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And the song that you sing Will speak louder than you But always in a different language —Kurt Harlan of Information Society, " The Sky Away" |
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We love books that take a running start on the excitement. Notice how the period on the half-title page transforms into an exclamation point on the title page. And the narrative hasn't technically begun! |
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An illustration from an 1863 issue of Harper's magazine.
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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"The answer is simple. All you have to do is to rearrange your present financial life slightly and the money question will take care of itself.”
—Popular Science (Feb. 1929)
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We discovered this curious "ghost in a candle" trick in an issue of The Strand from 1895.
Here's the explanation of the trick candle, "invented by a man as a rather peculiar surprise for a friend. He made that friend a present of some coloured wax candles, one of which contained the affair shown. The receiver was very fond of having a few candles of the coloured kind placed about his drawing-room, in candelabra, and was intensely surprised one night when one of those which he had thankfully accepted from his friend exploded with a loud 'bang,' after having burnt down about half-way, and revealed to view a miniature ghost, with outstretched arms, which had issued from the remaining portion of the candle. To say that the man was puzzled by so extraordinary an apparition is to incompletely describe his feelings. I wonder how the reader would accept such a crisis. I know that I should have been very much astonished. Yet the effect was produced in an exceedingly simple manner, as can be understood by examining the drawings. The lower half of the candle really consisted of a thin cardboard case, containing a spring and a small 'ghost' with spring-arms, which would fly apart immediately upon being released from their bondage. A small portion of gunpowder, separated by a disc of paper from the head of the 'ghost,' completed the apparatus. The outside of the cylinder was waxed to appear as but the continuation of the candle. When the flame burnt to the powder it naturally caused it to explode, and simultaneously with the discharge the spring forced the little image upwards. This device would make an effective toy, I am inclined to think, as the cylinder could be used as often as required, by fixing a half-candle properly to the top of it and concealing the join."
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| The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~ 
Title page from A Biography of François Magendie.
“A dark side without a shadow in the open air.” —The Works of John Ruskin
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From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:
"The book gobbles us up immediately with its little fly-legs." —R aymond QueneauTherefore, a flyleaf:
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"Every literary text is literary because of an indefinite quantity of potential meanings."
—Jean Lescure, "Brief History of the Oulipo"
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| The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
(permalink) |
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~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~ 
Portrait from the biography of Hugh McAllister Beaver.
She “could barely make out his face in the gray haze.” —Kathleen O’Neal Gear & W. Michael Gear, The Summoning God
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Yes, you may . . . on one condition: "that we do not automatically subsume all of the realities that we label 'individual memory' under the name of 'collective memory.'" —Jeffrey K. Olick, et al., The Collective Memory Reader (2011) |
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| The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Unsubstantiated Insubstantiality ~ 
Portrait from Memoir of Rev. Joseph Badger.
“The figure was ghostly pale, with indistinct features.” —Mark Alan Morris, The Ghost Next Door
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| I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought |
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There's only one rule:• there are no rules (if you're stretching your imagination) — David Goss, The Science of Living Better Forever
• step on a crack , break your mother's back (if you're playing a sidewalk game) • have the teapot in front of you at all times (if you're crocheting tea cosies) — Loani Prior, Really Wild Tea Cosies• no deep-fried foods (if you're throwing a party and watching your cholesterol) — Mary Mihaly, The Complete Guide to Lowering Your Cholesterol• there's no being tired (if you're touring Paris) — Penelope Rowlands, Paris Was Ours
• say "Thank you" (if you're receiving a compliment) — Thriving in the Workplace All-in-One For Dummies• the teddy bear stays in the house (if you're a dog in training) — Heavenly Humor for the Dog Lover's Soul
• never, ever let a boy touch you there unless he's your husband — Gillian Flynn, Dark Places
• wear whatever is most comfortable (if you're hiking with a dog) — Dan Nelson, Best Hikes with Dogs Western Washington• never miss paying your round (if you're drinking with friends) — Jack Kahane, Memoirs of a Booklegger
• there must be at least one [item] on the list that is impossible (if you're setting goals) — David Taylor, The Naked Millionaire• anything goes, as long as you keep at least two tires on the pavement (if you're driving an automobile) — Glenn Beck, The Overton Window
• conquer at any price (if you're on the battlefield) — Luis M. Rocha, The Holy Bullet
• yes means yes and no means no (in the sexual marketplace) — Glenn T. Stanton, Secure Daughters, Confident Sons• never get involved with a student (if you're a good teacher) — Hank Brooks, The Inlet
• if you represent the wife, get as much as possible; if you represent the husband, give away as little as possible (in divorce settlement) — Howard K. Irving, Children Come First
• form, structure and content should not be separate (in synaesthetic cinema) —Simon Rycroft, Swinging City
• don't eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (if you're in the Garden of Eden) • you need one equation for every unknown (in algebra) — Norman S. Pratt, Pearls for the Moment• don't hit the ducks (in a joke about a golf course in heaven) — Stephen Motway, Jokes, Quotes, and Other Assorted Things• the fewer attachments and aversions you have to the goal, the quicker it will manifest (if you're a non-dualistic self-inquirer) — Aleksander Kupisz, Holistic Creation and Focus Zone Chi Gong
• no touching of the net (if you're a volley ball player) — Joseph A Bulko, Wall of Illusion, Book 3
• you clean up after yourself down there (if you're in the kitchen) — Jennifer Taylor Wojcik, From Day One
• learn to listen (if you're training to be a good communicator) — John Mason, Believe You Can
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| The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Amorphous Apparitions ~ 
Portrait from James Speed.
“The contours of the dark things around me are sharpening, faint features beginning to emerge.” —Eric Stone, Grave Imports
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| The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Amorphous Apparitions ~ 
Portrait from Memoir of Thomas Handasyd Perkins.
“The play of light and shadows turned his craggy face into an eerie visage.” —Lori Foster
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What a confetti that summer was, spent snipping invented words in Shakespeare. Occam's razor was at hand for painstakingly isolating those simplest inventions, the elegantly minimalist one-letter words. Hawthorne may have his scarlet letter, but Shakespeare's coinages are pure gold. The poet Geof Huth suggests that tiny expressions both surprise and justify, making ourselves vessels of concentration, inviting us to accept the mantle of makers of meaning. Thus attending to precision, "we become whom we are asked to become" (Geof Huth, " in tininess, we," June 22, 2009). The Shakespeare Papers dedicated an entire issue to one-letter words, and here's one of the pages we contributed. See our One-Letter Words: A Dictionary.
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| The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Amorphous Apparitions ~ 
Portrait from Life of Thomas Jefferson.
“It was an unmistakable face, and of itself answered many questions.” —Alfred Elton Van Vogt
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An illustration from a 1904 issue of Harper's magazine. The caption reads: "He sat gazing into the flames."
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| [The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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 "A rose is a rose all times of the year." —Lizette Woodworth Reese, "A December Rose," A Handful of Lavender (1891)
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"Is it the dead who bring our memories back to life when they want us to feel their presence? Do they cross the stream of time to reach us by turning back the clock within us?" —Gustav Meyrink, The White Dominican |
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 "Forgive me for my repetition, but it bears repeating. Although you're not the one it bears repeating to. Could you please go tell the ones who need to hear?" — Marianne Stevens, Mary: A Love Story
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| The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
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~ Amorphous Apparitions ~ 
Portrait from The Life of William Pinkney.
“With such ghostly features, what on Earth can you focus on?” —Martin Mobberley
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An illustration from an 1890 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. The caption reads: "Don't kiss me."
Dedicated to Teresa Burritt.
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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| I Found a Penny Today, So Here's a Thought |
(permalink) |
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Ask any person to tell you what missing teeth are — "real," everyday missing teeth, not the abstract extractions of theoretical dentistry — and he will likely elaborate upon abscessed absences, silver-filled nonentities, cavitied nothingnesses, fairy chattel. How can it be that a baby's toothless smile is contagious? Can a toothless smiler be preoccupied? [Apologies to philosopher Roberto Casati.] Dedicated to Gary Barwin. |
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An illustration from a 1909 issue of Century Illustrated magazine. The caption reads: "'You won't know till afterward,' it said. 'You won't know till long, long afterward.'"
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:
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| The Ghost in the [Scanning] Machine |
(permalink) |
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~ Amorphous Apparitions ~ 
Portrait from My Autobiography and Reminiscences by William Powell Frith.
“From out of regions dark a spectral form appeared!” —Reuben Vose
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An illustration from an 1897 issue of The Strand magazine. The caption reads: "The sign of the devil."
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| [Inexplicable images from generations ago invite us to restore the lost
sense of immediacy. We follow the founder of the Theater of
Spontaneity, Jacob Moreno, who proposed stringing together "now and then
flashes" to unfetter illusion and let imagination run free. The images
we have collected for this series came at a tremendous price, which we explained previously.] |
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| A printed collection of A Fine Line Between... is now available from Amazon.com. |
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"The answer is simple. Power.”
—InfoWorld (Feb. 23, 1987)
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Page 0 of 3943
Original Content Copyright © 2025 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.
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"I have to remember each time I get poked that the rose is a rose is a rose, no matter how much those thorns hurt."
"This may surprise you, but some people develop ringworm from . . . of all places . . . the soil."
"Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't strike me as the homebody type."
