Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Ancient Quincuncial Networks


Jainne Lummrey was a postgraduate student at Newcastle University, studying the history and literature of early modern Britain, when she discovered Geranium Lake Properties in the British comic magazine Viz. (GLP appeared irregularly in Viz from 1987 to 1991, according to a deal with John Brown that was independent from Yost’s agreements with his other comics syndication services.) Jainne wrote to Yost after the “Ancient Quincuncial Networks” panel was published in May 1990. Thus began an ardent correspondence that lasted for nine years, until Jainne Lummrey’s death in 1999. Yost last letter arrived at Jainne’s London address two days after the police discovered her body. The letter was sent from New Zealand, postmarked the day before Yost disappeared after boarding a ferry from Auckland to Rangitoto Island.

A Tale of Congenial Confusion Between Bronze, Iron, Calico and Velveteen


No-one noticed that this story was unfinished until five years later, when Yost published “The Conclusion To A Tale of Congenial Confusion Between Bronze, Iron, Calico and Velveteen”.

Begriffsschrift


Beriwa Tholdry is one of the Four Twilight Kingdoms in Geranium Lake Properties. It has been almost universally accepted among fans of GLP that the names of the Twilight Kingdoms are anagrams of friends or relatives of Wm. Yost, who had his own rules for making the anagrams he used in GLP comics. Most of the rules he kept secret, I know only two of them. He never used the letter “p” except under special circumstances, and he always made four letter changes. Four was a number of extraordinary significance for Yost.

One of my friends over at Ello, comandantechispas, a true master of anagrams, came up with a notable solution to the “Beriwa Tholdry” anagram: “writable hydro”. Writable water as a concept seems to me an entirely suitable (and perhaps even essential) element in the GLP universe.

© 2018 lcmt
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