6 Comments

Ah, fantastic. I wait 6 weeks to have the time, space and wifi to catch up on some good Substacks and then two ghost cocks come along at once.

I would say 'keep it up', but...

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ha! thanks so much for laughing along. i was worried it might be too much as i was writing it—but i couldn't resist. and thank you very much for the restack!

i heard from Jay that you passed within a few hours of my home while you were on your American Tour. i'm disappointed to have missed you this time, and very much hoping you'll be back again soon. everything you're doing is tremendous and i would love to take one of your workshops in person.

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Back next year mid April to Mid June. 4 weeks east coast, 4 west. HMU next spring.

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Apr 25, 2023Liked by R. G. Miga

This is phasmatastic...

...I'll see myself out.

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was it intentional that you precisely replicated Evangeline's character voice for the Ghost Cock exchange? it only heightens the comedy to imagine her in the lead role there.

this is a wonderful explanation and a novel concept. the purposeful play of tension between "phasmatopia's" linguistic roots feels just right; it absolutely is useful to have to square these kinds of gentle contractions, moreso when stepping outside the borders of logic and consensus. i've been fond of aidan wachter's term "the field" to describe this outside-area, but you aren't wrong that it evokes the idea of something a fair bit *emptier,* or more desolate, than that of a -topia. maybe, rather than building administration and trade as humans do, the nature of the phasmata is to build upon themselves and each other: cities of rockfalls and log-jams, terracing untamed spiritual landscapes. or that's the rough image that comes to my mind, anyway.

can't wait to see you do more work investigating this concept. great to be here for the grand unveiling!

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honestly, i was picturing Nick Frost in drag, but i like your version too :)

your imagery is wonderful too—almost like a coral colony. i think we tend to pare down our imagination of what a phasmatopia would be like, to keep it at a human scale: a couple of lonely ghosts in one haunted house; a handful of the Good Folk out in the woods; maybe, occasionally, a stray cryptid. much more interesting to think of it all layered over and intermingled, with varying levels of awareness concerning the human landscape. Miyazaki gets this really right in his movies.

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