Category Archives: Critical thoughts

Buffy and Feminism

Posted on 5th August 2016 by William the Bloody

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

Posted on 5th August 2016 by William the Bloody

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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Travels in Transylvania: Bram Stoker’s Ambiguous Legacy

Posted on 2nd July 2016 by Sam George

Last week I was in Romania at the University of Timisoara for the Beliefs and Behaviours in Education and Culture conference. My keynote was on the representation of Romanian folklore in British and Irish fictions of the undead. Stoker never travelled … Continue reading →

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Who’s Afraid of the Big, Black Cat?

Posted on 28th June 2016 by firekrank

On Saturday my partner and I adopted two kittens from Mitcham Cats Protection league. On our arrival we were asked if we had any preference to the appearance of the cats we were going to adopt. Our answer was no. … Continue reading →

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Folk Horror for Beginners

Posted on 19th June 2016 by Sam George

I am increasingly intrigued by ‘folk horror’ and it was one of the sections in the British Library’s Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination exhibition  that I spent longest pondering over. The BFI’s recent article is a must read therefore, … Continue reading →

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China Miéville: Beatrix Potter, Enid Blyton and the ‘pictureskew’

Posted on 18th June 2016 by William the Bloody

A very interesting essay by China Miéville on the dark side of the picturesque and English landscape in children’s literature.

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Fairy tales and contemporary fiction

Posted on 17th June 2016 by William the Bloody

An interesting article, ‘Follow the breadcrumbs: why fairytales are magic for modern fiction‘, by Lincoln Michel (author of Upright Beasts). It discusses  from a writer’s perspective the opportunities that modern reworkings of fairy tales have as an alternative to straightforward … Continue reading →

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Enter the Gothspeare: Shakespeare and the Witchcraft Trials

Posted on 15th June 2016 by Sam George

Shakespeare’s writing career began as the witch trials reached their peak in the 1580s and 1590s. It is interesting to speculate as to what personal experience or knowledge of the trials he might have had and to make a relationship … Continue reading →

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David Richter, The Progress of Romance

Posted on 13th June 2016 by William the Bloody

I’m reading David Richter’s The Progress of Romance: Literary Historiography and the Gothic Novel–one of the best books on literary theory I’ve read for a long while. It’s an undogmatic approach to the way that literature, and especially literary genres, … Continue reading →

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Genres, Classification, and Adventures in the Library

Posted on 7th June 2016 by William the Bloody

In my explorations of the endless swarming and interbreeding of genres that is contemporary popular fiction, I recently discovered a new species. Among the proliferating subsubsubgenres of paranormal romance and similar breeds, I’ve noticed quite a few that feature libraries … Continue reading →

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