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Oct 31

Portrait of the Artist in a Ridiculous HatClick for larger image

Good Show Sir Comments: Who can forget the classic spooky Italian Halloween story about the tiny peasant couple in the rotten apple?

Published 1984

Actually, that cover IS a classical work of art!I would touch it without protective gloves.I've seen worse. Far, far, worse.Interesting, but I would still read it in public.Middlng: Neither awful nor awfully goodWould not like to be seen reading that!Awful... just awful...That belongs in a gold-lame picture frame!Gah... my eyes are burning! Feels so good!Good Show Sir! (Average: 6.56 out of 10)
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20 Responses to “La Notte di Halloween”

  1. Longtime_Lurker Says:

    Apple? Why does his headgear look like an exploding pineapple? Or is it Frankenstein’s monster jammed headfirst into a rubbish bin?

    I refuse to even think about the roots coming out of the little peoples’ feet.

  2. fred Says:

    Michael Myers by Salvador Dali.

  3. THX 1139 Says:

    The tech has never been the same since Steve Jobs passed away.

  4. Francis Boyle Says:

    I’ve heard of “Rods from God” but “Logs from God”? Also I’m guessing this is the only occasion Edith Wharton has been anthologised with Isaac Asimov.

  5. JuanPaul Says:

    Editori Riuniti, on ice.

    *edit: I feel like some may need context https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riunite

  6. Bibliomancer Says:

    Apparently the ridiculous hat will protect him from the firewood raining down on him.
    Italian Mischief Night is bizarre.

  7. Tat Wood Says:

    The artist is Milic Stankovich, Serbia’s own Hieronymus Bosch/Roger Dean, and the crop omits the (possibly still alive but asleep) baby on the Doge’s chest. https://buki81.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/the-muzej-8-milic-od-macve/#jp-carousel-4411

    An English-language version exists, with a more generic cover https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/583670.13_Horrors_of_Halloween

  8. Tag Wizard Says:

    @Tat – Ah yes, Milic Stankovich. The Slobodan of Leonardos.

  9. Anna T. Says:

    Right, so I suppose they assume that Halloween is celebrated with people emerging from apples (is that a Garden of Eden reference?), flying wine corks and men wearing decorated pots on their heads.

    In short, maybe Serbian surrealism wasn’t the best choice (nod to @Tat Wood).

  10. Tor Mented Says:

    Alternate title: Vision of a Pothead.

  11. Raoul Says:

    @Tor – Speaking of potheads, I guess this is Giovanni Appleseed.

  12. B. Chiclitz Says:

    Ah, how I miss the quaint customs of the Old Country, like the “Raining of the Cheese Logs” the night before Hallowe’en.

  13. B. Chiclitz Says:

    He seems to cradling a tiny, though nonetheless detestable, Bokrug look-alike to his chest.

  14. Bruce A Munro Says:

    Halloween Night, when surrealist art walks the Earth. Beware of the spider-legged elephants.

    @B. Chiclitz: detestable? More like adorable! Just look at those bulgy little eyes and head feelers.

  15. Ray P Says:

    Winter landscape with Yule logs by Pieter Bruegel the elder.

    The Age of Robot Innocence by Edith Whasimov.

  16. Ryan Says:

    @Tat Wood, having viewed the rest of Milic Stankovich’s work featured in your link, I feel like he is probably not the sort of illustrator an author is going to want in order to sell a lot of books.

    Unless the story contains a significant amount of levitating lumber, in which case Milic Stankovich is very definitely the man you want for the job.

  17. B. Chiclitz Says:

    @BAM—remember, on Sarnath detestable is adorable!

  18. GSS ex-noob Says:

    This is scarier than anything I’ve seen in the run-up to Halloween, and scarier than at least one of Stephen King’s horror novels.

    So the tiny couple bursts out of the apple, only to be menaced by flying firewood, and then falls onto a hat worn by a giant made up of the random stuff on the artist’s desk.

    Once again, we see that the Italian covers don’t care about the topic — surrealistic stuff is good enough for that sci-fi stuff.

    And Europeans don’t get Halloween.

    Was young Milic forced to continually chop wood and bring it in by hand, so that ever after, he dreamed it would levitate itself to where it was needed? And decided to paint that repeatedly?

    @JuanPaul: I understood that reference! Without the hint.

    @Ray P: heh at your last line.

  19. A.R.Yngve Says:

    Ah, the Tryingtoohardist school of Surrealism.

  20. Bruce A Munro Says:

    @A.R. Yngve: “And now we add a happy little skull. A skull with a secret vagina. Or maybe it’s a skull made of two naked women – change it up!”

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