Book Review: Haunted & Mysterious Australia

 Haunted & Mysterious Australia

Bunyips, yowies, phantoms and other strange phenomena

Author:                          Tim the Yowie Man

Publisher:                      New Holland Publishers

Type:                              Soft Cover

Pages:                             189

Genre:                            non-fiction

Published:                     (First: 2006) This edition: 2017

ISBN:                             9781742579436

 The first thing you will notice in this large book is the big colorful photos, but fear not, this isn't just a picture book, it also devotes most of the page to text describing the mystery in common language. Its refreshing to see such vibrant pictures in a book like this.

 There is a map of Australia in the front of the book which shows the location of the phenomenon and on which page you'll find it. 

 Tim the Yowie Man takes a logical but skeptical look at a lot of different Australian mysteries including; spooklights, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, a fishman, fairy, crop circles, haunted shipwrecks, lake monsters, poltergeists, vanishing lakes, ghosts, yowies, out of place animals, standing stones, haunted cars, surviving prehistoric creatures, UFO's, a levitating beer glass, sacred sites, mysterious geological formations, geoglyphs, cryptids, rock art, ghost ships, and haunted buildings among other subjects.

 I really like that this book is written from an Australian perspective, and it was interesting to see Tim the Yowie Man's own clearly marked encounter within it. Its also really refreshing to see stories that i have not heard of before alongside the famous ones.

 There is a bibliography in the back and a really interesting list of Australian ghost tours. 

 This is an excellent book and one worth having on every bookshelf. The only criticism i could have against this book is that the page numbers are a little bit difficult to read. If your at all interested in Cryptozoology, Paranormal activity, history or Australian culture you have to grab yourself a copy of this book.

FULL SCORE

Book Review: Pans Daughter

 Pans Daughter

The Magical World of Rosaleen Norton

 Revised and Expanded

 

Author:                             Nevill Drury

Publisher:                         Mandrake of oxford

Type:                                 Hard Cover

Pages:                                305

Genre:                               non-fiction

Published:                         2013

ISBN:                                9781906958503

 The book does not have a dust cover but has a lovely colored printed hardcover. Its dimensions are about  156 x 232 x 28mm and it has black and white photos, copy's of Rosaleen Norton's art thorough and there is even a few sigils.
 The book is very well made and printed well. I did notice only two minor errors, the word to where it was superfluous (P83) and the word "was" instead of "as" (p87), so noting major at all.

 The book is an overview of the life of Rosaleen Norton and her associates and contemporary's. Today she would probably be referred to as a Pagan artist. Although mention is made of her magical journals very little of her occult information is included within this book.

 I had heard about Rosaleen occasionally growing up, she has a reputation as "the witch of Kings Cross" and i had always wondered if she was legit. The poem written by her in 1962 and reproduced in this book was enough to confirm for me that she had esoteric knowledge. Indeed it is explained that some of her influences included; psychology, general occultism, ceremonial magic, voodoo, the golden dawn, pantheism, Greek mythology, hypnosis, medium-ship, and a welsh tradition of witchcraft said to have arrived in Australia during the colonial era.
 Her description of the Werplon seemed to have an almost lovecraftian flair to it.
 

It seems much like Alister Crowley (who is detailed within the book) she had a public persona so it is difficult to separate that from whom she really was. For instance she claimed to practice in black magic but there seems to be no examples of her doing any such thing. This may instead be to her upbringing, anything non-christian may have been seen as "black magic" by people in Australia before the 1970s.

Her interview with the psychologist Dr. LJ Murphy is interesting as it outlines Rosaleen's methods in developing her natural ability's. It is quite fascinating to hear her attempt to explain the nature of reality in 1960's mundane world speak. While the words she chose differed than those i would have, it is reminiscent of many conversations i have had with many an occultist and laymen over the years.

Rosaleen Norton's assertion that she preferred sex with homosexual men is a little odd. Not that there is anything wrong with having sex with gay men, i myself prefer gay men over straight men, because while straight men are always enthusiastic they don't always want to cuddle after, but i am a guy. 
 Perhaps she had a different understanding of "homosexual back then, maybe she simply meant submissive, effeminate or or even bisexual men. She might have considered the every man who had ever had sex with another man to be homosexual, hell if that were true today we would no longer be a minority.

 The book uses the proper BCE and CE terminology which is always refreshing. It has numbered notes at the end of each chapter and a detailed bibliography and index is included.

  All in all i  really enjoyed this book. Pick it up if your interested in Australian History, feminism, sex magic, Paganism, astral travel, witchcraft, NDE (or PDE), occultism, law, ceremonial magic, art or Australian culture.

Review: Tokyo Ghoul

Tokyo Ghoul

This is season one of Tokyo Ghoul. This show is apparently based on a very popular manga, but i have not seen any of the manga. 

The basic premise is that there is a race of creatures living beside humankind. These ghouls are indistinguishable from humans (except for maybe via blood test) and the general public know of their existence. 

Ghouls can only eat human meat, anything else (mostly) makes them ill. They need to eat once a month but some called binge eaters kill and eat a lot more humans.
There are also gourmand who like to experiment with their diet, i think.

There is a group of government sponsored humans, some obviously psychotic, that go around killing suspected ghouls with impunity.
I have no idea why blood tests and ID cards are not a thing in this world, some ghouls wear masks sometimes to hide their human faces.

Oh the ghouls can also produce kagune from their body's, which range from energy looking things to insect-like appendages. I was reminded of Parasyte by this aspect.

So in this world we have a human who gets turned into a half-ghoul, sort of. I wont say this season is about him as such, but he is in most episodes a lot.

 The art is really nice, the music is cool. The premise is interesting, but everything seems a little glossed over, i kind of felt like i was missing large pieces of characterization and exposition.

There is some fan service for those who want it, but other than a boob shot in the first episode most of it isn't gratuitous.

There are some amusing moments and some horrible ones. There is a torture scene that goes on and on and seems like its never going to end, which was probably the point but still.

Also there are a lot of characters, most not fully developed, characterization seems to be a major flaw with this series.

This is classed as a horror anime and i suppose it is, but the only time i was scared was when my cat sat up, and i jumped.

While i enjoyed this series, it is flawed. I wanted more. I want to actually know the characters and care about them. There also seems to be a lot of plot holes, and i hope that season two addresses these issues.  Also you should be aware that none of the many plots seem to be resolved this season, the series ends on a cliff hanger.
I will be watching season two, i have hopes for this show.