Letters From Nowhere 06/30/24
bigfoot, comfort music for a dark soul, and the saddest beer bottle in the world
Welcome to Letters From Nowhere! My name is Laszlo Tamasfi, I’m a writer, translator, game designer, and I run the horror small press Strangers From Nowhere. Thank you for reading!
When I try to take a nap but the characters from the story I’m working on keep bugging me about what happens to them next:
These last two weeks flew by real fast! While I didn’t have as much time for writing as I hoped for, a lot of good things are happening, so I can’t complain…
PUBLISHING
We’re still working on the layout for Pod People, but I actually have some sample pages to show you!
I couldn’t be more excited, working with Jana Horvath on book design is always a treat, and I learn something new about how books are put together every time we do a project together. Pod People will look stunning, y’all!
I also decided to do the book justice and we will print all physical copies with color interiors (the original plan was to do black and white interiors and only have the cover in color). I’m going to use a printer that specializes in making comics, instead of the usual book-printing service I use our prose releases, so these pages will definitely pop!
LIFE
You know us, we can’t go too long without having a guest dog in our house *insert “best life ever” emoji* This time it’s not a foster, but we’re babysitting a friend’s pup for a few weeks while she’s on vacation. Please give Bella a warm welcome in your hearts:
She stayed with us before, but not for this long. She’s sweet and happy and just a joy to have around.
The town of Murphysboro held it’s second annual Big Muddy Monster Festival, in honor of our very own cryptid. A short recap, just so you don’t have to click a link to know what the Big Muddy Monster is: in the early ‘70s there were bigfoot sightings along the Big Muddy River in Southern Illinois, and two things seem to really set this incident apart from the rest of the bigfoot lore of the era: first, the local police investigated the incident, so we have actual police files from 1973 with eyewitness accounts and sketches and all that (you can read them here). Second, the Big Muddy Monster has white fur, so I believe it’s the only Yeti-looking guy in North America.
Just as a disclaimer, although no judgement on anyone who feels differently: I’m not an actual believer by any means, I just love monsters as part of pop culture, and the bigfoot -despite being a fictional creature- is pure Americana!
The festival went well, they unveiled a new billboard that will greet visitors entering the town…
…and I worked the popcorn stand at the Historic Liberty Theater, which held some panels and screened a documentary as part of the festival.
Yes, that’s actually me, bagging popcorn! Fun times!
COLLECTING
I picked up a promotional copy of Josh Wink’s 1998 album HEREHEAR, featuring the song Black Bomb (Jerry In The Bag) with vocals by Trent Reznor.
Interestingly, it’s labeled as a “demonstration copy” instead of the usual “promotional copy” which I’ve never ran across before! Kinda neat!
OTHER
WATCHING: Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult I only watched this three part docu-series after I was reassured that it’s relatively safe. I’m really intrigued by cults, but I’m also hyper-sensitive to the way their victims are treated/portrayed in documentaries, so I try not to just blindly devour all the cult-content that’s out there these days. In this regards Dancing for the Devil lands in the average territory, but it’s still a passing grade, and the story itself is fascinating so it’s worth checking out.
LISTENING TO: I recognize how absurd this may sound, but lately I’ve been craving some real comfort-food when it comes to music, I just want to listen to albums that feel safe and soothing and put me in a relaxed mood... and in my case, these “chicken soup of the soul” albums are things like David Bowie’s Outside, The Perfect Drug single by Nine Inch Nails, and the first half of Alice In Chains’ catalog from Facelift to their MTV Unplugged. *insert “horror writer’s dark heart finds a way to counter-balance his love of summer and sunshine” emoji*
INTERESTING THINGS I RAN ACROSS:
I love it when podcasts present niche academic subjects in an accessible way, and Lingthusiasm, a podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics does exactly that with linguistics! This one is highly recommended!
A somewhat terrifying rabbit hole to fall down, but I just learned about the time the US Army accidentally dropped an atomic bomb on someone’s farm in South Carolina in the ‘50s. It happened in a somewhat Dr. Strangelove-esque fashion when the bombardier of a warplane tried to secure a bomb and instead pulled the fast-release on it! *insert “hooooly shiiit” emoji* Luckily the warhead wasn’t armed so the bomb “only” left a 50 feet by 20 feet crate in the ground:
Turns out, these kinds of things used to happen a lot: “A Broken Arrow is defined as an unexpected event involving nuclear weapons that results in the accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft, or loss of the weapon. To date, six nuclear weapons have been lost and never recovered.” Oof.
Another oof-inducing bit of random fact that failed to make me feel better about the state of the world: Scientists discover beer bottle at the deepest point of the ocean “This discarded trash had managed to reach an unsullied part of our world before we actually did - a symbol of how deeply and irrevocably humans are affecting the natural world.”
But don’t worry, I won’t leave you on such a dark note, so in closing: I know we’re all a bit sick of social media, but did you know that some legendary special effects artists use Instagram to post their art? From the top of my head Chris Walas (who is my all time favorite creature designer!!!) Rick Baker, and the always badass Tom Savini come to mind. They’re all either fully or semi-retired, but still make art and love to show off what they’re working on. Check ‘em out!
Thanks for reading Letters From Nowhere! You can find me here, feel free to follow me on social media and I’m always happy to hear feedback!