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Fiction and Excerpts [2]

Five Vampire Novels With a Classic Bite

Fri Mar 11, 2022 12:00pm 22 comments 4 Favorites [+]

From Nosferatu (1922)

The vampire, perennial monster, has received somewhat of a makeover in recent years. For almost two decades it has become romantic hero and seducer, often aimed at younger consumers. Twilight as well as the Vampire Diaries series may be the most obvious exponents of this trend, but the seeds were already planted in shows like Buffy (remember Angel?), and the territory continues to be watered with numerous vampire men in the urban fantasy or romance section of the bookstore, who must invariably profess eternal love to a nubile woman.

Before this trend kicked into full gear, vampires were more likely to be rich counts out to bite pretty young lasses à la Christopher Lee or Bela Lugosi. Sexually magnetic, perhaps, but not boyfriend material.

[Read more]

Under the Skin: Shape-Changing in Mexican Folklore

Fri Oct 1, 2021 12:00pm 1 comment 11 Favorites [+]
Detail of a serving plate decorated with nahuals

Witches in European folklore fly through the air on broomsticks, but in Latin America they change shapes, turning into different animals. This belief in shape-changing sorcerers, which is present in many Indigenous communities across Mexico and Central America, seems to be based on old Prehispanic concepts of the animal, the soul and the self.

[Read more]

A Brief History of Mexican Horror Comic Books

Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:00pm 7 comments 10 Favorites [+]

When people ask me if I like comic books I always have a split-second reaction. The answer is no. But it’s a nuanced no. I don’t like superhero comic books, but I grew up reading plenty of other stuff.

While in the United States “comic book” can be read as a synonym for “superhero,” such a correlation has not traditionally existed in Mexico. Mexican artists during their Golden Age were more interested in other kinds of content. This doesn’t mean there weren’t any superheroes—Fantomas, El Santo and Kalimán come to mind—but you were more likely to find other sorts of local comic books. And when people thought comic books, they probably thought historietas, monitos, una de vaqueros, all of which conjure something very far from Superman, Batman or the X-Men.

[Read more]

Under the Skin: Shape-Changing in Mexican Folklore

Mon Jul 22, 2019 1:00pm 8 comments 3 Favorites [+]
Detail of a serving plate decorated with nahuals

Witches in European folklore fly through the air on broomsticks, but in Latin America they change shapes, turning into different animals. This belief in shape-changing sorcerers, which is present in many Indigenous communities across Mexico and Central America, seems to be based on old Prehispanic concepts of the animal, the soul and the self.

[Read more]

Getting a Master’s Degree in Lovecraft

Thu Nov 3, 2016 4:00pm 5 comments 2 Favorites [+]

In this ongoing series, we ask SF/F authors to describe a specialty in their lives that has nothing (or very little) to do with writing. Join us as we discover what draws authors to their various hobbies, how they fit into their daily lives, and how and they inform the author’s literary identity!

I got a Master’s degree so I could study eugenics and spend more time with a dead man and the dead man is Lovecraft.

I didn’t grow up thinking this would happen. I’ve never fancied myself a scholar or envied the professor’s life. I also had a full-time job when I began tinkering with the idea of getting a Master’s degree in Science and Technology Studies. I wanted the degree because of my longtime interest in both science and history. I also thought it might be useful as general background for the kind of work I do. And it just seemed fun. I like taking classes. However, Master’s degrees are not really geared towards adult learners and I wasn’t going to quit my job, so I cautiously asked if they’d take me as a part-time student. They said yes. I enrolled.

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5 Vampire Novels That Don’t Sparkle

Tue Oct 25, 2016 1:00pm 32 comments 3 Favorites [+]

The vampire, perennial monster, has received somewhat of a makeover in recent years. For almost two decades it has become romantic hero and seducer, often aimed at younger consumers. Twilight as well as the Vampire Diaries series may be the most obvious exponents of this trend, but the seeds were already planted in shows like Buffy (remember Angel?), and the territory continues to be watered with numerous vampire men in the urban fantasy or romance section of the bookstore, who must invariably profess eternal love to a nubile woman.

Before this trend kicked into full gear, vampires were more likely to be rich counts out to bite pretty young lasses à la Christopher Lee or Bela Lugosi. Sexually magnetic, perhaps, but not boyfriend material.

[Read more]

Series: Five Books About…

Five Weird Books by Women

Tue Oct 6, 2015 2:30pm 5 comments 1 Favorite [+]
Art by Melanie Luther for ChiZine ed. of KISSING CARRION

A “weird tale,” Ann and Jeff VanderMeer tell us in their compendium The Weird, is “fiction in which some other element, like weird ritual or the science fictional, replaces the supernatural while providing the same dark frisson of the unknown.”

Though writers such as Lovecraft have become the face of the Weird tale, many women have written such stories: Joyce Carol Oates, Caitlín R. Kiernan and Shirley Jackson, to name a few. My five selections cannot encompass the whole breath and variety of such writers but I hope they are a delicious samples of the uncanny.

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Series: Five Books About…

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