Hunting Cthulhu

Another Famous Painting with an SF Title:

Hunting Cthulhu by Hokusai

As an observer will note, the hideous, gigantic, cosmic entity is nowhere to be seen in the actual painting, having disappeared below the whitecaps moments before, leaving the enormous wave in its wake.

One wonders what the intrepid hunters in the boats plan to do if they manage to catch the Great Old One. No doubt it will form the basis for a truly epic haiku.

(Of course it’s actually The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the famous woodblock printing by the Japanese artist Hokusai, created sometime between 1830 and 1833. But what else could be causing that wave that dwarfs Mount Fuji?)

Dante & Virgil Encounter the Shapeshifters

Continuing the exploration of Famous Paintings with SF titles, we discover:

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s Dante & Virgil Encounter the Shapeshifters

In a little-known side adventure, the Italian poet Dante encounters three savage beasts deep in a forest. Dante then meets the ancient poet Virgil, who offers to be his guide through Purgatory and Hell. The beasts then reveal themselves to be aliens from the planet Zorg, who try to talk Dante out of this whole silly journey through Hell business, inviting him instead to come back to their mothership and join in the fun of buzzing primitive planets. Not trusting the aliens, eventually the poets ditch the shapeshifters by distracting them with raw meat and continue on their way.

(Okay, it’s actually just titled Dante & Virgil and was painted in 1859, but I think my story is better.)