Lovecraft and maybe even more of Clark Ashton Smith. Maybe this is just because of my constant saturation in this topic, but I seemed to notice some striking allusions, or at least nods, to the writings of H.P. But, as I read All Internal, I also felt that Hannum found a lot of influence and inspiration from the weird-fiction authors of the 1920s and 1930s. The topics I believe he is alluding to are front and center in modern times. Hannum’s writing style is certainly modern. Or in an even broader sense, humanity’s ability to fully comprehend and then influence decisions on reproduction in relation to the planet’s overall population and ability to sustain itself. Another important topic that seemed, to me, unavoidable when reading All Internal, is the question of women’s reproductive rights. Is the mind really telling the body what to do, or is the mind just noticing that the body is doing, without any ability to influence. Do we have free will or are we slaves to our ritualized patterns. But, this question is taken to its furthest extents. Hannum clearly points out the question of mind or body. One huge and recurring theme, for me, was the question of the soul. As I read through the story, I took note of various ideas arising, things that seemed to parallel Hannum’s narrative. But it is quite interesting to dig into the topics and scenarios presented, and wonder exactly how much more Hannum could be conveying. One could innocently read through this 100 +/- pages of text without taking any allegorical meanings or greater contexts into consideration. When you are able to consume a section of text, and then stop to think about its possible deeper meanings.Īs for deeper meanings, there is a lot to unpack here. But, any possible disdain for this situation aside, these short paragraphs really do make for a meaningful reading experience. A time when presidents make their case for policy in 280 characters or less. I find this to be an incredibly potent writing style in our current culture, where the average person consumes the majority of their news through headlines and talking points, not in depth articles and discussions. Scenes/chapters which may only last for 1 – 3 pages on average. Hannum’s writing style on All Internal makes use of quick snippets of information. Instead, I’d prefer to focus on the reasons why, and type of person that may enjoy this sort of story. So, I won’t be going into the actual storyline in any detail in this review. Not knowing what to expect next, or understanding the context in which something is happening adds a lot to the overall effect here. In this way, Hannum is able to blend together his passions for fine writing and cultural politics, highlighting his more academic side, with his loves for darker topics, previously explored through his musical projects and artwork.Īll Internal takes some pretty interesting twists and turns along the way. All Internal instead takes the horror/ sci-fi/ weird-fiction route, with a large helping of graphic (sexual and otherwise) detail along the way. But, Hannum doesn’t simply give us a standard tale of someone’s misfortunes. A story which takes a deep look, literally and through allegory at some of the darker elements of the age of social media, and the underbelly of video-clip internet porn and webcam modeling. Two years later, Hannum returns with his second novella, All Internal. It often raised feelings of nostalgia, yet there was a darkness that always lurked beneath the surface, creeping up through various events as the story progressed. Hannum’s first novella, Beneath the Remains, released in 2016 and focused on a young boy in Florida, as he dealt with the aftermath of his older brother’s disappearance. While all these projects are quite interesting to me, they all dance around the edges of dark ambient, and I’ve yet to properly cover one, though I have listened to and enjoyed all three of these named projects repeatedly. He’s also recently begun to release albums and perform solo as the power-electronics project Axebreaker. He recently released his debut as part of the Lynchian sort of darkish synth-pop group The Holy Circle on Annihilvs Power Electronix. Most interesting to me was his musical work as the singer/synth/electronics guy in the band Locrian. He’s involved in a number of different things around the music and art scene here, and so it was only a matter of time before we crossed paths. I briefly met Terence Hannum at the APEX Fest 2015 here in Baltimore, Maryland.
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