HEXAHEDRA

“Society for Scientific Inquiry of Paranormal Atmospheric and Cosmic Anomalies (SSIPACA) came about through researching the vast databases available on the internet regarding UFO sightings, abductions, and conspiracies. I found it intriguing that despite all this information we are still none the wiser in terms of where we stand in the universe. This zine is half objective scientific data, half tongue in cheek absurdities. I was inspired by scientific journals, a 1960s Carl Sagan book, and loony conspiracy theories. I decided to print the zine when a few people expressed interest in owning one, and was pleasantly surprised by the relative quickness and painlessness of the whole production procedure. Newsprint made sense as the format of choice as I wanted the zine to look worn, dirty and uneven — the book was first printed out on a laser printer, crumpled, xeroxed, scanned back into the computer then printed onto newsprint. Unpredictable irregularities and glitches I think add to the spirit of the notion of an unknown universe, and I was happy to embrace them.

By Vanessa Lam

Line-hatched Grendel, appearing in John Gardner’s novel

“John Gardner’s novel Grendel....presents the “monster’s” autobiographical take on the events of Beowulf, and is also intriguingly illustrated with a series of line-hatched drawings that depict Grendel’s primitivity and the division between his physicality and his misty edge-wandering nature.Though the Grendel of Beowulf is monstrous, he is continually described in human terms; he is an exile from civilised society, “atol angengea” (that dreadful solitary), forced to wander the wastelands and suffer as he hears the joyous music of the Hall’s harpist. From  the Christian scribe’s point of view, the fact that he can never approach the throne of God nor feel his love is presented as a reason to pity as well as revile him. One is reminded of the sympathetic side ofParadise Lost‘s Satan after he realises the true implications of his fall and will forever be in Hell:“

Me miserable! which way shall I fly Infinite wrath and infinite despair? Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell;“ (IV. 73-5)A reader of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings will see this same pitiable aspect in Gollum, which Gandalf highlights for Frodo:“What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature[…]!” “Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity and Mercy” (89,Fellowship).