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Gavin L. O'Keefe

@groonster

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Artist, writer, editor, etc. Fascinated by music, beauty, books, and the mysteries of the universe.

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Hola, real life Kilgore Trout here! How’s it going? Look at that cover! What a beaut! The officially official @ramble_house_ @occluded_books Zoidoid release is almost here! So set your influencing machines to ready! Soon all will be able to read the heirloom and travel into the heart of the Air Loom!

Front cover art by @qualien_
Back cover art by @groonster
Translator’s intro by @roychristopher43 by @groonster

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6 days ago

Get ready, my lovelies. Edmund Snell’s The Sound Machine is almost here. by @groonster

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a month ago

The Dirges of Maldoror is your new favorite book! I promise you! Bless @groonster for his masterful translation! And bless those illustrations! by @groonster

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2 months ago

It’s a work of weird horror that predated H.P. Lovecraft, and was deeply admired by same. But it’s always had an odd thing about it. It starts out with four cracking creepy tales of bizarre occurance and horrible circumstance: “The Repairer of Reputations,” “The Mask,” “In The Court of The Dragon” and “The Yellow Sign,” mostly unrelated but tied together by an evil play, the titular “The King in Yellow,” that causes madness in those who read it. But the fifth story, “The Demoiselle d’Ys,” is only a romance with a supernatural element, and the remaining stories are mostly traditional romances, quite the letdown from those expecting more of the style of the first half. Our little contribution to this classic work is to reverse the order of the stories: it begins with the romances, then with “The Yellow Sign” it starts to get WEIRD, concluding in the terrific unreliable narrator tale “The Repairer of Reputations.”

Not only did Lovecraft love it, he and others in his literary circle included references to The King in Yellow in their own work, and continued to be referenced long after, from Marion Zimmer Bradley to Stephen King, perhaps most recently throughout the whole first season of HBO’s True Detective. Give it a shot, and soon you too will be asking people, “Have you seen the Yellow Sign?”

Cover by @groonster
Go to Ramblehouse.com for more info by @groonster

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4 months ago

My Carrollian bookshelves as of 7th June 2026.
#lewiscarroll #bookcollector by @groonster

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4 months ago

‘Autonomic Love’. Photographic portrait of several dummies. © 2026 PD.
#mannequin #shopfittings #mannequins #dummies #simulacra #autons by @groonster

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4 months ago

👧🏼🐰🐛⚛️ Alice in Wonderland – Atomic Colour Edition irradiated by Gavin L. O’Keefe @groonster

This is my *second* post about this apocalyptic Alice, rich in hidden references:

1: The famous American slogan “Duck & Cover”, the Civil Defense advice meant to protect yourself from the effects of an atomic explosion 💥☢️

2: Tea-Party: March Hare is modelled on Albrecht Dürer’s "Young Hare" of 1502 🐇
Dormouse sits by the arm of the Hatter 🎩
Above is a tea tree, native Australian Melaleuca, whose oil is medicinal.
Its “T”-shaped leaves spell out the joke.
A marijuana leaf is visible, & “tea” was once jive slang for cannabis 🌿

3: Dürer’s 🐇

4: Caterpillar is very Freudian, if you look closely.
He blows smoke which forms an atomic mushroom cloud ☁️⚛️
The hallucinatory atmosphere suggests he is smoking a mind-altering substance.

5: Fish Footman is a real fish rather than someone’s head 🐟
Frog Footman is a Frogman 🤿 with snorkel, scuba tanks, mask & flippers.

6: Cheshire Cat disappears perfectly behind the leaves 🌿 a masterclass in camouflage.

7: The Painters gleefully turn the roses into a paintball battlefield 🫟

8: Behind Gryphon & Mock Turtle the sky is irradiated by the hydrogen bomb test Castle Bravo, detonated in the Marshall Islands by the USA in 1954 ☢️
Mock Turtle is an artificial creature whose carapace is a transparent geodesic dome revealing intricate mechanical workings 🐢

9: The 1958 film poster "The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" 🎬

10: Alice begins to grow in the courtroom, causing havoc, a tribute to the poster above.

11: White Rabbit depresses the plunger to ignite dynamite & an atom bomb 💣 declaring “Je suis désolate,” a bilingual pun merging the French “Je suis désolé” with his eternal cry of being late.

12: As the bomb explodes, the enraged cards rise to confront Alice in atomic conflagration ♠️♥️♦️♣️
Tiny red sparks network through the mushroom cloud.
At its core sits the Ace of Hearts, AliCE, her own heart forming the centre of the blast ❤️⚛️

13: The cloud of cards falls in their respective suits like radioactive fallout ☢️
Their arrangement forms a skull 💀 descending upon Alice’s prone body, beauty reorganised into death

☠️ by @groonster

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7 months ago

"𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 ‘𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴’. [...] 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴: 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 (𝘏2𝘖), 𝘚𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘊𝘩𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦 (𝘕𝘢𝘊𝘭) 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘊𝘩𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦 (𝘒𝘊𝘭) - 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴." - Gavin O'Keefe (@groonster)

If you want to see more details about this book, check out my previous post!

📷 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Atomic Colour Edition (2026)
Illustrator: Gavin O'Keefe (@groonster)
Publisher: Lulu
Language: English
Paperback
ISBN: n/a

This magnificent book can be yours - just follow those easy steps:

1️⃣ Visit www.lulu.com

2️⃣ Click on “Bookstore” in the top menu

3️⃣ Search for: Atomic Colour Edition by @groonster

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8 months ago

“𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 - 𝘈𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘜𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.”

Who would have thought that one artist could create not one, not two, but three distinct visions of Alice? Believe it or not, Gavin O'Keefe (@groonster) did it spectacularly! While two black-and-white editions were printed in the past, I am now honoured to present the 'Atomic Colour Edition'!

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but here’s a hint: the entire world is set against the backdrop of the Cold War. You’ll find everything from atomic bomb, physics and astronomy to mass-produced appliances and retro consumer goods.

And can we talk about these animals? There's a fluffy Schrödinger’s Cheshire Cat and an incredibly handsome 'good boy' Toby 🐶 (the baby of @semperluxus). You can expect plenty more creatures inside. To tease you just a bit: keep an eye out for aliens in the kitchen, beautifully detailed (and deadly!) atomic fallout, and Alice being spaghettified by a Rabbit Black Hole!

The book is packed with symbols, references and pastiches. Some are obvious, while others are hidden gems. My personal favorite is the 'huge' Alice - a brilliant tribute to the iconic Attack of the 50 Foot Woman poster.

On a personal note, I have to boast just a little: my own drawing style (@orankiart) served as an inspiration for a few of Gavin’s illustrations! You can spot the influence in 'Alice-Ophelia' floating in the water and half of Alice’s crying face. I am incredibly honoured and grateful for that. 🙏❤️

If you want to see it for yourself, you can order the book following these easy steps:

1️⃣ Visit www.lulu.com

2️⃣ Click on “Bookstore” in the top menu

3️⃣ Search for: Atomic Colour Edition

And do it now, ok? 😉 You won't regret it!

⏰⏰⏰Wait until tomorrow to see the full animation!⏰⏰⏰

📷 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Atomic Colour Edition (2026)
Illustrator: Gavin O'Keefe (@groonster)
Publisher: Lulu
Language: English
Paperback
ISBN: n/a by @groonster

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8 months ago

👧🏼🐰🕳️⚛️ Alice in Wonderland – Atomic Colour Edition irradiated by Gavin L. O’Keefe @groonster, printed by Lulu in 2026

The marvelous Australian 🦘 artist Gavin O’Keefe has illustrated Alice in three completely different versions:

1990: Ornate Baroque in black & white
2010: Modern Gothic in black & white
2026: Atomic Retro in colour

I showed his earlier books on Instagram, & @kidsbookexplorer wrote superb articles about them on her blog.

This newest colour version is very intriguing, as Alice falls through a black hole 🕳️ into a Wonderland irradiated by:

☢️ the Cold War
⚛️ the Atomic Bomb
🔭 Physics & Astronomy
📺 the 1950s: electrical appliances & consumer goods
.

🎨 There are over 60 drawings in colour pencils, acrylic paints, marker pens, colour ballpoint pens & black ink
.

1: Cover: can you figure out the signs? ☢️

2: The White Rabbit’s rushing body is marked with red streaks 🔴, like velocity trails - a nod to astronomical red shift, where light stretches toward red as objects recede into the expanding universe 🌌

3: Alice is pulled into the Black Hole 🕳️ with butterflies, plants & flowers

4: Alice falls through a gravity-bending space where planets, playing cards & 1950s relics swirl like a private universe

5: Alice grows after eating the cake; the atomic elements revolving around her declare themselves responsible for the metamorphosis: “Ate Me!” ⚛️

6: Rabbit holds his gloves & an electric fan whose revolving blades are configured like an atomic radiation warning symbol ☢️

7: Pool of Tears echoes @orankiart’s signature patterns 🎨 as Alice becomes Botticelli’s Venus on a shell 🐚 with a sail for speed

8: Alice grows in Rabbit's house.
A television 📺 shows Walt Disney’s animated 1951 film version of Alice.
The antennae atop the television are called “rabbit’s ears".

9: Alice’s giant hand frightens the Rabbit.
The iron door leads to an atomic fall-out shelter marked with the Civil Defense symbol.
During the 1950s & 1960s many American households installed such shelters.

10: Instead of Bill the Lizard, another type of bill is shown 📃

11: The puppy is my own Toby 🐶

In my next post I will show the rest of this fascinating book.

⚛️ by @groonster

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8 months ago

‘Muchness’ rediscovered

Preserved in the Burstein Collection archives, this remarkable drawing by Gavin O’Keefe has resurfaced after many years. Mark Burstein, its custodian, shared it with me, and together with Gavin we decided to celebrate this moment of muchness.

As Gavin wrote: “How amazing to see my drawing of a ‘Muchness’ after so many years! I had honestly forgotten I’d drawn it... Obviously this is a ‘machine’ incorporating ‘M’ elements: mountain, music, moon, mouth, and any other ‘m’s the viewer can discern.”

In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Dormouse says the three sisters in the well “drew all manner of things beginning with an M” including “mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness.” Carroll turns this phrase into a paradox: a drawing of sameness itself, an image of what cannot be pictured.

O’Keefe’s vision transforms that impossible idea into a

Magnetic Meditation of Magic Meanings,
a Mechanical Madness of Matter and Mind,
a Mirror Merging Myth and Mystery,
turning all into a Mathemagic Metamorphosis.

The word “muchness” later reappeared in Tim Burton’s film, when the Mad Hatter tells Alice she has “lost her muchness”: a symbol of creative vitality, courage, and selfhood.

Gavin O’Keefe’s drawing captures that spirit: a mechanical, metamorphic, and mysterious muchness.

Gavin O’Keefe is an artist, writer, and lifelong Carrollian who has illustrated Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland three times: The GO Alice (1990), The Alice Books (2010), and a forthcoming full-color edition expanding the emotional and cultural depth of his vision.

Follow him on Instagram: @groonster by @groonster

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a year ago

I received this beautiful gift for my birthday from @petals_petals1 and I am almost speechless with appreciation…but not so much that I can’t say how grateful I am for such an amazing present.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Charles Van Sandwyk (Folio Society, 2022). Gilt-&-black decorated red cloth boards with colour plate on front board. Pictorial endpapers show a map of Wonderland. Colour frontispiece and title-page; colour decorated chapter initial letters, full-page colour plates and many black-&-white illustrations. Housed in a slipcase with a printed pattern repeating an illustration of the White Rabbit’s pocket watch.

It’s a pleasure to hold, then open, then peruse page by page such a well-crafted modern book. The Folio Society has always prided itself on tastefully-produced books and this is a fine example of a volume that ticks every box. The illustrator has created numerous spirited illustrations that capture the essence of the story and the designer and publisher have incorporated them into this lovely book. It proves what can be done when the right publisher finds the right illustrator, and vice versa.

Thank you Petal, Madam Ziva and Mrs. Chunky for enhancing my collection with such a gem.

#FolioSociety #LewisCarroll #CharlesVanSandwyk #AliceInWonderland #IllustratedBooks by @groonster

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a year ago