Monthly Archives: August 2016

Maggie Stiefvater live on line

Posted on 10th August 2016 by William the Bloody

The fabulous YA author Maggie Stiefvater is taking part in the SLJ Teen on-line conference alongside the author Meg Medina from 10.00 am – 5.00 pm EDT today–that’s 5 hours behind GMT, so it will begin at 4.00 pm in … Continue reading →

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Buffy singalong!

Posted on 10th August 2016 by William the Bloody

Devotees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will be aware of the many experiments with genre that the series carried out, most notably the musical episode ‘Once more with feeling’ (season 6, episode 7). The episode explores ideas of communication and … 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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Maggie Stiefvater in interview

Posted on 5th August 2016 by William the Bloody

The fabulous Maggie Stiefvater (author of the YA werewolf The Wolves of Mercy Falls series, which begins with the wonderful Shiver; of two faerie paranormal romances; and, more recently, the Raven King series) has been in the UK this week. … Continue reading →

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CFP: The Vampire in Literature, Culture and Film, San Diego, 12-15 April, 2017

Posted on 5th August 2016 by William the Bloody

A call for papers for a conference in San Diego on vampires. The co-chairs of the Vampire in Literature, Culture, and Film area—Dr. Philip Simpson of Eastern Florida State College and Mary Findley of Vermont Technical College—are soliciting papers, presentations, … Continue reading →

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Crossing genres in fantastic fiction – some new novels

Posted on 5th August 2016 by William the Bloody

I am fascinated by what emerges when genres meet, combine, come into conflict. Genres bring with them ways of looking at the world and fiction that doesn’t settle easily into any one genre can result in complex and subtle perspectives. … Continue reading →

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