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- Pip Rippon's Curated Guide - Chapter six, part 2
Pip Rippon's Curated Guide - Chapter six, part 2
A new Postcard from The Dark Peak
Pip Rippon
May 01, 2024
Pip Rippon's Curated Guide - Chapter six, part 2
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.
Environment of The Dark Peak
The Barsoom series has been instrumental in my understanding of the world of The Dark Peak -- from an environmental point of view, as well as that of the denizens -- there are certain similarities which have helped me enormously.
Available from Project Gutenberg in various formats
Analogue technology, poisonous spores in the atmosphere and a treasure trove of wealth known as The Queen's Lair; this film breaths The Dark Peak.
Available on Amazon Prime Video
Maybe Valentine Michael Smith was a little like me, I think maybe has was. Whatever, this book has always helped me to grok the environment. Note that this is the unabridged version, the original release cut about a third of the content. Try and pick up the original version from a charity shop, or available from Amazon on Kindle, or as a Paperback
Early inspiration for the nascenti
Rather than the story itself, it is realising that the geographical and technical detail of the red planet makes it the primary character -- much like The Dark Peak is the primary character in this world.
Available from Amazon on Kindle, or as a Paperback
The Hinge and the illimitable cleavage
I'll have to admit that my knowledge of physics is woefully inadequate, quantum physics in particular -- and quantum gravity, I hadn't ever heard of, yet this book helped with explaining the mechanisms underlying the illimitable cleavage.
Available from Amazon on Kindle, or as a Paperback
Neighbouring cities occupying the same geographical space, unseeable and reachable only via political visa, International airspace, or breach. Beszel and Ul Qoma, as different and related as Hillsborough and Hellsborough.
Early inspiration for xaexs
The metaverse and a mind infecting neuro-linguistic virus could put this book in the fungal AI section above, but for me it was the realisation that the nam-shub of Enki was an ancient artefact not so dissimilar to the semagram of Milting.
The title short story of this anthology really helped me understand what the semagrams of Milting were, and indeed it is from that story that I purloined the name semagram -- an ancient method of communication and linguistics. The story was also made into the film Arrival.
Available from Amazon on Kindle, or as a Paperback
The Netherlands
Substance D causes irreversible brain damage, which helped me understand the power and sway that rockcrust has in The Dark Peak. PKD has always been a favourite author of mine, and his story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was adapted to become the seminal classic film Bladerunner -- both of which help me relate to the crosslands and the clowns. His story Second Variety (available as a free ebook from Project Gutenberg) is also something that always lurks at the back of my mind and has helped inform me of some of the stranger things here or hereabouts, symbiots in particular.
A Scanner Darkly is available from Amazon on Kindle, or as a Paperback
Nadsat is not the language of the Netherlanders, but their language is different to yours (most of what your read from me is translated), but that aside, the general feel of the novel isn't dissimilar to what you feel if you visit the crosslands. Like the film Propect, this book could appear in multiple categories, especially the culture of Hellsborough.
Available from Amazon on Kindle, or as a Paperback
In the crosslands, the leader of the Moors clan is a gnarly individual that goes by the name of Scarp Southey -- When I read this novel, the protagonist Gully Foyle, pretty much a disgusting savage, made me think of Scarp.
Available from Amazon on Kindle, or as a Paperback
The earth is covered with ash, it clogs the rivers and hides the sun. It is difficult to breathe and often impossible to see. Nights are dark beyond darkness and the days more gray then the one that came before.
Available from Amazon on Kindle, as a Paperback, or as a film of the same name
Early cyberspace (as it's now known) during one of the fastest technological transformations in human history, a peek into the parallel world of the crosslanders.
Available from Project Gutenberg in various formats, or as a Paperback here
I have already mentioned Prospect, but the analogue technology used in the film has very definite parallels devices I have seen out in the Nether lands, and the general feel of the film is almost like being there.
Available on Amazon Prime Video
Early inspiration for the xin
Like the end of chapter 5 of this curated guide -- Part 2 - the inconceivable -- this final insight into my understanding of the world of Hellsborough and The Dark Peak is, indeed, inconceivable. The Nether lands are poor, desperate and struggling, yet advanced technology is evident -- this title (both the book and the dramatisation) have helped me understand the relationship of the crosslands with the fungai.
Available from Amazon on Kindle, as a Paperback, Audiobook, or as a dramatised serialisation on Amazon Prime
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 :)