Just Published: Apocalyptic Imaginary: 1st Edition!
Aiight, getting back into the swing of things here… there are many things a-brewin’ in the background, some of which you’ll know is a created experience brought to you by me and teams of which I am part. Some things you will not know you are into until you’re deep down the hole…
Instead of a huge, rambling monster of a post, I’ll begin with the latest. One of the many projects coming this year from Modern Mythology is now published. Hot on the trail of The Immanence of Myth, we bring you a companion work gathered and edited from the writings that were posted to ModernMythology.net in the course of 2011. Here you’ll find a distillation and thorough analysis of the stories being told now, as well as insights into and dissection of the methods and nature of how we understand these stories and how we create our own on a personal and cultural basis.
So saith co-author and editor James Curcio:
I’m happy to announce that the 1st print edition of Apocalyptic Imaginary is now available. You can order it direct or on Amazon. ($18) It is also available on Kindle. ($2.99)
I just got my copies of this, and it looks nice. There are a few very minor aesthetic tweaks that I intend to make for the 2nd edition, but none of them are things that would probably even be noticed by most readers.
More about this book:
“This book captures and expands upon the unique commentary and analysis that has helped define the Modern Mythology project in 2011. Through the voices of many contributors, we collectively take a hard look at the blurred lines between narrative and truth, philosophy and literature, personal history and cultural memory. All of this is done with an eye towards the imagined apocalypse that is always just around the corner.“
Authored by James Curcio, Edited by James Curcio, Edited by Michael Tesney, Authored with Peter Emerson Williams, Rowan Tepper, Mr VI, Rusty Shackleford, David Metcalfe, Wes Unruh, Gunther Sonenfeld, Doctor Adventure, and Brian George.
Seriously, check this one out. Whether you’re a writer, artist, musician, or just curious about how your ideas play into the world you live in, this book should give food for thought for years to come.
This book will be featured in the upcoming class at SUNY Binghamton, “The Apocalypse of Love.” Also, if these subjects herein interest you and you’d like a deeper look, check out The Immanence of Myth, published by Weaponized this past September.
[Check out some of the books, albums, and soon movies produced by Mythos Media and our various media partners.]
Update-O-Rama – Counting Down the Days of November 2011
Just a quick note that might end up long on a few things going on, completed and just starting. First off:
Inner-X-Musick Iz Back!!!
We have Choronzon – Ziggurat of Dead Shibboleths, Veil of Thorns – Necrofuturist, Veil of Thorns – Salon Apocalypse available on CD again and more coming. Watch out for Choronzon – FIAT NOX on CD and a brand new releases from the infamous SLEEPCHAMBER, called SCOPOLAMINE, which includes one P. Emerson Williams among performers.
Hie thee hence to innerxmusick.com and check it out.
Veil of Thorns – Vampire Wars Is Now Available On CD
We have the CD of the Vampire Wars album available now for a special price of $5. You can go purchase the CD here. Soon the CD and “pay what you want” digital versions will be made available through Inner-X-Musick.
8,632 Downloads and counting! Veil of Thorns – Vampire Wars
A huge thanks to those of you who have downloaded this album and shared it with fiends & foes. We’re proud to find that as of this week, more than 6,000 of you have downloaded it. (Not counting the music blogs and Russian file sharing sites. They use their own uploads and we have no way of knowing how many downloads, or even how many sites are hosting this release by now.)
Of course, the free download option will continue to be available for as long as the sites and trackers hosting them exist.
And in a related note:
There is a brand new Veilofthorns.com
Nattehimmel Sound & Vision
Will be Distributing several releases, including selections from the Veil of Thorns and Choronzon back catalogues. What is most notable is their incredible selection of out of print and rare Industrial and experimental musick releases on CD, vinyl, cassette and DVD.
Modern Mythology Are in the Midst of a Year-End Fundraiser
Observant readers may have noticed me mentioning this before. Right now I’m in the process of tweeting every one of the 300+ articles that have run on modernmythology.net in 2011. Think of how much work that entails, and then consider that there were three books published already this year, and an anthology on its way. Then there’s the music.
[Check out some of the books, albums, and soon movies produced by Mythos Media and our various media partners.]
Myth, Narrative and the Occupy Movement – An Interview With James Curcio
James Curcio of ModernMythology.Net & HooDooEngine.com interviewed by Rev. R4D4 Leech on Myth’s relevance today, the Occupy movement & narrative, the Grey aliens and much more. All tracks from Murder the World on http://hoodooengine.bandcamp.com/
Here is what some of those who have contributed to our fundraiser campaign have said about this project:
“Modern Mythology’s work is way too important to not support. We need this discourse. Rock on guys!”
“You’re doing good work; I’m proud to support that.”
“Myth is something that even our technological, interdependent and global society cannot escape. Myth can illuminate and unveil aspects about ourselves and where we are going, where we have come from. Myth, in short, is self-knowing. As an essential dimension of human experience, it would behoove us to try to contextualize myth—or more appropriately see how myth contextualizes—the modern age.”
“You rock so hard, rocks are jello in your very presence. Neutron stars are tied neck and neck in the races. Your stuph is dense, and heavy. Keep it up. Way up.”
9 days left! We are presently running an ongoing tweet-a-thon under #myth on twitter. Listen in or join the discussion.
Even a donation of $1 gets you a free eBook and helps to keep us going.
[Check out some of the books, albums, and soon movies produced by Mythos Media and our various media partners.]
Crowdsourcing the Mythosphere Tier Four: Benefactor
Tier Four – Benefactor: $100 You will receive: 1. an early eCopy release of the Best of Modern mythology. 2. limited edition, signed print versions of previous Mythos Media releases. 3. Special thanks in the final release of the Best of Modern Mythology anthology. PLEASE include email and mailing address to receive all benefits.
To show you where the funds go, here’s a short list of some of what we have done this year, what we have in production and a small part of what’s to come. See, the thing is, it’s not in our nature to put something together over the course of a year and then spend the next two pimping it out. We will stand on being producers, but we’re not natural born (killer) salespeople… Nobody pays for the production of the work anymore, the money’s in the means of dissemination and a promise for “exposure”. Just watch, this model is coming to a line of work near you, along with more unpaid interns and jailhouse production lines. Until we can hire people to drag our work to the streetcorner and make it work it, we rely on your support to keep going.
So, here, check it, y’all:
Citizen Y: Blueprint of a Ritual Experience is published by Weaponized. It is a script, but moreover, the blueprint for an initiation ceremony relevant to post-history. Check it out. ($15)
The Immanence of Myth is also published by Weaponized. It uses a deep but also conversational, honest and even subversive approach towards looking at the issue of mythology in our lives, especially as this almost 500 pg. oversize book moves towards personal mythology and conversations with current mythic artists. ($25)
The Best Of Modern Mythology 2011. Editor supreme James Curcio has decided. Mythos Media will be publishing an eBook featuring polished versions of some of what he considers to be the best articles that we’ve run on Modern Mythology site in 2011. The eBook will sell for $.99 through Smashwords, and will go towards the costs of running and maintaining the site, and promoting our mutual work. If it does well we may publish a paperback and/or hardcover. Keep some of your holiday spending money aside for this.
Fallen Nation: Party At The World’s End Is now available at a low, low price from Amazon.com. This novel is intended to be the opening volley for a post-history, transmedia narrative that James Curcio has been planning these past few years. Listen: don’t worry. It’s got tits and machine guns, too.
Hoodoo Engine‘s Murder The World, after almost 3 years of work, is about to burst forth, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life… This album is a machine-metal tour through a terrain of conspiracy theories and cult leaders. Right now, check out their debut, EgoWhore. ($.99 / track or $10 for the CD.)
Looking towards 2012:
I am working with Pearry Teo on the Bedlam Stories production team, including Chad Michael Ward and James Curcio. I can’t say more than that at this time, but it looks like it will be a really exciting project to be involved in.
We’re in the early stages of the production of Nyssa, which is the illustrated prequel / sequel to Fallen Nation: Party At The World’s End.
Says James Curcio:
I hope you are as excited about this material as we are. Please support the work, so there can be more of it. If you write reviews or have other involvement with the media/press, please contact me, as there is a lot of need to spread the word about all this work.
Stay tuned, for we’re about to announce additions to the premiums supporters will be receiving. There may be a number of surprizes coming to you generous, adventurous souls.
Crowdsourcing the Mythosphere Tier Three: Conspirator
Tier Three – Conspirator: For a donation of $25 You will receive an early release eCopy of the Best of Modern Mythology anthology, and a signed copy of the novel Fallen Nation: Party At The World’s End. PLEASE include your email and address so you can receive it.
Fallen Nation: Party At The World’s End is a mad ride past the event horizon of sanity with a group of young, escaped mental patients that come to realize—or believe—that they are demigods.
They form Babylon, a band that captures the spirit of the age as sex, drugs, and chaos reign in the final years of the American Empire.
This is the beginning of a modern mythology that spills off the page: the ticket to the Party At The World’s End is inside, if you dare to search for it. It starts right here, but it won’t end here–
Fallen Nation: Party At 
The World’s End, is one of many modern myths being created, explored, and unfolded through the communal projectModern Mythology. The website is just one node of this wider project, and you will see that this book is just one piece of an ever-expanding puzzle. Following are a few more pieces to get you started, in no particular order… Putting them in order, and finding the Others: that’s your part of the game.
The Bardo of Capitalism, a Love Story: Citizen Y.
A cut-up of psychedelic personal mythology, Join My Cult!.
The Immanence of Myth, a look at creating and analyzing living myths.
More interviews and media available at JamesCurcio.com.
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You will receive an early release eCopy of the Best of Modern Mythology anthology, and a signed copy of the novel Fallen Nation: Party At The World’s End. PLEASE include your email and address so you can receive it. |
Crowdsourcing the Mythosphere Tier Two: Collaborator
Tier Two – Collaborator: For a loving donation of $10 ou will receive a complimentary, early release eCopy of the Best of Modern Mythology anthology. PLEASE include your email so you can receive it.
Apocalyptic Imaginary: The Best of Modern Mythology 2011
This book captures and expands upon the unique commentary and analysis that has helped define the Modern Mythology project in 2011. Through the voices of many contributors, we collectively take a hard look at the blurred lines between narrative and truth, philosophy and literature, personal history and cultural memory. All of this is done with an eye towards the imagined apocalypse that is always just around the corner. Join in the discussion, and leave your cultural blinders at home.
Coming December 2011. You’ll be able to pick up a copy of your own for $.99 as an eBook everywhere but Amazon (their pricing strategy forces it to a bottom price-point of $2.99), and the paperback should come in at around $16. I will announce the final price when it is laid out, as prices are based on final page counts.
What’s going on in the back room
James curcio catches us up on the whirlwind of activity going on and reveals some of what’s to come for Modern Mythology and beyond:
We’re still working behind-the-scenes on getting our podcast in order. That’ll begin running here and on Alterati when it’s ready – hopefully soon – and then will run regularly thereafter every other week.
Over the past few months there have been several ongoing fictional (or quasi-fictional, more aptly) narratives. After some thought, I’ve broken them off to Join My Cult! to keep the content on Modern Mythology itself focused on commentary, critique, analysis, exegesis, even aphorism, rather than strictly counterculture / conspiracy narrative. On JMC you will find high weirdness created by a world-wide network of cabals.
In other news, I just finished attending the major SPEP (Society of Phenomenological and Existential Philosophy) conference in Philadelphia. Expect a little about that here in coming days. Among other things, the very split of continental and analytic philosophy is along the same lines as what we draw as myth and science, here, so I’d like to unpack that thought and several others soon.
The fundraiser continues in November. We’ve raised $342, and I thank each of the people who have chipped in so far. But we have a way to go. I’m hoping we can kick that up a notch, so we can keep this project going as well as kicking it up to the next level (especially if we meet the full goal.) Minimum donation is now $1, and still gets you a perk – an eBook copy of Fallen Nation: Party At The World’s End at less than retail price.
What We Need & What You Get
The funds we are raising are for :
1. Setup and other fees for the publication of the “Apocalyptic Imaginary: Best of Modern Mythology 2011″ anthology, which covers a wide range of important topics from the arts, culture, literature, all with our eclectic and often irreverent edge.
2. Extended production for the launch of a Modern Mythology podcast. Funds will allow for us to provide on-site coverage and extend production.
3. The funds will also be used to spread awareness of all elements of this project– brochures, flyers, and presence at relevant conventions and conferences in 2012.
4. Tech – hosting, domains, etc.
Every little bit helps and those who contribute will receive special perks & publications!
Other Ways You Can Help
Share this link, or pass your friends along to http://www.ModernMythology.net to see the extensive amount of work we’ve already done in 2011 and 2010.
Modern Mythology – David B Metcalfe Interview
David B. Metcalfe of www.ModernMythology.Net discusses DARPA’s metaphor program, Napoleon Hill’s occult background, the band Killing Joke & much more. All music tracks on David’s soundcloud: davidbmetcalfe
Fundraiser for 2012
Modern Mythology is seeking to crowdsource funding through IndieGoGo in order to keep publishing thought-provoking pieces on pop culture philosophy and social commentary, and to keep expanding our audience. There are tons of old, dead philosophers with books enshrined in the academic sphere. Modern Mythology takes a hammer and chisel to the “ivory tower” idea of academic research–the pantheon of philosophers of the past–and carves the voices of the new generation, sublime and ridiculous, into the side of that shrine, half graffiti, half sculpture, half literature, half philosophy, but in all cases necessary in order to truly explore the worlds we live in.
Help us keep this literary and mental machine going by contributing and get some perks as a thank you!
The funds we are raising are for :
1. The published release of the “Best of Modern Mythology 2011″ anthology, which covers a wide range of important topics from the arts, culture, literature, all with our eclectic and often irreverent edge. We will be pushing to get it in classrooms, along with our first anthology (“The Immanence of Myth”) published by Weaponized, which is already being used as curriculum material in “The Apocalyptic Imaginary” at SUNY Binghamton.
2. Extended production for the launch of a Modern Mythology podcast. (Funds will allow for us to provide on-site coverage and extend production.)
3. The funds will also be used to spread awareness of all elements of this project– brochures, flyers, and presence at relevant conventions and conferences in 2012.
4. Web hosting, domain, etc.
Every little bit helps! Minimum donation just $1.
Modern Mythology – http://www.modernmythology.net
Fallen Nation: Party At The World’s End Audiobook
I’m very happy to be able at this point to point you towards something that begins to hint at the vast world created by artistic brothers in arms and co-conspirators James Curcio and Jason Stackhouse. More than building a mythos, follow the story that is unfolding and you’ll see what transmedia can do. Nay, you’ll be cast into the works of the machine and you will end up seeing the gears you didn’t know were there, turning to create the movements and to spin you in your pre-determined axis. The abyss gazes into you from the tracks of subQtaneous, and watch the lakes of the hell THEY built of you and your ancestors as the stories in the novels reflect the burning light back into their depths.
To quote:
Fallen Nation Party At The World’s End:
Fallen Nation Party At The World’s End is a mad ride past the event horizon of sanity with a group of young, escaped mental patients that come to realize—or believe—that they are demigods. They form Babylon, a band that captures the spirit of the age as sex, drugs and chaos reign in the final years of the American Empire. Audiobook chapters with full original soundtracks. Related musical artifacts
subQtaneous:
subQtaneous was described by Scenery magazine as a “stick of dynamite strapped to reality.” It is a concept album, based on the idea of the gradual decline of the American empire, enmeshed, as it were, in many of the same myths which gave birth to Fallen Nation.
Credits released 01 July 2005 Production: James Curcio, Ari. Musicians: Various. (See the individual tracks for credits.
There are P. Emersonisms to be found in the sounds of subQtaneous, and perhaps some sonic input to come in the audiobook. Those of you who have been with me for a while may remember the early chapters of Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning that I narrated and the Mythos Media collective scored that went out in the early days of alterati.com.
Well, just you wait for what’s coming…
if this sounds like something you would want to be in on, read on. James Curcio has issued a call to arms:
Fallen Nation Audiobook
I am not aware of anyone else having done an audiobook like this before. (Though it wouldn’t stop me if someone has.)
Contact me if you have material you’d like included. It is preferable if you can provide it as .wav or .aif though high res .mp3 can work.
The Immanence of Myth is Published
This has been a long time coming, verily a monumental undertaking that brings a whole new set of perspectives on the stories we in which we live. Thought provoking writing and great art is lovingly gathered and edited by James Curcio.
(And my drawings are found throughout…)
Weaponized is proud to announce that ‘The Immanence of Myth’ is published today.
The book will begin to show as in stock with retailers in the coming weeks.
Due to the titles popularity, pre-orders of the book should arrive with our customers in the next two to three weeks as we work through our back orders.
The Immanence of Myth is available from Amazon and all major retailers.
Where can we begin a genuine discussion of immanence in myth? Do we engage the tools of analysis on the dissection table of academia? Or perhaps it is best not dealt with in sterile light, being rather an arcane synthesis, a syncretism.
If myth is something long dead, a corpse exhumed with philosophical disinterest, then please consider this work an attempt at necromancy. But if myth is considered something dangerous; full of falsities, dead ends and mazes luring the unwary into a fugue of superstition, then consider it a whispered pass-phrase into another world: the world beyond the wallpaper. A world that recognizes the real is in the effect rendered, rather than in the thing symbolized. Conflicting fictions drive Holy wars. How is a history born of spilled blood unreal? How is it meaningless, even if all the Gods are just shadows cast on the wall by finger-puppets? Myth is not dead, nor is it false; it is living, and misunderstood.
This anthology is a book. For the philosophers Deleuze and Guattari, a book is an assemblage:
“Comparative rates of flow on these lines produce phenomena of relative slowness and viscosity, or, on the contrary, of acceleration and rupture. All this, lines and measurable speeds, constitutes an assemblage. A book is an assemblage of this kind, and as such is unattributable. It is a multiplicity[.]” (A Thousand Plateaus)
It is an assemblage of voices gathered together to speak on the immanence of myth. It is, as already stated, a multiplicity, which is fitting as myth embraces multiplicity.
Contrasting Mythos with Logos, we contrast those multiple voices against the singular, the transcendent. Whereas the logos is the word of God, the divine fiat that structures and moves our universe, so the mythos is an indefinite set of articles, tales told for the telling itself, with no hard and fast authority, no assertable Ultimate Truth, no attributable origin grounded in cold solidity. It is immanent rather than transcendent because it is the codification of our direct experience, forms and ideas ground from our collective bones and flesh.
-Mr. VI and James Curcio, from the chapter “Immanence and Butchery.”
More info at http://www.modernmythology.net/ and you can purchase this volume at http://www.weaponized.net/ and all your favourite online retailers of fine books.
Weaponized Episode 12 – Y
Civilisation has fallen. In the rubble, we at the Y Corporation have developed the ultimate solution to save society: the Y Show. We encourage all good citizens to sign up for the show. You will be housed within a wonderful Haze Treatment Facility and undergo unique psychological treatment, which will clear away the illness of individuality. This reprogramming will be broadcast to the eyes and ears of citizens in our New World, populated with previous contestants and patients. This is a reality show unlike any other! There is a secret that haunts Haze01, the original treatment facility. Two patients, locked deep within its walls, contain archetypes that reject all reprogramming. They channel portents and omens of another future, a world where myth and divinity remake reality, manifesting a planet fit for Gods. In this season of the Y show, the doctors of the facility make their final attempt to process these two patients, before they break free and unleash total anarchy. Tune in.
Weaponized is proud to announce the publication of Citizen Y by John Harrigan and James Curcio. More than a script, Citizen Y is a blueprint of a ritual experience. It is a demonstration of how you can create an immersive, transformative experience for an audience that goes beyond passive entertainment. Parodying our fixation on spoon-fed media, it transports the reader into a post-apocalyptic reality show where the grand prize is the future itself.
Citizen Y fuses characters from James Curcio’s Fallen Nation books and John Harrigan’s GraveLand myth into a unique hybrid narrative. Both writers have decades of experience producing mythic, occult experiences that transcend the boundaries of media, audience and stage. The book also stands as an example of modern myth as discussed in The Immanence of Myth Anthology.
This release by Weaponized includes concept artwork by James Curcio, Daniele Serra, and P. Emerson Williams. Edited by Lucy Harrigan, it will be published by Weaponized and available in print through major retailers and in eBook format from April 2011.
Citizen Y is available to pre-order from today.
Music and SFX in this episode provided by P. Emerson Williams and James Curcio.
Weaponized is brought to you by FoolishPeople. John Harrigan is writer, dramatic catalyst and performer alongside Lucy Allin and the rest of the FoolishPeople cast. Atmosphere, electronic voice phenomena and the occasional character sketch are provided by P. Emerson Williams. The scope of the Weaponized ranges from darkly humorous vignettes to claustrophobic occult horror. From monologues to full on audio theatre.
FoolishPeople have produced work in prestigious cultural venues such as the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, Arcola Theatre and the Horse Hospital, historical buildings like the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham, internationally to America and Amsterdam and worked for clients such as the BBC. The FoolishPeople core collective features artists from England, Czech Republic, Sweden & America, and they also collaborate with many artists worldwide who specialise in a broad range of media.
P. Emerson Williams – James Curcio on subQtaneous
Small WORLD Podcast
Described as a “stick of dynamite strapped to reality,” (Scenery Zine), subQtaneous is a diverse conceptual, collaborative album. It carves new soundscapes ranging from brutal, pounding industrial to sarcastic hip hop set over carnival music to delicately layered trance. It has been compared to Pigface, probably due to its format, as well as Coil, Mr Bungle, the Tapeworm project, and Frank Zappa.
Interview with James Curcio and P. Emerson Williams of subQtaneous
Download File – 44.0 MB
Listen To This Podcast (Streaming Audio)
CHORONZON
Incunabula Papers – Ong's Hat
PANICMACHINE
Veil Of Thorns
