Top 10 blog posts of 2014 from Sci-fi, Dark Fantasy, Cyberpunk and Cthulhu Mythos Horror

My most popular blog posts in 2014

This is a place where I can pin-up the things I find online, or post promotional offers on my products or scribble down thoughts and ideas. This blog gone from a few hundred visitors rocking up every month to 10,000 uniques a month. Very pleasing.

Here’s a countdown of the top ten ranking articles as viewed by you, from sci-fi and dark fantasy, cyberpunk, and the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Starting at 10 and working down to the number one post – keep scrolling…

Top 10 blog posts of 2013 from Sci-fi, Fantasy, Cyberpunk and Cthulhu Mythos Horror

That was the year that was 2013

The Christmas tree is gone. The decorations are down. I’m staring down the barrel of 2014 with a sense of wanting to achieve big things.

Time to take a moment to ponder the year that was 2013.

I’ve been running this blog for  three years now, superceding the clunky thing I used to run. I’m loving the WordPress vibe – a fun place to blog, and a great counterpoint to the daily grind of crafting novels and RPG systems – where often there is very little to show for weeks at a time.  This is a place where I can pin-up the things I find online, or post promotional offers on my products or scribble down thoughts and ideas.  I’ve gone from a few hundred folks a month taking a peek to around 8,000 uniques a month. Very pleasing.

Here’s a countdown of the top ten ranking articles as viewed by you, from sci-fi and dark fantasy, cyberpunk, and the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos.

Razor Candi: Cyberpunk / Goth / Alternative adult model

Razor Candi

Image: Razor Candi – Cyberpunk / Goth / Alternative adult model – All Rights Reserved

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Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

Somebody pinged me a link to this artist’s Facebook page, referencing my like for images by the model Terrorcat. Whereas Terrorcat conjures up pseudo-clubby characters that would stride around the fringes of the fetish scene with more glamour than grit, Razor Candi bristles with attitude.  And sex. Best example yet of the kind of urban character who could walk into a room with a 14mm Vortek Tactical A-Cannon clenched in one nail-polished hand, and not invoke a single pre-emptive strike from security until the first shot was fired. Well, in my mind at least.

Lacking only in visible cybernetic augmentation – or who knows, maybe those legs are fabricated from carbo-plastic with a super-realistic skin finish?  – as a character, she still carries forward an essence of the unlikely (but tough) street assassin. Skinny hungry.  There’s a predatory, smoldering disdain in those eyes that speak of a bruised childhood and an early fall from grace.  Killing you would be easy because her motivation stems from an anger that goes core deep.

Stepping away from the fictional waffle, the real human behind the fabric and the make-up has an interesting profile and state of mind.  An American now living in Romania.  Perhaps kissed by the old-Gods of Europe who once rode out on nocturnal wings across ancient barren mountains and fertile valleys soaked in the blood of wars.  You can read an interview with Razor Candi on Goth Times. And you should definitely check out Tumblr for more genre-defining icon-candy (note, those who don’t like adult-related content shouldn’t look). There is passion for self-expression as a form of art, and a playful tease with the concepts of adult imagery. Manipulation of the visible form as a weapon. You can find Razor Candi on Facebook.

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Available in paperback or kindle

Paperback : from LULU & kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)

IRON MAN PROJECT { novel } Former special-forces operative, Vincent Brent, is tough, ruthless and highly trained; he’s now using his skills for whoever will pay him without cashing in the bounty on his head. In this world of the near future, the UN has failed. Wars are fought in boardrooms through attorneys and politics, and on our streets with private armies of military or criminal assets. In Sicily, Jean-Luc Korda, the Chief of Security for one such corporate alliance struggles to survive as hidden forces attempt to manipulate him for their own ends. Both these men find their fates intertwined. In the cross-hairs of powerful adversaries, they must both make decisions of life and death in a choice between command and conscience. David J Rodger delivers a palm-sweating ride in a complex novel that will keep you turning pages until the end.

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Top 10 blog posts of 2012 from Sci-fi, Fantasy, Cyberpunk and Cthulhu Mythos Horror

That was the year that was 2012

The Christmas tree is winking away at you, glittering with lights and baubles; the bins are stuffed full of empty bottles and discarded wrapping paper. Now’s the time to actually relax a little and contemplate the fact we survived the Mayan apocalypse of 2012 and are rapidly approaching what is likely to be one of the most challenging years in human history. Will Europe survive as the interlinked economies teeter ever closer towards a brink of oblivion – and anarchy in the UK?  Will a global pandemic of weaponised bubonic plague unfold?  Will reality TV and plastic home-brew “celebrities” increase their hold on the declining values of western civilisation: Ancient Rome, anyone?  Don’t take your eyes off the ball.

Meanwhile, take a moment to ponder the year that was 2012.

I’ve been running this blog for  a couple of years now.  It’s a great counterpoint to the daily grind of crafting novels and RPG systems – where often there is very little to show for weeks at a time.  This is a place where I can pin-up the things I find online, or post promotional offers on my products or scribble down thoughts and ideas.  I’ve gone from a few hundred folks a month taking a peek to now over 17,000 uniques a month. Not bad. Quite pleasing, actually.

Here’s a countdown of the top ten ranking articles as viewed by you, from sci-fi and dark fantasy, cyberpunk, and the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos.

10

John Waters Says: We Need to Make Books Cool Again

John Waters

09

Cyberpunk art ¦ future fashion or post-apocalyptic decadence – photography by Danil Golovkin

Future fashion or post-apocalyptic decadence? Photography by Danil Golovkin – All Rights Reserved

Danil Golovkin is a Russian fashion photographer who has a spectacular eye for detail.  These images come from a series that he calls Garbage Reign.  For me, these characters could fit very easily into a decadent post-apocalyptic scenario, where the “top of the pile” survivors perpetuate the same-old human instincts of social isolation and exclusion through fashion – are you a part of the club?  Equally as much this is pure cyberpunk, figures who float through the parties held by one of the corporate dynasties, members of the social elite or grifters waiting for the moment to move in on their mark.  Certainly these are images good enough to inspire a myriad of ideas.

View full image…

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08

Cyberpunk ¦ digital photography – gothic blue in rubber suspenders #wallpaper by Terrorcat

Terrorcat – All Rights Reserved

Terrorcat. Heavily manipulated but I like this image.  More club-wear than sex; a character who can comfortably settle into the fringes of the dance floor where shadows are sliced apart by the laser rigs, a bemused grimace held in reserve for anybody who actually reacts to the partial nakedness.  Prowling the club with an easy and confident stride, fluorescent irises gleaming like predatory cat-eyes in the purple neon gloom.

View full image…

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07

Reasons to like Lovecraft: Hastur, as The King in Yellow

Hastur as The King in Yellow – image by Jezebel

Hastur (The Unspeakable One, Him Who Is Not to be Named, Assatur, Xastur, or Kaiwan) is a fictional entity (Great Old One) of the Cthulhu Mythos.  The King in Yellow is merely one of many aspects of this potent and truly amorphous denizen.

It is possibly one of the most written about and discussed Great Old Ones within this Mythos, and conversely, one of the least understood. This fuzzy, blurred and vague state of comprehension is exacerbated by a divide between literary fans of Hastur, and the RPG community. The fact Hastur is so hard to accurately quantify is no coincidence.

Read full article…

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06

Sci-fi Art: Robot #wallpaper – Big Bot, by Benedict Campbell

Big Bot, by Benedict Campbell – click to view full size

Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet. Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

Read full article…

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05

Photography ¦ submission and sex games – the naked skill of Igor Vasiliadis

Image by Igor Vasiliadis – All Rights Reserved

This is a great image from the highly accomplished and experimental Moscow based photographer Igor Vasiliadis.  It immediately weaves some stark and intriguing story possibilities into your mind; sex games and the roles of sub, dom and voyeur.  Of course, it could equally plunge a little further into the realm of dark art if you consider that the centre-posed figure is not taking part in this with any sort of free-will.  What is the distant male figure expecting to observe?  His relaxed posture speaks of a boredom with the mundane pleasures of life – a killer or thug who’s sensitivity has been dulled and blunted by repeated exposure to the visceral highs of violence and danger. Or is he just a bored businessman looking to satisfy shadowy sexual desires that some men can’t exorcise with their pretty wives?  There’s certainly a sense of mystery within the glossy and brightly lit image; shadows that are more off-camera than in-shot.  I’d strongly recommend you check out Igor Vasiliadis’ website, there’s some fantastic images brought into enigmatic life with silver and cyanide.

View full image…

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04

The Ninth Gate: occult and tarot-like symbolism in the engravings by Aristide Torchia and Lucifer, plus wider meanings of the movie

A copy of The Nine Doors To the Kingdom of Shadows – De Umbrarum Regis Novum Portis

The Ninth Gate is probably one of my favourite movies of all time, as is the official soundtrack. A film by Roman Polanski, its stars Johnny Depp as the ambivalent protagonist, Lucas Corso; and features an incredible performance by Frank Langella as the brazen, smug and sinister collector of all things diabolical – Boris Balkan – a wealthy man where money and morals are no obstacle to acquiring books that deal with the Devil.
The film is an adaptation of The Dumas Club, a book written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
I’m a huge fan of H.P.Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos cycle of stories which provide unnerving glimpses of a pantheon of Outer Gods and their minions, writhing obscenely within alien vortices of inarticulate sounds and invisible light, sometimes only just beyond the perceptions of ordinary folk. The cosmic horror of the Mythos has nothing to do with this movie which limits itself to the spiritual, psychological and metaphysical menace of Evil, and all its many incarnations within the Quantisphere (the realm of Man, Spirits, Elementals and Angels & Demons).

Read full article…

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03

Sci-fi Art: Cyborg #wallpaper – Under Construction, by Benedict Campbell

Under Construction, by Benedict Campbell – All Rights Reserved

Yet another brilliant piece of digital art by Benedict Campbell. Sums up the nature of synthetic humanoids perfectly – and perhaps the darker aspect of male interest in the female form: an attractive woman with blank, almost submissive features lacking the “complication” of limbs?  Or just a bit a cool cyber tech eye candy for your computer desktop.

View full image…

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02

Reasons to like Lovecraft: Mi-go (Fungi from Yuggoth)

Mi-go investigating human – click for full size – WARNING: Graphic content

The Mi-go are highly intelligent and independent race, renowned for their worship of the Outer Gods: Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, and Shub-Niggurath.

Also known as The Fungi from Yuggoth, their first appearance in Lovecraft’s work was within the excellent and spine tingling tale The Whisperer in the Darkness, since then they’ve been brought in as “bugs” in CthulhuTech and given some decent exposition in Pagan Publishing’s sourcebook for CoC: Delta Green Eyes Only Volume One: Machinations of the Mi-Go.

Read full article…

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01

Post-apocalyptic #wallpaper – UTOC Public Safety Notice from early days of Yellow Dawn – Infection Warning

Artwork: Ben Chapman

This is a public safety notice from the early days of the catastrophic, apocalyptic event known as Yellow Dawn, when the Infection was even less understood than it is today.  It’s an example of UTOC attempting to exert control of survivors in the wake of the disaster.

View and download poster…

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That’s all folks. I hope you found something that ignited a spark of inspiration or stirred something deep inside your chest.  This is all about sharing creativity and ideas.  It’s also about me throwing out hooks to try to catch the interest of people who like reading sci-fi dark fantasy novels, who like fiction with cyberpunk and Cthulhu Mythos flavours – and of course, people who enjoy RPGs.  If you’re one of those people then please take a moment to investigate my fiction writing (7 novels) and the Role-playing game: Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur.

Wishing you the best of dark dreams for 2013.

David J Rodger – Bristol, England

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Got Kindle?

If you’re keen to try these novels in digital format then you can buy all these titles at Amazon with a choice of currencies, $ US Dollars; or £ GB Pounds, or the Euro.

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Cyberpunk Photography and Fashion: Icon by Terrorcat

Image by Terrorcat – All Rights Reserved – Click for full size

Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

Another simple yet striking image by Terrorcat. A fusion of industrial club culture and the daylight hours operator who wants to express guarded sexuality and “don’t fuck with me” attitude. The edgy character of Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace version) injected into a post-apocalyptic setting – a personal persona cobbled together from whatever has been scavenged from the Dead Cities.  Loving her work. Definately inspiration for a character in one of my novels; maybe a Novapunk for the next Yellow Dawn book.

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Terrorcat has a repository of photos exploring this theme.

• Terrorcat on Deviant Art – click
• Terrorcat on Facebook – click

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Available in paperback or kindle

Cyberpunk – Paperback : from LULU & kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)

IRON MAN PROJECT { cyberpunk novel } Ex-special forces man, Vincent Brent, is tough, ruthless and highly trained; he’s now using his skills for whoever will pay him without cashing in the bounty on his head. In this world of the near future, the UN has failed. Wars are fought in boardrooms through attorneys and politics, and on our streets with private armies of military or criminal assets. In Sicily, the Chief of Security for one such corporate alliance struggles to survive as hidden forces attempt to manipulate him for their own ends. Both these men find their fates intertwined. In the cross-hairs of powerful adversaries, they must both make decisions of life and death in a choice between command and conscience. David J Rodger’s trademark unforgiving rendering of brutal reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a complex novel that will keep you turning pages until the end.

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See more posts like this – click

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David J Rodger – DATA

Photography: techno cyberpunk fashion and imagery – Toxic Bride by The Terrorcat

Toxic Bride by The Terrorcar - All Rights Reserved (click for full size)

Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

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Another great image from Terrorcat.  Techno rave culture meets the potential of a Cyberpunk future where people slip into ever more fragmented social niches – swapping from one to another, depending on the whim or needs of the day. With so much flexible identity how do we really tell who we really are?  Except as the person staring back at us from the reflection in the mirror when we’re curled up on a sofa on a rainy Sunday afternoon; our favourite baggy comfort jumper on; pot of coffee on the sun-bleached and varnished wooden floor; dead glow sticks gathering dust beneath the vintage French club armchair; a packet of self-heating ramen noodles on our lap, steaming in the air that’s chilly because of strict energy rationing – a preference to have the luminous glow of a touch-matrix-holographic display floating just beyond the sofa’s edge… projecting text and video feeds from a mash-up of our favourite content providers. Data sponge.  Waiting on the next new trend to replicate, master and perfect.  What opinions to recycle to create interesting dialogue.

Girl hides behind a mask of white hydro-gel and holds hand of a hidden love.  Or “cardboard cut out perfect man” projected onto a virtual canvas by smart image-mapping technology.  Image perfected. Blog updated.  Concept verified.  Move on to something new.  Who needs a real partner these days?

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Terrorcat has a repository of photos exploring this theme.

• Terrorcat on Deviant Art – click
• Terrorcat on Facebook – click

See more posts like this – click

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David J Rodger – DATA

Cyberpunk ¦ digital photography – Toxic Alert by Terrorcat

Cyberpunk ¦ digital photography – Toxic Alert by Terrorcat

Terrorcat - All Rights Reserved - Click for full size

Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

Very sci-fi cyberpunk, Terrorcat yet again captures a high-definition blend of street-style fashion and a hint at some  aspect of life in the not-too-distant future.  She could be a member of any Occupy derivative primed and prepared for the next over-zealous crackdown by corporate-funded security teams; or a reveller within some orbital habitat, catching a boost of strawberry scented oxygen to feed muscles before the next clubbing high, stepping into a free-fall dance zone.

Terrorcat has a repository of photos exploring this theme.

• Terrorcat on Deviant Art – click
• Terrorcat on Facebook – click

See more posts like this – click

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David J Rodger – DATA

Cyberpunk ¦ digital photography – gothic blue in rubber suspenders #wallpaper by Terrorcat

Cyberpunk ¦ digital photography – gothic blue in rubber suspenders #wallpaper by Terrorcat

Terrorcat – All Rights Reserved

Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

Heavily manipulated but I like this image.  More club-wear than sex; a character who can comfortably settle into the fringes of the dance floor where shadows are sliced apart by the laser rigs, a bemused grimace held in reserve for anybody who actually reacts to the partial nakedness.  Prowling the club with an easy and confident stride, fluorescent irises gleaming like predatory cat-eyes in the purple neon gloom.

Terrorcat has a repository of photos exploring this theme.

• Terrorcat on Deviant Art – click
• Terrorcat on Facebook – click

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Available in Paperback or Kindle

Paperback : from LULU & Kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)

GOD SEED { novel } In the near future, a documentary film-maker is covering mercenaries engaged in corporate espionage. A nervous executive wants to smuggle stolen data to Cairo. Yet events rapidly and frighteningly escalate out of control. The film-maker finds himself battling for his life and his sanity as a new and dramatic story unfolds, dragging him across the globe…and beyond. Fascist extremists, Islamic terrorists, corrupt government officials and a religious sect that worships a nefarious avatar of a many-faced God of the Outer Void, become fused into a gruesome knot of lies, treachery and mass-murder. David J Rodger’s trademark gut-wrenching rendering of a dark and edgy reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a tense action-packed novel that plunges you uncomfortably deep into crawling chaos festering and feeding on the membrane of human existence.

 

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David J Rodger – DATA

Photography: techno cyberpunk fashion and imagery – Blue Candy by The Terrorcat

Photography: techno cyberpunk fashion and imagery – Blue Candy by The Terrorcat

Blue Candy - by The Terrorcat, all rights reserved

Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

A hot fusion of sex, fetish and techno fahsion, Terrorcat’s photos create iconic cyberpunk imagery.  It just doesn’t get better than this.

Terrorcat has a repository of photos exploring this theme.

• Terrorcat on Deviant Art – click
• Terrorcat on Facebook – click

See more posts like this – click

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David J Rodger – DATA