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Nina Antonia

@ninaantonia13.bsky.social
1.7K followers 908 following 3.7K posts

Author. Represented by Kevin Pocklington @ The North Literary Agency. 'With a host of Furious Fancies, Whereof I am commander. With a burning spear & a horse of air, To the wilderness I wander.' (Tom O' Bedlam) L.A.M.F

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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 10m
#Caturday Oft credited to 'Porte Veine' meaning 'Luck Bringer' in French, the artist behind this 1913 image remains unknown. The cat dominates the bed & is the subject of many theories including the premise that it is a spirt cat & must be appeased but that applies to all felines.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 18h
#Gothober 'The Vampire' December 1970. Mad Magazine. Artist Sergio Aragones.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
#Gothtober The delightful (but poisonous) Magpie Inkcap Mushrooms who at the end of their life cycle gracefully deliquesce. In the final stages they resemble the fungal equivalent of Victorian mourners.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
#AdoorableThursday Opening the hidden doorway in the library of Czocha Castle, Poland.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Family from South Wales enjoying a ride on the Ghost Train. Early 1970's. Picture by Robin Weaver.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
#WyrdWednesday Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) who ventured permanently to night's obsidian shore on this day, age 40. Sculpture by Stefanie Rocknak, Boston, Mass. An author never truly dies if their books are still read. 🐦‍⬛
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
'That time of the year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin'd choirs where late the sweet birds sang...' (Shakespeare Sonnet 73/Art Julius Von Klever, 1894)
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
#FairyTaleTuesday Bat costumes for men: Right & Wrong. 1869 chap in Santa's little helper pixie boots is sadly a stylistic fail in comparison to the whirling glitter bats featured in a rarely seen Edward Gorey Halloween TV special, 1978.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Has anyone done a study of 'Menacing Topiary'? (this doesn't include horror tropes mazes & labyrinths) These two green fiends look impassible. Edward Gorey was of course a master of sinister shrubbery but this is probably why it fell from favor.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
#OwlishMonday Not your usual classic owl but a charming contemporary perspective from Hiromi Nishizaka.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Apparently its scary media month. I never managed to get past the terrifying opening sequence of the original series of Dr Who. The theme music created by the legendary Delia Derbyshire & the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1963 was petrifying. But I was 5 years old at the time.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Hamlet in the Daily Mirror, 1906: Never mind the Yoricks or the Class of 2b or not 2b?
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
#SpookySunday My collection of book shelf ghosties, it took awhile to get them to line up in a disorderly manner. They are more active at night.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
#BookWormSat 'Listen with faint dry sound Like steps of passing ghosts, The leaves, frost-crisped, break from the trees And fall.' (Poem: Adelaide Cropsey/Art Jenny Gravette)
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
#Caturday Frank Kelley Freas, Weird Tales, 1990. Looks like one of those 'Woman into Cat' stories though am at a loss to explain the plate of biscuits resembling Malted Milk.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
'In the path of the Wind' by contemporary U.S artist, Andrea Kowch (b.1972) Apparently this style is known as 'Magical Realism' either way her work is timeless, a conversation between the primeval & the current.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
#HorrorWritersChat I don't need a musical prompt, I just listen to the screaming in my head.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Incredible architecture of Bucharest's 'Beer Wagon', a name that doesn't give it justice. 1965
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Beautiful painting by the British artist, John Shelley (1938-2020) which used to belong to Ray Bradbury.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
#FauxLore Goodbye Blackberry Way: What happens if you pick blackberries after Michaelmas (September 29) Allegedly when Satan was slung out of heaven by Archangel Michael, he crash landed into a blackberry bush, hence the belief that it is very unwise to pick them.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
#WyrdWednesday William Blake (1757-1827) was commissioned to do a series of illustrations based on the Biblical 'Book of Revelations' which is a visionary apocalyptic meltdown featuring 'The Great Dragon' depicted here with 'The Woman Clothed In The Sun'.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
As it's St. Michael the Archangel's day to whom I'm grateful for chasing away a few devils, here's the glorious Rawson memorial window, designed by Powell Brothers, 1899, which can be found in Holy Trinity church, Stockton.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Then & Now
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
#OwlishMonday Owls gone purple in Alexander Azemsha's illustrations for the Russian Fairytale 'Vasilia The Beautiful' 1986.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Genius. 1975.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
#SpookySunday 'The Palace Spirit' Romolo Tessari. 1914
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
#Caturday 'Toddy, Possim & Christine' by the great Gertrude Abercrombie, 1954.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Wonderful illustration of Ryhope Wood by contemporary artist Arun Purser who creates fantastical posters of unreal destinations.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
St. Mary's Church, Kilkenny. Unfortunately no photographer is credited.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
'The night has a thousand eyes, And the day but one Yet the light of the bright world dies With the dying sun The mind has a thousand eyes And the heart but one Yet the light of a whole life dies When love is done.' (Francis W. Bourdillon/ art Unknown Worlds)
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Strange alignment of the moon this evening as if it's practicing a high wire act on a cloud.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
#WyrdWednesday The Old Man of Corn West Country Rhyme 'He stands in the mist of the Devon rain A ghost made of straw & a rusted chain He watches the seasons turn & go With a coat of rags & a crown of crow No boots on his feet No pipe to smoke Just an old grey coat & a 🖤 of oak' art Ronald Lampitt
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
A Brief Guide
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Rather lovely dreamy image by the great illustrator of Russian Fairytales, Ivan Biliban (1871-1942)
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
'Time & the Fate of Man' the largest sun-dial ever made, designed by Paul Manship for the 1939 New York World Fair, which had a futuristic theme. I wonder what became of it afterwards?
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
#OwlishMonday Owl as the keeper of the way, advising 'The Little Ghost' illustrated by Russian artist, Nika Goltz ( 1925-2012)
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
#FolkloreSunday 'Autumn Reverie' (Felix Vallotton 1865-1925) Each season has a different quality of light but none is more beautiful & fleeting than that of the Autumn. Despite its radiance, its as if it knows its time is brief & like a gentle flame will perish by winter.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
#SpookySunday 'Sweet Sprites of Sleeptime' (Susan Beatrice Pearse 1878-1980) One of those illustrations that are meant to be cute and cozy but are inadvertently creepy.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
#Caturday The ultimate cat painting? 'The Cat's Apotheosis' by Swiss artist, illustrator & printmaker, Theophile Steinlen (1859-1952) who was rather obsessed by felines.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
He's just a stereotype-writer.....
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
'The Bohemian Magazine' 1907. Please reserve a copy and I'll time travel to collect it.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
It's impossible to think of modern utility companies being creative or exuding warmth, like this 1932 illustration from 'Telephone News.' Utility branding today uses the graphics of corporate dominance so that we have no choice but to submit or face disconnection.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
There are a great many editions of Daphne Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' featuring enticing cover artwork but this Polish copy from 1958 by Jan Mlodezniec overrides gloomy romanticism for modernistic strange.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
#WyrdWednesday Born in Hungary photographer Kati Horna 1912-2000 acquired Mexican citizenship & worked alongside Leonora Carrington & Remedios Varo. In her day, Horna was well respected for her images of women caught in wars they didn't create. Why Horna isn't as lauded as Lee Miller is a mystery.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Poor proto-Spiderboy giving it all he's got to an 'am I bothered' NYC crowd, 1950's.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
R.I.P Cheetah Chrome (1955-2026) R.I.P Stiv Bators (1949-1990) & also R.I.P to Marcia Resnick (1950-2025) 🖤Cheetah & Stiv were like living cartoons & if it hadn't been for the likes of photographer Marcia Resnick, these fleeting fantastic moments wouldn't have been captured.
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
#OwlishMonday Ohara Kason, 1915
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Brittany's 'Night Washers' are dangerous water spirits who like the 'Banshee' are an amalgamation of ghost & faerie. They appeal to passers-by to help them wash the linen of the dead. If refused, the 'Night Washers' drag them into the water & break their arms so that they drown. #SpookySunday
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Polish Film Poster for Roger Corman's 'The Tomb of Ligeia' 1964
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Nina Antonia @ninaantonia13.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
#Caturday It's Cat & Witch season once again. This cartoon by the great Ronald Searle of 'Advisory Witches' for the series 'Bewitched' was featured in the 1966 edition of TV Guide.
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