Category Archives: Books and Articles

The Obscure Cities

Posted on 11th May 2017 by William the Bloody

These illustrations from François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters’s series of graphic novels, Les Cités Obscures depict a marvellous steampunk-ish parallel world that I hope you find delightful. Thanks to the Messy Nessy Cabinet of Chic Curiosities website, which is full of treats … Continue reading →

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Red Riding Hood and Illustrations

Posted on 11th May 2017 by William the Bloody

Pook Press are a small independent publisher who do some lovely editions of fairy tales and classic children’s literature. Every fortnight, they post a different fairy tale on their blog; this is Perrault’s very familiar version of ‘Red Riding Hood‘, … Continue reading →

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Jack Zipes on the Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Posted on 11th May 2017 by William the Bloody

The renowned fairy tale critic Jack Zipes has a new book out on the diverse manifestations of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice motif in folklore and literature, from Lucian and Ovid, through the Grimms, to Harry Potter. There’s a thought-provoking interview with … Continue reading →

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Divine Horror: Essays on the Cinematic Battle Between the Sacred and the Diabolical

Posted on 10th May 2017 by William the Bloody

There’s a new collection announced from McFarland, Divine Horror: Essays on the Cinematic Battle Between the Sacred and the Diabolical, edited by Cynthia J. Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper. It looks very promising. From Rosemary’s Baby (1968) to The … Continue reading →

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100 Must-read Books about Witches

Posted on 22nd April 2017 by William the Bloody

S. Zainab Williams has compiled a great reading list here on witches in fiction.

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Wif-Wolves and Feminists

Posted on 19th February 2017 by firekrank

On Friday, The Conversation published an excellent essay about feminism and werewolves, ‘Friday essay: the female werewolf and her shaggy suffragette sisters’, by Jazmina Cininas. (If you’re wondering why I used ‘wif-wolves’ in my title read this article ‘Fun with Etymology – … Continue reading →

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Interview with Anne Rice

Posted on 15th February 2017 by firekrank

This is an interesting interview with Anne Rice from Nerdist about Interview with the Vampire (1976) and her erotica series, Sleeping Beauty. 

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Steampunk and Neo-Victorianism

Posted on 30th November 2016 by William the Bloody

The rapid interbreeding of genres around fantastic literature in general but particularly (and this has been my focus) with YA fantasy has found Neo-Victorian/Steampunk in bed with paranormal romance; I’m hoping to write about a couple of novels with this … Continue reading →

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Fairy Tales, feminism, and strangeness

Posted on 28th November 2016 by William the Bloody

A handful of interesting items on fairy tale here. First, a very scholarly but readable and fascinating account of the classic English fairy tale, ‘Mr Fox’ (a Bluebeard variant). Then, there’s a review, ‘A Dwarf Becomes a Wolf Girl in … Continue reading →

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Dorian Gray as Evil Essex Werewolf

Posted on 22nd November 2016 by Sam George

Just when my research has turned to English werewolves this comes along. Thanks to Kaja for alerting me to this wacky wilderness Wilde/werewolf mash up. My first thoughts are what is Dorian doing in Epping Forest he is such an … Continue reading →

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