BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD: THE PERFECT READ FOR SPOOKY SEASON!

Now that we're officially into Spooky Season, you're no doubt searching for something appropriately weird and macabre to read as we hurtle our way toward All Hallows' Eve. Why not try my Rondo Award-nominated novel, BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD? None other than Alan Moore, author of V FOR VENDETTA and WATCHMEN, gave BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD the following endorsement: “Blending intertextual rampage through the horror-movie canon with engrossing noir mystery and a backdrop of Hollywood esoterica, Robert Guffey serves up an intoxicating pulp cocktail that will leave you wanting more. A crepuscular treasure from a fascinating author.”

The unabridged Audible Audiobook of BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD is also available! It's brilliantly read by the talented SAMUEL E. HOKE. Hoke was so dedicated to nailing the audio version that he contacted me before he began narrating the novel to make sure the accent of a particular character was exactly correct. He also went out of his way to research some of the films and documentaries about the real people and events upon which the novel is based. If you're interested, you can listen to a sample of the audiobook right HERE!

 

“In Robert Guffey's latest and greatest novel, dreams of old movies and nightmares of classic horror rack into sharp focus through the lens of a brave film historian, one determined to squint clearly at fleeting grains of film through the shifting sands of time. Never has the truth of Hollywood been so well revealed through fiction. As a result, BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD delightfully and definitively proves that Bela Lugosi isn't dead.” 

--GARY D. RHODES, author of LUGOSI and TOD BROWNING'S DRACULA

"[H]orror fans will delight in how Guffey cleverly immerses movie monsters in the real world. Film buffs and monster enthusiasts will relish the supernatural characters brought to life in this atmospheric celebration of monster mayhem." 

--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"The sensation [of reading BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD] is like being led deep underground while your flashlight grows dimmer and dimmer, until you’re left in total darkness. That’s when the lights of a subterranean crypt flash on to reveal that you’re not where you expected to be, and where you are is far worse than you could have imagined. The result is an ending that left me chilled and took me a few days to fully process. As shocking as it was, everything was set up from the beginning. I know, I went back and checked, and have to give Guffey credit for pulling off a literary sleight of hand that caught me by surprise. I won’t spoil it with more, except to say that like the frog in water that’s warmed so slowly it doesn’t realize it’s coming to a lethal boil, Guffey’s readers face an equally stunning conclusion."

--TERENCE TAYLOR, NIGHTMARE MAGAZINE

 

"Algospeak"

From Alexandra S. Levine's 9-19-22 FORBES article entitled "From Camping To Cheese Pizza, 'Algospeak' Is Taking Over Social Media":

If you’ve seen people posting about “camping” on social media, there’s a chance they’re not talking about how to pitch a tent or which National Parks to visit. The term recently became “algospeak” for something entirely different: discussing abortion-related issues in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Social media users are increasingly using codewords, emojis and deliberate typos—so-called “algospeak”—to avoid detection by apps’ moderation AI when posting content that is sensitive or might break their rules. Siobhan Hanna, who oversees AI data solutions for Telus International, a Canadian company that has provided human and AI content moderation services to nearly every major social media platform including TikTok, said “camping” is just one phrase that has been adapted in this way. “There was concern that algorithms might pick up mentions” of abortion, Hanna said.

More than half of Americans say they’ve seen an uptick in algospeak as polarizing political, cultural or global events unfold, according to new Telus International data from a survey of 1,000 people in the U.S. last month. And almost a third of Americans on social media and gaming sites say they’ve “used emojis or alternative phrases to circumvent banned terms,” like those that are racist, sexual or related to self-harm, according to the data. Algospeak is most commonly being used to sidestep rules prohibiting hate speech, including harassment and bullying, Hanna said, followed by policies around violence and exploitation.

We’ve come a long way since “pr0n” and the eggplant emoji. These ever-evolving workarounds present a growing challenge for tech companies and the third-party contractors they hire to help them police content. While machine learning can spot overt violative material, like hate speech, it can be far harder for AI to read between the lines on euphemisms or phrases that to some seem innocuous, but in another context, have a more sinister meaning.

To read the entire article, click HERE.

WIDOW OF THE AMPUTATION Makes the Final Ballot of the Wonderland Book Awards!

To paraphrase Walt Kelly's Pogo, I am "quietly proud" to see my 2021 Eraserhead Press novella collection, WIDOW OF THE AMPUTATION & OTHER WEIRD CRIMES, included on the Wonderland Book Awards final ballot alongside so many other weird and wonderful books. Congratulations to all the other nominees!!! If you want to view the final ballot, click HERE.

Thermal Camouflage Jacket

From Zachariah Kelly's 9-28-22 GIZMODO article entitled "This Thermal Camouflage Jacket Is a Step Closer to Real Invisibility Cloaks":

Researchers say they are a step closer to creating an invisibility cloak, with the development of a jacket that hides the thermal signature of the user.

The research team, a collaboration between Vollebak and the University of Manchester, believes being able to hide the thermal signature of the wearer is one important step toward creating a truly invisible cloak.

As you can see in the image of the device, however, it is still very visible. Noticeable, even.

“The prototype Thermal Camouflage Jacket proves the viability of wearable thermal camouflage for the first time and I can now confidently say that the concept of an invisibility cloak is no longer science fiction,” said Coskun Kocabas, a professor of 2D device materials at the University of Manchester.

To read the entire article, click HERE.

"Artificial Skin" May One Day Make Troops Invisible

From Patrick Tucker's 12-5-20 DEFENSE ONE article entitled "'Artificial Skin' May One Day Make Troops Invisible, Even to Heat Sensors":

Recent advances in metamaterials and “soft” devices have enabled research prototypes that give their wearers something of a chameleon’s ability to blend into the surroundings — in the visible-light spectrum, anyway. Now new research out of South Korea promises to help troops cloak their heat signatures as well.

A new research paper out of South Korea details a new cloaking “skin” composed of bendable patches that use active heating and cooling to mimic either visible colors or thermal characteristics of the environment. They can switch from one to the other in about five seconds — allowing the wearer to camouflage themselves in the daytime and barely show up on thermal cameras at night.

These patches are built up of “pixels” containing thermochromic liquid crystals that change color depending on temperature, “thus allowing the generation of a diverse number of colors by controlling temperature. The cloaking in the visible range is therefore achieved separately by matching the ambient color,” says the paper, produced by a team led by Seung Hwan Ko at Seoul National University.

To read the entire article, click HERE.

The QAnon Queen of Canada

From Mack Lamoureux's 9-22-22 VICE article entitled "How the QAnon Queen Funds Her Cult: 'She’s Scamming People'":

Despite escaping the cultlike grasp of the so-called QAnon Queen of Canada months ago, two of her closest former followers had their bank accounts closed and say they may lose their children’s college funds after working for their former sovereign.

On Sept. 3, Corey and Daisy, who are married, received a letter in the mail from their bank that said they were now “an unacceptable risk” and their accounts would be closed. Earlier in the year, Romana Didulo, the self-described “queen,” had used their bank accounts to raise over a hundred thousand dollars for the cross-country RV tour of Canada she’s currently on.

After opening accounts at a new bank, Daisy said the institution told her she could lose as much as $8,000 CAD ($5,952 USD) in government contributions from their education savings plans. They’re trying to fight it but don’t have high hopes.

“I'm probably going to lose my children's education fund because of it,” Daisy, who asked that her last name be withheld to protect her children from retribution, told VICE News. “We weren't prepared for that happening. It is horrible because she [Didulo] cost us money.”

For months, Didulo used the couple as her personal bank account. The queen either can’t or refuses to use her own. Since she was kicked off typical crowdfunding sources, like GoFundMe, her followers have to send donations via electronic transfer. She posted Daisy’s email on Telegram numerous times—without permission, according to Daisy—and asked followers to send money to her account.

"She would just do it. She's the queen, so she doesn't need to ask permission from anyone or ask me if it’s OK,” Daisy said. “What was I supposed to say? I was already committed at that point.”

In total, Didulo raised more than $142,000 CAD ($105,726 USD) during a two-month period earlier this year, according to documents seen by VICE News. And she spent even more, including tens of thousands on hotel rooms paid for in her followers’ names. They once kept a $300-a-night room booked just in case Russian President Vladimir Putin showed up.

Didulo was initially a low-level QAnon influencer and came to prominence after the titular Q, the movement’s central figure, went quiet. She stepped into the power vacuum and gained a sizable following by framing herself as an active participant in the conspiracy, although she remains a fringe figure. Since then, Didulo has managed to convince hundreds of people across the globe that she’s the true Queen of Canada, waging a secret war against pedophilic, globalist elites. Experts have even called her group a cult. She’s now in the midst of a seemingly never-ending tour of Canada, holding small meet-and-greets in parking lots and spreading the word of their mission.

If you want to read the entire article, click HERE.

Your Random Jack Kirby Panel of the Day