LABYRINTH Meme, More Events, Space Horror Recommendation
The one time I made my own meme, the fan theory behind it. Also I'll be at Cartersville Comic-Con Saturday and the Switzer library in Cobb next week, and you should check out book DEAD SILENCE.
In a library book I read as a child (I believe about movie special effects, since the pic I’m about to discuss was side-by-side with an unmasked Darth Vader from Return of the Jedi), I remember seeing a shot from the film Labyrinth that I found disturbing. It depicted young Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) being prepared in her iconic ballroom outfit to be presented to the Goblin King Jareth (David Bowie) by various puppet-monsters. Although I was too young to understand the movie’s sexual undertones, what I saw was off-putting enough that I didn’t see the movie until I watched it for an episode of the podcast Myopia Movies.
(Ironically given how I consciously avoid this movie for most of my life, I ended up being on a panel on Labyrinth at the 2022 CONjuration convention in Atlanta. My comment that Labyrinth was Hellraiser for kids were well-received. I brought that picture up and I think someone suggested it must’ve been a publicity pic, since it doesn’t correspond with any actual scene in the film. This assumes I’m remembering seeing this picture correctly, since this would have been 30-odd years ago.)
In any event, at some point I made a meme based on Labryrinth:
(Credit to B. Mac Smith for the original image.)
(I based it on this image here, which I can’t find on Google anymore and if I remember right came from some ad-infested nightmare of a site anyway.)
The meme is based on the film’s cheerful ending, which I will discuss below. Spoilers for a 30+ year old movie coming…
Sarah has reclaimed her abducted baby brother from Jareth and returned to our world, but owing to the help she received from Ludo (top), Hoggle (bottom), and the unpictured fox-knight Sir Didymus, all three are going to be Public Enemy Number One for the Goblin King, who still rules the Labyrinth.
Unless of course they decide to act first. Jareth can warp reality, but Ludo has earth-moving magic of his own and Hoggle is a sneaky little man. Sir Didymus, though lacking in common sense, has a lot of personal aggression. Jareth’s goblin armies have been defeated (by three Muppets and a whiny teenage girl no less), so it’s now or never.
Given how everybody seems to be having a good old time in Sarah’s room at the end, it seems Ludo, Hoggle, and Didymus succeeded. However, that owl outside her window looks awfully familiar — they may have defeated Jareth to the point they didn’t suffer his wrath, but he’s still out there and up to no good.
Cartersville Comic-Con Reminder (And a Cobb Event Next Week)
This coming Saturday (10/14) I’ll be selling books at the Cartersville Comic-Con, the first time I’ve been to the city in several years. The event will run from 10 AM to 6 PM.
I will have copies of The Thing in the Woods and its sequel The Atlanta Incursion (creature-feature/sci-fi), Battle for the Wastelands, its prequel novella “Son of Grendel,” and its sequel Serpent Sword (post-apocalyptic military fantasy), my horror-comedy novella “Little People, Big Guns,” and my short story collection Flashing Steel, Flashing Fire. I will have also stickers based on the Thing cover and some comics I’ve already read and would like to re-sell.
If you’re convenient to Cartersville, I’d love to see you. If you know anybody who is convenient to Cartersville, well, I’d love to see them. :)
And if it’s easier for you to get to Cobb County, the Switzer Library near Marietta Square is hosting a local-author day on October 21 from 11 AM to 4 PM. I’ll be selling there as well, along with other Cobb authors. Same inventory as before.
Dead Silence: Space Horror Book Recommendation
In late September, I borrowed from my library’s Hoopla database the audio version of S.A. Barnes’ book Dead Silence to read for book club.
In short, I really enjoyed it and I recommend it. Especially the audio version, which has a really skilled narrator who makes you feel for the characters. I’ve got a full review slated for later this year (I had a lot of stuff scheduled already), but in the meantime, it’s definitely worth a read and especially a listen.