how can you be the ones
that give me impulses, tools and courage
to overcome my own obstacles?
the blood of our ancestors runs thru your veins,
And you love what is easy!
I love the Far and the Mirage,
I love the abysses, the torrents, the deserts…
(Black Chant (Cântico Negro), by José Régio)
that give me impulses, tools and courage
to overcome my own obstacles?
the blood of our ancestors runs thru your veins,
And you love what is easy!
I love the Far and the Mirage,
I love the abysses, the torrents, the deserts…
(Black Chant (Cântico Negro), by José Régio)
The breviary, a special kind of book with the liturgical texts for the Office. A book intended for convenient, everyday purposes. However, some breviaries can be hideous, even unholy. How beautiful would be the breviaries written by the Ursuline nuns at Loudon, for example. Following this unveiled tradition, the Romanian philosopher Cioran wrote his Précis de décomposition.
The new Raphus Press series, Précis, in this sense, will be focused on these contemporary small, unholy breviaries, with pieces created by the great contemporary auteurs of strange stories with a precious gift, a reliquary for our readers. Continuing along this path, we announce the brief collection of tales entitled Wastelands, by Alcebiades Diniz
Wastelands, is about devastated, ruined territories – sterile landscapes in both subjective and objective terms. For there are innumerable possibilities of reducing a thriving territory of life to a frozen, grim reminiscence. Thus, this brief collection is a sort of elegy to the calcined soil, a methodology of the drought, for all spirits that seek to disarm the powers that promote such barrenness.
Wastelands, a breviary (5.1 x 7.0 in.), hard cover designed by Raphus Press Immanent Headquarters at São Paulo, Brazil, printed in the Gráfica Forma Certa with imagery by Joseph Gandy and the decayed photos created by Matthew Brady's studio. As usual, this new chapbook edition will be very scarce: only 25 copies, plus some (very few) private copies.
The new Raphus Press series, Précis, in this sense, will be focused on these contemporary small, unholy breviaries, with pieces created by the great contemporary auteurs of strange stories with a precious gift, a reliquary for our readers. Continuing along this path, we announce the brief collection of tales entitled Wastelands, by Alcebiades Diniz
Wastelands, is about devastated, ruined territories – sterile landscapes in both subjective and objective terms. For there are innumerable possibilities of reducing a thriving territory of life to a frozen, grim reminiscence. Thus, this brief collection is a sort of elegy to the calcined soil, a methodology of the drought, for all spirits that seek to disarm the powers that promote such barrenness.
Wastelands, a breviary (5.1 x 7.0 in.), hard cover designed by Raphus Press Immanent Headquarters at São Paulo, Brazil, printed in the Gráfica Forma Certa with imagery by Joseph Gandy and the decayed photos created by Matthew Brady's studio. As usual, this new chapbook edition will be very scarce: only 25 copies, plus some (very few) private copies.
The opinion of our readers
Golden Age of Clairvoyance
"Well I have received the books today and I had certain high expectations and I must say such high expectations were well exceeded. The selectivity of the authors as I may have mentioned before (both individually and in combination) and translations are impeccable. The book design is exquisite and enhances the holistic reading experience (by way of comparison, on first seeing the books I had the same sense of elation when I had received my first Sylph Edition Cahiers a few years ago)."
(Andrew Condous)
(Andrew Condous)
"The books look really nice - I'm especially liking the full-color images inside. Very good design."
(Damian Murphy)
(Damian Murphy)
"The chapbooks are beautiful. Well done! Equally engaging for the eye and mind."
(Rachel Kinbar)
(Rachel Kinbar)
"The initial print-run of all three is, of course, low, so any interested readers should make a quick decision; because I do hope Raphus continue on their path of intriguing little translations of the recovered uncanny and esoteric."
(Mark Andresen at Pan Review)
(Mark Andresen at Pan Review)
The great weird and fantastic connoisseur, Des Lewis, made an insightful review of Black Mirror, the second chapbook in the series, available in this link.
Spiritual Meaning of the Massacres
"Many thanks for sending me a copy of The Mendicant. It really looks rather good – a bit like one of the books you read about in short stories that start off ‘Beware if you read these words... too late!"
(Stephen Cashmore)
(Stephen Cashmore)
"It's a marvelous production, and it's great that you have resurrected the remarkable title piece. I also enjoyed the pamphlet (...). Long may Raphus Press reign!"
(Chris Mikul)
(Chris Mikul)
"I am absolutely delighted with them [The Mendicant of the Books and The Sacred Abysmal Perspective]! They are both true examples of true and original creative philosophical ingenuity, originality and also design. They are fantastickal chapbooks and it is an equal delight to have been able to contribute and to assist in other ways. Although I saw the proofed editions when you e-mailed them to me, now that they are in my hands, they veritably glow and crackle and weep with their malign embers.
I shall take myself off on a sacred journey this weekend, like the early priests going to Tibet, and will immerse myself in the deep folds and ravines these chapbooks open up."
(Jonathan Wood)
I shall take myself off on a sacred journey this weekend, like the early priests going to Tibet, and will immerse myself in the deep folds and ravines these chapbooks open up."
(Jonathan Wood)