Category Archives: Critical thoughts

Cultural Afterlives of Frankenstein

Posted on 26th August 2016 by William the Bloody

Great post by Megen de Bruin-Molé–Cultural Afterlives of Frankenstein–on why works last and the enduring nature of the Frankenstein myth, traced from Mary Shelley’s novel through its myriad descendants and adaptations.

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A Guide to Ancient Magic

Posted on 26th August 2016 by William the Bloody

A fascinating, though brief, article from the Smithsonian on ancient spells and curses from Sumeria, Greece, and Rome

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Fairy tale and the bizarre

Posted on 10th August 2016 by William the Bloody

A very stimulating essay here by Tobias Carroll, ‘Why we love weird fairy tales’, tracing the career of the unsettling imagery found in the original fairy tale–here, particularly Giambattista Basile’s seventeenth-century collection The Tale of Tales. Carroll then shows the … Continue reading →

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SF and Romance

Posted on 6th August 2016 by William the Bloody

The worlds of science fiction and romance may seem antithetical but, as in the encounter of Gothic with romance that generates paranormal romance, the romance genre insinuates its way into the, perhaps, masculine, rationalist world of SF. Here, Gail Carriger, … Continue reading →

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Soviet Communism and Technological Utopia

Posted on 6th August 2016 by William the Bloody

The Soviet version of communism was infused with optimism about technology as much as about social transformation. Soviet science fiction expresses this utopianism, and there’s some great artwork here; there’s an imaginative power to these images that goes beyond the … Continue reading →

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Film noir and the Gothic

Posted on 5th August 2016 by William the Bloody

In a fascinating article, ‘Gothic Cinema in the ‘40s: Doomed Romance and Murderous Melodrama‘, Samm Deighan explores the overlaps between horror, film noir, and women’s films of the 1940s, and finding the Gothic mode there. Deighan discusses well-known classics such … Continue reading →

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Buffy and Feminism

Posted on 5th August 2016 by William the Bloody

A good article here, ‘Buffy Summers: Third-Wave Feminist Icon’, on the feminist stance of the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

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Nineteenth-Century Women and Speculative Fiction

Posted on 5th August 2016 by William the Bloody

This is a fascinating and scholarly essay, ‘Cavendish’s Daughters: Speculative Fiction and Women’s History‘ by Jonathan Kearnes which traces fantastic fictions by women from Margaret Cavendish’s Blazing New World in the seventeenth century, through Frankenstein, then focusing on some little-known … Continue reading →

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Travels in Transylvania: Bram Stoker’s Ambiguous Legacy

Posted on 2nd July 2016 by Sam George

Last week I was in Romania at the University of Timisoara for the Beliefs and Behaviours in Education and Culture conference. My keynote was on the representation of Romanian folklore in British and Irish fictions of the undead. Stoker never travelled … Continue reading →

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Who’s Afraid of the Big, Black Cat?

Posted on 28th June 2016 by firekrank

On Saturday my partner and I adopted two kittens from Mitcham Cats Protection league. On our arrival we were asked if we had any preference to the appearance of the cats we were going to adopt. Our answer was no. … Continue reading →

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