TROIKA

a little reading list, a medium thought, and a BIG announcement

Greetings, subscribers both old and new! I gotta lot cooking at the mo’, so we’ll see how many essays, interviews, and whatever else I got in me this summer.

a little reading list

I’ve been finishing more books than I normally do this year, and it’s enriching. Many are sci-fi novels from the ‘60s and ‘70s, and damn am I having a groovy time.

The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) Ursula K. LeGuin

This is my third read by LeGuin, and I’m really appreciating her. She is so good at using constructed language to explore how words form worlds. In terms of “the gender of it all”, it’s really up to you how to interpret the premise. I think LeGuin wanted to challenge her reader as equally as her protagonist. The body is a path walked alone, but when we walk together, we make society. I can’t say much more than read it yourself. It’s worth it.

Gateway (1977) Frederick Pohl.

How would capitalism facilitate dangerous space exploration? What would it do to human psychology to be offered millions of dollars if you can find mostly useless junk discarded by a long-absent alien civilization? Pohl knows. This came highly recommended by an old head and—what do you know, I liked it. I picked up a couple more books by Pohl set in this universe, so we’ll see if the old rule of sequel-sucking was true back then as it is now. Recommended for fans of spaceship shit.

Infinite Dreams (1977) Joe Haldeman.

A collection of sci-fi stories published throughout the ‘70s with introductions by the author. Joe almost got his legs blown in Vietnam, and it shows in his writing, which reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut. Intelligent & funny pieces by a talented writer.

Roadside Picnic / Tale of the Troika (1972) Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.

This book is a double feature (much like its Soviet brother-authors), and both bring the thunder. The first is the tale adapted into Stalker (1979). A lovely bit of cosmic horror hailed as a haunting prophecy of Chernobyl. Annhilation’s granddaddy. Some resonance with Gateway, too. The second story is an absurdist fable, delightfully difficult to follow at first, but once it finds its groove it takes you on a hysterical bureaucratic nightmare only the victims of an actual totalitarian state could secrete. I highly recommend both.

The Sickness (2025) by Jenna Cha and Lonnie Nadler.

The first volume of a graphic novel series. I LOVED it. It’s been so long since a horror comic gave me goosebumps, and you know what? This one did constantly. It’s a decade-spanning Lovecraftian medical noir where the monster is 20th century American culture. Tons of disturbing imagery. Incredibly well-paced. Great characterization, even for the minor walk-ons. Can’t wait to swallow more.

a medium thought

I liked Backrooms (2026). I’m a fan of Kane Parson (gotta support my same-name bro), so I was nervous the bigtime pressure would ruin the magic, but for the most part I believe he stuck the landing. The movie’s not perfect, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The power of the Backrooms as a post-postmodern myth is something special. Incepted in the early aughts but hauntologically possessed by analog tech eras (‘70s and ‘90s in particular), it’s a true meme by its philosophical definition, crowd-sourced in its construction (both inside and out), a hollow mirror maze reflecting every user sticking their head in, much like the womb that bore the place, the internet itself.¹

My gateway-drug to the Backrooms was reading At The Mountains Of Madness (1931) at a young age and exploring limitless dream-chambers woven by unfathomable minds. There, too, something ancient and unnameable² waits with alien appetites. In keeping with the myth-logic of Lovecraftian elsewheres, the Backrooms is an externalization of the collective unconscious, the squishy labyrinth between our ears. They are the stage wings of your dreams, populated by unused props and understudies. And yes, there’s a Minotaur down there, as only the Shadow Self can conjure.

That part of the film reminded me of Earthen Dark by Brad Kelly —which I reviewed here. My experience with the film also resonated with an excellent essay by Abi Awomosu called They Built a System To See Everything. But It Can’t See You (amazing title btw). It also brought to mind JG Ballard and his wastrels wandering through pseudo-apocalyptic landscapes wondering if this is what humanity was fated to build from the beginning.

Kane also co-composed the score, turning the whole project into an audio-visual concept album.³ The Backrooms itself is like a musical genre; Kane didn’t invent it and doesn’t own it, but he’s a virtuoso with its visual melodies and dissonant architecture. I admired the ultimate framing that it’s not science-fiction. The dudes with suits and gizmos did not build the Backrooms, and their attempts to grasp it are synchronous with the amateur sleuths scuzzling around, going nuts on the nothing. The Backrooms is a doomscroll. There is no correct way to engage with it. There is no bottom to scratch. The itch never stops. You just drown in the sense of numbness you seek from seeing something different, something new.

This artistic choice enshrines the mystical unknowability that is the whole reason the Backrooms calls to us. We, the audience, yearn to see what’s around each corner, and the artist sharing it is himself discovering each room as he crafts it. There is something oracular about the creative practice of inventing a space that “doesn’t mean anything” but is hungrily devoured by the eye like empty calories. The artist must understand The Way that has no end. There’s always another doorway, don’t let it hit you on the way out.

Art by Basement Jim

a BIG announcement

I will be submitting Doompunk Dispatch as an exhibitor at Comic Arts Los Angeles in December. Even if I don’t get a table, I will still have real actual physical comic books available for purchase by the end of this year. I aim to table more events in 2027.

You heard right: I am planning to publish at least TWO comics this year. The first is DUNWICH, a Lovecraftian mutation, and the other is the first chapter of an original series yet to be announced, but I will give you a hint: keep an eye⁴ on the planet Venus… The comics will be available digitally and physically on dates that haven’t been figured out yet. Both projects are illustrated by my partner in visual crime, the one, the only: Jorge E. Peña III, aka Jorclank. He’s been working like a dog to serve these hush puppies piping hot to your slobbering mawz. Follow him for updates, plus opportunities for art commissions and other collaborations. He’s the coolest dude there is in the biz.

And there are more woes yet to come. I’ve got ambitions, son. I’m very happy with the response I’ve gotten from readers of Drippy Trippy Doom, and I’m not done messing around in the muck of your minds. My goal is nothing less than the highest achievement of art: to create a piece of digestible data that will travel to the genetic level and catalyze the evolutionary process. Think I’m kidding? I’m gonna make a zygonaut outta you, kid, just you watch.

1. let me know if it worked to have this run-on sentence recreate the breathlessness of exploring the Backrooms.

2. HPL did name it a Shoggoth tho.

3. oh and also the AI angle; Parsons said using AI removes the little decisions that make art fun. Here here, same-name-bro.

4. your third one.