Skyscraper Skyscape
Feb. 10th, 2011 07:10 pm
Went downtown for a spell today. This is called the Bridge of Sighs on one side was the court and the other side was the prison. Those windows on the bridge were the last glimpse of the outside world for many of the prisoners. Cheerful!
I love being in cities because of the effect the cityscape has on my imagination. The urban horror/fantasy is an idea that has really captivated me during college. You could probably trace this obsession directly through China Mieville's works, specifically Perdido Street Station, The City and the City, as well as Kraken with a wink and a nod to Jeff VanderMeer's Shriek. I don't have time to really expand on precisely what I mean by urban horror/fantasy, but while I'm sketching out a quick canon I'd like to give a quick shout-out to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and portions of his work on Sandman. And as I slide down the banister of decreasing literary merit, some Batman comics have also played with urban horror-- Peter Milligan's "Dark Knight, Dark City" and David Lapham's "City of Crime" are outstanding examples.