Thursday, August 20, 2020

Meet Greg Coulton - Illustrator Extraordinaire


Sky TV's announcement for the UK Release for Series 2 of A Discovery of Witches (January 2021) got us to reminiscing about the fabulous UK print campaign featured in newspapers, magazines and on public transportation in and around London, and fantasizing about what the next one may look like.

The individual responsible, Greg Coulton, really didn't get the credit his beautiful work deserves. An illustrator, designer and typographer, Greg has been  meticulously hand drawing intricate logos and branding campaigns for a variety of clients for over 20 years. His designs are ornate and fantastical, rife with Baroque detailing. He lives by the maxim, "The devil is in the details" and it shows in the campaign he designed for ADOW, mining traditional alchemical texts for inspiration. His reinventions are so rich and detailed, we went down the rabbit hole to his sources.


Let's break down some of the images and their inspirations, shall we?

The Serpent of Arabia - The Ripley Scroll 

 


 

 Venice (location of the Congregation drawn in Mary Sidney's 

 


 

Putre Factio ("Purification") - Johann Mylius 

 


 

Anatomia coitus - Johann Mylius ("Anatomia Auri") 

 


 

The Chemical Wedding - Splendor Solis 

 


 

 The Alchemical Child - Kawaii (love the modern influence here) 

 


 

 The Arbor Dianae - straight from Mary Sidney's lab 

 



Informational Links:


xo, ~The Daemons Follow us on Facebook - Twitter - Pinterest - Tumblr - Instagram - Subscribe - Podcast - Shoppe!

Friday, August 14, 2020

Daemons Discuss - Podcast: Take 73! | Chapter Discussion about the All Souls Trilogy; Chapter 5 of The Book of Life

Welp! It's a thing that's happened before! Surprised? Matthew and Diana sure were.

Take 73 - The One With The Surprise Baby

Description: Vampires and witches having babies?! Meh, that's old news to Ysabeau. But it's new to Matthew and Diana ... and us, kind of! The secrets in this chapter have us all reeling, and it's quite a ride.This is a long one, so pack your snacks, because we have two segments with TV news! One recent, and another from about a month ago. This is a Daemon time-walk episode!

SPOILER ALERT! We (The Daemons) approach this podcast with an assumption that the listener has read All Souls universe books, including the trilogy (A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night, The Book of Life), and  Time's Convert + snippits from The World of All Souls. If you haven't, and you don't mind, we certainly don't mind!  Please be advised, we will approach the television series (A Discovery of Witches) the same way as episodes are released in the US/Canada. 😊  Let's do this. *Note - this podcast is labeled 'explicit'

Find Daemons Discuss:  Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | + More!

Listen:

Download .Mp3 of this episode

1. Show notes:

For newcomers to the series:
  • Our Daemon Guides to the All Souls Trilogy are available for download: ADOW, SON, TBOL 
  • If you'd like a ready-reference from the author herself, be sure to download the All Souls Real-Time Reading companion (free e-book at online booksellers via Penguin and Headline books). For a more in-depth view of the trilogy, The World of All Souls is available at all major book sellers, as well as the continuation volume into this world, Time's Convert.
  • Deborah Harkness usually conducts a real-time reading on her Facebook Page (starting in September), and shares her posts across social media. Check out her website for all of her social media links, and of course all that she has to offer her readers! Be sure to sign up for her newsletter while you are there!
  • To see what's available on the web as far as the All Souls universe fandom, check our links page.
Lamia - John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) - PD-art-100
In this episode:
By the segment . . .
  • (00:15) Intro/TV NEWS!/Patreon sponsorship
  • (08:30) Discusser emails/Speakpipe - Thank you, Chloe, Barbara & Crystal
  • (18:45) Main discussion - Chapter 5 of The Book of Life. Sponsored by Sarah Dye
  • (1:19:22) Housekeeping - Thank you, Nadia, Sue & Crystal. Sponsored by Susanne Stevenson
  • (1:32:22) Save It For the Show - Month-old TV news! Sponsored by Shanon Milman Rodriguez
  • (1:39:32) Promo break - scroll down, or click here to get a hold of us and/or become a Discusser -- information on joining our Facebook group also located on that page.
  • (1:41:10) Last thoughts/Outro. 
Topic:  
Chapter 5, The Book of Life
  • Diana is experiencing what the head of the family does without the awe of the holder of the title. The result? Bitter!
  • Baldwin is doing all of the things that Philippe did as the head, but Baldwin doesn’t hold Diana’s regard like Philippe did.
  • Nathanial and Sophie are in Australia to stay with Agatha, and put on a good front for the Congregation.
  • Phoebe is backing Baldwin in his decisions.
  • Once again, busting into the rooms are NOT exclusive to Baldwin
  • Family pedigrees? Secrets?!
  • Sept-Tour has oubliettes…it was all the rage as a must have accessory in old-timey castles…
  • “Hi!”
  • That fancy vampire security!
  • Vampire law according to Godfrey
  • The answer is A SCION! Gallowglass (as always πŸ˜‘ ) spilled the beans
  • The lawyer Daemon is offended that no one wants to be the family lawyer!
  • The possibility of being a broke vampire. Not enticing!
  • Sire vs. Father
  • Rebel Marcus!
  • Matthew is kind of the voice of reason (what, what, WHAT?!)
  • THE ERASURE!
  • The “terrifying creature” was he terrifying to Diana in SON?
  • The “official” pedigree … Benjamin was disappeared.
  • The story of Benjamin in the “official” copy.
  • Disavowment of a vampire = spellbinding of a witch
  • Benjamin was trading in seeeecretssssss….
  • Why didn’t Matthew just kill him?! Matthew wanted him to suffer.
  • Say what you want about Benjamin, he thought and stayed alive…ala Philippe.
  • A change in the ARC to the final version (we explore after the chapter).
  • Bloodrage, Marcus was unaware!😳
  • Hamish doesn’t want to see what’s in front of him, despite the stories Matthew told him in his house in Scotland, long ago (well, not so long ago, but it feels like it!)
  • Bloodrage vampire were culled. Their kids too!
  • New Orleans! Poor Marcus.
  • Ysabeau tells her story … 
  • Philippe’s pretty version of the story was the one told previously
  • The blood rage first showed in Matthew
  • Ysabeau feels like people know about the blood rage…
  • The return of the vampire murders (in our minds!)
  • Phillipe’s official story…we wonder how many vampires just hushed about it out of fear from Philippe
  • The puzzle will get put together eventually.
  • A 6 month old killer! πŸ‘ΆπŸ”ͺ
  • Benjamin, the witch and the BABY! Pull up a chair for a story, Matthew.
  • The blunt version of the vampire baby’s story as told by Ysabeau...
  • The blame game begins. Sarah, surprisingly, calms the situation down.
  • New scatter plans…🧳
  • Matthew has been looking for a cure this whole time!πŸ§ͺ News to Diana! News to US!
  • Marcus thinks a scion will fix this mess…
  • Marcus has a proposal for Matthew…
  • FIN
An Easter egg lives in this episode!
Special Thanks:
  • Thank you to our Patron sponsors this episode: Sarah Dye, Susanne Stevenson and Shanon Milman Rodriguez
  • Special thanks . . . to all of our patrons; those of you who just joined us, and our veterans. Bless! To become a patron all you need to do is visit us at Patreon.com/DaemonsDiscuss and become a member. See what level tier you'd like to join us! All tier levels will receive access to our exclusive Daemons Discuss! The Aftershow podcast.
Informational links:
πŸ—£ To join our private, listener-only Facebook group, apply here → Join Daemonic Discussers The "word" is "F*cking Firedrake"

πŸ“š  To see/hear all of our chapter reviews, check out this list: Chapter Review Episodes

πŸ“Ί  TV show reviews? Go here A Discovery of Witches TV Reviews

🎧  To check out all of our episodes go here: Daemons Discuss! Full Episode List

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Take 72 - The One With the Congregation Revelation
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Until next time...



Credits/Copyright Information * Intro music: "Ghost Dance" (edited down to second chorus) by Kevin Macleod, licensed for use by Creative Commons.
*  Outro music: Rimsky-Korsakov - "Scheherazade Symphonic Suite for Orchestra Op.35 - IV. Allegro molto," Public domain/copyright-free.  
* All other music used is licensed via several different royalty-free sources (as are sound effects).
* "Save it for the Show" segment introduction voice-over by Devyn Grendell  
* Cover art (+ all variations associated w/ it): © Daemons Domain 
* The term "unofficial" is explained in our disclaimer located in Terms of Use - item 14.
* The Daemons Discuss podcast is hosted and produced by the owners (Angela, Jean and Valerie) of Daemons Domain and can also be found by entering the url http://www.DaemonsDiscuss.com in your browser, (listed on the various podcast syndicates like iTunes, Stitcher, etc.) which will redirect you back to the parent site, Daemons Domain.
* This podcast is intended for personal download/consumption.  Please see our Terms of Use; item 3.

* FTC: Our podcast episodes are solely sponsored by listeners via Patreon.
* Our episode titles are a loving tribute to the show "Friends" just 'cause we love Friends and - let's face it - it's easier! Here's how one of the show creators explains their reasoning:
Jeff Greenstein: "When Marta & David & Jeff & I did 'Dream On', we used to spend a lot of time thinking about titles, because they were on-screen at the top of each episode. On "Friends", we decided that was a waste of time. We figured, why not name each episode after the thing that people will ostensibly be talking about around the water-cooler the next day?"
This was a Daemon Production

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Thursday, August 6, 2020

Partying in Pompeii

If you've been following us at all, you know that the Daemons are suckers for a good museum. Our trip to Great Britain was no different, and when Angela discovered that "Pompeii: The Last Supper" would be at The Ashmolean, it went on our must do list! Featuring over 300 objects, it focused on the Pompeian's love of food and entertaining putting a unique spin on the objects displayed, which included actual food, literally frozen in time.

We found the following items especially compelling:

Romans loved snails long before escargot was a thing.
Bread just out of the oven.
Romans loved boar. Roasted, stewed, braised. They even had their own version of bacon called petaso.
Pompeii was known for its opulence and the wealth of its residents is obvious to this day. One way to put it on display was through the construction of elaborate gardens with water features.

This ornamental turtle spewed water as part of a larger fountain.
This valve was part of the plumbing system that supplied water to the elaborate fountains. Its design has not changed much over the passing centuries.

This mosaic from The House of Geometric Mosaics celebrated Pompeii's proximity to the sea and its love of sea life and seafood
This mosaic floor from The House of the Vestals has a fatalistic flair. Nothing says "Let's party!" quite like a skeleton bringing enough wine for the whole party!
Highly detailed, vivid frescoes are everywhere in Pompeii, and a number of them were on display. These were a few of the Lady Daemons' favorites:

Rabbit eating figs
Detail depicting a theatrical mask from a larger fresco found in the House of the Golden Bracelet
Europa and the Bull from the House of Jason (What, what, what?!)
A convivum aka "Girls Night In." The wine is flowing freely, and the husbands are out (probably at the brothel, being someone else's problem 😏)
Our first egg was none other that Hercules aka Philippe. He was so popular that the neighboring city was named Herculaneum. Legend has it that Hercules did battle with giants in the area and imprisoned them in the mountain. The volcanic activity was the giants trying to escape - or so said the humans.

Hercules depicted as a youth. This statute would be displayed in the larium.
The larium was typically off of the receiving area of the villa and  may have looked like this.
No, that's not the Fruit of the Loom guy (below) -- that's Bacchus, the God of wine keeping watch over the vineyards which grow along the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius! Assisting him was an agathosdaemon was a spirit (daemon) of the vineyards and grainfields in ancient Greek religion. The Romans also considered them companion spirits or muses. We're feeling pretty confident that is is also the inspiration for the name of our Daemon Queen, Agatha Wilson.


The agathosdaemon in snake form.
Detail - Bacchus and his panther
 Isis Fortuna protecting a man flanked by the agathodaemones - apparently Roman deities even kept a a look out during "private time". The inscription: CACATOR CAVE MALU[m] (‘shitter beware the evil [eye]’)

Speaking of the evil eye, this bronze statue of Apollo (below) from the House of Gaius Julius Polybius, had all three of us freaked out. But not as much as the Resin Lady of Oplontis. Her remains were preserved in resin down to the pins in her hair and the beads in her hand, along with the horrifying tragic energy of her final moments. Her sadness was palpable, and we wished her peace.


But it's not the Daemon way to close on such a spooky, somber note. We just need to point out that even museum curators have a cheeky 12 year old hiding inside. And they can't resist a good dick joke!


Combination oil lamp and wind chimes.
Informational links:
'Til next time!
xo, ~The Daemons

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