Ask Lemmy

27274 readers

2157 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Help me ID a book from a hazy 1980s childhood memory (self.asklemmy)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by wjrii to c/asklemmy

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

As a child, we had a book of scary stories that included some absolutely ghastly but entrancing pen-and-ink art. I'm 99% sure they're not "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark". I don't remember much, but a few things stuck with me:

a picture of a diver in an old-timey deep sea diving suit and maybe a sea-witch type character draped in seaweed.
at least one really creepy drawing of a willow tree
one or more of the pictures also involved a classically gothic cliffside along the sea.
I want to say the binding was green or teal
no dust jacket that I recall, but it could have been missing
as a child, it struck me as old but not ancient, so I'm guessing it was from the late 60s or early 70s maybe
my parents let me read it, and they were Mormons and frankly not really readers, so I'm guessing it was sort of vaguely considered age appropriate in those days if parents didn't look too close.

Style-wise, as I recall it kind of split the difference between Edward Gorey (thanks, @[email protected] for unearthing my nightmare fuel) and the semi-famous Darth Maul concept art from Iain McCaig. I have downloaded the first two volumes of SStTitD, as they are technically old enough to be the ones, but while they're definitely in the same milieu they're not what I'm thinking of. The art in this had heavier linework and IIRC used pen-and-ink crosshatching instead of shading; I also can't find any images in those two that hit me as "THAT'S IT!".

This could absolutely be a wild goose chase down memory lane, but any suggestions?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] wjrii 13 points 3 months ago

I'm not willing to commit, but I can't dismiss this one out of hand. I will need to track down a copy and see if anything gives me that AHA! moment.

Thanks!