Tag Archives: science
H.G. Wells Society Annual Conference 2019
Men in the Moon: The Ideas and Correspondence of H.G. Wells and Sir Winston Churchill Churchill War Rooms, Clive Steps, King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AQ21 September 2019 Keynote Speakers: Richard Jones, Professor Michael Smith, and Professor Richard Toye, University … Continue reading
Posted in Conferences, Events
Tagged dystopia, H. G. Wells, London, science, science fiction, utopia, Winston Churchill
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CFPs: Folk horror, folklore and fantasy, enchanted environments, literature and science
* Hurry! Some of these deadlines are very soon! 1. Contemporary Folk Horror in Film and Media, Leeds Beckett University, 30-31 July 2020. Deadline: 30 December 2019. The 1960’s and 70s folk horror canon brought the ‘Unholy Trinity’ of Witchfinder General (1968), The Blood on … Continue reading
Frankenstein: essays and 1910 film
A bit behind with blogging, so quite a few Frankenstein items have accumulated (it being, as I’m sure you’ll know, the 200th anniversary of the novel’s publication). First, a brief discussion, with some very useful links, of the claim by … Continue reading
Posted in Critical thoughts
Tagged art, Film, Frankenstein, Ireland, Mary Shelley, moral philosophy, morality, science, science fiction
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An Interview with Ursula Le Guinn
Fascinating interview with the seminal fantasy and science fiction writer Ursula Le Guinn, author of the children’s YA Earthsea series, the classic SF novels The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed, and many others. Le Guin discusses world-building, the ‘soft’ sciences … Continue reading
Posted in Interviews
Tagged anarchism, anthropology, Fantasy, Feminism, myth, science, SF, Ursula Le Guin, utopia
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The Myth of Frankenstein and Scientific Hubris
Here’s an excellent essay by Phillip Ball, ‘“Frankenstein” Reflects the Hopes and Fears of Every Scientific Era‘ that challenges the oft-circulated idea that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is directed against the hubris of scientists. Sometimes, this is framed as feminist critique, but … Continue reading
Posted in Critical thoughts, Events
Tagged Feminism, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, science, SF
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CFP: Steampunk: Then, Now, and Then Again, Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln 25-27 August 2017
Not much time left to respond to this CFP for a steampunk conference, in conjunction with the Asylum Steampunk Festival–deadline 14 April 2017. Despite the development of both science fiction and Neo-Victorian studies, academia has been slow to engage with … Continue reading
Posted in CFP (Conferences)
Tagged alternative history, Film, graphic novels, music, neo-Victorianism, science, SF, steampunk, TV, Victorian
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Werewolves, pulp fiction, and folklore
OGOM’s very own Kaja Franck has contributed a fascinating item, ‘Old Tails in New Bottles: Folklore’s Influence on Pulp Fiction Werewolves‘ to the marvellous Folklore Thursday website, talking about the interactions between and generic transformations among popular fiction and folkloric … Continue reading
Posted in Critical thoughts
Tagged Dracula, Folklore, popular fiction, pulp fiction, science, SF, Werewolves
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Science and the Evolutionary Monster
I really enjoyed this article, ‘Evolutionary Theory and its Monstrous Wonders’ by Donna McCormack. It resonated with the ideas regarding hybridity and monstrosity that I have been exploring in my chapter on Whitley Strieber’s werewolves. It has also got me … Continue reading
Posted in Books and Articles
Tagged evolution, Gothic science, horror, Monsters, popular culture, science, SF, television, The X-Files, transformation, Werewolves
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The Science of Lycanthropy
The website for ‘The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency’ has a page dedicated to the science of Lycanthropy. Whilst there are plenty of other pages and books dedicated to pseudo-scientific frameworks for the existence of monsters – Max Brooks’ The Zombie … Continue reading
Posted in Books and Articles, Critical thoughts, Fun stuff
Tagged Gothic, Gothic science, lycanthropy, medicine, Pathology, science, Vivisection, Werewolves, wilderness
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David Bowie, science, and Gothic absurdity
A few more Bowie-related links, here. Science Fiction is, one might say, a rationalising mode of the fantastic; SF motifs feature frequently in Bowie’s work from ‘Space Oddity’ to his penultimate single ‘Blackstar’ (the video of which combines elements of … Continue reading