Brown University Graduate Student Conference on the Monstrous and the Religious Imagination
Brown University is presenting an upcoming conference titled “Beasts Monsters, and the Fantastic in the Religious Imagination.” The schedule from the website: Friday, February 28, 2014 Keynote Address 6:30-7:30pm Dinner Reception 7:30pm Saturday, March 1, 2014 Breakfast 8am-9am I. Morning Session: Doing Things with Demons 9am-10:45am “When a Bad Being Does Good Things: The Demon […]
Seriously Staked Vampire Symposium
Seriously Staked Vampire Symposium Look beyond the Twilight and True Blood frenzy and there is, and always has been, a serious study of vampires. Seriously Staked brings together a wide variety of subject experts and academics to talk about a range of questions concerning vampires. These include: Can science explain vampires? Do real vampire hunting […]
First Trailer for “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
I really enjoyed Rise of the Planet of the Apes, as my essay at Cinefantastique Online discussed, and I’m hoping next year’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes adds positively to the rebirthed franchise.
Reflections on the BBC’s “In the Flesh”
Somehow in my Internet surfing a couple of months ago I stumbled across the website for BBC America and their description of the miniseries In the Flesh. This fresh take on zombie mythology fascinated me, but I was saddened that I wouldn’t be able to do anything other than watch sample clips and background information […]
Titles of Interest: Reading Mystery Science Theater 3000
Reading Mystery Science Theater 3000: Critical Approaches (Scarecrow Press, 2013), Shelley S. Rees, editor. First broadcast in the not too distant past on a television station in Minnesota, Mystery Science Theater 3000 soon grew out of its humble beginnings and found a new home on cable television. This simple show about a man and two […]
Call For Papers: Science Fiction and the Bible (ISBL/EABS 2014)
The research group “Science Fiction and the Bible” meets for the second time at ISBL/EABS in Vienna (July 6th-10th). We invite proposals for papers which engage with the possibilities of discussing biblical literature informed by Science Fiction (SF) or closely related genres. Proposals for papers are invited that apply specific works, tropes, or theories from […]
Review: Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of the 1970s
One of the best writers analyzing contemporary genre film and television is John Kenneth Muir. His new volume adds to an impressive body of work with Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of the 1970s (The Lulu Show, 2013). In this volume he follows a template used in his previous work. Following a helpful Introduction to […]
Penderecki, horrific liturgy, and ‘The Shining’
What does classical music composed in the wake of World War II and the attempt to grapple with massive death and human cruelty have to do with a popular horror film from 1980? Quite a lot as it turns out. I should have known this, but to my pleasant surprise I just listened to a […]
Titles of Interest: The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters
The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters, edited by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock (Ashgate, 2014) From vampires and demons to ghosts and zombies, interest in monsters in literature, film, and popular culture has never been stronger. This concise Encyclopedia provides scholars and students with a comprehensive and authoritative A-Z of monsters throughout the ages. It […]
Titles of Interest: The Works of Tim Burton
I will be writing a review of this volume for the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. The Works of Time Burton: Margins to Mainstream, edited By Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). Tim Burton has had a massive impact on twentieth and twenty-first century culture through his films, art, and writings. The contributors […]
