15/12/11 Two weeks only to the end of this year, thank Bumba. And a mere twelve months only to the end of next one. I can’t wait to see the back of 2012, with its impending horrors. Like the flapping (a more accurate adjective than “flipping”) Olympic games just down the road from where I live, and the Jubilee hysteria all over the country, to mention but two. Stil, I’m not going to go into one, right now. 2011 has been a year of mixed…whatevers. I daren’t speak of blessings, see. The Shoggoths are thriving and may soon have their own book, if I get my shit together, finally. The other Animals are doing well, too. The Wee Worms have sprouted a variety, or a mutation: The Very Slightly Evolved Semi-Podded Kin. You can see two of them in the picture. The pic itself is called The Ambassadors II because I’m still working on The Ambassadors I, a wee tribute to that darling hardy perennnial of mine, Iain M. Banks. Me…I’m OK now. I had a Big Health Scare but it seems to be over, for the time being. Ought to teach me not to get so fucking complacent. In theory. Update 01/01/12 Happy New Year, then, in spite of the bad omens. And (por mucho pan nunca mal año…) a genuine pic of the state of my living room “the morning after” the party. Still standing: (on a stool) Rosie, shocked at the state of the Celestial sardine and trying to protect the little Squid, who’s obviously been corrupted by Emiliano’s antics, Spot of the Anctartic -always the totally cool dude, his Worm pal (just about) and, technically, Emiliano. Not for long, I think… (giggle). Update 01/02/12 It’s nice to see I’m still alive, if a tad catatonic. The doodles trickle still and that’s good. For me anyways. Here are the two latest. The b&w one is for several Spanish poets who have, somehow, helped in these crappy Latter Days. The garish one of for Arturo Perez-Reverte, whose short weekly articles/rants for a Spanish weekend paper I’ve recently “discovered”. The plot is, in a nutshell: The central heating breaks down in the middle of winter. Next thing he knows is that his living room is full of..Penguins!!! Yes, that’s why I like the guy. At his age, he’s still capable of infiltrating this kind of sillyness in otherwise perfectly serious diatribes. Bless his angry socks…

This one is so special that I’m starting a new post. Took me ages; I agonized over it like it (agonazing, that is) was going out of fashion; my back hasn’t forgiven me yet; I still have doubts that the perspective and the light could have been so much better; etc. But never mind. Another artistic/intellectual/spi’tual/sensory-sensual/whatnot debt is paid, no matter how poorly. Don Diego & Don Francisco’s ghosts have just sent me a message from beyond the SubAtomic Particles Field Forever telling me they do forgive me, bless their brushes. Update 20/11/11 Here go the latest. Not sure why I still have qualms about the Self-Portrait, but I do. (It has lotsa meaning for me, though.) Still, here it is. As for the Flamenco ‘Edge’Ogs, I have the inefable MimiLoveForever to thank for. She provided the original image that lead to this ‘ere “parida”. NB. The ‘edge’ogs are second-generation Sevillians from Staffordshire. They wer a raging success in Seville some weeks ago. It’s a story “de ida y vuelta”, innit. Update 03/12/11 The revisiting & recycling of ancient stuff continues. Our Lady Pacifier of Bitching Felines is a bit o a child of the self-portrait, because I like th cats so much. The Hybrid Witch is for Ada. She’ll know why. Stay tough, girl. Update 04/12/11. More recycled revivals. Long live archeology!

London’s burning. Well, bits of it, anyway, worse luck. No comment. I started doing this latest pic on Saturday morning, a few hours before all hell broke loose in Totenham. Hey, don’t look at me! I only wanted to do something a little bit different and with “akward”doggies in it. Oh, well…. Update 18/08/11 In between storms, the Shoggies have a go at transcendental meditation, to still the ichors and prepare the mind for whatever may come next. The Wee Worms take the piss. Ommmmmm… Update 21/08/11 I got the final image for this one when my mate Attilio, who’s doing some work on good ol’ Edgar, quoted Roderick Usher’s final cry. You know, “Madman! I tell you…” and so on. The three Shoggoths in the first cellar are playing “Mus”, an old Spanish card game very popular in my yoof in village “casinos” -no relation to them thing in Vegas or Monte, I hasten to say, but haphazard, organically formed community centres, generally the local bar. No idea how is played. Update 23/11/09 Here, the very last chapter of the Shoggy Saga. And a wee thing for my mate Thomas-A-Hurley, who knows what a Mandelbrot Set is. Out of Place Update. 20/11/11. Here be a pair of twins. Not at all sure about them, but they fill a gap in this page. Salut!

They rage in my heart; occassionally around the periphery of my brain. Almost from day one the trip to Barcelona morphed into a nightmare of physical pain (curtesy of leftover shingles wot in turn ratchted the ME to previously unknown heights); frustration -at being pretty much unable to move, let alone ramble around a city made for rambling; ensuing excruciating boredom; and -possibly misplaced- resentment (let’s not get into that one). It’s over now. I’m back in my territory and this always brings a certain peace. Now all I have to contend with are the usual clashing felings of my love for my scruffy darling habitat (my freedom and my prison rolled into one),  and my visceral longing for the smells and the sounds and the lights of the Mediterranean. Not to mention  Spanish food…oyvay! So here’s a small dream. For me, for La bella Aurora, for my darling Xavi. For all nomads, perhaps. Update 18.07.11 I feel like I’m grinding to a halt. In other words I feel like shit all the time. Still, a trickle ..well, trickles. Shold be grateful for small mercies, innit? There. This one is yet another extra chapter. To be inserted between Bonding With Worms and Dangerous Liaisons. Update 01/08/11. Here be the latest. I’d like to start a new series: Pious Platitudes, Where To Stuff Them. This one is a particularly galling one. Having said that… there are indeed people who don’t know how fucking lucky/gifted they are. Not my Shoggoths, though… Plus: It never rains. Update 02/08/11 This is for the adorable “Mimi”, who’s having a totally crappy time. Life’s stinks. Misplaced Update. 23/09/11 I’m so not sure about this one that I’ve decided to put it here, just to fill a gap. ‘Nuff said.

Or, better still, Shoggoths in the Library. The library in question being that of the Yithians. Credit where credit is due, in its heyday it was simply the best and the vastest of all knowledge depots this side of the asteroid belt. What with the Yithians being such information fanatics, and the time-travel facilities and all. Their mistake was using the Shoggoths as a sort of cheap cleaning squad. And the Old Ones’ BIG mistake was forgetting the advice given them by Yog-Sothoth when handing the rubbery darlings over to them: Never let the creatures anywhere near a book. There, complacency will always find you quicker than your sins. Ha! PS. In case you’re wondering why there are no mops and buckets in the picture, that is because the Shoggies have eaten them. Update 25/02/11 One of these days I will have to tidy this saga up and upload the chapters in the right order. Meanwhile, have a shufti at what the poor ol’ Shoggies were made to build by the Old Ones. Chronicler’s Note. For those of you who think that the building in question, the infamous Sagrada Familia, was Gaudí’s own idea, think again. It was an Old One design inspired by Great Cthulhu himself; conceived and designed as a pompous panegyric to their cleverness and might. (Double Ha!) The notion filtered through the endless eons into Don Antoni’s slightly deranged mind by way of one of those curious psychic singularities we know to exist in the cosmos but that nobody actually understands how they work. Gaudí was convinced that the idea was his own, inspired by god, poor man, when in fact it was an archaic hallucination.  I put it all down to an incorrect diet and too much religious fervour. And the fact that the bloody thing has been recently sanctioned by the Vatican only confirms it as a thoroughly evil contraption. Bumba have mercy… Massive update 26/03/11 The saga is now finished and can be seen in its own page and in its full “poetic glory (see Home page – A Brief History of Shoggoths button). Here goes the introduction to it. Update 16/04/11 There, the latest in the “Happier Times” series. Brief Update 09/06/11 No time & no energy & no brains. Spain sucked the very life out of me. So, have a couple of new things. I consider myself lucky that I’m not totally dead yet, as proven by the fact that I can still doodle. Bumba is merciful.

Practically writing itself. Must be the beneficial influences of the wee rubbery darlings. Here is Chapter III, as promised. And one of the many Interludes to come. They happened when the Shoggoths were on “loan” to the Yithians. The Yithians were devoted -and ruthless- time travellers and sometimes they took some of the Shoggoths along with them for menial tasks/spying purposes. Once they, the Shoogies, were tasked with shadowing Karl Marx in his Dean St. days. The Shoggies used to steal Karl’s fags and play harmless pranks on him. They stole his fags to mitigate their own stress and alienation, and the pranks were very innocent and good-natured, for they became very fond of both him and Jenny and all her dead babies. Update 03/02/11 A wee break from the serious stuff, I think. Also a way to distract my heart from the tensions in North Africa. Bumba be with us… Update 06/02/11 There, chapter four. Update 20/02/11 ‘Been computerless for nearly a week. It was horrible..horrible… But all is better now because I’ve got it back from the vet. And this here is to prove that I did NOT go bonkers in its absence. (Ha…!)

But, alas, same place. Still, let us make the best of whatever 2011 throws at us, shall we? Happy New Year folks. Update 06/01/11 before I plunge into death, destruction, chaos, mayhem and howling dogs of war, I thought I’d fortify myself with images of happier days in the future of Shoggoth history. Voila. Sit down, relax, have a cuppa. Listen to Rosie’s  astute critical analysis of the Shub-Niggurath’s personality. Tee hee… Update 20/01/11 The war scenes are coming along nicely -if nicely is the right word for the depiction of blood, grief and wanton destruction. But they are difficult, laborious scenes, so I take frequent breaks from them to remember when things where bad for the Shoggoths but not quite as bad as they  became. Chapter II is for those prats who preach that humiliation is good for the soul. May they rot in some self-inflicted hell. Update 21/01/11 There. The worse of the story is done & dusted. I’ve spent quite a bit on this one, but I’m rather happy with it. I’ve waited 4 decades to do my own take on the Odessa Steps. I feel much better, now, thank you. Update 26/01/11 The Shoggy Shaggy saga continues..totally discontinuous. Have Chapter IX. Next: Coming next: Chapter III

It’s easier when I can draw. And, touch wood, the body’s holing, the mind is reasonably sound and “they” just keep on coming. Here be the latest: the first two of what will end up being a heretic version of At the Mountains of Madness. Forgive me, Howie. Update 01/12/10 My first portrait proper in ages, and my first of a bloke. Damned difficult to do, blokes!  Still, My Flick’r  mate Lix Cordero wasn’t too-too difficult to get right. Update 08/12/10 More on the Shoggoth epic, introducing the groovy Outer Ones. Update 03/01/11 The old computer is dead. Long live the new computer, they tell me… Here go the last thing I did on the old one and the third done on The New Flesh. This last is just a sneak privada of the dark times & deeds to come in the Shoggie Saga.

So, the search for that Dream Publisher for my wee Tarot deck continues. With its now nearly historical total lack of success. Oh well… Meanwhile, a lovely lady who runs a free online readings site, came across it, somewhere, and sort of fell in love with it. To cut a long story short, my deck is now available for free online readings. That is like saying that it’s started to earn its keep. I checked the stats yesterday. It has been used for readings over 700 times. Blimey!, I say. So here goes the “poster” I’m using to make this fact known to the … er… world? And a little something (or as I call it, an itch that needed scratching) for all those crappy creeps that think that you can make peace with “beums“. We are living in times that would have made Orwell feel like a nursery novice, we are…

The site where you can get free readings (with mine and another 7,000 or so decks) is:

http://www.mydivination.com/index.mdv?SetTarotDeck=8790767e414cd9e7e05507e1b76093a5

Update 13/10/10. This one has taken me over a month to get out of my system. Finally, once I accepted that it wanted to be fairly gray, so to speak, it just flowed. Well, sort of. Plus: have new links (3 for the time being). To Kata Illustration (and etsy shop). Cool graphics from Kotryna, all the way from Vilnius, look you. Go check her stuff. Now. Update 12/11/10 She lives!!! She be no dead!!! What groovyness, innit? And here be proof of a) life and b) undying love for the Shoggies. Even if they’re taking over my life, the little bleeders. Update 19/11/10 Today: a wee history lesson. The facts that is Shoggothic history shouldn’t deter the true believers.

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I’m writing a short account of how the Shoggoths came into my life. It’s taking a wee bit longer that planned, but it’s coming soon to my miraculously empty “literary” page. Meanwhile, have a preview. And a small benefic juju I made for my good Flick’r mate, the exquisite MimiLoveForever. Update 13/09/10 More stuff for the divine MimiLoveForever. Birthday stuff. Plus the poster announcing the unveiling of my short story of how the Shoggoths came into my life…and practically took it over. PS. The story has gone down rather well amongst my Flick’r pals. They really are good people, they are, bless their digital socks. Update 14/02/10 A sad update. A friend of a friend died a while back. This wee memorial is for both of them. Update 17/09/10 A happier sort of update. This is for my excellent Flick’r pal, the groovy FlickChick2 (aka Mary). Happy birthday, Flicky

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