A Book Of Beasts – an accumulation of things

__________

Notes:

1. This was written on April 25th and April 26th, 2021
2. And then illustrated mostly on April 27th.
3. It’s a sort of sequel to A Book Of Beasts
4. But with people this time
5. Instead of things
6. Although there ended up being lots of things too.
7. I started writing it while reading The Milk Of Dreams by Leonora Carrington
8. For the 99th time
9. You should read it too it’s wonderful
10. As are all her things.
11. It seeped in most directly here with Ted
12. And his lack of a crocodile
13. Which is based on Humbert The Beautiful from (The Milk Of Dreams)
14. And his actual crocodile
15. Which actually bites people
16. Presumably.
17. I also read We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson last week
18. Which I’d never read before.
19. It was brilliant in almost every way.
20. The house this is set in is not that house
21. But it might be related
22. In some way
23. And so might some of the people that live there
24. But which ones I would not like to say.
25. Agnes wasn’t based on Agnes Varda
26. But was named after her
27. Purely because if I was going to have a matriarch for this family, surely she would have been the one to keep things in check
28. With kindness and wisdom
29. And endless inquisitive genius.
30. Also Agnes and Antoine were married once
31. And Ethel, Claire, Tina and Daniel are their children
32. Or so I intended when I began
33. Who knows now
34. They have their own lives to live
35. It’s not for me to decide
36. They are free to make our own choices
37. As are we all.
38. David is a self portrait
39. More flattering than I deserve.
40. Simon is an interloper
41. From the aforementioned Book Of Beasts
42. You can ignore him if you like.
43. I think Oya and Yulia work in the shop
44. While Anna spends her days reading beneath her parasol
45. In the ruins of the abbey
46. Or by the entrance to the cave
47. Or wherever else she pleases really.
48. She is who I want to be.
49. The spider dreams of a million children
50. The cat dreams of pleasure
51. No one dares say out loud what it is the crows are dreaming of
52. But we know it in our hearts.
53. We shall speak no more of the mayor.
54. I cannot draw cafes
55. Or shops
56. Or caves evidently
57. Or very much at all, I’m afraid
58. Especially not people
59. Which is a bit of a hindrance
60. In a book about people
61. But here we are.
62. Weirdly, I wrote this burned out gallery one the day before I started reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
63. Which starts with a gallery being blown up
64. Or slightly exploded at least.
65. I assume some of it burnt down.
66. The doll is based on this wonderful image

67. From this strange book I had as a child (My First Picture Dictionary, illustrated by Albin Stanescu, ABC Books, 1975)
68. Where everything was slightly wrong
69. Images of our own world
70. Broadcast here from another.
71. The phrase “There is nothing as frightening as the passing of time” is taken from ‘There Is Nothing More Frightening Than the Passing of Time’ by The Supermen Revenge Squad
72. Though I misremembered the wording of it.
73. Anyway, the final track of that album is almost perfect
74. I have listened to that song 103 times in the last two years apparently
75. 104
76. (The title of that song is taken from this comic strip by David Lynch)
77. (Which I was thinking of when I made the Violent Penguin comic strip, a couple of years ago)
78. (And the Violent Penguin Television Series, a couple of weeks ago)
79. The moon and the sun have joined us too, from that book of beasts.
80. But they exist everywhere
81. And cannot be contained
82. Just like the sky itself.
83. (I know this doesn’t really extend to the level of theft, but I think I took that phrase from this song)
84. (by this band)
85. (that i used to listen to incessantly)
86. (20 years ago now)
87. (or more.)
88. And I think that’s all the notes
89. Now all we have left to is do dream
90. Of everything they’re going to do
91. And everything they aren’t
92. Goodnight
93. Sweet dreams
94. *The light is switched off*
95. *The door is closed*
96. *Around us all the house creaks*
97. *And sighs*
98. *And dreams*
99. *Of whatever it is that houses dream*

__________

Support An Accumulation Of Things

If you like the things you've read here please consider subscribing to my patreon or my ko-fi.

Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.

(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more).

Thank you!

__________

Notes:

1. Written and drawn between the 22nd and the 25th of July, 2020
2. Using some new pens my sister had bought me for my birthday
3. And an old square notebook that I had had for some time
4. So long in fact the pages had begun to yellow
5. And the cover been enthused with a glow of dust shall never leave it soul.
6. A list of inspirations, homages, plagiarisms, thefts, explanations, apologies etc follows.
7. It is probably not exhaustive.
8. The Mobius Snake shows why I did not colour the rest of the book in, for though my black pens were conatined by the page, the colours were not
9. Thus ruining poor old Violent Penguin’s return to the page.
10. (I didn’t start colouring them in until I’d got to the eyeball one, but soon realised the error of my ways. Please forgive me. It is done now. It cannot be undone.)
11. I also messed up Violent Penguin by using a too thick marker pen to write the descriptive text. I did not do that again.
12. If you would like to know more about Violent Penguin, please follow this link, so as to peruse his complete adventures.
13. One of my nephews draws people like Simon, their shoulders becoming their mouths. I like his style.
14. My nephew is not called Simon.
15. I know no Simons at all.
16. People. I remember people. But only in the most abstract sense.
17. I wrote the thorns after reading The Snow Child by Angela Carter (which is in The Bloody Chamber)
18. And also after getting caught on a thorn.
19. An exciting occurrence, I’m sure you’ll agree.
20. The Ohm is just an Ohmu from Nausicaa
21. I quite like drawing them.
22. Flaffs are also basically stolen straight from Ghibli (the soot things from My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away)
23. Though I was thinking more of a Jib-Jib
24. Largely because I’m always thinking of Jib-Jibs
25. The Fury: whenever I see a dog, it barks at me. I imagine them all eating me away to nothing.
26. Spiders. I like spiders. If you would like to learn more about spiders, please read Spiders Are Wonderful, an educational book for all ages.
27. In fact, the poem one is basically a re-use of the proposed illustrations in an unmade sequel to Spiders Are Wonderful
28. Called Books Are Wonderful.
29. Because books are wonderful.
30. Especially self referentially infinite books all about themselves.
31. The bees one is a reference to one of my favourite things in the whole world, and definitely the most beautiful, which is this entry about bees from a medieval bestiary. “Bees are the smallest of birds.”
32. (Another unmade Toby Vok educational tome insisted that Bees Are Horrible, but in this Toby was wrong).
33. Also this is called A Book Of Beasts because the medieval bestiary book I have is called The Book Of Beasts.
33. The hat one is a Miller’s Crossing reference I suppose
34. Although was not necessarily so at the time
35. (It was windy)
36. Dragonaire might be another Ghibli one.
37. Or maybe it’s the Rainicorn from Adventure Time
38. Or maybe it really was just a cloud.
39. I spend a lot of my time these days staring up at clouds.
40. There’s very little else to do.
41. Loom is basically the Groke
42. Who is the figure in all of literature I most wish to be.
43. Edith is about Edith Swan Neck
44. Who seems finally to no longer be reduced simply to her neck
45. By the curses of history.
46. Bright Horses are from the song Bright Horses, by Nick Cave
47. Which might be the beautiful song I’ve ever heard.
48. And makes me often wish to cry.
49. Which is a nice way to end this book
50. Of beasts

__________