Enough people have asked, so we'll see what the interest is like: Who wants a Spates Catalog to go with our
Tobin's Spirit Guide?
Here are my ideas:
- Brown leather book with embossing and gold foiling to match the style of Tobin's (as though they are part of a set), though making the book taller and thinner (fewer pages) to add variety and to keep it more in line with the periodic source of this book.
- Spates published articles between 1901 and 1935, but I thought we could expand this a bit, as though the book was revised through several editions into the 60s or 70s so we have more room to play with.
- The style would be more in line with sensational articles (a la the Enquirer) as opposed to the more academic encyclopedic style of Tobin's.
- Topics would be focused more on localized events and apparitions instead of established traditions and histories (again avoiding cross-overs with Tobin's, though I do imagine we could have a few).
- As this is would be shorter in length (and hopefully a quicker project than Tobin's), we're hoping to keep the price quite a bit lower as well. Maybe we could even offer a discount if you've already purchased an edition of Tobin's. I'm kind of hoping to keep it more in the range of $150.
So, who's interested and who would like to contribute?
We'll keep track of articles here as we did with Tobin's and people can suggest topics as we develop our Table of Contents.
Kind regards,
Indy
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What follows is a list of proposed articles followed by the [contributor]. If no writer is listed, it's up for grabs. For my own sake, I'm adding a ✔ next to the article which has been completely finished, typeset and included into the main text.
Alicorn
The Amherst Haunting
Bachelors Grove Cemetery
The Bell Witch [13doctorwho]
Bermuda Triangle
Black Cats [ahuntley] ✔
Blair Witch [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Christiansen, Terje: "Disappearance of Terje Christiansen"
Cocke County Memorial Building✔
Cursed Chest of Drawers
Delta Queen [ahuntley] ✔
Dial of Destiny (Antikythera Device, aka Archimedes Dial) [ahuntley]
The Deep, Dark Woods (Ghostwood Forest) [TheotherJones]
Holy Grail [Indy Magnoli]
Gill-Man [bondoking] ✔
The Island of Doctor Moreau [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Jumanji [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Knocking on Wood (Superstition) [ahuntley] ✔
Koku, Dr: "The Mysterious Dr. Koku" [edspengler]
Magic Rocks (Sankara Stones) [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Majestic Theatre [jasonw2112]
Mothman [ahuntley] ✔
Münchshofe [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Ouija Board
Overlook Hotel [mikesprops]
Queen Mary [ahuntley] ✔
The Reanimator: Herbery West
Robert the Doll [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Rosemary's Baby
Roswell Incident
Snake Handlers (in the American South)
Solomon Grundy
Spring-heeled Jack [bates82]
Squonk [ahuntley] ✔
Tunguska Event
Valkenvania
Voodoo Dolls
Williamson, Orion: "The Vanishing of Orion Williamson"
Zugun, Eleanor [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Zuni Fetish Doll
(Current page count: 44 pages)
Guidelines for submitting an article:
Articles should be written with a slightly sensational tone, less academic and more over-the-top. If you have troubel with the tone you can use ChatGPT to rewrite your article in the "voice" of H.P. Lovecraft, as an example. The final publication date is 1969, so all articles must pre-date this.
Topics can range from anything supernatural such as ghosts, demons, hauntings, curses, etc to more corporeal entities such as monsters, animals and such. We'll have sections on "Strange and Amazing People", "Unexplained Events", "Magic Artifacts and Relics" as well as "Other Topics" if you have some ideas for something on the fringe. You may provide artwork, illustrations, photographs, etc if you have them but, if not, we can often find something to suit. Below is a rough idea of word count depending on how many pages and illustrations you'll have included with the article:
One page article with single image: 600 words
One page article with no images: 850 words
Two page article with three images: 900-1000 words
Two page article with one large image: 1300 words
Please contact me via PM or e-mail and we can discuss your topic. We cannot guarantee to use everyone's articles and there is a good chance that it'll have to be modified in some way to fit into the sizing of the page. Also, please remember to provide your real name (or at least the name you'd like credited) for inclusion in the in-universe bibliography/acknowledgements.