The Flipside: Art Influenced by Fiction

Last year I had a story published in The Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. My story, “Not Breathing,” is a dark trek down a hallucinatory, drug-laden path, where one’s soul is a question of…well, you can read it here:

http://freezineoffantasyandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2010/06/not-breathing.html

It’s an excellent ezine, featuring the likes of the inimitable John Shirley (his collection, Heatseeker--well, all of his collections work for me--and ultra-visceral novel, Wetbones, are highly recommended) as well as Vince Daemon’s brooding, thought-provoking futurescapes, amongst others. The man who runs the show, Shaun Lawton, likes to supply artwork for the stories, raw scenes of suggestion and strangeness, often done by him and his wife, Shasta, or other contributors, but all with the same general tone.

I really enjoyed the grim artistic interpretation of my story.

In August my girlfriend, Alessandra, and I hooked up San Francisco; toward the end of her stay, we met up with supreme horror artist, Erin Wells, and her husband, Michael. A wonderful eve was had by all, good conversation and more, highlighted by a delightful and very unexpected surprise: at the end of the eve, with my birthday a few weeks away, I was presented with an original piece of art for the same story. Alessandra had commissioned Erin to interpret the story as only a lover of horror can do. Erin did a magnificent job, taking the key elements within the story and bringing them into bizarre and unflinching focus. I hope the photo below does the art justice, as there’s much going on, the subtleties are intriguing.

Do yourself a favor, give the story a read and check out the art there and the art here for examples of how fiction can influence art, kind of the flipside to an earlier post I did dealing with fiction influenced by art.

Asfor me, with both of these interpretations, hey--I love 'em!