Samantha has been going on about Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus for months, so I finally got around to reading it. It is fantastic. There will be obvious comparisons to Geek Love, to Tim Burton’s work back before he sucked, and to Neil Gaiman, but the book manages to take in all of those influence without becoming trite or genre or predictable. It is a fairy tale and a love story, and it is truly enchanting.

It will make you want a red scarf.

The real question is, which definition should Haute Macabre sponsor?

{ad#post ad image]

Really, Givenchy? Because we all want to smell like the brutally murdered? Even for a site that calls itself Haute Macabre, that’s just creepy.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may know that I am fascinated by prosthetic legs. From old antique ones to Alexander McQueen’s hand-carved wooden boots, there is something about prostheses that screams to me of a post-biological future. From the first time I saw the Flex-Foot Cheetah and realized that prostheses could be faster than real legs, to waking up hung over on Samantha’s couch to the sight of her hairless cat dragging Amina Munster’s tattooed showpiece across the living room floor, from pirates to cyborgs, I love the idea of being able to change your body to suit your wants and needs.

If your wants include high heels and you happen to be short a foot, science has finally caught up to fashion. With adjustable arches and attachable heels in a range of heights, and a variety of creative “skins”, the next generation of prostheses kicks ass.

Errr…  does the phrase “Butt Rogers” mean anything to you? I don’t often cover super-duper steampunk stuff, but this time around I just had to share. Lady Clankington’s  Cabinet of Carnal Curiosities produces “Infernal Devices” you could get away with wearing to your next Steam Punk Tea Party. Assuming you washed them first.  Via Unplggd.