times in these pages so I was delighted when I found out that Titan Books was going to be reprinting his collect As I See. Having scrutinized every thick, glossy page I highly recommend it to anyone who has a taste for Artzybasheff’s particular brand of madness.

As I See: The Fantastic World of Boris Artzybasheff [Amazon]

Tenggren’s illustrations for Grimm’s Fairy Tales very much remind me of one of my favorite illustrators, Arthur Rackham; in fact the stunted, dead trees in the illustration on the left look exactly like the prototypical Rackham tree. The Little Red Riding Hood illustration on the right shows Tenggrens ability to convey mood with a minimum of detail — something that is at work in a number of the other plates from this book — with the titular protagonist dwarfed by the elephantine trunks of the forest trees. Make sure to take a look at the rest.

Illustration: Gustaf Tenggren’s Grimm’s Fairy Tales [ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive]

Some preliminary sketches by Koldo Barroso for his tentatively titled book Portraits from the Dreamlands: A Guide to Creatures from the Dream World.

The Boombakaboomkers are creatures who run and play their drums all along the dream lands to find anything you want that you once lost. They take shapes from the spirits of different animals and always come to help you when they’re called.

I am an especially big fan of Boom-baKahog, its face comprised almost entirely of an enormous proboscis.

Portraits From The Dreamlands [Artist's Site]

I enjoyed Chuck Palahniuk’s first four novels immensely, especially Survivor which remains his high point thus far. However, his books since Choke have been, shall we say, awful. His last novel was so bad that I didn’t even bother to finish it even though I was past the one hundred page mark which is the point of no return for me, after which I force myself to finish the book no matter how painful it may be.

All of that said, I am cautiously optimistic — or impossibly dense, take your pick — about his next novel, entitled Snuff, about an aging porn actress named Cassie Wright, who is attempting to break the record for the world’s largest gangbang but winds up dying in the process (didn’t see that one coming did you, what with the book’s title and all). This is regardless of the fact that the review from Publisher’s Weekly, which is on the Amazon product page, unenthusiastically proclaims:

There are sharp moments when Palahniuk compassionately and candidly examines the flesh-on-film industry, but mostly this reads like a cross between the Spice Channel and Days of Our Lives.

Doubleday is betting that you won’t care or don’t read Publisher’s Weekly or Amazon before you reflexively hit the Pre-Order button and to help advertise it have given Cassie Wright her own myspace page, complete with this kitschy trailer for one of her films, The Wizard of Ass with the promise of two more coming soon. No doubt I will be picking it up, if only for the probability of repetitive, descriptive lists of sexual acts and porn etiquette.

No nudity but still may be unsafe for your workplace. Time to get a job that allows you to view Ectomo without fear of reprisal!

The Wizard of Ass – Dorothy is Not a Virgin Anymore [YouTube] : Myspace : The Reverse Cowgirl

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2007 64% of high school graduates enrolled in college. For a multitude of reasons I have never been one of their ilk. Yet I’m told that college is a place to broaden one’s horizons; to learn new things and experience things you might not otherwise have experienced in your isolated pre-post-secondary schooling world, a place to question ideals long held as true and expand upon one’s own repertoire of knowledge. A kindergarten for the real world if you will, but with liquor and venereal diseases.

Apparently the hordes of apple-cheeked co-eds fueling this idea are all acting as agents of subversion and deceit; sowing falsehoods throughout society in an attempt to create a society of unquestioning automatons adequately prepared for the endless toil of an office. But only after being bilked out of thousands of dollars.

Thankfully, there are people like Miss Priya Venkatesan working from within the system to undo this previously obfuscated treachery.

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Rowena Morrill’s illustration for the cover of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror, paperback, published by HBJ Jove, 1978. Not a very Lovecraftian image to be sure but I can imagine the editor requesting a picture for some horror collection, just so long as it looked “crazy monstery” at which point the illustrator started leafing through their collection of National Geographic back issues for reference.

Heritage Auction Galleries [Original Art] : MONSTER BRAINS

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), literacy rates rose at a faster rate in the 1970s than in any other decade. Meanwhile, in the new millennium, the American Library Association fights for funding with grim desperation. We here at Ectomo would like to suggest a correlation between those two data points with the help of the above advertisement for a 42nd Street Library, circa 1976. Seems like the solution to both problems in one deft stroke, doesn’t it? Or more, I guess, depending on the collaborative skill of the seven librarians and whether or not they are working simultaneously, or in shifts.

In 1970s Times Square, even the libraries were sleazy. [Copy Ranter]

Back in the early 90’s David Cronenberg adapted Naked Lunch to film, a release that had a profound effect on my development, introducing me not only to the works of Cronenberg but also Burroughs and then further into the strange labyrinth of cinema and beat poetry. Naturally, the film was received with a mixed reaction; an unsurprising turn of events considering the combination of both Cronenberg and Burroughs was likely to stir the hornets nest of fanboyism for the latter. Personally, I found my first (and subsequent) viewing of it similar to the abject horror followed by near post-coital bliss of the insipid Reese’s commercials from the 80’s; two great tastes that did indeed taste great together.

While I could prattle on about my love for Cronenberg, Burroughs, and the combination of the two artist’s work for hours on end I’m also able to admit it’s not going to be to everyone’s tastes. Regardless, if you’re enough of a thick-skulled bint not to wholly appreciate the film in its entirety (it’s ok, we still love you, but you only get half an Octobee for Christmas this year), simply mute your TV; because this movie is pure eye-candy ladies and gents. Hit the jump for more stills from Naked Lunch.

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Artist Jean Luc Cornec answers the question posed by author Phillip K. Dick and makes a fairly poignant social statement in the process. It appears that androids do, in fact, dream of electric sheep.

Phone Sheep [Dark Roasted Blend]

Part of me feels that the title should read S. Petersen’s Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters!!! as the exuberant enthusiasm that the phrase “Cthulhu Monsters” evokes is deserving of the additional punctuation.

Petersen’s Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters [Amazon] :
ztatic.net

Due in no small part to my parents’ arguably accurate viewpoint that literature is the pinnacle of art, I have alway had a savage love for books. The fantastic fictional worlds I’m drawn to lose myself in are but a small part of my affinity; I love the smell of books, the way a book feels in my hands as I read it, the familiar thump of a paperback in a pocket, and the way a home adorned with countless shelves of books is truly made complete.

When I saw this home, constructed by Gianni Bartsford Architects for an unnamed writer, seemingly built for the express purpose of housing, enjoying, and creating books, I was immediately filled with an avaristic lust. Oh sure, it’s also located on a private, quiet, topical beach-front forest in Costa Rica and that sounds heavenly; but you could put a room such as the one above in the most foul armpit of the world and still I could be found reclined in my chair, lost to the world by dint of the book in my lap.

Gianni Botsford [FFFFound : ectochat] Thanks, Xiph!