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[arg-machine]

machine HQ May 2024 playlist

As mentioned previously, arg’s plans for taking a break were put on hold thanks to his friends from Mastodon, who wanted him to be around and take photos while they tested their new time machine (which, they say, they use to travel back-and-forth in time as part of their mission to track and document plagiarism within a certain “entertainment industry”).

Since arg intends to publish a blog post about this entire time machine affair sometime in the future, he won’t go into any details here. Instead, he’ll point you – good reader – to the photograph these friends posted to celebrate 500+ posts on Mastodon. You can see it in this celebratory post.

With the time machine thing behind him, arg finally got to take his break. He listened to some music, caught up with his reading and, you know, just relaxed. This latest machine HQ playlist – for May 2024 – collects a couple of tracks from each of the albums arg listened to these past few weeks.

May music! Like the previously-published machine HQ playlists, this new one features music from a wide range of genres as well. There’s hard rock and rock, metal, dub and reggae, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, blues and blues-based rock, electronica, ambient and dark ambient, tribal, pop, the occasional movie soundtrack and world music. So go listen to it on Spotify!

And that’s it for this post. Visit The Apocalypse Project [on Mastodon, twitter/X and tumblr], check out the machinstagram and stay tuned to machine HQ blog…

[arg-machine]

Origin stories, news and other odds and ends!

About a year ago, arg wrote how he developed The Apocalypse Project by sifting through and selecting appropriate ideas that had occurred to him over the decades. He went through that post again recently and was somewhat surprised to find that he didn’t include any information about the Devil’s Cove segments of The Project in that post. So here’s how these segments – which rely a tad bit more on horror than on speculative fiction – came about.

Origin stories… Those unfamiliar with the Cove or its sinister history can first find out more about it at The Apocalypse Project on Mastodon [here and here] and on X [here and here]; those who know their Cove stuff... well, read on!

Each element of the Devil’s Cove segments has its own origin story. Let’s tackle these one at a time…

The ghost town: this ghost town [see photo below] was originally inspired by the Ukrainian city of Pripyat, which was abandoned as-is in 1986, when the then-in-power Sovient government evacuated almost all inhabitants following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

[The curious can see what Pripyat looks like in this Pink Floyd music video. Note: the relevant visuals begin at this point in the video.]

The lighthouse: the idea of a lone lighthouse – a cyclopean sentinel – standing guard [see header photo] over a remote windswept land/seascape was partly inspired by an old Ray Bradbury story titled The Fog Horn, which arg read several times as a kid.

The lighthouse + sci-fi/interdimensional horrors: also contributing to this idea of a remote lighthouse – and responsible for the segments’ sci-fi-driven horror elements – was an anecdote arg came across in his teenage/college years. It goes something like this: once a group of physicists [all of whom are now regarded as some of the most important in the field] were discussing various professions. The job of a lighthouse keeper came up, and almost all of them said they’d find such a life of loneliness and monotony absolutely devastating. One, however, thought such a job would be fantastic, as he’d be able to use all that extra time to work on his ideas. This was Albert Einstein.

This anecdote led arg to introduce the sci-fi/interdimensional horror angle to the Devil’s Cove segments, giving it the horror-plus-science-fiction shape you now find it in.

The location: as for the Cove’s location… well, there’s a reason for that too, but arg can’t elucidate any further at this point without disclosing some Apocalypse Project events that are yet to be made public. Sorry!

And that, good reader, takes care of the “origin stories” part; the “news” bit is next.

Though arg has been posting on the Bluesky social media platform for a while now, access to the platform was possible only via its smartphone app… but not any longer! The platform can now be accessed online, which means y’all can visit machine HQ’s Bluesky profile! And now that the platform is truly public, it’s time for a proper announcement… hence, that header image above!

As you can see, in addition to Mastodon, machinstagram and X, machine HQ updates and news are now posted on Bluesky as well. So as long as you’re, like, tuned into any one of these, you should be aware of what’s going on within the machine HQ universe at any given time. And that, good reader, was the news; let's now move on to...

Odds and ends… It seems arg’s Mastodon buddies are only a few days away from hitting that 500-posts milestone, which means they’ll be posting one of the photos [that arg took] of their new time travel device soon. Meanwhile, you can find some more information about this entire time travel device business in this recent blog post.

That’s it for this music post; visit The Apocalypse Project on Mastodon, X and on tumblr, and don’t forget to check out the machinstagram [link above] too!

[arg-machine]

News, updates... and machine HQ's April 2024 playlist!

It’s the end of the month and that, good reader, can only mean one thing: machine HQ’s back with another new playlist! This here is the latest machine HQ playlist, for April 2024. As usual, it features a couple of tracks from each of the album arg listened to here at machine HQ this month.

Of course, it wasn’t all about listening to music: arg managed to put in some work too! For starters, he published a Comics at machine HQ post earlier this month. This was then followed by a new Apocalypse Project news report on Mastodon and on X. This required significant time and effort, even though a lot of the 3D modelling work – the most time-consuming part of these news reports – was already done. arg still had to come up with a promotional image, process the 3D renderings, write the actual report and design its layout…

…and then he had one “photograph” that couldn’t be accommodated into the final report, owing to space constraints. He later posted this photo as an Apocalypse Project bonus: see here [Mastodon], here [Instagram] and also here [X].

Those interested in behind-the-scenes stuff should check the machinstagram every once in a while, as arg will probably post the original 3D renderings that were processed for use as “photographs” in this latest report [above]. These original renderings are not only in colour, but are also much larger! Woo-hoo and all that!

...and it ain’t over yet! After posting the news report and the bonus “photo”, arg thought he’d take a break and chill for a while… but no such luck! The boys from Copiers want him at their lair when they begin testing their new time machine [they say they use it to visit different eras to hunt down plagiarized songs and “films”!]. They want arg – who sort of designed their new time travel device – to take a few photos, one of which they will then publish on Mastodon next month to celebrate their 500-posts milestone there. So you may want to check that out too…

April tunes! And now, it’s back to the playlist at hand. Like the previously-published machine HQ playlists, this new one features music from a wide range of genres as well. There’s hard rock and rock, metal, dub and reggae, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, blues and blues-based rock, electronica, ambient and dark ambient, tribal, pop, the occasional movie soundtrack and world music. So go listen to it on Spotify!

That’s it for this music post; visit The Apocalypse Project on Mastodon, X [links above] and on tumblr, and don’t forget to check out the machinstagram too!

[arg-machine]

Comics at machine HQ

According to the machine HQ blog schedule, it’s almost time for a new list of comics and/or graphic novels that arg’s been reading lately… and so here it is – a new Comics at machine HQ post! In between the last such post and this one, arg has been quite active: he composed new music, posted on Instagram and compiled several monthly playlists.

And comics! arg also read a lot of comics – he read fiction too, but that’s a post for another week! – and here are some that he, like, really enjoyed…

Funnybooks! We got funnybooks! Here are the comics/graphic novels arg has read and enjoyed in the last few months. All titles are arranged alphabetically, and related titles – or titles from related genres – are listed in the Also recommended sections. Keep in mind that a few of these titles are suitable for mature readers only.

“During a golden moment in the early 1950s the stars aligned, and EC Comics lovingly adapted 25 classic Ray Bradbury stories into comics form. Al Feldstein scripted, and all of EC's top artists brilliantly illuminated Ray’s tales: Johnny Craig, Reed Crandall, Jack Davis, Will Elder, George Evans, Frank Frazetta, Graham Ingels, Jack Kamen, Roy Krenkel, Bernard Krigstein, Joe Orlando, John Severin, Angelo Torres, Al Williamson, and Wallace Wood. This special collection features all 25 official adaptations plus an additional ten related stories, with stunning art...”

Also recommended: Death Strikes: The Emperor Of Atlantis, The Bitter End And Other Stories and Dark Ride.

“More than a decade after a disastrous explosion, young Hailey is dropped off by her mum at a holiday camp in a dilapidated shopping mall. Alienated from the other kids, she connects with an eerie older teen named Jen… but soon dark horrors awaken, and the two new friends are caught up in a cataclysmic battle between two terrifying creatures who have been lying dormant all this time.

One of Australia’s most acclaimed young graphic novelists, Chris Gooch expertly crafts a taut and intimate thriller about mothers and daughters, the monstrous and the mundane, and the power of friendship in the midst of catastrophe.”

Also recommended: Complete Ballad of Halo Jones, Alien: Thaw, Indigo Children and Kaya.

“Deep within the walls of Castle Dunsinane, a seed of madness begins to bloom. Spurred on by the prophecies of witches and the whispers of his scheming wife, Lord Macbeth plots the death of his friend, King Duncan. This one cruel act soon spirals out of control, and murder after murder erupt into a wave of chaos and violence that threatens to consume all of Scotland.”

Also recommended: Creepshow, Shock Shop, and Shook! A Black Horror Anthology.

“When the sun goes down, our minds invent all manner of horrors that may lurk in the darkness. Danish cult illustrator John Kenn Mortensen draws inspiration from this shadowy realm, and his pen skillfully conjures these eerie visions on paper.

Open this book (if you dare) to encounter a frightful horde of sepia-toned spooks — witches, wraiths, goblins, giant spiders, wild boars, evil clowns — and countless other unspeakable creatures. Hairy, hooded, or horned, they peer at you ominously through dead eyes, their fangs bared.” Highly recommended!

[Y’all know who the “horde of sepia-toned spooks” above reminds arg of? Of course – his Copiers of Hindustan buddies from Mastodon! And don’t worry, they’ll probably take this comparison as a compliment!]

“In a climate crisis-ravaged future metropolis, a grumpy, smoke-belching, cigar-chomping, hotrod-racing robot is a twelve-year-old girl's only hope. Together, can they outrace the chasing Robo-Cops with an invention that might just save humanity?”

Also recommended: Sap Hunters, Under-Earth and The Colonized.

“Tom Gauld returns with his wittiest and most trenchant collection of literary cartoons to date. Perfectly composed drawings are punctuated with the artist’s signature brand of humour, hitting high and low. After all, Gauld is just as comfortable taking jabs at Jane Eyre and Game of Thrones.” An absolute favourite, this one!

Also recommended: The Site, Flung Out Of Space, Lomax - Collectors of Folk Songs, Whistleblowers..., Yazidi and The Dyatlov Pass Mystery.

The dynamic crime-writing/drawing duo is back! “A boarding house full of druggies. A neglected housewife. A young girl who thinks she's a superhero. A cop who wants to be left alone. And a private detective looking for a runaway girl. These stories collide one fateful summer in Where The Body Was, a tale of love and murder in the suburbs, told from a dozen different points of view. All the neighbours on the block have an opinion about the murder and how it happened, but which of them is telling the truth?”

Also recommended: The Reaper And Other Stories, Oswald's Body and Slash Them All.

…and now, here’s machine HQ’s Retro Pick for this post, a freaky little book straight from 1990:

“What happens when a scientist discovers a way to make cloning easy?; Nothing good as the inventor discovers when his invention is used on him! His quest to stop the conspiracy-minded thieves and retrieve his invention makes this one of the wildest suspense tales yet!”

Phew! That’s it for this new comics/graphic novels list, visit The Apocalypse Project on Mastodon, twitter/X and on tumblr, and don’t forget to check out the machinstagram [links elsewhere!] too!

Header image features artwork from Army of Darkness Movie Adaptation [30th Anniversary Edition] and from classic 1990s Predator comics.

[arg-machine]

machine HQ March 2024 playlist

Welcome to a new machine HQ post… and a new machine HQ playlist! This here is the March 2024 machine HQ playlist, featuring a couple of tracks from each of the albums arg listened to this month [February 2024]. Between grooving to all this music, however, arg managed to put in some work too, releasing a new track excerpt – the result of a couple of audio experiments, and publishing another Marvinverse 3D scene test render [see this post].

Classics… or the new stuff? Back to playlists, now. You know good reader, arg’s been debating if he should devote an entire month of music to the classics – that is to say, his favourite music released before the year 2000. While the prospect sure appears tempting, promising warm, fuzzy feelings of nostalgia, it’d also mean he’d miss out on all the wonderful new music that’ll be coming out. In other words, a tough choice! But let’s see what eventually happens…

Music in February… And here’s the latest machine HQ playlist. Like the previously-published machine HQ playlists, this new one features music from a wide range of genres as well. There’s hard rock and rock, metal, dub and reggae, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, blues and blues-based rock, electronica, ambient and dark ambient, tribal, pop, the occasional movie soundtrack and world music. So go listen to it on Spotify!

That’s it for this music post; visit The Apocalypse Project on Mastodon, twitter and on tumblr, and don’t forget to check out the machinstagram too!

[arg-machine]

This minute-and-a-half-long excerpt of music – the latest release from machine HQ and arg after this one from a few months back – is the result of an experiment. No, make that two experiments: the idea for the second one came to arg after he recently published a certain Instagram post…

The first experiment… Here’s what happened. Intrigued by certain posts by some friends, arg wanted to see if he, too, could work the way “composers” from a certain entertainment industry do.

They [these “composers”] copy a fragment from one song, plagiarize another fragment from a second song and so on, till they have enough to combine into a “new” and so-called “original” piece of music, for which these “composers” are not only hailed/idolized as “creative geniuses”, but they also make substantial financial profit: often much more than what the original musicians make/made from their songs [that were plagiarized]!

Hard to believe? Not if you go through these posts! See this one, this one, this one, this one and this one.

That, readers, was the original idea: only, arg would try to do this not by plagiarizing the fruits of other musicians’ talent and efforts, but by using his own unfinished and previously-unreleased audio projects…

Things didn’t work out that way, though. He did lift a bassline and beats from an old audio project [from 2013]… but instead of adding elements lifted/copied from other projects, he ended up creating a whole new track – it was a lot more fun that way! So only the bassline in this Untitled Excerpt is from an old and previously-unreleased audio project. Everything else is… well, new.

…and the second one So experiment #1 was partially successful but fun, and this was where things were till arg published this vintage 3D modelling example last month. “…it has rarely been heard in the music arg and machine HQ have released over the years…” he wrote in that post about the free bassline synth plugin in question. And this got him wondering if he could introduce the plugin into the excerpt he had created [as part of the original experiment]. And this, folks, was the second experiment, which – arg’s glad to announce – was a bit more successful.

The bassline synth plugin can now be heard [in this new audio excerpt] being manipulated in a way its famous hardware counterpart often is, in certain subgenres of electronic music [such as acid/acid house].

A nostalgic note: while information on the original free bassline synth plugin from the 2000s – whose 3D model/interpretation arg posted on Instagram – has become scarce, there still are a few webpages featuring its next iteration [an updated version of the original, also free!] that was released wa-ay back in 2011. See this old forum thread and this page for some digital nostalgia!

So if you’re curious to know what the result of these experiments actually sounds like, you’re welcome to download the roughly-mixed audio excerpt from this download location as a zipped 320-kbps mp3 file. Or you can listen to it at arg + machine HQ’s SoundCloud account. And yes, we at machine HQ sure hope you like what you hear!

Remember! This excerpt, like all machine HQ tracks, was mixed and mastered for headphone playback only. Also, because this music – and everything else that machine HQ currently produces! – is created on a general-purpose laptop, arg isn’t really very happy with the overall quality… but he does what he can with whatever resources he has at his disposal.

That’s it for this music post; visit The Apocalypse Project on Mastodon, twitter and on tumblr, and don’t forget to check out the machinstagram too!

[arg-machine]

machine HQ February 2024 playlist

Welcome back to machine HQ blog! January 2024 is coming to an end, which means it’s time for us to publish a brand-new machine HQ playlist… and here it is: the February 2024 playlist from machine HQ. Like all previously-published machine HQ playlists, this one, too, features a couple of tracks from each of the albums played here at machine HQ.

For those who haven’t been keeping up [on Mastodon or on twitter/X], arg has been reasonably active since the last playlist went online. He published some audio elements from a recent machine HQ audio project, posted a funky 3D anaglyph and showcased some vintage 3D modelling work. He also did some non-machine HQ visual work, and the results of his efforts can be viewed right here!

The songs… Like the previously-published machine HQ playlists, this new one features music from a wide range of genres as well. There’s hard rock and rock, metal, dub and reggae, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, blues and blues-based rock, electronica, ambient and dark ambient, tribal, pop, the occasional movie soundtrack and world music. So go listen to it on Spotify!

And that’s it for this post. Visit The Apocalypse Project [on Mastodon, twitter/X and tumblr], check out the machinstagram and stay tuned to machine HQ blog…

[arg-machine]

Reggae-inspired excerpt: sounds, samples & loops

This week, arg and machine HQ have decided to share a few of the sounds, samples and loops heard in their most recent audio release: this short excerpt from a longer, unreleased reggae-inspired track.

The audio elements in this package include sound effects, synth accents, chord pads, and beats – all of which were heard in the aforementioned audio excerpt and were created/designed specifically for use in this particular audio project (well, most of them were, anyway!). Also, all these sounds/elements are “dry” [unprocessed] and may sound a little different solo than they do within the excerpt, where they had all sorts of effects and/or processing applied to them.

Bit and pieces… These audio elements are being provided in 32bit WAV format and can be downloaded as a 25Mb zipped archive from this download location. Hopefully, these will offer a brief behind-the-scenes look at audio/music production at machine HQ, where everything you folks see and/or hear is currently created on a laptop.

That’s it for this short post; visit The Apocalypse Project on Mastodon, twitter and on tumblr, and don’t forget to check out the machinstagram too!

[arg-machine]

machine HQ January 2024 playlist

Well, December – and 2023 too! – is almost over and machine HQ is back, as usual, with a brand-new playlist to celebrate the arrival of the new year. Note that like all previous machine HQ playlists, this one has a couple of tracks from each of the albums arg listened to in December, and is not a “best of the year” list: you’ll find those at many of the fine music-related websites that publish their well-researched “the year in music” retrospectives around this time of the year…

This month’s jams… As is the case with all previously-published machine HQ playlists, you will find a wide range of genres in this new playlist as well. There’s hard rock and rock, metal, dub and reggae, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, blues and blues-based rock, electronica, ambient and dark ambient, tribal, pop, the occasional movie soundtrack and world music. So go listen to it on Spotify!

And that’s it for this post. Visit The Apocalypse Project [on Mastodon, twitter and tumblr], check out the machinstagram [where arg recently posted a few behind-the-scene images like this one, this one and this Apocalypse Project-related image!] and stay tuned to machine HQ blog…

[arg-machine]

They’re back!

Silent and menacing, the alien saucers are back! This time, however, they come not to annihilate and conquer, but to offer greetings and best wishes to all friends of machine HQ! Look, they’re even wearing those cute Santa hats!

Actually, arg was getting ready to create another Frosty-related image [like this one], when he felt that featuring the saucers in this year’s greetings would be a better idea, since these otherworldly space-faring vessels enjoyed some prominence in 2023, appearing in several Instagram posts [see here, here and also here]…

So that’s it, folks; once again, arg and machine HQ would like to offer season’s greetings and wish all friends a very happy new year!

Also: the previous post has now been updated with some new behind-the-scenes images!

[arg-machine]

Meanwhile, at machine HQ...

Meanwhile, here at machine HQ, certain types of content are being developed and worked on. However, since none of these have reached a stage where they can be posted/made public, arg has decided to post this instead: a test rendering [above] of a 3D syringe-and-ampule set created as part of a quick, non-machine HQ project.

As can be seen, the syringe is a very simple model [for relatively more complex 3D work from machine HQ, see here], though arg had no clue there were, like, sooo many different [syringe] types out there! For this project, he chose the one he’s encountered most recently: during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he received his vaccine shots via syringes of this type. The model was completed only this morning [the ampule model is older], and the final composition/image will – hopefully! – look much better…

Blue skies… Among other news, arg recently got himself a Bluesky account, y’all! It’s a very nice, friendly microblogging environment, and a proper, official statement – like this one – about this new machine HQ account will be made once he’s published some more posts there.

Well folks, that’s it for this short machine HQ update; visit The Apocalypse Project on Mastodon, twitter and on tumblr, and don’t forget to check out the machinstagram too!

[arg-machine]

machine HQ December 2023 playlist

machine HQ’s back with new playlist for December 2023, y’all! But first, here what’s been happening since the last playlist was published: besides releasing a short, reggae-inspired work-in-progress audio except, arg also published an Apocalypse Project-related post [here, here and here] and posted some visual/3D stuff on Instagram.

And then there was all the music he listened to here at machine HQ… which brings us to this brand-new playlist.

December music! As is the case with all previously-published machine HQ playlists, you will find a wide range of genres in this new playlist as well. There’s hard rock and rock, metal, dub and reggae, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, blues and blues-based rock, electronica, ambient and dark ambient, tribal, pop, the occasional movie soundtrack and world music. So go listen to it on Spotify!

And that’s it for this post. Visit The Apocalypse Project [links elsewhere], and stay tuned to machine HQ blog...

[arg-machine]

Though it may seem that machine HQ hasn’t been making any music – the last audio post was published several months ago, after all – this simply isn’t true: arg frequently composes little pieces in between all the visual and 3D stuff he does. These are then saved as work-in-progress projects to be developed/worked-on later…

…and seeing how a new audio post has been due for some time now, he has decided to make this roughly-mixed excerpt from such a work-in-progress music project public this week. This minute-and-a-half-long jam is part of a longer track that arg came up with a while ago.

Given how he has begun to find mixing with his headphones tiring [it often produces unexpected and unwanted results!], it’s unlikely that the full track will be published anytime soon. However, this short excerpt – featuring several synths, beats, a few dub effects and a tiny snippet of the track’s lead melody – should give the listener a fair idea of what the track is like/about…

You can listen to it above, on arg/machine HQ’s SoundCloud page… or you can download the excerpt as a zipped 320-kbps mp3 file from this location. Regardless of how – or where – you listen to it, arg and machine HQ hope you like it!

Remember! This excerpt, like all machine HQ tracks, was mixed and mastered for headphone playback only. Also, because this music – and everything else that machine HQ currently produces! – is created on a general-purpose laptop, arg isn’t really very happy with the overall quality… but he does what he can with whatever resources he has at his disposal.

That’s it for this short music post; visit The Apocalypse Project on Mastodon, twitter and on tumblr, and don’t forget to check out the machinstagram too!

[arg-machine]

machine HQ November 2023 playlist

machine HQ is currently taking a break, which should explain the fewer number of posts on social media platforms this month. That said, arg did manage to publish a new list of books he has enjoyed in the past few months as well as post an old sketchbook rendering of a spacecraft from the Marvinverse, plus this behind-the-scenes image from The Apocalypse Project. And here he is again – with a new playlist for the month of November.

November tracks… As is usual with all previously-published machine HQ playlists, you will find a wide range of genres in this new playlist as well. There’s hard rock and rock, metal, dub and reggae, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, blues and blues-based rock, electronica, ambient and dark ambient, tribal, pop, the occasional movie soundtrack and world music. So go listen to it on Spotify!

And that’s it for this post. Visit The Apocalypse Project [on Mastodon, twitter and also on tumblr], and stay tuned to machine HQ blog.

Erratum: The latest Books read recently post [link elsewhere] wrongly attributed Nicola Lagioia as the author of One Puzzling Afternoon. The book is written by Emily Critchley. machine HQ sincerely apologizes for this error, which has now been corrected.

[arg-machine]

Books read recently...

A little while back, arg posted a list of comic books and graphic novels he enjoyed reading in the last few months. This list reminded him that time was due for its companion piece – a Books read recently post. And since the last such post was published some six months ago, he thought he’d post a new one this week.

So here it is: a brief list of books he has enjoyed since that last post went online. Of course, some of these titles he enjoyed a bit more than the others, but he did like all of them. Note: this list also includes a few books he intends to read soon. 

Books at machine HQ All featured books are listed below in alphabetical order, with a few additional titles appearing in the Also recommended sections.

“Early twentieth century, in a remote valley in Pennsylvania. Here, under the watchful eyes of several priests, thirty boys work, learn, and worship. Peter Barlow, orphaned as a child by a gruesome murder, has made a new life here. As he approaches adulthood, he has friends, a future… a family.

Then, late one stormy night, a group of men arrive at their door, one of whom is badly wounded, occult symbols carved into his flesh. His death releases an ancient evil that spreads like sickness, infecting St. Vincent’s and the children within. Soon, boys begin acting differently, forming groups. Taking sides. Others turn up dead.

Now Peter and those dear to him must choose sides of their own, each of them knowing their lives – and perhaps their eternal souls – are at risk.”

Also recommended: Holly by Stephen King and The Militia House by John Milas.

“In March 2016, in a nondescript apartment on the outskirts of Rome, Manuel Foffo and Marco Prato, two ‘ordinary’ young men from good families, brutally murdered twenty-three year old Luca Varani. News of the seemingly inexplicable crime sent shockwaves through Rome and beyond. What motivated such extreme violence? Were the killers evil or in the grip of societal evils? Did they know what they were doing? Or were they possessed? And if the latter, possessed by what?

Based on months of interviews, court documentation, and correspondence with the killers themselves, The City of the Living is not only a fast-paced, revelatory thriller, it is also a descent into the dark heart of Rome – a city that is unlivable and yet teeming with life, overrun by rats and wild animals, and plagued by corruption, drugs, and violence. Yet, the Eternal City is also a place that, more than any other in the world, seems to inspire a sense of absolute freedom in its inhabitants.”

Also recommended: All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby.

“Joyce Carol Oates assembles an outstanding cast of authors – including Margaret Atwood, Tananarive Due, and Megan Abbott – to explore, subvert, and reinvent one of the most vital subgenres of horror: body horror.

‘Should we know nothing of the female monsters of antiquity,’ Oates writes in her introduction to the volume, ‘still we would know that body horror in its myriad manifestations speaks most powerfully to women and girls. To be female is to inhabit a body that is by nature vulnerable to forcible invasion, susceptible to impregnation and repeated pregnancies, condemned to suffer childbirth, often in the past early deaths in childbirth and in the aftermath of childbirth.’

Also recommended: Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill and September House by Carissa Orlando.

“Laure Mesny is a perfectionist with an axe to grind. Despite being constantly overlooked in the elite and cutthroat world of the Parisian ballet, she will do anything to prove that a Black girl can take center stage. To level the playing field, Laure ventures deep into the depths of the Catacombs and strikes a deal with a pulsating river of blood.

The primordial power Laure gains promises influence and adoration, everything she’s dreamed of and worked toward. With retribution on her mind, she surpasses her bitter and privileged peers, leaving broken bodies behind her on her climb to stardom.

But even as undeniable as she is, Laure is not the only monster around. And her vicious desires make her a perfect target for slaughter. As she descends into madness and the mystifying underworld beneath her, she is faced with the ultimate choice: continue to break herself for scraps of validation or succumb to the darkness that wants her exactly as she is – monstrous heart and all…”

Also recommended: The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni and Starling House by Alix E. Harrow.

“Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased eleven-year-old son Santiago's lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family's decaying Mexico City estate.

Eventually, Monstrilio begins to resemble the Santiago he once was, but his innate impulses – though curbed by his biological and chosen family's communal care – threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life.

A thought-provoking meditation on grief, acceptance, and the monstrous sides of love and loyalty, Gerardo Sámano Córdova blends bold imagination and evocative prose with deep emotional rigor. Told in four acts that span the globe from Brooklyn to Berlin, Monstrilio offers, with uncanny clarity, a cathartic and precise portrait of being human.”

Also recommended: The Handyman Method by Nick Cutter.

“Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear – and even follow you home.

These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.”

“It is 1951, and at Six, Sycamore Street, fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living alone with her eccentric mother – who conducts seances for the local Ludthorpe community – she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life.

When the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. But Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep…

Then Lucy goes missing.

2018. Edie is eighty-two and still living in Ludthorpe. When one day she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen, her family write it off as one of her many mix ups. There's a lot Edie gets confused about these days. A lot she finds difficult to remember. But what she does know is this: she must find out what happened to Lucy, all those years ago...”

Also recommended: A Death in Tokyo by Keigo Higashino.

“Reclusive Sally Diamond causes outrage by trying to incinerate her dead father. Now she’s the center of attention, not only from the hungry media and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she does not remember. As she begins to discover the horrors of her early childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, big decisions, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say.

But who is the man observing Sally from the other side of the world, and why does he call her Mary? And why does her new neighbor seem to be obsessed with her?” [Publishers Weekly]

Also recommended: The St. Ambrose School for Girls by Jessica Ward and Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum.

“In the summer of 1974, a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessy is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of ‘Southie,’ the Irish-American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart.

One night, Mary Pat’s teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn’t come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances.

The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched – asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who don’t take kindly to any threat to their business.

Set against the hot, tumultuous months when the city’s desegregation of its public schools exploded in violence, Small Mercies is a superb thriller, a brutal depiction of criminality and power, and an unflinching portrait of the dark heart of racism.”

machine HQ’s Retro Pick!

“In its riveting narrative about a leopard that spread terror through five hundred square miles of the hills of the United Provinces, The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag also takes a detailed look at life in the Garhwal region of India.

Apart from Corbett's hair-raising pursuit of the leopard for almost a year, the beautifully-written book talks about the superstitions prevalent in the region, the beauty of the landscape, what turns a leopard into a man-eater and many other, often-surprising facts and anecdotes, all told in Corbett's inimitable style.

A terrific read for all ages, The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag is also an ode to the people who inhabit the hills, and the resilience with which they face the hardships that assail them.”

...and with that Retro Pick, good reader, we have reached the end of this post. As usual, if you haven’t checked out machine HQ’s Apocalypse Project yet, please do so on mastodon, twitter and on tumblr. Also, don't forget to check out machie HQ on Instagram! That's it for now, stay tuned to machine HQ blog for more stuff soon...

[arg-machine]

machine HQ October 2023 playlist

Here it is, folks – a new machine HQ playlist featuring tracks off all the albums arg listened to in September! He did some other stuff too, of course, amidst all this music. For instance, he began the month with a Comics at machine HQ post, which was followed by his posts on Instagram and a new Apocalypse Project post [here and here].

He’s particularly happy that he could make some previously-unpublished Apocalypse Project concepts public, even if only partially so. One of these – the astronaut/EVA session 3D scene – was even converted into a rough anaglyph.

But enough of all that – let’s move on now to the latest playlist!

Music for October! As is usual with all previously-published machine HQ playlists, you will find a wide range of genres in this new playlist as well. There’s hard rock and rock, metal, dub and reggae, funk, soul, hip hop, jazz, blues and blues-based rock, electronica, ambient and dark ambient, tribal, pop, the occasional movie soundtrack and world music.

Also as usual, you can preview it above, or listen to the entire playlist on Spotify.

And that’s it for this post. Visit The Apocalypse Project [links above, plus on tumblr here], and stay tuned to machine HQ blog.

[arg-machine]

Comics at machine HQ

It’s been a while since the last Comics post was published. This week, therefore, arg decided to publish another installment featuring some of the comic books and graphic novels he has read since that post.

Of course, a lot happened between these posts: both machine HQ and The Apocalypse Project found second homes over at Mastodon, arg finally crossed the 100 posts mark at Instagram and even published some new music!

One thing remained unchanged, though: he read a lot: not just fiction, but a bunch of graphic novels and comics as well. In this post, he’ll list some of these…

Comics and graphic novels read recently Well, here are the comics/graphic novels arg has read and enjoyed in the last few months. All titles are arranged alphabetically, and related titles – or titles from same/similar genres – are listed in the Also recommended sections. Keep in mind that many – not all, though – of these titles are suitable for mature readers only.

“Far from the auction halls of the elite, The Collector seeks out rare and mysterious artifacts across the world. He is as at home in the salons of Paris as he is in the jungles of Borneo. Set against the backdrop of late 19th-century colonialism, this collection of short stories and swashbuckling adventures is full of surprises and twists, as Toppi is well known for!” Terrific art and exciting stories, books like The Collector truly demonstrate the beauty and power of this medium.

Also recommended: Judegement Day & Other Stories, Navigator, Everyday Hero Machine Boy, MFK, Gurvan - A Dream of Earth, Joyama and Rocketeer - The Great Race.

“BLAB! – the Harvey Award-winning anthology of cutting-edge comics, art, and culture – has returned to its comics roots with a stellar lineup of contributors. Noah Van Sciver depicts the tragic demise of Crime Does Not Pay editor Robert Wood. Sasha Velour portrays the making of film director F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu. Children's book illustrator Giselle Potter examines Peter Rabbit author Beatrix Potter's passion as a naturalist. Illustrated articles include the history of the gorilla and a report on UFOs. All this and much more in Comics and Stories That Will Make You BLAB!” A superb collection!

Also recommended: Gnartoons, Be Your Own Backing Band, Alison, Eight Limbs, Sports is Hell, Art Brut, Public Domain and Unretouchable.

“From creatures of the night to even more terrifying creatures of the day, HAUNTHOLOGY is an anxiety-inducing collection of 28 short stories and vignettes from the mind of Jeremy Haun, the writer and artist behind many acclaimed nightmarish mindscapes. Whether exploring a claustrophobic old house full of nefarious entities or the heavy thoughts one has during the pending end of the world, this very personal project was written and drawn entirely during the COVID lockdowns.” Highly recommended!

Also recommended: Essential Judge Dredd - Dredd Vs. Death, House, Death of the Horror Anthology, Carmilla - The First Vampire, The Keeper and Hell Phone.

“Who are you, really? Are you the things you do, or are you the person inside your mind? In Europe on a business trip, Jonathan Webb can’t sleep. Instead, he finds himself wandering the night in a strange foreign city with his new friend, the mysterious and violent Rainer, as his guide. Rainer shows Jonathan the hidden world of the night, a world without rules or limits. But when the fun turns dangerous, Jonathan may find himself trapped in the dark – the question is, what will he do to get home? Night Fever – the gripping new original graphic novel from best-selling creators Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips – is a pulse-pounding Jekyll-and-Hyde noir thriller about a man facing the darkness inside himself.”

Also recommended: Zaroff's Revenge, Cover, The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book and The Killer: Affairs of The State.

“This heartbreaking manga, by an award-winning cartoonist, examines the history of Okinawa and its military occupation. An essential manga classic presented in English for the first time. Okinawa brings together two collections of intertwined stories by the island's pre-eminent mangaka, Susumu Higa, which reflect on this difficult history and pull together traditional Okinawan spirituality and the senselessness of the War.”

Also recommended: Battle Action, The Witches of World War II and Dead Romans.

machine HQ’s Retro Pick! “First the headaches, then the nightmares of mass murderers who must die – by his hand, the hand that wields the energy of a living sun, the hand of Nexus!

Possessing limitless power, Nexus is the greatest avenger in history, but his power and purpose come from an alien race with their own agenda. Is Nexus a hero or pawn? Deliverer or destroyer? God or devil?” What is for certain is that Nexus, created by Mike Baron and Steve Rude,is a science-fiction superhero masterpiece!

And that, good reader, brings us to the end of this short list! Visit The Apocalypse Project [on Mastodon, on twitter and on tumblr], and stay tuned to machine HQ blog…

Header image features artwork from Vann Nath - Painting the Khmer Rouge and from John Carpenter's Asylum.

The busy boys! Over at Mastodon, arg and Marvin were pleasantly surprised to find the boys from Copiers of Hindustan already there! And from what arg has been able to gather, they’ve been putting the pedal to the metal with their posts!

So, if y’all wish to enlighten yourselves about how plagiarism has reached alarming, pandemic proportions in a certain entertainment industry [wink, wink!] and have an eye-opening experience in general then… go ahead and visit the boys! They’ll be delighted by your presence, or so they tell arg and Melvin.