Author Archives: William the Bloody

About William the Bloody

Cat lover. 18C scholar on the dialogue and novel. Co-convenor OGOM Project

Tropical Vampires

There’s a special issue, Tropical Liminal: Urban Vampires and Other Blood-Sucking Monstrosities of the online journal eTropic: Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics, 16.1 (2017), devoted to tropical monsters including werewolves and vampires. Some excellent articles here.

Posted in Books and Articles, Critical thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

CFP: Gothic Style(s), Gothic Substance: Gothic Manchester Festival Conference, MMU, 28 October 2017

Gothic Manchester Festival Conference 2017 Saturday 28 October 2017 Call for Papers Gothic Style(s), Gothic Substance After the great success of last year’s Gothic North conference, our attention turns this year to the topic of Gothic Style(s). At the start … Continue reading

Posted in CFP (Conferences) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Images of Witches

Some excellent articles on witches today. First, Chloe Buckley, in ‘Hag, temptress or feminist icon? The witch in popular culture‘, looks at images of witches in popular culture, both positive and disparaging. She notes the contemporary feminist rehabilitation of the … Continue reading

Posted in Critical thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fairy Tales and Medieval Latin Literature

There’s a new book from the University of Michigan Press by Jan M. Ziolkowski, Fairy Tales from Before Fairy Tales: The Medieval Latin Past of Wonderful Lies which traces the connections between the classic tales of Grimm, Andersen, and so on, and … Continue reading

Posted in Books and Articles | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Art project: Martin O’Brien: For The Dead Travel Fast

A great opportunity here for artists who have Undead affinities with Martin O’Brien and the For The Dead Travel Fast project, with funded workshops and visits to Dracula-related sites in Whitby and Transylvania. This project will take 5 artists on … Continue reading

Posted in Events, Jobs | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Postmillennial Vampire

Congratulations to Dr Sue Chaplin of Leeds Beckett University on her new book, The Postmillennial Vampire: Power, Sacrifice and Simulation in True Blood, Twilight and Other Contemporary Narratives, out now from Palgrave Macmillan. This book explores the contemporary figure of … Continue reading

Posted in Books and Articles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Fairy Tale Pathology

To my mind, this advice by Sandhya Raghavan on ‘6 famous fairy tales you should never let your child read‘ seems like parody; these readings, if serious, are reductive, mechanistic, and unimaginative. Yet the alleged harmful effects of fairy tales … Continue reading

Posted in Critical thoughts | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Edward Gorey

A very interesting essay by Gabrielle Bellot on Edward Gorey, artist and narrator of dark Gothic humour.

Posted in Critical thoughts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Ursula Le Guinn, The Left Hand of Darkness

One of the most important science fiction novels, Ursula Le Guinn’s  The Left Hand of Darkness is to be televised. The novel is a profound and moving exploration of the fluidity of gender; it’s also beautifully written, which is rare … Continue reading

Posted in News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Obscure Cities

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

Posted in Books and Articles | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment