Author Archives: William the Bloody

About William the Bloody

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

SF and Romance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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Images of Witches

This is a very useful article, ‘Where do witches come from?’ on the iconography of witches through the ages, in literature but mainly painting (it was written to accompany an exhibition which has, unfortunately, long finished).

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CFP: Damsels in Redress: Women in Contemporary Fairy-Tale Reimaginings, Queen’s University Belfast, 7-8 April 2017

Reworkings of classic fairy tales is one of OGOM’s principal areas of research (and a favourite topic of my own). This conference at QU Belfast, Damsels in Redress: Women in Contemporary Fairy-Tale Reimaginings looks very exciting. I’ve posted about this … Continue reading

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