Titles of Interest: The Esoteric Theology of Philip K. Dick
The Esoteric Theology of Philip K. Dick, edited by George J. Sieg and Michael C. Barros (Bloomsbury, 2026) This volume collects chapters written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Philip K. Dick’s transformative 1974 mystical experiences, through which he ultimately contextualized his influential and posthumously much-adapted science-fiction and speculative fiction.Contributing authors here examine the enduring […]
Starfleet Academy adds to franchise’s ongoing decline
I’m a lifelong Star Trek fan. I remember my dad watching it when I was growing up, and I’m just old enough to have either dim memories of him watching the original airings or catching early syndication. At any rate, I’ve been watching since the early series first put Gene Roddenberry’s secular science fiction vision […]
Diabolic: Forthcoming LDS religious horror
Latter-day Saints may not be happy with how their tradition is incorporated into horror films. In 2024 Heretic debuted with a psychological horror tale involving two female LDS missionaries. Now we have Diabolic, a film where “fundamentalist” LDS practices are said to be tapped into to help the traumatized psyche through experiences with the divine.
Paul Meehan on “The Alien Abduction Phenomenon”
Author Paul Meehan discusses his book The Alien Abduction Phenomenon: Science, Evidence and the Unknown (Exposit, 2025). Meehan is the author of several books on science fiction, film noir and horror films. A description of the book from its back cover: News reports, books, articles and films about alien abductions have long captured the public […]
Brandon Grafius discusses “Scared by the Bible”
Brandon R. Grafius is the guest who discusses his new book Scared by the Bible: The Roots of Horror in Scripture (Morehouse, 2025). You may know the Bible as a testament of faith. But within this sacred book are also the world’s first horror stories. Conventional wisdom has it that the origins of the horror […]
Guillermo del Toro auctions his collection
Regular readers of this blog know that I am a huge fan of director Guillermo del Toro. I’ve done several posts exploring his work that you can find by searching this site, and I edited a volume on him, The Supernatural Cinema of Guillermo del Toro. One of the more interesting facets of the man […]
Fictional Religions in Entertainment
I came across this interesting video from the helpful Religion for Breakfast. The title is Why Fictional Religions Feel So Fake.
Steve Wiggins and Sleepy Hollow as American Myth
Steve Wiggins is a frequent guest here at TheoFantastique. I love his work, and his latest book is now exception with Sleepy Hollow as American Myth: Irving’s Story Retold, Adapted and Cemented in Popular Culture (McFarland, 2025). In this book, Wiggins takes us into the labyrinth of the myth of the headless horseman, I figure […]
Weirdumentary: The Influence of 1970s Paranormal Documentaries
Those who have spent much time perusing the posts at this blog may recall that the paranormal is a topic of frequent interest. It goes back to my childhood and teen years in the 1970s, inspired in part by the many “documentaries” exploring a variety of phenomena. This interest has stayed with me, including an […]
New issue of The Journal of Gods and Monsters
There is a new issue of The Journal of Gods and Monsters, Vol. 5 No. 1: Special Issue on The Exorcist, 50 Years Later. Table of Contents Reviews View All Issues The Journal of Gods and Monsters is a double blind, peer-reviewed, open access journal that seeks to explore the connections between the sacred and […]
