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- Pip Rippon's Curated Guide - Chapter six, part 1
Pip Rippon's Curated Guide - Chapter six, part 1
A new Postcard from The Dark Peak
Pip Rippon
April 24, 2024
Pip Rippon's Curated Guide - Chapter six, part 1
This is the sixth part of an updated version of my Curated Guide, which I first released around fifteen months ago. It was intended as a resource to help you (and me, to be honest) understand Hellsborough and The Dark Peak.
I try to explain a world on your doorstep. A world that you probably have no idea that exists: The unexplored parallel world of Sheffield, S6 – Hellsborough and The Dark Peak. I think that I now understand the place. When I say understand, what I mean is, that I can cope with it.
How can I learn more? - Further Reading and Watching
In trying to understand Hellsborough and The Dark Peak, I read and watch a lot of things: Books, articles, films, documentaries, blog posts, newsletters. Sometimes, you get an "Oh yeah!" moment, when things eventually, finally -- fall into place.
Here are some links that have helped in my research. Where possible, I have provided links to freely available material. Where not, or where the format demands it, I've used affiliate links. Rather than group titles by genre, I have chosen to categorise them by topics relevant to Hellsborough and The Dark Peak.
Culture in Hellsborough
Disturbing and unsettling glimpses into an improbable world, where omniscience, queer weather, synthetic jellyheads, bug eating and multiple organ implants are the everyday -- a familiar tune to Hellsborough.
Available from Amazon on Kindle, or as a Paperback
Winston Smith was a diary writer too. His insights into his circumstances have been insightful when considering dystopian aspects of The Dark Peak District Council (DPDC), exacids and The Nascenti.
Available from Planet eBooks in PDF, ePUB, MOBI, or as a Paperback here, or on CD
Early inspiration and understanding of a syncarid
A distant mountain range and an entirely new civilisation, where the author explores the culture, describing as best he can thoughts on birth, death, machines, food and money.
Available from Standard eBooks in ePUB and for Kindle or Kobo, or as a Paperback here
A slightly alternate world set during the cold war, full of the murk and strange powers.
Available from Amazon on Kindle.
Developments in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning combine to bring about profound societal changes; similar to Hellsborough, and insightful.
Available from Faded Page as an ePUB, Mobi or PDF, or as a Paperback here, or as an Audiobook
Fungal AI, the organic network, the hive mind, the humidity plant and psycmasks
AI learns from past data, and can only perpetuate and amplify previous behaviour, or in other words, if AI's masters are bad, AI will be too.
Available from Amazon on Kindle (other versions are available, eg. Paperback, but they don't feel like very good value)
Early inspiration and understanding of a morivarid
Fungi allowed plants to colonise the Earth, and all life grew from these fascinating and intoxicating extremophiles: "The divine within".
A deep dive into the world of biomimicry -- unique adaptations in the animal world that solve problems and help to explain some of the technological developments in Hellsborough and The Dark Peak.
Available on Amazon Prime Video
An amalgam of slogans, bits of conversation, advertising text, slices of songs, extracts from newspapers and general cultural detritus -- an insight into the world of the hive mind and wearing a psycmask.
Available from Amazon on Kindle, or as a Paperback
Evolution, extinction and the Denizens of the Hex
Observations of ant technology developed during the Cretaceous has been fundamental of my understanding of the technology of vehicles in Hellsborough, and the evolution of the world and species equally so.
There have been five mass extinctions of life on earth over the last 500 million years. As well as predicting that we are currently in the sixth, this book explores some fascinating evolutionary topics.
Available from Amazon on Kindle, or as a Paperback
Early inspiration and understanding of a mentiloth
Prepare to go down the rabbit hole. According to this series, aliens have been visiting the Earth for millions of years. It has certainly helped me understand Milting. Judge for yourself.
Available on Amazon Prime Video
A far reaching account of the evolution of humakind over the millennia: Two billion years and eighteen distinct human species, of which we are the first and most primitive.
Available from FeedBooks as an ePUB, or as a Paperback here
About Pip Rippon
Pip Rippon is an anthropologist and folklorist, who started learning about people and their stories at the University of Oxford, and later got a PhD from the University of Hallamshire, focusing on folklore.
Pip's career has been spent exploring how cultures and their stories affect us. Research has helped the understanding of different communities and how their stories can shape their world.
Outside of school, Pip wanted to connect what had been learnt in research with real life, to share stories that aren't often heard, and preserve cultural traditions. Pip aims to work with others to make the world a more connected and friendly place.
At the time of writing, Pip's other main project, is trying to get the bones out of the stories of a local character called Van Hallam, who (many, many years ago in his youth), spent a lot of time in The Dark Peak proper, and had encounters with many of the denizens that make this place so different to the off-world. You can read more here.
“Hillsborough junction is a gateway to a parallel universe” limited edition beermat
If you know anyone else that you think might find this interesting, then please forward this email to them :)
I have launched a new series of diary entries that I call “Pip Rippon — Stranger in a Strange Land”, in which I describe my struggle to survive as an immigrant in Hellsborough and The Dark Peak, and how I make ¢hits, and how you can use my knowledge to make money in the off-world. I think you’ll enjoy it, check it out here: Stranger in a Strange Land.
In other news, Hellsborough Chronicles book one “Dark Peak” is now available on Kindle and paperback.
If you can leave a review of Dark Peak on Amazon, I'd be more than grateful.
Hellsborough Chronicles book two “Darker Peak” is now being worked on — look out for early releases.
Cheers, until next time,
Pip :)