Site Changes and Poe Illustrations

Lest yesterday's blog miscast the character of speculative writers everywhere, I wanted to shift gears and talk about speculative fiction's lighter side, which basically involves sheer imaginative fiery-hoop-jumping! 

Sound dangerous? 

Fortunately, we do not actually jump through hoops of flame... 

Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.
    - Ray Bradbury, The Zen Writer

What's that, Mr. Bradbury?  Okay, well, I guess there is some fire involved in creative writing.  But down to business--

Agenda, go!

• Overview of website changes
• E.A. Poe illustrations

Changes to the Electric Didact Website
First off, I made some changes to the website that will hopefully streamline the Electric Didact experience.

• I removed the forum from the reading list, thinking that perhaps the site had too many subscription-type elements already.  Two blogs is enough!  From now on, I will put new good reads on the blog or the Facebook page and update the reading list as we go along and you can share your good reads with me in the same way!
  
• The Reading List now appears under the Links button on the navigation bar, along with the new page containing my published short fiction.
• Links has become Authors & Publications, and no longer has my short fiction, since that now has its own page.  This page will house links to publications that I would recommend as well as other authors/blogs. 
• The Feedback Loop now has its own navigation button.  Hopefully this will drive more people to use it (if necessary).
• The Home page/Splash page no longer has an RSS feed of the blogs.  I figured it was redundant. 
  
  

Edgar Allan Poe + Harry Clarke = Inspiration
I came across this the other day on Will Shofield's blog 50 Watts, and had to share.  I'm a fan of E.A. Poe's short stories, and for one of the first American short story writers, I find it cool that so many of his fictions were speculative in nature (personal fave,  "The Fall of the House of Usher").

For a 1923 version of Poe's collection Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Harry Clarke made 24 monochrome illustrations for his stories.  I've always been a big art fan, and these capture Poe's style and aesthetic so well, combining art nouveau with Japanese influences. 

Consider this a prod to you speculative fiction writers out there.  Sure, sf stories investigate human nature and critique the human condition, but they also just go wild and paint vivid, wild, impossible images to expand our thinking and test our preconceptions of the world. And they're just fun to write.

(Click any of the illustrations to view full size)

Poe was a cutting-edge writer for his day, crafting dark, imaginative, and surreal narratives during a time of collective optimism and nationalism in the United States.  While the rest of the country was forging ahead under the banner of "Manifest Destiny," Poe holed himself up in New England writing ghost stories and thrillers and expanding the scope and depth of the short story as a fledgling genre. 

Enjoy some of these illustrations, and click here to get to the original 50 Watts blog post, where you will find all 24 of them, and in larger size.

Cheers,
Jedd

---

About the Author:
Jedd Cole is a professional writer and author of short speculative fiction.  He resides in Ohio where he is completing a degree in Rhetoric & Professional Writing, crafting short stories in every time-nook he can find, all while frequenting the pages of imaginary worlds with his wonderful wife, Heather, and no pets.  None.

---