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cappadocius · 1 year ago

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Iniquus Veritas

Back at the turn of the century, Steve Jackson Games' Pyramid magazine would publish short articles by a creator named Alice Turow. These articles were, essentially, SCP articles a good seven years before the SCP Foundation was invented, although they often left things more obviously open-ended than an SCP, since these were intended for tabletop roleplaying. I liked several of them so much I immediately slapped them into Word Docs, because even in 2001 I knew how ephemeral the Internet truly was. I present the text of one of these articles in the hopes of help to preserve media I've loved. I do not own the rights to this, but I do not seek any profit, either.

Iniquus Veritas

The World's Most Depressing Album

by Alice Turow (pub. Oct 26, 2001)

"When you marry, know as you take the ring One of you will leave the other Or you'll die together in pain." -- "Aisle" (track 5)

The Album

It is unknown where Iniquus Veritas came from. It appears to be a normal compact disc, although the recorded surface is slightly more blue-green than other CDs. Perhaps this is a clue to its origin, or maybe it merely means that it is a copy or otherwise "burned" disc. There is a cover (a simple geometric pattern in red, blue, and burgundy repeated in unexpected ways) that is duplicated on the CD itself. The back of the jewel case lists the tracks, but no other information. In fact, there is no other "helpful" text anywhere . . . no liner notes, copyright information, not even a creator (or "band") name. (Strangely, the Compact Disc Database lists two versions of this: one with an artist name of Unknown, another credited to Anonymous. Comparing the CDDB entries reveals that both entries probably refer to the same album.)

What is known is that those who listen to its twelve tracks will find it to be one of the more compelling -- but depressing -- experiences of their lives. In fact, almost 30 percent of those who listen to Iniquus Veritas will take their own lives within a week of hearing it!

The effects of the album depend on being exposed to it in its entirety in a relatively short period of time. Thus, listening to half the album will be an affecting experience, but will not itself cause a listener to commit suicide. The definition of "relatively short" is unknown; it seems to be within a week, but there are reports of one person who carefully listened to it track by track over a month having "accidentally" driven off the edge of a cliff on day 30.

Multiple exposures to the album do not seem to increase the chances of it affecting a victim; if you don't succumb to it after the first time, it seems that you can listen to it safely. Although there seems to be some statistical evidence that those susceptible to its effects are often depressed and suicidal normally, there have been many exceptions . . . some startling. Regardless, the suicidal tendencies it instills do seem to be permanent; even if a victim is prevented from killing himself once, he will still try again given another opportunity.

Listening to the album in order does not seem to be necessary; putting the album in a CD changer on shuffle mode would be a good way of exposing someone to it unwittingly. Iniquus Veritas also does not require an active listener. Provided that the victim can actually hear it, the mind seems willing to process it even if the listener isn't paying attention. Playing the album over the Muzak system in a mall during the holidays would have disastrous effects. Distortion does seem to be a problem; blaring it out of a car stereo, for example, wouldn't have much effect on those far away, even if they could hear the bass.

More Secrets

In addition to the obvious effects, there are those who believe that people who don't kill themselves are somehow . . . changed. If true, to what end? Perhaps they are being reprogrammed for some other purpose (good or ill). Perhaps they are being "opened" for channeling of otherworldly beings. Regardless, unscrupulous agencies using Iniquus Veritas for the sinister purpose of undetectably eliminating enemies may discover that they have a much larger problem on their hands . . .

The album also has a hidden track. It may be accessed by rewinding to before the first track. The purpose of this hidden track is unknown. Perhaps it is an "antidote" for the mind-altering effects. Perhaps it enhances the abilities of the album to achieve 100% effectiveness. If the suicides are merely a side effect of a more sinister purpose, then the hidden track might be the final key to that plot. Maybe it merely contains clues to the album's creators . . . but that might still be incredibly useful to unraveling its mystery, or resolving the problems it creates.

Track Listing

1. "The Previous" -- A female vocalist sings almost inaudibly, positing regrets and incorrect decisions in this slow folk-like song. The violin and drums drown out most of the voices. One audible lyric goes, "If I could go back, I would. If I could go forward, I would. If I could go anywhere, I would." 3:17.

2. "Spinning Mobile, Toy's Key" -- An instrumental piece that begins as somewhat idyllic (if mildly off-key) stereotypical children's music, then transforms slowly into a more and more confusing cacophony. Random adult voices can be heard throughout the piece, sometimes laughing, usually crying or disappointed; the random snippets that can be understood seem to be directed at the listener. 3:46.

3. "Laughing At You" -- This track is a dance number, with a female vocalist playing off fears of adolescence. Part of the chorus includes "I thought you should know; it's all right. / We're only laughing at you. / Only seven years to go; it's all right. / We're only laughing at you. / And 10 years from now / when we think of you / we'll laugh." This song has somehow made it into the public, and is popular at many university radio stations. 3:41.

4. "Meeting" -- This instrumental track is best described as a sultry jazz tune performed by someone supremely unconfident. Just as the listener begins to feel a warm vibe, it will switch into a different (unsatisfying) key, awkwardly miss a note, or otherwise stop short of fulfillment. Compelling like a train wreck, at least a half-dozen times the listener will be disappointed, flinch, or cringe. 5:01.

5. "Aisle" -- A male vocalist's mild attack on relationships and marriage, wrapped around a fairly upbeat "pop" song. 3:05.

6."La Serpiente de la Sal" -- An alternative instrumental piece, with two slow atonal guitars working together, almost fighting each other for superiority. Different listeners may get into arguments over which guitarist was "better." 4:19.

7. "Live Faster" -- This is a breakneck vocal piece with piano. The female vocalist seems to be addressing the need to move more and more quickly as demands pile from all directions; she never seems to inhale throughout the song's 664 words. The climactic ending consist of the lyrics, "Maybe tomorrow maybe now maybe tomorrow maybe now maybe tomorrow maybe not." 2:21.

8. "Entitled" -- A simple seven-note drum theme repeated over and over. It starts slowly, then speeds up to an impossible performance. The theme is never made more complex, but acute listeners will note that individual notes drop out of the theme, until there are only three beats left of the original theme (the second, third, and sixth notes). 3:33.

9. "Ter Pedes Electrum" -- A slightly manic techno song (just over 111 bpm) with the male vocalist singing in a low register. Although much of his vocals cannot be made out clearly, it seems to be nonsensical Latin sentences. One translated lyric consists of "Horse ditch relax superstitious evenness relax Charles." 3:44.

10. "Staccato Unspoken" -- This is a piece of orchestral music, which seems to be performed by cello and flute. Slow and melodic, it feels melancholy. Classical scholars will generally feel that the music feels like it's "missing" something; the lower notes of the cello combined with the flute's higher register seem to create a vacuum where another instrument should go. 5:58.

11. "Is It All?" -- An a cappella piece performed by both vocalists, with perhaps other voices, or themselves overdubbed. It seems to take the voice of a person about to die, questioning what they have (or haven't) done while they struggle with the problems of aging. One part goes, "I should have seen more sunsets (Is it all?) / I should have written a book (Is it all?) / What happened to my skin? (Is it all?) / No regrets, tepid look, violin, is it all?" 2:11. 12. "Until" -- The first forty-five seconds of this track sound like a cross between a happy funeral dirge and a fast, improvisational xylophone solo. The last two and half minutes consist of silence, with (what sounds like) a heartbeat punctuating the silence every so often -- between 20 and 50 seconds. It ends with the faint sound of breaking glass. 3:15.

#Alice Turow #Pyramid Magazine #Steve Jackson Games #Iniquus Veritas #scp foundation #death mention

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la-femme-au-collier-vert · 3 months ago

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From the Library of Anne Rice (Part 3)

Flynn, Gillian. Gone Girl. New York: Crown Publishing, 2011. Lightly annotated.

Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars. New York: Penguin Books, 2012. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Le Carre, John. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. New York: Bloomsbury, 2005. Ownership signature. Tabbed.

Martin, George R.R. A Dance with Dragons. New York: Bantam Books, 2011. Ownership signature.

Metalious, Grace. Peyton Place. New York: Julian Messner, 1957. Ownership signature.

Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones. New York: Back Bay Books, 2007. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Sheldon, Sidney. The Other Side of Midnight. New York: Willam Morrow & Company, Inc., 1973. Ownership signature.

Sienkiewicz, Henryk. Quo Vadis. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2002. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Silva, Daniel. The Kill Artist. New York: Random House, 2000. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Susann, Jacqueline. Once is Not Enough. New York: Willam Morrow & Company, Inc., 1973. Ownership signature. Lightly annotated.

Susann, Jacqueline. Valley of the Dolls. New York: New Market Home Library, 1996. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Turow, Scott. Identical. New York/London: Grand Central Publishing, 2013. Ownership signature.

Turow, Scott. Identical. New York/London: Grand Central Publishing, 2013. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Bowman, Carol. Children's Past Lives. New York: Bantam Books, 1998.

Burpo, Todd with Lynn Vincent. Heaven is for Real. Nashville, Dallas, Mexico City, and Rio de Janeiro: Thomas Nelson, 2010.

Fronkzac, Paul Joseph and Alex Tresniowski. The Foundling. New York: Howard Books, 2017.

Greven, Philip. Spare the Child. New York: Vintage Books, 1990.

Joyce, Stephen H. Suffer the Captive Children. By the Author, 2004.

Malarkey, Kevin & Alex The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2011.

Mcfarland, Hillary. Quivering Daughter. Dallas, Texas: Darklight Press, 2010.

Postman, Neil. The Disappearance of Childhood. New York: Vintage Books, 1994.

Rafferty, Mary and Eoin O'Sullivan. Suffer the Little Children. New York: Continuum, 1999.

Reilly, Frances. Suffer the Little Children. London: Hachett UK, 2008.

Szalavitz, Maia. Help at Any Cost. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006.

Taylor, Marjorie. Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Tucker, Jim B. Life Before Life. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2005.

Woititz, Janet Geringer. Adult Children of Alcoholics. Deerbeach, Florida: Health Communications, Inc., 1983.

Bloom, Harold. The Book of J. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1990. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Collins, Andrew. From the Ashes of Angels. Rochester, Vermont: Bear & Company, 2001. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Collins, John J. The Scepter and the Star. New York: Doubleday, 1995. Annotated.

Cook, John Granger. The Interpretation of the New Testament in Greco-Roman Paganism. Hendrickson Publish, 2002. Ownership signature.

Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Scriptures. [Oxford]: Oxford University Press, 2003. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Enns, Peter. The Bible Tells Me So... HarperOne, 2014. Ownership signature.

Fox, Everett. The Five Books of Moses. New York: Schocken Books, 1995. Ownership signature. Annotated.

House, H. Wayne. Charts of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1981. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Howard, Thomas. Evangelical is Not Enough. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1984. Ownership signature.

Lockhart, Douglas, Jesus the Heretic. Shaftsbury, Dorset: Element, 1997. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Luckert, Karl W. Egyptian Light and Hebrew Fire. State University of New York Press, 1991.

Parenti, Michael. God and His Demons. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2010. Ownership signature.

Shaw, Russell. Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine. Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitors Publishing, 1997. Annotated.

Sparrow, W. Shaw. The Gospels In Art. New York: Frederick A, Stokes Company, 1904. Annotated.

Townsend, Mark. The Gospel of Falling Down. Winchester, UK: O Books, 2007. Inscribed by author.

Valenti, Connie Ann. Stories of Jesus. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2012. Inscribed by author.

Yallop, David A. In God's Name. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1984. Annotated.

Zuesse, Eric. Christ's Ventriloquists. New York: Hyacinth Editions, 2012. Ownership signature. Annotated.

Cayce, Edgar. On Atlantis. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1968. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Collins, Andrew. Gobekli, Tepe Genesis of the Gods. Rochester, Vermont: Bear & Company, 2014. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Cremo, Michael A. and Richard L. Thompson. Forbidden Archaeology. Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Publishing, 2003. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Eno, Paul F. Faces at the Window. By the Author, 1998. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Fiore, Edith. The Unquiet Dead. New York: Ballantine Books, 1988. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Hoagland, Richard C. and Mike Bar. Dark Mission: The Secret History of Nasa. Feral House, 2007. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Icke, David. The Biggest Secret. David Icke Books, 1999. Ownership Signature.

Joseph, Frank. The Atlantis Encyclopedia. Career Press, 2005. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Knight, Christopher and Alan Butler. Before the Pyramids. London: Watkins Publishing. 1988. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Leshan, Lawrence. A New Science of the Paranormal. Wheaton, Illinois: Theosophical Publishing House, 2009. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Peake, Anthony. The Out-of-Body Experience. Watkins, 2011. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Redfern, Nick. Shapeshifters Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publication 2017. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Roberts, Scott Alan. The Secret History of the Reptilians. Pompton, N.J.: New Page Books, 2013. Ownership Signature.

Spence, Lewis. The Occult Sciences in Atlantis. London: The Aquarian Press, 1970. Ownership Signature. Annotated

Temple, Robert with Olivia Temple. The Sphinx Mystery. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2009. Ownership Signature. Lightly Annotated

Thyme, Lauren O. The Lemurian Way. Lakeville, Minnesota: Glade Press, 2012. Ownership Signature.

Wilson, Colin and Rand Flem-Ath. The Atlantis Blueprint. Delta Trade Paperback, 2000. Ownership Signature. Annotated.

#Anne Rice #Interview with the Vampire #bonhams auction

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charliejaneanders · 2 years ago

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I feel like I'm in pretty good company here

(This is the cover and description of Fourteen Days, edited by Margaret Atwood, featuring my name alongside Margaret Atwood, Jennine Capó Crucet, Joseph Cassara, Angie Cruz, Pat Cummings, Sylvia Day, Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, Diana Gabaldon, Tess Gerritsen, John Grisham, Maria Hinojosa, Mira Jacob, Erica Jong, CJ Lyons, Celeste Ng, Tommy Orange, Mary Pope Osborne, Douglas Preston, Alice Randall, Ishmael Reed, Roxana Robinson, Nelly Rosario, James Shapiro, Hampton Sides, R.L. Stine, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Monique Truong, Scott Turow, Luis Alberto Urrea, Rachel Vail, Weike Wang, Caroline Randall Williams, De’Shawn Charles Winslow, and Meg Wolitzer)

#books #writing #book tumblr

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thekindworthreading · 4 years ago

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Do I have that other book challenge?

I saw Hailey in Bookland doing that on YouTube and it was a lot of fun so here we are

1. Do you have a book with a fox on the cover or part of the plot?

Yes, The Language of Thorns – Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo has a fox on the cover!

2. Do you have a book that was published the year you were born or in a three year radius?

I thought this would take so long to search, but I actually found one real quickly!! It´s Personal Injuries by Scott Turow. Published 1999.

3. Do you have a book with music as a weapon or magic?

I am once again amazed how quickly I remembered An Amber in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir with music as magic! At first I thought I didn´t have one but I actually do!

4. Do you have a series with mismatched covers?

Sadly yes and I absolutely hate it! My friend gifted me And I Darken by Kiersten White and I bought another book in the series, but we got different editions.

5. Do you have a book with a shapeshifter?

At first I was like “nah I don´t” but I do! Loki – Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzie Lee

6. Do you have a book signed by the author?

I do, but it´s in German, it´s called Mummy Island – Sacer Sanguis Maniac by Albert Knorr

7. Do you have a book with a mostly red cover?

I do have multiple books with mostly red covers, but I will go with Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

8. Do you have a book between 287 and 306 pages?

This took me so, so long but I found one! 21 Proms a short story collection with 298 pages!

9. Do you have a book with a main character who wears glasses?

Yes! Harry Potter has glasses! And I have many, many Harry Potter books

10. Do you have a book with a title that has the same number of letters as your first name?

So, my name is Carina, which means I´m looking for a 6-letter long title and I actually found one! Finale by Stephanie Garber!

11. Do you have a book with cyber crime/technology as a plot point?

Antisocial by Jillian Blake is centred around technology!

12. Do you have a book written in another language or translated to English?

I have a lot of German books, seeing as I´m from Austria, so this one is very easy for me haha. I choose Der letzte macht den Mund zu, by Michael Buchinger. (The last one closes the mouth)

13. Do you have a book written by an Asian author?

Yes, but only the German translation: Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

14. Do you have a book with a moon on the cover?

Yes, I do. Artemis by Andy Weir, that one was almost too easy. (And I love the moon)

15. Do you have an illustrated children´s book?

My copy of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is illustrated!

16. Do you have a collection of fairy tales or myths?

I do have both and I´ll go with Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

17. Do you have a sci-fi or fantasy with an alliance of races?

For that question I will use An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

18. Do you have a book with a narrow front cover? (paperback with a front cover that is slightly trimmed shorter/narrower than the rest of the book)

I do though I don´t like them very much tbh haha, for example Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

19. Do you have a book that includes the first chapter of the sequel?

I had to search for a bit, but The Diviners by Libba Bray has the first chapter of the next book included!

20. Do you have a book with a broken spine?

I don´t do that, but I have quite a few books from book sales, where the spines have been broken so: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

I tag: @myownlittlebookcorner, @gagakumadraws, @utterlymealicebean, @honey-almondmilk, @paranoid--introvert, @yabookblr, @books-cupcakes

#book tag #booklr #books #book blog #tag game

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