Author Archives: William the Bloody

About William the Bloody

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

YA Fiction and Style

Posted on 14th May 2016 by William the Bloody

Too many YA novels, more so, I suspect, in the very commercial realm of paranormal romance, are let down by their style–even among the most interesting and complex ones. Too often, these fictions are narrated in the first person and … Continue reading →

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Review: Katherine Langrish, Seven Miles of Steel Thistles

Posted on 14th May 2016 by William the Bloody

Nicholas Lezard in The Guardian reviews here a collection of essays on the fairy tale, Seven Miles of Steel Thistles, by the folklorist Katherine Langrish. It sounds a fascinating book, covering tales from the English ‘Mr Fox’, Irish tales (her title … Continue reading →

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Gargoyle Romance and Capture Fantasy

Posted on 13th May 2016 by William the Bloody

The world of paranormal romance is wide and strange and generically multifarious. Human beings engage erotically with almost every monster the psyche has conjured up, even those where consummation seems somewhat impractical–ghosts, mermen, and zombies, for example. Some of the … Continue reading →

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Terry Pratchett Symposium, Dublin City University, 28 May 2016

Posted on 13th May 2016 by William the Bloody

The CFP for this symposium on Terry Pratchett has closed now–I’m not sure whether we saw it and posted it. But it still looks to be a brilliant event and well worth attending.

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Contemporary Gothic Study Day, Lancaster University, 20 May 2016

Posted on 11th May 2016 by William the Bloody

This looks like a brilliant day on contemporary Gothic at Lancaster University, organised by Catherine Spooner’s Gothic scholars and featuring Emma McEvoy (University of Westminster) and the award-winning novelist Andrew Michael Hurley. In addition, there are papers on a wide … Continue reading →

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OGOM Newsletter May 2016

Posted on 11th May 2016 by William the Bloody

Dear OGOM followers, We hope you’re all well. We have quite a few news items. First of all, OGOM’s first book, ‘Open Graves, Open Minds’: Representations of the Undead from the Enlightenment to the Present, will be out in paperback … Continue reading →

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Angela Carter

Posted on 8th May 2016 by William the Bloody

I’m a day late, but this is to honour the birthday of one of the most important twentieth-century English writers. Angela Carter (whose official website is here) drew on folkloric, fairy tale, and Gothic themes in her gloriously baroque explorations … Continue reading →

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Vampire Radio

Posted on 8th May 2016 by William the Bloody

Stuart Maconie has a whole show devoted to vampire-themed music today on BBC 6 Music! I’ve not listened to it yet, but it’s available for the next 29 days. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b079vhq9

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Witches in Contemporary Culture

Posted on 7th May 2016 by William the Bloody

We’ve been pursuing witch related themes for a while now; I think this is becoming a central line of research for OGOM. This is a very interesting essay by Moze Halperin on the power of contemporary witch narratives, such as … Continue reading →

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Arabian Nights Vol 1: The Restless One review

Posted on 7th May 2016 by William the Bloody

From Peter Bradshaw’s enthusiastic review here, and others elsewhere, this looks to be a brilliant film. Miguel Gomes’s film shows contemporary Portuguese life obliquely through the framed tale structure of The Thousand and One Nights. The Nights is another of … Continue reading →

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