Titles of Interest – ‘The Birth of the Dracula Myth: Bram Stoker’s Transylvania’
I just learned of the following volume, one difficult to find information about online. The following comes from an abstract and other online information by Marius-Mircea Crisjan. The volume Impactul uni mit: Dracula È™i reprezentarea ficÈ›ională a spaÈ›iului românesc (The Impact of a Myth: Dracula and the Fictional representation of the Romanian space) is an […]
Margot Adler’s “Vampires Are Us”
Margot Adler has written a volume titled Vampires Are Us: Understanding Our Love Affair with the Immortal Dark Side (Weiser Books, 2014). The synopsis and promotional statements include: In a culture that does not do death particularly well, we are obsessed with mortality. Margot Adler writes, “Vampires let us play with death and the issue […]
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 […]
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 […]
Titles of Interest: British Gothic Cinema
British Gothic Cinema by Barry Forshaw (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). Forshaw provides a definitive, wide-ranging study of the British horror film produced by the Hammer studios and their rivals from the 1940s and 1950s up to the 21st century and the new popularity of the genre. Beginning with a lively discussion of the great literary antecedents, […]
Titles of Interest: Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of the 1970s
I have previously enjoyed many of the volumes by John Kenneth Muir, and was even privileged to provide some content to his book Horror Films of the 1990s. He just released a new book titled Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of the 1970s. The Amazon description reads: Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of the 1970s […]
Titles of Interest: Avatar and Nature Spirituality
Previously TheoFantastique has engaged various facets of Avatar, including its incorporation of psychedelics and shamanism, its similarities to a new religious movement, utopianism, and its involvement with Dark Green Religion. In regards to the latter element I interacted with the work of Bron Taylor, and with this post I am pleased to mention a new […]
Titles of Interest: To See the Saw Movies
Title of interest – To See the Saw Movies: Essays on Torture Porn and Post-9/11 Horror, edited by James Aston and John Walliss (McFarland, 2013). The Saw films, often derided by critics as “torture porn” and an excuse to show blood and gore, are the highest-grossing horror series in cinema history. In view of their […]
Titles of Interest: Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist
Title of interest – Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist: Alien Contact Tales Since the 1950s by Aaron John Gulyas (McFarland, 2013). Since the 1950s, men and women around the world have claimed to have had contact with human-like visitors from space. This book explores how the “contactee” subculture has critiqued political, social and cultural trends […]
