Call for submissions: “The Paranormal and Popular Culture”
We are currently accepting proposals for essays for an edited volume entitled “The Paranormal and Popular Culture.” Academic writers and independent scholars are invited to submit proposals spanning the wide range of topics on pop culture and the paranormal, and their connection to religion, including reflections on the full panoply of extraordinary beings (e.g. vampires, […]
Rod Taylor passes away
Yesterday, Rod Taylor passed away. Fans of the fantastic will remember his fine performances in The Twilight Zone, The Time Machine, and The Birds. Taylor died of a heart attack in his Southern California home. He was 84.
The Babadook
The Babadook has received a lot of praise since its appearance at Sundance in 2014.It comes out of Australia through director Jennifer Kent who also wrote the story. Appreciation for this film has gone so far as to laud this as the best horror film of the decade, and one that might help improve the […]
Marina Warner discusses “How Fairytales grew up”
Over at TheGuardian.com Marina Warner has an interesting essay titled “How fairytales grew up.” An excerpt: Fairytales are enjoying a huge rise in popularity and influence in symbiosis with the internet. The traditional functions of the bard and the griot in predominantly oral cultures included “keeping the memory of the tribe”, as Derek Walcott remarked […]
Interview with R. Andrew Chesnut on Santa Muerte, the Saint of Death
R. Andrew Chesnut is Professor of Religious Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the author of Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint (Oxford University Press, 2012), the first academic study of this topic in in English. He is currently working on the sequel. Chesnut discusses Santa Muerte in the interview below. TheoFantastique: Thank […]
Reflections on an Academic Conference on the Saint and ‘Cult of Death’
Santa Muerte, the Saint of Death, and the international following she has is an area of interest here at TheoFantastique. R. Andrew Chesnut, author of Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint (Oxford University Press, 2012), recently posted on his blog regarding his thoughts on an international conference in the Netherlands that brought scholars […]
TFQ Podcast 5.1 – Interview with Doug Jones on “Nosferatu”
Doug Jones is interviewed by John Morehead of TheoFantastique.com. Doug discusses David Lee Fisher’s Nosferatu remix of the classic silent horror film and his long interest in playing Count Orlok. Through the interview you will get a sense of Doug’s passion, and learn how you can get involved in the crowd funding project to help make […]
Titles of Interest – Religion in Science Fiction: The Evolution of an Idea and the Extinction of a Genre
Religion in Science Fiction: The Evolution of an Idea and the Extinction of a Genre by Steven Hrotic (Bloomsbury Academic, 2014) Religion in Science Fiction investigates the history of the representations of religion in science fiction literature. Space travel, futuristic societies, and non-human cultures are traditional themes in science fiction. Speculating on the societal impacts […]
Titles of Interest – Holy Sci-Fi! Where Science Fiction and Religion Intersect
Holy Sci-Fi! Where Science Fiction and Religion Intersect by Paul J. Nahin (Springer, 2014) Can a computer have a soul? Are religion and science mutually exclusive? Is there really such a thing as free will? If you could time travel to visit Jesus, would you (and should you)? For hundreds of years, philosophers, scientists, and science fiction writers […]
Call for Papers – ‘The Company of Wolves’: Sociality, Animality, and Subjectivity in Literary and Cultural Narratives—Werewolves, Shapeshifters, and Feral Humans
‘The Company of Wolves’: Sociality, Animality, and Subjectivity in Literary and Cultural Narratives — Werewolves, Shapeshifters, and Feral Humans Conference, University of Hertfordshire, Sept 3rd-5th 2015: Call for Papers and Panels Wolves have long been the archetypal enemy of human company, preying on the unguarded boundaries of civilisation, threatening the pastoral of ideal sociality and […]
