From “I Was a Captive of the Insect Fiends!” by Tim “Grisly” Boxell. Published in Fantagor #4, 1972, Last Gasp.
Category: Art
The Skull — Claudio Bravo
The Skull, 1973 by Claudio Bravo (1936-2011)
Samuel Beckett’s Assassination Custard
When Samuel Beckett went to Paris in 1930 he discovered his true home, a place of liberation in both the personal and professional sense. He became a member of James Joyce’s inner circle, and was one of the many accoucheurs at the prolonged delivery of Finnegans Wake.
In the early hours of 7 January 1939, Beckett was returning home with friends from a café when he was accosted by a pimp called Prudent. When Beckett repelled the pimp’s advances he stuck a flick knife straight into Beckett’s chest, missing the heart by a mere whisker. His companions roared for help and were assisted by a passing piano student, Suzanne Deschevaux-Dumesnil, and Beckett was rushed to hospital. Joyce insisted on paying for a private room for him, and lent him his favourite reading lamp. Nora made one of her special custard puddings to nourish the invalid. The cool and efficient piano student eventually became Mrs Beckett.
5 egg yolks loz (30g) castor sugar
1 pt (600ml) single cream
2 tbsp brandy
Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas mark 3).Grease a shallow ovenproof dish (about 900ml or 1½ pt capacity). Beat the egg yolks and castor sugar together. Heat the cream gently, do not boil, and stir in the brandy. Very gradually add the warmed cream to the egg mixture, beating constantly. Pour into the dish. Place the dish in a baking tin and pour sufficient hot water into the tin to come half-way up the dish. Bake for 45 minutes or until set.
Serves four.
From A Trifle, a Coddle, a Fry: An Irish Literary Cookbook by Veronica Jane O’Mara and Fionnuala O’Reilly.
Sunday Comix
Peanuts daily strip for 8 May 1979 by Charles M. Schulz. Reprinted in The Complete Peanuts: 1979-1980 (Volume Fifteen), Fantagraphics Books, 2011.
Skeleton Key — Taylor Schultek
Skeleton Key, 2025 by Taylor Schultek (b. 1990)
The Pond — Aron Wiesenfeld
The Pond, 2023 by Aron Wiesenfeld (b. 1972)
Spontaneous pig rescue | A self-contained episode from Thomas Pynchon’s Shadow Ticket
What seems to’ve begun happening out here on the route with some regularity is that impulses disallowed in normal society are surfacing unexpectedly and being acted upon. Some more benevolent than others, spontaneous pig rescue, for example.
Unaccustomed bustle one day in the repair shop, where the ill-tempered Sándor Zsupka, across whose path few who have ever ventured care to do so again, currently on the run from a number of felony charges, including actual bodily harm, is putting together a pig-customized helmet and goggles combination revealing along with his criminal activities a gift for millinery.
“This is your…”
“Spirit guide, and even a spirit guide can do with some extra windproofing now and then. Further questions?”
“Never seen a pig quite like this…”
She’s a Mangalica, a popular breed in Hungary at the moment, curly-coated as a sheep, black upper half, blonde lower. And that face! One of the more lovable pig faces, surrounded by ringlets and curls. Squeezita Thickly should only look half this adorable.
No more than idly cruising the countryside, Sándor happened to get off on one of those fateful back roads, and there in a steep farmyard were a family and their livestock, a cute meet, you’d say, though not half as cute as the pig herself. “Oh and this is Erzsébet, we’re eating her for Christmas.”
Hell they are. Sándor and some barroom accomplices perform a snatch-and-grab in the middle of the night, the pig pretending to be asleep, as she is picked up, installed in the sidecar of Sándor’s rig, and spirited away, just like that. Next thing anybody knows she’s riding in the sidecar, done up in helmet and goggles, beaming, posing like a princess in a limousine. Anybody feels like commenting, they don’t.
A self-contained episode from Thomas Pynchon’s 2025 novel Shadow Ticket.
Non Compus Mentis — Benjamin Cañas
Non Compus Mentis, 1976 by Benjamin Cañas (1933-1987)
November First — Andrew Wyeth
November First, 1950 by Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009)
Séance — Taylor Schultek
Séance, 2025 by Taylor Schultek (b. 1990)
Bats — I.B.S. Hopfer and J.J. Bylaert
Bat illustrations from Dierkundig mengelwerk (Zoological Miscellany), 1793 by I.B.S. Hopfer and J.J. Bylaert.
Sunday Comix
“Vampire!” by Johnny Craig. From The Haunt of Fear #16, July 1950, EC Comics.
Pluto and a Harlequin in Hell — Giuseppe Bernardino Bison
Pluto and a Harlequin in Hell, 18th c. by Giuseppe Bernardino Bison (1762-1844)
Real Imagined — Isaac McCaslin
Real Imagined, 2016 by Isaac McCaslin (b. 1989)
Sunday Comix
“Children of the Future?” a one-pager by Jim Osborne. From Slow Death Funnies #1, April, 1970, Last Gasp.
Self-Portrait Fixing Foot — Julie Heffernan
Self-Portrait Fixing Foot, 2024 by Julie Heffernan (b. 1956)
Man Reading — Erwin Fabian
Man Reading, 1941 by Erwin Fabian (1915-2020)
Biblioklept 