Phantom Limbs, Withheld Worlds, and the Quatermass Experience (Part Four)
The intersection of Kneale’s work with the mechanics of the phantom limb becomes most visible through his preoccupation with systems that persist in running on invalid assumptions. This phenomenon is … Continue reading
Phantom Limbs, Withheld Worlds, and the Quatermass Experience (Part Three)
In Quatermass and the Pit, Kneale’s ‘Hobbs End’ is London’s wound reopening. Agoraphobia is the private version of that reopening; the moment the body realises its access to the world … Continue reading
Phantom Limbs, Withheld Worlds, and the Quatermass Experience (Part Two)
Now, this is the point where I started to suspect something I had not quite said out loud before. Agoraphobia is not just compatible with hauntology. It is one of … Continue reading
Phantom Limbs, Withheld Worlds, and the Quatermass Experience (Part One)
Amputation gets described as removal, which is technically accurate in the way a spreadsheet can be accurate. Yes, the limb is not there. Well done, everyone. The problem is that … Continue reading
The Ghosts of Ash and the Nuclear Spectre (Part Two)
If Hiroshima haunts through absence, the Titanic haunts through overexposure. The Titanic has been replayed, retold, reconstructed, and reanimated so many times that it barely qualifies as an event anymore. It … Continue reading
The Ghosts of Ash and the Nuclear Spectre (Part One)
Disasters have a habit of lingering long after everyone has agreed that they are finished. The rubble gets cleared. The plaques get installed. The anniversary documentaries get commissioned. The calendar … Continue reading
Namaste, or: What Keeps Coming Back (in a Slightly Worse Mood) (Part Three)
On the way down, the sound followed for a while, then thinned, then vanished. It didn’t echo. That was the strangest part. For all its droning insistence, it left … Continue reading
Namaste, or: What Keeps Coming Back (in a Slightly Worse Mood) (Part Two)
Someone nearby pointed something out; a holy thorn, maybe, or a story attached to a stone. Delivered with the bright certainty of a fact that has never been forced to … Continue reading
Namaste, or: What Keeps Coming Back (in a Slightly Worse Mood) (Part 1)
We were almost at the top when we heard it. Not music exactly, more a pressure system. A low drone with delusions of grandeur, stretching itself between notes like a … Continue reading
I really must get a grip…
So, after the publications of three books this year, I thought I’d take a bit of a break. One the first day of that break (around 9:15am while enjoying a … Continue reading
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