Today's topic/prompt/script is the hair of the mongoose.
There is not much physical evidence for Gef, and of the evidence I've scrounged from the interwub there isn't any that can't be disputed on one level or another.
http://dalbyspook.110mb.com/gefhair.html
The hair becomes the object in a game of pass the parcel where Gef gives it to Captain X who gives it to Harry Price who gives it to Reputable Expert who declares it to be most likely dog hair from the family dog, Mona. Says Gef: I was kidding with you! I gave you her fur you doubting doubters. Which strikes me as an imminently sensible thing to do if you wanted to muddy the waters.
***
GEF: What will it take for you to leave Corporal?
CAPTAIN X: Well, venerable sir, let me think.
GEF: We don't have that kind of time. Spit it out.
Pause
CAPTAIN X: A lock of your fair hair will ensure that I retire.
GEF: Is that all? Really?
CAPTAIN X: That is my price.
GEF: Humph. Very well. Leave this room and await my instruction.
Black
GEF: Captain, you will find all that you require upon the mantle.
CAPTAIN X: This beauteous lock?
GEF: If it is the one alongside the toby jug, under the gaze of the chief.
CAPTAIN: It is. I am indebted to you fair sir.
GEF: You are a still a doubter, but I exist separate to faith.
***
Oh dear. I get the feeling that I have a new darling to kill: Dashing Captain X, a suitor attempting to woo Gef like some Austen romantic hero.
Tomorrow: Evil?
An occasional set of postings about Warhammer, Oldhammer, miniature painting and playwrighting. With occasional digressions into other stuff.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Blogging A-Z: Chicken houses.
"If you are kind to me, I will bring you good luck. If you are not kind, I shall kill all your poultry. I can get them wherever you put them!"
http://dalbyspook.110mb.com/gefquotes.html
I have a half memory of Harry Price discussing James Irving's education and well-travelledness by referring to a Jewish symbol on a chicken coop. I'm a little frustrated that I can't find this reference right this second. Should it matter given that I'm writing a fiction, albeit one based on factual recollections? Possibly. If I find the reference I'll add to comments.
Now: scripty bits.
***
James with ruins of chicken.
JAMES: Gef! Where are you, you wee bastard?
Skittering overhead.
A thump.
JAMES: I know you're there. Say something.
Silence
GEF: Hullo Jimbo.
JAMES: Gef, what is this?
Pause.
GEF: A chicken?
JAMES: And?
GEF: And?
JAMES: What happened to it?
GEF: It looks like it had an accident.
JAMES: 'like it had an accident'. Well, that's just dandy. That's peachy. Is that what we're to call you these days? An accident?
GEF: I don't know what you're talking about.
JAMES: Right. Listen here you spooky little rat. You will not touch our chickens again.
GEF: What will stop me? I can get them wherever you put them. You'd best be kind to me.
JAMES: Ha! Is that so?
GEF: It is so. I've travelled a long ways to get here. I've learnt many things.
JAMES: Well, my ratty little friend. I've learnt a little something in my travels too.
GEF: I have seen things that you have never dreamed of. I am truthsaying that way.
JAMES: Have you seen what's on the chicken house now?
GEF: tell me Jimbo. Be a friend.
JAMES: It's a gift to myself. Best you see on your lonesome.
Pause.
Skittering.
GEF (from distance): Bastard! Flaming, bloody bastard!
Skittering closer.
A thump by James' head.
JAMES: Do you like it?
GEF: How dare you! The living cheek. The unspeakable, utmost living cheek.
JAMES: Do not touch our chooks.
GEF: I'll get them. Somehow.
JAMES: You can try.
GEF: You need to look out for more than just your chooks Jimmy.
JAMES: Oh, and what would that be?
GEF: Guess.
Pause
JAMES: You touch one hair on her head and...
GEF: You'll what, Jimmy? Lock everyone in their rooms? Hide them behind your chickens?
Gef laughs.
GEF: You'll do nought of the sort. Vanish.
Silence.
JAMES: Bastard.
***
The danger that I spy is that having characters interact with a disembodied voice can become tedious. But that is the beauty of a first draft. All of the tedium can be explored, overcome and excised.
Tomorrow: Dog Hair.
http://dalbyspook.110mb.com/gefquotes.html
I have a half memory of Harry Price discussing James Irving's education and well-travelledness by referring to a Jewish symbol on a chicken coop. I'm a little frustrated that I can't find this reference right this second. Should it matter given that I'm writing a fiction, albeit one based on factual recollections? Possibly. If I find the reference I'll add to comments.
Now: scripty bits.
***
James with ruins of chicken.
JAMES: Gef! Where are you, you wee bastard?
Skittering overhead.
A thump.
JAMES: I know you're there. Say something.
Silence
GEF: Hullo Jimbo.
JAMES: Gef, what is this?
Pause.
GEF: A chicken?
JAMES: And?
GEF: And?
JAMES: What happened to it?
GEF: It looks like it had an accident.
JAMES: 'like it had an accident'. Well, that's just dandy. That's peachy. Is that what we're to call you these days? An accident?
GEF: I don't know what you're talking about.
JAMES: Right. Listen here you spooky little rat. You will not touch our chickens again.
GEF: What will stop me? I can get them wherever you put them. You'd best be kind to me.
JAMES: Ha! Is that so?
GEF: It is so. I've travelled a long ways to get here. I've learnt many things.
JAMES: Well, my ratty little friend. I've learnt a little something in my travels too.
GEF: I have seen things that you have never dreamed of. I am truthsaying that way.
JAMES: Have you seen what's on the chicken house now?
GEF: tell me Jimbo. Be a friend.
JAMES: It's a gift to myself. Best you see on your lonesome.
Pause.
Skittering.
GEF (from distance): Bastard! Flaming, bloody bastard!
Skittering closer.
A thump by James' head.
JAMES: Do you like it?
GEF: How dare you! The living cheek. The unspeakable, utmost living cheek.
JAMES: Do not touch our chooks.
GEF: I'll get them. Somehow.
JAMES: You can try.
GEF: You need to look out for more than just your chooks Jimmy.
JAMES: Oh, and what would that be?
GEF: Guess.
Pause
JAMES: You touch one hair on her head and...
GEF: You'll what, Jimmy? Lock everyone in their rooms? Hide them behind your chickens?
Gef laughs.
GEF: You'll do nought of the sort. Vanish.
Silence.
JAMES: Bastard.
***
The danger that I spy is that having characters interact with a disembodied voice can become tedious. But that is the beauty of a first draft. All of the tedium can be explored, overcome and excised.
Tomorrow: Dog Hair.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Blogging A-Z challenge: Buggane
The buggane is a creature unique to the Isle of Man.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buggane
Initial reports of Gef referred to him as a buggane
http://dalbyspook.110mb.com/press/Doarlish_Cashen_Buggane.pdf
(this site gives a very good overview and pdfs of press clippings from Feb 1932)
http://dalbyspook.110mb.com/gefpress.html
And now, some actual scripting direct from my head to blogger to you.
***
Voirrey's room.
VOIRREY: Who's there?
Pause.
VOIRREY: I can hear you breathing.
Voirrey sits up in bed.
A skittering sound above her.
VOIRREY: I'm not afraid of you.
A thump from the wall beside her.
Voirrey screams then slaps a hand over her mouth.
VOIRREY: Please be quiet. Please.
Skittering.
Pause.
A door slams off.
Footsteps.
Enter James with lantern.
JAMES: What the bloody hell is all this noise?
VOIRREY: It's a buggane!
JAMES: What? For god's sake Voirrey we're trying to sleep.
A thump overhead.
VOIRREY: See!
JAMES: Silly girl, that isn't any buggane. Its a bloody rat in the wall.
Skittering
JAMES: I'll deal with it in the morning. You had best get to sleep, and not a peep out of you or it'll be blue murder. You hear?
Beat
JAMES: Do you hear?
VOIRREY: Yes, Dad.
James exits.
Silence.
VOIRREY: I am NOT afraid of you.
GEF (muffled off, mimicing James): Silly girl...
VOIRREY: Can you speak?
GEF (mimicing Voirrey): Speak.
VOIRREY: Do you have big teeth?
GEF (mimicing): Teeth.
VOIRREY: You're just copying me.
Pause
GEF (mimicing James from earlier): Blue murder.
***
Monday's subject is 'C' for Chickens. Unless different inspiration strikes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buggane
Initial reports of Gef referred to him as a buggane
http://dalbyspook.110mb.com/press/Doarlish_Cashen_Buggane.pdf
(this site gives a very good overview and pdfs of press clippings from Feb 1932)
http://dalbyspook.110mb.com/gefpress.html
And now, some actual scripting direct from my head to blogger to you.
***
Voirrey's room.
VOIRREY: Who's there?
Pause.
VOIRREY: I can hear you breathing.
Voirrey sits up in bed.
A skittering sound above her.
VOIRREY: I'm not afraid of you.
A thump from the wall beside her.
Voirrey screams then slaps a hand over her mouth.
VOIRREY: Please be quiet. Please.
Skittering.
Pause.
A door slams off.
Footsteps.
Enter James with lantern.
JAMES: What the bloody hell is all this noise?
VOIRREY: It's a buggane!
JAMES: What? For god's sake Voirrey we're trying to sleep.
A thump overhead.
VOIRREY: See!
JAMES: Silly girl, that isn't any buggane. Its a bloody rat in the wall.
Skittering
JAMES: I'll deal with it in the morning. You had best get to sleep, and not a peep out of you or it'll be blue murder. You hear?
Beat
JAMES: Do you hear?
VOIRREY: Yes, Dad.
James exits.
Silence.
VOIRREY: I am NOT afraid of you.
GEF (muffled off, mimicing James): Silly girl...
VOIRREY: Can you speak?
GEF (mimicing Voirrey): Speak.
VOIRREY: Do you have big teeth?
GEF (mimicing): Teeth.
VOIRREY: You're just copying me.
Pause
GEF (mimicing James from earlier): Blue murder.
***
Monday's subject is 'C' for Chickens. Unless different inspiration strikes.
Friday, April 1, 2011
A-Z challenge: Archives
Archives, libraries are the locations of all sorts of hidden knowledge. Borges wrote of people lost in infinite libraries. Lovecraft of reality cracking secrets being encoded in books.
For myself, libraries are a place of comfort. Nothing makes me feel more peaceful than shelves with books. But I do love stories where books are vastly more sinister and informationally dense than their reality.
Archives are where the core information of Gef appear to lie. Harry Price's archives were gifted by his widow to the University of London. A whole collection of books about magic (both stage and supernatural) that Price had collected over the years.
There is another archive: the Psychical Research Society's collection held in the University of Cambridge library. In it is apparently where the account that James Irving, the father of the family central to the mongoose story, wrote is kept.
I wonder vaguely how easy it is to access these collections, and if doing so would destroy the mystery that they currently contain. Is the desire to learn a certainty worth the loss of a multitude of fantastical possibilities?
Fictionally speaking: Harry Price may have had a copy of Lovecraft's Necronomicon in his collection. This isn't true, of course, but the possibility of this kind of connection is delicious.
For myself, libraries are a place of comfort. Nothing makes me feel more peaceful than shelves with books. But I do love stories where books are vastly more sinister and informationally dense than their reality.
Archives are where the core information of Gef appear to lie. Harry Price's archives were gifted by his widow to the University of London. A whole collection of books about magic (both stage and supernatural) that Price had collected over the years.
There is another archive: the Psychical Research Society's collection held in the University of Cambridge library. In it is apparently where the account that James Irving, the father of the family central to the mongoose story, wrote is kept.
I wonder vaguely how easy it is to access these collections, and if doing so would destroy the mystery that they currently contain. Is the desire to learn a certainty worth the loss of a multitude of fantastical possibilities?
Fictionally speaking: Harry Price may have had a copy of Lovecraft's Necronomicon in his collection. This isn't true, of course, but the possibility of this kind of connection is delicious.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
April Plans and the A-Z blogging challenge.
Well, this month has been a bust for undiscussable reasons. So I'll move right along and slide the plans for March into April.
I will be doing the A-Z blogging challenge as here:
http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/2011/01/very-special-and-exciting-announcement.html
I found this challenge through gaming blogs I frequent and thought it would be an opportune way to throw myself back into the blog and the writing.
In a nutshell, I post every day of April excepting Sundays for a total of 26 days. Each day is a letter of the alphabet. So tomorrows word will be 'Archive' unless I change my mind.
I am apprehensive.
edit: hey, whattya know: I'm blog 941 to enter.
I will be doing the A-Z blogging challenge as here:
http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/2011/01/very-special-and-exciting-announcement.html
I found this challenge through gaming blogs I frequent and thought it would be an opportune way to throw myself back into the blog and the writing.
In a nutshell, I post every day of April excepting Sundays for a total of 26 days. Each day is a letter of the alphabet. So tomorrows word will be 'Archive' unless I change my mind.
I am apprehensive.
edit: hey, whattya know: I'm blog 941 to enter.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
March Update
Two weeks have passed since my last post and again, life has overrun Gef. I will get back on track.
Two other writing things to get done by the end of the month:
A short story.
A one page dungeon for a competition.
Explanations of these will be forthcoming too.
More anon.
Two other writing things to get done by the end of the month:
A short story.
A one page dungeon for a competition.
Explanations of these will be forthcoming too.
More anon.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Still alive, still researching
Yeah, things have been a little weird in the background of this blog. Job hunting and a succession of family crisises have made me a little uncommunicative of late.
The work:
The more I read about this family and this mongoose the more I realise I don't know and the harder the decisions will be to make. What started out as a simple tale of a talking animal and his family has unfurled into a mess of small-town mores, physical and pyschological isolation, implied and inferred abuse and the strange tug between a person's desire for privacy and recognition.
The two best links about the whole thing thus far:
http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/4915/gef_the_talking_mongoose.html
Fortean Times published this online in January and it gives the best referenced overview of the entire thing. The photos are fantastic containing several purportedly to be of Gef, and some interesting family shots- staged by Lambert and Price, but revealing nonetheless of how the family wished to be seen (Margaret's dress, Voirrey's shoes)
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11118503209
The Gef Facebook page. It is totally public, so no need to join. There are many fantastic photos and scans including the 5 paragraphs from the Usborne book of Ghosts which started me off on Gef. Only 5 paragraphs! Also, of coincidental personal (New Zealand) interest, James Irving had a print of a Maori Chief on the wall of their house, and the group has a scan of a print showing the same chief, plus a scan of a photo of the house showing the print in situ.
These people know their Gef, and the discussions bring up a lot of interesting ideas.
The work:
The more I read about this family and this mongoose the more I realise I don't know and the harder the decisions will be to make. What started out as a simple tale of a talking animal and his family has unfurled into a mess of small-town mores, physical and pyschological isolation, implied and inferred abuse and the strange tug between a person's desire for privacy and recognition.
The two best links about the whole thing thus far:
http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/4915/gef_the_talking_mongoose.html
Fortean Times published this online in January and it gives the best referenced overview of the entire thing. The photos are fantastic containing several purportedly to be of Gef, and some interesting family shots- staged by Lambert and Price, but revealing nonetheless of how the family wished to be seen (Margaret's dress, Voirrey's shoes)
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11118503209
The Gef Facebook page. It is totally public, so no need to join. There are many fantastic photos and scans including the 5 paragraphs from the Usborne book of Ghosts which started me off on Gef. Only 5 paragraphs! Also, of coincidental personal (New Zealand) interest, James Irving had a print of a Maori Chief on the wall of their house, and the group has a scan of a print showing the same chief, plus a scan of a photo of the house showing the print in situ.
These people know their Gef, and the discussions bring up a lot of interesting ideas.
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