Spare Parts, the 2003 debut collection of short horror fiction by Teem member Stuart Young, has just been reissued in a new ebook edition by Stumar Press. Note the chorus of praise below from various fellow authors in the field. Note especially the final blurb, from a source that will be familiar to Teeming Brain…
To Cleanse the Doors of Conception: Psychic Dreams, Scientific Monsters, and Transcendent Realities
Dream researcher, Teeming Brain friend, and future Teeming Brain contributor Ryan Hurd — who has spoken about dreams, consciousness, sleep paralysis, and related matters at Stanford, Yale, UC Berkeley, the Rhine Center, and elsewhere — recently shared an account of an apparently precognitive dream that he personally experienced. As I was reading through it, in…
Our “cognitive surplus” is temporary, just like the fossil fuels that power it
In his 2010 book Cognitive Surplus, released in hardcover with the subtitle “Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age” and in paperback with the subtitle “How Technology Makes Consumers into Collaborators,” Clay Shirky expanded his reputation as everybody’s favorite digital guru by arguing that “new digital technology” — primarily of the social media sort —…
Positive reviews of AT FEAR’S ALTAR by Teeming Brain contributor Richard Gavin
Teeming Brain columnist Richard Gavin (Echoes from Hades) recently received two excellent reviews for his new book At Fear’s Altar (Hippocampus Press, 2012). At Speculative Fiction Junkie, reviewer Ben writes, At Fearâs Altar is an impressive collection, as impressive as what Iâve come to expect from Mr. Gavin. While it does not contain as many…
Forthcoming horror books from Teem members T.E. Grau and Stuart Young
Teeming Brain contributors T.E. Grau and Stuart Young have just shared some information about their new publications in the pipeline. Both were tagged in the “Next Big Thing” meme, which is currently winding its way through the ‘Net-connected authorial community, and which asks authors to answer ten questions about their forthcoming works. Participants are also…
Recommended Reading 33
Recommendations this week, spanning a vastly broad variety of trends, issues, ideas, people, and subjects, include: the pressure on American policymakers to adapt to increasingly wild weather; Daniel Pinchbeck’s analysis of the wild weather and other aspects of our current ecological crisis as a collective planetary-spiritual experience of initiation into higher levels of consciousness; an…
Legacy’s End: The Rise and Fall of the UCLA Parapsychology Lab
Many people are curious about the real story of UCLA’s former parapsychology lab (not a department!), which existed from about 1967 through 1978. In the early 1970s I personally conducted research there along two fronts. One front was in the lab itself, where I conducted psi training research groups from 1971 through 1980. The other…
Welcome to the Teem: Dr. Barry Taff
We’re happy to announce the debut of a new column titled “Aliens Above, Ghosts Below” by parapsychology pioneer Dr. Barry Taff. Dr. Taff’s presence here is particularly appropriate and compelling given The Teeming Brain’s intertwined focuses on the cultural, artistic, and philosophical experiences and meanings of horror, consciousness, creativity, and the paranormal. For it was…
Skeptics, Believers, and the Purposes of Parapsychology: Thoughts on Two Experiments in Unseen Realities
I’m afraid there is something missing in our cultural discussion of psi phenomena. With both sides (skeptics and the pro-psi crowd) mired in a battle of believers, and with scientific exploration devolving into polemical argumentation, the fact that parapsychology is an exploration of human potential and the boundaries of experience receives frequent lip service but…
To Suffer This World or Illuminate Another? On the Meanings and Uses of Horror
In his interesting book-length meditation, Danse Macabre (1981), Stephen King posited the following theory regarding the intrinsic and perennial appeal of Horror: Why do you want to make up horrible things when there is so much real horror in the world? The answer seems to be that we make up horrors to help us cope…