November 20, 2025
ProtFiSIG Meeting: Bridge Contest Discussion with Cosmic Horror and Liminal Space Analysis
Participants: suspencer_nit, sachbenny, randylubin, thewanderingeditor, mercerlain, _vgr, maertia
The ProtFiSIG group convened to discuss the Protocol Institute's bridge contest, exploring how bridges function as metaphors and allegories in fiction. The discussion centered on liminal spaces, flows of different kinds, and how bridges communicate ideas. The group examined cosmic horror as a primary lens, referencing Lovecraft's work and discussing how weirdness functions narratively—particularly the tension between starting with mundane elements and gradually revealing strangeness versus beginning with elevated cosmic dread. Key texts discussed included "The Music of Erich Zann" by Lovecraft and "Hinterlands" by William Gibson.
Participants analyzed how Lovecraft's longer stories often devolve from cosmic horror into surreal magic realism, noting that resolutions sometimes appear across multiple connected stories rather than within single narratives. The group explored how cosmic horror typically ends with protagonists at existential edges—either succumbing or escaping permanently changed. Mark Fisher's work on the weird and eerie was cited as relevant inspiration. The discussion also touched on how different genres handle bridging mechanics, from portal fiction to character transitions, with references to contemporary works like Rick and Morty alongside classic television like Sliders.
- Weirdness grounded in mundanity can build reader trust differently than Lovecraftian elevation of the indescribable—starting ordinary and revealing strangeness allows readers to believe they'll eventually understand what's happening.
- Lovecraft's longer stories often shift from cosmic horror into surreal magic realism, with resolutions sometimes appearing in companion stories rather than the original narrative, creating an interesting narrative fragmentation.
- Cosmic horror's most effective endings place protagonists at an abyss's edge—either sinking into it or escaping traumatized and forever changed—rather than providing complete resolution.
- The Hindu proverb 'A washerman's dog belongs neither at home nor at the riverbank' encapsulates the liminal bridge concept perfectly, applicable to both literal and metaphorical threshold spaces in fiction.