Author Archives: Sam George

About Sam George

Associate Professor of Research, School of Humanities, University of Hertfordshire Co-convenor OGOM Project

Fairy Doors and the Fey at Easter

March 20th marked the equinox this year. There is a special calendar to mark these. Apparently an equinox occurs twice a year in spring and autumn when the Sun crosses the plane of the Earth’s equator.  Derived from a Latin term … Continue reading

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‘Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble’: Witches, Magic and Demons @TheJohnRylands

I have been blogging quite a lot lately about witches and magic books. I wrote on the Renaissance magician John Dee in ‘It’s a kind of Magic’ and offered some critical thoughts on ‘Sexualising the Witch’ in response to recent … Continue reading

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PhD Fee Waiver Opportunities (deadline 18th April)

Prof. William Hughes of the IGA has written to pass on details of possible research funding for new postgraduates. Bath Spa University is offering  Ten PhD Fee Waiver Studentships. The application deadline is Monday 18th April, for a start date of 1st … Continue reading

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Bristol Festival Celebrates Angela Carter, May 18th

The Bristol Festival of Ideas is following in the footsteps of OGOM: Company of Wolves  and is hosting an evening celebrating the life, work and legacy of Angela Carter on May 18th. Carter began her writing career in Bristol. During the event Sir … Continue reading

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Teen Gothic: P is for Paranormal – Still

  There has never really been a consensus about how we might define ‘paranormal’ or ‘dark romance’ and the ways it might differ from ‘urban fantasy’, or indeed how ‘dark fantasy’ is distinguishable from horror. Vampires are notably excluded from … Continue reading

Posted in Critical thoughts, Generation Dead: YA Fiction and the Gothic news | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Robot Rom Com: Could it Happen?

 I tweeted about the BBC article The Rise of the Romantic Robot earlier in the week. I found it to be very pertinent to debates we have been having on the Generation Dead course about the humanised vampire and the … Continue reading

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Charm for St Valentine’s Eve

On going to bed, place your shoes in the form of the letter T and repeat the following verse. Then reverse the shoes, and say three times more. I place my shoes like a letter T In hopes my true … Continue reading

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CFP: BBEC Conference, University of Timișoara, Romania, 23th-25th June, 2016

I am pleased to announce that I am one of the Keynote Speakers at the Second International Conference ‘Beliefs and Behaviours in Education and Culture’ (BBEC) at the West University of Timișoara in Romania on 23th-25th June 2016. Professor Clive Bloom  will also … Continue reading

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Does 2016 Mark the Return of the Troll?

Apparently a Troll Doll is also known as a Dam Doll after their creator Danish woodcutter Thomas Dam, or as a Gonk Troll outside the US. There is a Danish connection for you here Kaja. Again, in Cumbria we would use the word ‘Gonk’ to … Continue reading

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Trolls and Tree people

In response to Kaja’s entertaining and informative post about trolls comes this picture which I love  from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, published by Constable in 1909. A wonderful example of one of Rackham’s anthropomorphic trees which has some similarities to the Norwegian troll … Continue reading

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