The Spectral Link by Thomas Ligotti

[Druidic]

Knygathin, I fear Mr. Putin has a very special relationship with The Old Ones.

[Knygathin]

Quote Originally Posted by Druidic

Knygathin, I fear Mr. Putin has a very special relationship with The Old Ones.

With all the meteors raining exclusively over Russia, that may very well be right.

[Druidic]

Since the site seems a little sleepy at the moment, forgive me for (apparently?) going off topic. But this is pretty interesting stuff. Russia and China are giving up their dark treasures rather spectacularly:

http://nypost.com/2014/07/17/fossils...ear-old-brain/

[beetlebox]

Imagine my joy...I came into work to find a parcel on my desk, clearly my copy of The Spectral Link. It is all I can do not to tear open the package there and then, and to hell with whatever it is I'm paid to do.

Imagine my horror...when I come to open the book and find it has been printed back to front and upside down? What kind of cruel hoax is this?

The clock goes back to zero as I return the book and hope I can get another copy before I go insane.

[dr. locrian]

Quote Originally Posted by beetlebox

Imagine my joy...I came into work to find a parcel on my desk, clearly my copy of The Spectral Link. It is all I can do not to tear open the package there and then, and to hell with whatever it is I'm paid to do. Imagine my horror...when I come to open the book and find it has been printed back to front and upside down? What kind of cruel hoax is this? The clock goes back to zero as I return the book and hope I can get another copy before I go insane.

Man, if it wasn't for the cost, I'd feel really tempted to keep that bizarre copy! One of a kind!

Quote Originally Posted by beetlebox

Imagine my joy...I came into work to find a parcel on my desk, clearly my copy of The Spectral Link. It is all I can do not to tear open the package there and then, and to hell with whatever it is I'm paid to do. Imagine my horror...when I come to open the book and find it has been printed back to front and upside down? What kind of cruel hoax is this? The clock goes back to zero as I return the book and hope I can get another copy before I go insane.

I'd keep it; misbindings like that can (sometimes) be worth something, eventually.

Quote Originally Posted by Druidic

Knygathin, I fear Mr. Putin has a very special relationship with The Old Ones.

Old Vlad also has a very special relationship with a guy named Alexander Dugin. If you have a few hours to examine the latter's ideas it'll put the post-Soviet Russian scene over the last decade into some perspective. Essentially, Dugin is to Putin what Sayyid Qutb was to Bin Laden. Except with a hundred thousand times more military might backing up his Eurasian ideology than Al Qaeda ever had available.

Mark S.

[Druidic]

Quote

Old Vlad also has a very special relationship with a guy named Alexander Dugin. If you have a few hours to examine the latter's ideas it'll put the post-Soviet Russian scene over the last decade into some perspective.--Mark S.

Ominous indeed. You're right about that, Mark.

Years ago I said to my friend William Harris (no, not even a distant relation to the unfortunates from The Shunned House!) that if a world wide conflict develops it probably won't be from predictable and escalating tensions between two or three countries. More likely, it would be a freakish thing set in motion by anomalous conflicts and chance incidents throughout the world.

Today the unpredictable is everywhere. The 'anomalous' spots are growing. Combine that with the expansive arrogance of Russia and China and a Mideast on fire...well, all bets are off.

Or maybe all bets are on...

When the end of Western Civilisation comes around, my old tiger, I'd like to join you on your porch, knock back some beer together, and fire off a few rounds at the enemy before we're finally done for.

Mark S.

[Druidic]

In some ways I can’t help but admire Putin. He’s a danger, all right, but he seems to act out of a genuine patriotism for a country he loves. The Bush and Obama administrations gave him the bad end of the stick several times after accepting help from his country (Russia gave us the most reliable intelligence regarding Iraq during the early years of that war), and he is an intelligent man, not a thug. He’s not Hitler or Stalin...at least not yet. Having said that, Hollywood would have a hard time creating a more stylish villain than Mr. Putin. This downed Malaysian plane is just more blood (indirectly) on his hands...

Ah, this Witches' Brew they call World News.