The Final Girl in Horror Movies

Posted on 2nd March 2016 by firekrank

February has now drawn to a close, extra day and all, which means the end of ‘Women in Horror’ month. To celebrate, or commiserate, the end here is an interesting round table discussion about the final girl trope in horror movies, “To Just Survive as the Final Girl Is Not Victory”, which was published on FourThreeFilm.com. It’s an interesting look at the weaknesses of the Final Girl in these narratives from a feminist point of view.

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

CFP: ‘Reimagining the Gothic’ and a reminder for ‘Temporal Discombobulations’

Posted on 2nd March 2016 by firekrank

Following the ‘Reimagining the Gothic’ symposium on 6th May 2016 (for which registration has opened) there will be a day-long creative showcase on the subject of monsters and the monstrous. The CFP (though that may not be a suitable term) has been released and abstracts need to be received by 7th March 2016. More information can be found here as well as information about how you can register.

Also, a quick reminder that the deadline for abstracts for ‘Temporal Discombobulations’ (22nd-24th August 2016, University of Surrey) are due on 4th March 2016.

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

Trends in YA paranormal fiction

Posted on 2nd March 2016 by William the Bloody

While procrastinating the other day, I found myself browsing the recommendations that Amazon makes, following a chain of YA paranormal fiction. Three hours later, I recovered from my obsessive frenzy to find £260 worth of books in my basket. The thought of such a huge parcel arriving terrified me, so I’ve backed off from buying them (for a while).

I did find it very interesting, though, to observe the various trends in play; not all could be called ‘paranormal romance’ (some lack the romance theme). I noticed variants on the now-familiar dystopia, and hard space opera SF as well as fantasy. More than one mermaid swam into view as another kind of creature in these novels. There were quite a few arcane libraries, which appeals to me strongly. And the idea of a parallel city–often London–recurs, with a fantastic mirror image of the real city manifesting itself.

I would like some day to apply Franco Moretti’s strategy of ‘Distant Reading’ to this vast corpus of novels and see what sort of patterns emerge over a period of time. Moretti does such things as analyse the titles of all novels printed in English in the nineteenth century to see how the changes in titling reveal patterns in literature.

In the meantime, you may be interested in looking at the YA paranormal fictions I found particularly fascinating; here’s a list:

Bodard, Aliette de, The House of Shattered Wings (London: Gollancz, 2015)

Cogman, Genevieve, The Invisible Library, The Invisible Library, 1 (London: Pan, 2015)

Gray, Claudia, A Thousand Pieces of You, Firebird, 1 (New York: HarperCollins, 2015)

Grey, Melissa, The Girl at Midnight (London: Atom, 2015)

Griffin, Kate, A Madness Of Angels, Matthew Swift Novels, 1 (London: Orbit, 2009)

Hawkins, Scott, The Library at Mount Char (New York: Crown Publishing Group, Division of Random House Inc, 2015)

Headley, Maria Dahvana, Magonia (HarperCollins, 2015)

Hodkin, Michelle, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Mara Dyer, 1 (London: Simon & Schuster Children’s, 2012)

Hoffman, Alice, The Museum of Extraordinary Things (London: Simon & Schuster, 2015)

Johnston, E. K., A Thousand Nights (S.l.: Disney-Hyperion, 2016)

Kalicicki, Missy, and Abi Ketner, Branded, Sinners, 1 (Month9Books, LLC, 2014)

Kaufman, Amie, These Broken Stars (Hyperion, 2014)

Kristoff, Jay, and Amie Kaufman, Illuminae, The Illuminae Files:, 1 (Oneworld Publications, 2015)

Krys, Michelle, Hexed (Corgi Childrens, 2014)

Landers, Melissa, Alienated (Hyperion Books, 2015)

Lu, Marie, The Young Elites (Penguin, 2015)

Mafi, Tehereh, Shatter Me, Shatter Me, 1 (Us Imports, 2012)

Noble, Carrie Anne, The Mermaid’s Sister (New York: Skyscape, 2015)

Paul, Cornell, Witches of Lytchford (Tor.com, 2015)

Pollock, Tom, The City’s Son, Skyscraper Throne, 1 (Jo Fletcher Books, 2013)

Schwab, Victoria, A Darker Shade of Magic, A Darker Shade of Magic, 1 (Titan Books, 2015)

———, The Archived (New York: Hyperion, 2015)

Tahir, Sabaa, An Ember in the Ashes, An Ember in the Ashes, 1 (London: Harper Voyager, 2015)

Posted in Critical thoughts, Generation Dead: YA Fiction and the Gothic news | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Bristol Festival Celebrates Angela Carter, May 18th

Posted on 29th February 2016 by Sam George

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 Christopher Frayling will talk about Angela’s work in the 1970s, his memories of her, and reflect on how she has been interpreted since her death by readers, academics, film-makers and others. Other participants include Susannah Clapp, Carter’s literary executor, who has recently published a memoir of her friend, based on a series of postcards Carter sent to her. Also appearing at the event is Bidisha, who referred to Clapp’s book and her attempt to write her own tribute to Carter in her blog earlier this year, and Charlotte Crofts from UWE who has written about Carter and made a film inspired by her work. There is also an afternoon devoted to her TV work and a showing of Company of Wolves.

OGOM will be publishing a Company of Wolves book with Manchester University Press which contains much of the exciting research showcased at the conference. We were first with this of course….watch this space!

 

Posted in Events, OGOM: The Company of Wolves | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

‘How to Find Hope in Dystopian Fiction’

Posted on 29th February 2016 by firekrank

Though I like a good dystopian novel, they can often be very pessimistic and depressing. So this article, ‘How to Find Hope in Dystopian Fiction’, is perfect for me and hopefully it will help others find a ray of sunshine in the darkest of texts.

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

Talk on Fairy Tales and National Identity at the University of Chichester

Posted on 26th February 2016 by firekrank

The Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy have organised a talk by Professor Andrew Teverson at the University of Chichester on Monday 14th March, 5.15pm. The talk will be about how the history of fairy tales has affected national identity. More information can be found here.

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

‘Tania de Rozario: On the monstrous feminine’

Posted on 26th February 2016 by firekrank

Continuing on the theme of celebrating Women in Horror during February (though I encourage you to do so all year round), this is a very intriguing and interdisciplinary article about the monstrous feminine in discussion with Tania de Rozario. It includes poems inspired by female characters in Japanese and Thai horror films.

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

CFP: Monsters and Monstrosity in 21st-Century Film and Television

Posted on 26th February 2016 by firekrank

There has been a call for chapters for an edited text, Monsters and Monstrosity in 21st-Century Film and Television. Abstracts of 300 words with biographical notes and a CV need to be received by 1st May 2016. The completed chapter (15,000 words including Works Cited) need to be received by 15th July 2016.

Posted in Call for Articles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

’10 Books That Will Change How You Think About Fairy Tales’

Posted on 26th February 2016 by firekrank

’10 Books That Will Change How You Think About Fairy Tales’ is a lovely article that lists both academic books, anthologies and new fiction inspired by fairy tales. Hopefully you will find something to inspire you and give you ideas for the weekend. Happy reading!

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

Angela Carter, Fairytales and Adaptation

Posted on 25th February 2016 by firekrank

Yesterday morning I noticed that #UpdateAFairytale was trending on Twitter. Of course I jumped right on board and had a merry time thinking up increasingly bizarre possibilities for contemporary fairy tales. Cinderella as a feminist campaigner against modern day slavery, anyone? Rapunzel sporting a buzz cut? ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’ as a parable for the refugee crisis? (Yes, the Troll was an online anti-refugee commentator). Snow White as an activist for disability rights? The Beast finding Beauty within and rejecting toxic masculinity? It was really intriguing to see the themes that could be drawn from these texts.

So, it seemed apt that a few days ago, The Gothic Imagination blog at the University of Stirling posted an article entitled ‘The Eyes of Profane Pleasure: Fairy Tales, Pornography and the Male Gaze in Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber” and “The Erl-King”‘. It’s a very interesting look at Angela Carter’s work in adapting fairy tales. Carter has been incredibly influential on OGOM especially with regards to ‘The Company of Wolves’ conference – I think she was mentioned in most panels. We were also lucky enough to have Sir Christopher Frayling talking about his time with her which was very, very poignant. From a personal point of view, Carter has been one of the most inspirational writers I have ever encountered. She shaped my feminism and seeing her words written on the page, especially in The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories (1979), felt like someone had read the darkest spaces of my dreams and made them narratives.

From the other point of view, not adaptation but returning to the original tales, this series of pictures, ‘If Disney Movies Were Faithful to Their Dark and Twisted Source Material’, imagines scenes from the Disney versions of fairy tales if they had stayed true to the sources. It’s deliciously macabre and a welcome reminder that fairy tales were once the stuff of nightmares and not dreams come true.

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