Genghiz Khan meets modern music

By Gordon Rugg

Regular readers of this blog will know that my tastes include an occasional penchant for dark humour. In that spirit, today’s article is about Genghiz Khan in popular Western culture.

For some reason, he inspired not only a film so bad that it’s now a much-cherished classic (until you’ve seen John Wayne playing Genghiz Khan, you haven’t savoured the true depths of bad movies) but also a song which is legendary for its kitschiness even by Eurovision standards. That song is the topic of this article, though I’ve detoured slightly into a mention of Barbara Cartland towards the end. If you wish to read more, you know what sort of unhallowed ground you will be entering…

Sources for the original images are given at the end of this article

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Barbara Cartland meets H.P. Lovecraft, Episode 5

By Gordon Rugg

This article is the concluding part of a serial inspired by the concept of Dame Barbara Cartland writing with H.P. Lovecraft. In it, sentences from a Dame Barbara novel and from a Lovecraft short story have been stitched together into a startling new creation by an anonymous narrator. We have seen the two authors’ styles mesh seamlessly together in the previous episodes, but how will they handle the transition from depictions of anguished fear into the gentler climes of love?

The story so far…

In arguably the greatest love story since Twilight, the Earl of Rockbrook has been tempted by the wicked Lady Louise Welwyn. Convalescing in a nearby manor house after a riding accident, he falls in love with the beautiful Purilla, and asks her to marry him, so that they can return to his estate and live happily ever after. Will her response leave him as damaged emotionally as he was damaged physically by the fall? Or will she reveal a passion that matches his? What searing emotions will be revealed by her answer, and will the story end with the two living happily ever after, or will it have a twist of eldritch horror?