Monthly Archives: August 2017

‘Valley of Shadows’ Trailer – A werewolf film?

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the trailer for Valley of Shadows, a Scandinavian Gothic tale directed by Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen. From the trailer, it appears that the narrative follows a young boy whose community is plagued by a series of attacks on sheep … Continue reading

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Recording Dracula

I spent this morning engaged in a lengthy phone interview for a BBC World Service Programme on Dracula. The call lasted over an hour and a half. I was asked about my thoughts on first reading Dracula and if I … Continue reading

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Redeeming the Wolf: Something to Howl About #BeingHuman

Something to howl about ….on 18th November OGOM will seek to Redeem the Wolf  at the Being Human Festival!!! This is a free event held at the University of Hertfordshire. You should book through the Being Human website from September! … Continue reading

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Reading Lists: Urban Fantasy, Imaginary Cities, New YA, Women in SF & Fantasy

I’ve gathered together here four reading lists of interesting writing in the literature of the fantastic. The first, which ties in nicely with OGOM’s forthcoming conference The Urban Weird, is a guide by Chelsea Mueller to the genre of urban … Continue reading

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The Owl Service: 50 years

Around the time I was reading Brian Aldiss (who has just sadly died), I’d also discovered Alan Garner. The Owl Service, his fourth novel, is 50 years old today. The Owl Service is now what would be called Young Adult fiction and … Continue reading

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Brian Aldiss, RIP

It’s sad news that Brian Aldiss has died at the age of 92. Aldiss was one of the most consistently intelligent writers of science fiction/fantastic literature, always innovating. He played an important part in the rise of ‘New Wave’ SF … Continue reading

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CFP: OGOM & Supernatural Cities Present: The Urban Weird

To coincide with the eclipse here is the CFP for our next conference! It promises to eclipse all other events….it’s  cosmic! University of Hertfordshire, 6-7 April, 2018 The permanent link for the CFP, with a PDF version available, is here. … Continue reading

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What Happens to Werewolves During a Solar Eclipse

Following on from Sam’s brilliant post about the coming solar eclipse and Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’, I found myself wondering: What about the Werewolves? Will nobody think of the werewolves? Sure enough, a quick search on the … Continue reading

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The Dark Side of Studying Vampires

My daily Google search for the word ‘vampire’ brought up a rather disturbing article today. An academic, specialising in vampire studies, has been accused of tacitly encouraging blood drinking during his lectures. (The original story can be found in The Daily … Continue reading

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Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight: The Vampire Eclipse

You maybe surprised to know that serpents, dragons, jaguars, bats and wolves are all associated with the eclipse, according the Smithsonian Magazine’s What Folklore Tells us About the Eclipse.  I’ve long been aware of the myth of the wolf who swallows … Continue reading

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