A corny comparison to break up all the hard work

As I've been researching, I've found some pretty neat things that I thought I would share. I read that a genius loci, which is from Roman mythology, is often depicted as a snake. And since I'm comparing "Genius Loci" to a vampire, I thought this was really interesting. Snakes kill their prey with fangs, as do vampires. Maybe that's a corny comparison, but that's the point I'm at right now. I also found how genius loci are, for the large part, intelligent spirits that inhabit a place — not spirits that draw you into your death, like from our readings. But, I guess a good ol' story about a magical, happy field would not be included in Straub's books.

This is NOT a source, of course, but if you want to see what Wikipedia has to say about genius loci, look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genius_loci.

"Invisible Flying Things"

So Andy asked me elaborate on what it I was referring to when I talked about the "invisible flying things" in class on wednesday and I had to do a little research. I remember hearing about it vaguely when I was younger on possibly the History Channel and only remembered snippets. It was some sort of conspiracy theory that went with UFO's or something similar. Well, after a little digging I found it! Here are a few links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_(cryptozoology_and_ufology)

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4004

Basically, people thought an optical illusion on film was actually some sort of invisible flying insect. Not that long ago either, interestingly. I don't know why this stuck in my mind all these years after hearing about it, I couldn't have been very old when I heard of them. But this really reminded me of What Was It?

The IAFA conference program

Many people regularly go to conferences to present papers much like the ones you are writing. Many of these papers get published, as well. For example, if you visit the website of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts and click on "Preliminary Online Program for ICFA-31" (in the right-hand column), you'll see the dozens of paper topics that will be presented at the association's conference in Orlando in March. (That's where I'll be during spring break, if the creek don't rise.) Topics of obvious interest to our class include, among many others:

Magical Numen vs. Magical Negro: A Defense of Stephen King

Latina Bodily Intersections: Woman on the Edge of Time and Pan’s Labyrinth

Heroic vs. Ordinary Virtues: The Role of Shadow in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods

Imagined Nation: Space, Place and National Identity in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods

Folklore and Intertextuality in the Works of Neil Gaiman

A Goddess or a Madwoman?: The Power of the Maternal in Stephen King’s Misery?

Doubled Selves, Shattered Tales: The Feminist Fairy-Tale Techniques of Kelly Link and Catherynne M. Valente

“Who Ever Said There Were Answers?”: Tim Underhill and the Fear of the Open in Peter Straub's lost boy lost girl

Revisioning the Gothic Other: Race in Peter Straub's Mr. X

Doorways to Liminal Spaces, Cartesian Doubt, and the Reproduction of Reality in Neil Gaiman’s Coraline

Race, Miscegenation & the Grammar(s) of the “Weird” in H. P. Lovecraft and China Miéville

Dancing the Macabray: Life and Death in The Graveyard Book

The Horror and Beauty of Miscegenation in H.P. Lovecraft and Octavia E. Butler

Tracing the Alternative City: Miéville, Gaiman, Zelazny, Spenser, et alia.

A Secret Society of Doppelgängers in Conspiracy: Fantastical Revenge and Paranoiac Pursuit in Poe and Maupassant

Should any of you at any point be interested in attending or presenting at this conference or any other such conference, I would be happy to hear from you.

Home of Nymphs and Vampires

Mary's paper idea inspires me to share the oddly bucolic cover of a 1929 book in my collection.The book flap describes some of the contents:

There are nereids in the Greek isles today and -- in a parlance not quite Homer's -- a man is out of luck if he marries one. There are dracos, too. Dracos have supernatural strength and are fond of roasted children, but are incredibly stupid. There are vampires also, male and female, who frequently try to be good citizens but who labor under handicaps, partly because they are swollen like drums and give forth the same sound when beaten.

Journalist turned diplomat George Horton lived for decades in Greece, where, among other things, he championed the revival of the Olympic Games and U.S. participation in them. He also was down on Muslims, especially Turks, so some of his writings have been controversial then and now.

Bermuda Triangle theories

As if on cue, because Kent got us talking about it in class Wednesday, Stephen Wagner's always interesting About.com: Paranormal Phenomena newsletter this week presented this fine roundup of theories to explain the Bermuda Triangle, from the obvious to the somewhat plausible to the absurd. Note the link to the text of the apparent first print reference to a "Bermuda Triangle," an article by Vincent Gaddis in the venerable pulp magazine Argosy in 1964, the year of my birth.

Queer fantasy resources

Claire's paper topic prompted me to do some poking around. The university libraries have both editions (1983 and 1990) of Uranian Worlds: A Reader's Guide to Alternative Science Fiction and Fantasy, a groundbreaking reference for LGBT fantasy. It's shelved in the annex, however, so better get your request in ASAP, Claire.

In the mid-1990s, about the time I was entering the field, White Wolf Publishing released three excellent original anthologies titled Bending the Landscape, each devoted to LGBT characters and themes; one was devoted to science fiction, one to fantasy and one to horror. Nicola Griffith and Stephen Pagel were the editors. The university libraries have the fantasy volume, but it's checked out at the moment -- perhaps to you, Claire? Hope so.

In fandom, the Gaylactic Network was founded to bring LGBT folks together and highlight LGBT issues. It has sponsored both conventions and awards.

Mark R. Kelly's invaluable Locus Index to SF Awards has thorough lists of winners and nominees for the Gaylactic Spectrum Award and the spec-fic categories of the Lambda Literary Award, which we mentioned in class.

Hope all this is helpful.

For Charlotte: Fairy tale links

Cinderella versions.

Little Red Riding Hood versions.

Snow White versions.

Paper Topic the Second

I just got back from Gorgas and I found the anthology I was thinking of, it's called Blending the Landscape: Fantasy (the link is to Amazon). There was also a volume of Feminist fantasy that I grabbed just in case.

The thing online I was thinking of is Crossed Genres and is a magazine available online only that publishes sf/fantasy stories which "openly encourage submissions which address the issues surrounding these topics [gender, race, religion and sexual orientation], as we wish to promote open dialogue." There's actually a LGBTQ section in their archives. I'm not sure how much of the site you can get at without buying a subscription, though.

There also seems to be quite a bit of work available on JSTOR.

If any other sources come to mind, by all means, send them my way.

Paper Topic

I've really had trouble coming up with a paper topic that seems VERY interesting to me. So far I have come up with two. Something focusing on the girl with the green ribbon story and the german student. Possibly expanding on common elements in children's scary stories and some of the stories we have read. Also, I know we have talked about this in class a lot but I am interested in stories that present women as a threat and dangerous...

Fake Books of Great Significance

I've been struggling with developing a paper topic for the last few weeks. I knew that I wanted to have a focus on "The Black Stone" since it was a story that I really enjoyed more than others. I also found the Repairer of Reputations to be an extremely interesting story and I found a tie between the two stories in the mythical text that no one was allowed to read but most were aware of. It reminded me of Catch 22 because allegedly nobody was allowed to have read it or nobody had seen the text for years but somehow everyone was still very aware of it and knew that there was something very wrong about what was in those pages. I then stumbled upon the Necronomicon, a fake book of great significance in the Lovecraft mythos much like the book "Nameless Cults" in Howard's "The Black Stone". I would like to focus my paper on the three fake but mythic books from these authors: "Nameless Cults", "Necronomicon", and "The King in Yellow". I'd like to write about what made these books so important in the grand scheme of things in their respective stories and then go into how this idea of a banned evil book or in the case of "The King in Yellow", play, has evolved into popular culture with movies like The Number 23 and Lovecraft's own Necronomicon playing a major part in the Evil Dead series.

Luella: Unconcious or Deliberate?

I was thinking that I would try to prove whether Luella Miller is actually conscious of her malevolent, life draining actions. I feel that she is unaware that she's the cause of her helpers' deaths until Lydia confronts her in the kitchen one day. After that, she stops seeing anyone, apparently realizing that she has in fact killed those who help her. So, I hope to prove that up to that point, she did not realize what she was doing. What do you all think?

Glimpses of Terror Idea

So, as I started thinking more and more about my paper topic, I tried to imagine what I found to be the most terrifying/scary/unnerving for myself. Something I found really interesting, and will talk about more in class, is the idea of something being horrific or unnerving because it is glimpsed, but never fully discovered or unveiled. The three texts I'd like to focus on with this idea (but will gladly take any and all suggestions!) are What Was It?, For the Blood is the Life, and Unseen - Unfeared. Over the course we have talked about how things that were not well understood in those times (medicine, insanity, new technologies, science in general) led to stories about the fear of the "unknown." I think I would like to focus on how, in these particular stories, seeing only a glimpse of the fantastic is as or more terrifying than fully understanding as it leaves a window open to wonder what else is wandering around unnkown among us. I'd love any feedback on this!

Pan's Labyrinth Cameo by Frog of Cthulhu

I know we don't watch Pan's Labyrinth until next week but I couldn't help but post this. I was rewatching Pan's last night when I saw that intense and kind of gross scene with the giant tree frog and I was immediately reminded of the giant toad in "The Black Stone". It had me curious if there was some giant dark fantasy conspiracy going around to make frogs even creepier than they already are. Makes me wonder what has these people choosing frog's as these mythic disturbing creatures. I dont know if it has anything to do with frogs being one of the Lord's plagues on Egypt and these writers are just running off that supernatural vibe or what. I just thought it would be a neat topic of discussion.

Gone to St. Augustine

So I'm about to leave for St. Augustine, FL for my future sister-in-law's wedding and I won't be able to discuss paper topics in class with you all this afternoon. I've had trouble thinking of something to write about, but I am very interested in the questions "To what extent is there a distinct Mediterranean vampire tradition, and to what extent is that tradition depicted in “For the Blood Is the Life”?" and "To what extent is Lydia Anderson one of Luella Miller’s victims?  To what extent is Luella herself a victim?" If anyone has any suggestions for either of these topics, I will greatly appreciate it. I do not know if I will have internet access at our beach house, but if I do I will try to update on what I have been thinking about. If not, I'll just have to call Andy on my way back or just start working as soon as I get back to Tuscaloosa. Have fun in class later, I hate I'll miss the paper discussion. I know you all will come up with some interesting ideas.

Vampires

So in learning about vampires, I wanted to include characteristics from stories we've read that include vampires. To make sure I include everything, what all stories have vampires as people in them?

Thanks for the help. I'm going to compare and contrast vampires throughout the stories.

Possession

I haven't really narrowed this topic down, but I was thinking of comparing a few of the possession stories we have read. "The April Witch," was really different from the "The Thing on the Doorstep." I think that this shows that a basic idea can evolve into just about anything depending on where the author chooses to take it. I was also struck by the similarity of the possessions in "The Thing on the Doorstep" and a series of three books I read by Anne Rice, "The Mayfair Witch Chronicles." Those are just my first thoughts on the paper. Hopefully ya'll can help me develop it more during class.

Neil Gaiman's Readings

OK, first, I just have to say, Neil Gaiman replied to one of my tweets. Yay!

Now, to the matter at hand, I figured I would round up any and all of the pieces he read Thursday night that I could find online, both for those that did not get to go or those that wish to read them.

"Feminine Endings"
Video can be found here (scroll down to the video box, click on Neil Gaiman).
Text is here.

"My Last Landlady" is unpublished.

"Orange: (Third Subjects Response's to Investigator's Written Questionnaire). EYES ONLY"
Text here. Starts with intro on page 63.

"Inventing Aladdin"
Use look inside on this Amazon Page. Search for Inventing Aladdin, click on the link to page 281, and then read using the right page button.

"Locks"
Text here.
Bad quality video here.

There really was nothing like seeing him in person though. He is a wonderfully dramatic reader, and of course the accent does not hurt!

P.S. If anyone can find any more links, be sure to post them!

Too narrow?

I'm still trying to figure out what I want to write about for my paper. I couldn't help but like the question "Were Mr. and Mrs. Hetman in 'The Moonlit Road' both merely imagining a non-existent intruder, or did that intruder actually exist? If so, who might it have been?" from the list because I talked about that in class. But, I didn't know if that would be too narrow.

I also liked the idea of comparing the vampire from "For the Blood is the Life" with the being from "Genius Loci" and how they draw their prey in and how their reasons are similar/different. I think this topic might be more open than the first, since their are two pieces to pull from.

What do you think?

Paper Topics

I've been thinking about what I want to write my paper on, and I thought I would try and get some feedback. Probably the one I'm interested in the most is comparing and contrasting Gaiman's The Graveyard Book to Kipling's The Jungle Book . I realize that this topic in itself is probably too broad, so I was hoping to get some feedback on how I could narrow it. Another topic that I've thought about writing on is the subgenre of microscope stories and how it reflects thinking of the time. This topic might be too broad, too. If it is, I'm not too heartbroken because it's probably the one I'm least interested in. My backup is a topic from the list that Andy sent us about "The Golden Baby" and the Bermuda Triangle. One thing I was wondering about is how we go about using and citing sources. For example, I think I would need a secondary source for information on the Bermuda Triangle. I was wondering if we could use sources other than the texts we've read, and if so, how do we cite them?

The Last Gaiman Post From Me

I swear, I'll shut up after this.

I just found this blog post Gaiman did yesterday sometime about his visit to Tuscaloosa. He says lovely things about us and Tuscaloosa and makes a very valid point in it, namely, do we not get big name authors simply because we assume we cannot? I would love to see more names of Gaiman's caliber coming and doing readings and signings here. Publishers don't send people here on signing tours because they assume there is no audience, but as the packed Bama showed, that's simply not true. So, what can we do?

Shutter Island

It's time for another movie recommendation. I cannot recommend Shutter Island highly enough. It was an amazing psychological thriller. I actually felt like I was going crazy throughout the movie. You can't tell what is real and what isn't so it's impossible to know how it's going to end. I thought the ending was perfect. Also, the acting and photography were exceptional.

The Man in Black

I just got back from the Gaiman reading, and I was very impressed. I honestly didn't know what to expect since I had never been to one of these before. Gaiman was really funny. He has an awesome voice, and I really enjoyed listening to his stories. It was pretty cool seeing 1,078 people going crazy over an author. I'm definitely a Gaiman fan now!

Dystopi(c)a For A Paper

I've been attempting to come up with a paper topic, and at the moment this is the best I have. I've always found the concept of a dystopia to be extremely interesting and as far as a degree of darkness it's quite difficult to get much darker than an entire society gone completely wrong in some horrible way. So, what I was thinking was for a paper to possibly compare different dystopia societies from a couple of different works. I don't really have any specific ones at the moment, and I would be more than happy to take suggestions.

I'm LOST

Just figured I'd check in and add another geektastic post about Lost. I didn't say much about last weeks episode because it was an episode about Kate and like all Kate-centered episodes before it, the episode sucked. But last nights episode centered around Locke was amazing. I won't give a huge recap about what happened just in case people havent seen the episode but this was the first time all season that I felt like Lost answered any questions whatsoever. They finally answered what being a "candidate" meant and they gave us the list of who the remaining candidates to take over Jacob's spot as island protector are. I for one hope it's Hurley because Hurley's awesome and I think he provides the right mixture of sympathy and bravery that it would take to become the new "Jacob". Other than that the episode was basically chock full of awesome like Ben Linus as a high school history teacher. Now that I have fully established myself as a dork I shall stop typing and open the discussion of last nights episode up to all other dorks.

The Graveyard Jungle Book

After reading the book it makes sense that some of the quotes from famous authors on the back of the book include references to the Jungle Book. I realize that theres really no such thing as a new story, only variations on how to tell it, but if someone told me that Neil Gaiman had a copy of The Jungle Book next to him while writing The Graveyard Book I wouldn't be surprised. C'mon even the titles are similar. I don't mean to take anything away from The Graveyard Book because I really enjoyed it and really hope that Gaiman writes a sequel one day but I just figured that the similarities should be something noted on the blog. Plus did anybody else get upset by the way they just ended poor Scarlet's storyline at the end of the book. How can they set her up as a possible love interest for later on in the series if they wipe her memories? Somebody with the Harry Potter franchise needs to get in touch with Mr. Gaiman and tell him how to make this work better as a popcorn movie for American audiences because I have no doubt that The Graveyard book is coming to theaters sooner or later.

Linkspam

I don't know if y'all would be interested in this, but Gaiman has videos posted online of him reading the entirety of The Graveyard Book. He's got a great reading voice and I think it adds a lot to the experience to see what he puts the emphasis on and how he presents the text. (He also did the audio book and it is awesome.)

Here is a blog post Gaiman did with some fantastic illustrations Dave McKean for the book. You'll have to scroll down a bit; they're way down at the bottom of the post.

And last but not least, a youtube video of people dancing the Macabray

Goblin Market

The ghouls in "The Graveyard Book" reminded me so much of a story called Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti. I think ya'll will like it. The link is the title of this post.

Innocence vs. Experience

This summer in my honors class with Dr. Hali we looked into the theme of innocence vs. experience allot. I could not help but think of this idea while reading "The Graveyard Book." I felt that even though Bod's life was fantastical he still struggled with the conflict of innocence vs. experience that normal young adults face in so many coming of age situations. There was the innocence and protection of the graveyard that Bod cherished, yet at the same time he longed for the experience of the outer world, which could potentially harm him. As Bod interacted more with the human world and aged he gained experience but ultimately lost his ability to be attuned to the spirits who raised him in the graveyard.

Harry Potter, is that you?

Nobody Owens from "The Graveyard" reminds me of Harry Potter's character — so much so, it's a little scary. Both boys are the only ones in their family to survive after an evil man kills them. They are both well-known in their respective "magical worlds," whether it be the non-muggle realm or a graveyard. Nobody is known for being the living boy, whereas Harry's known for being the chosen one. Throughout their stories, they get into trouble along the way, but they have guardians and friends who help them. They both seem pure at heart, as Nobody shows when he helps children with the bullies and tries to get the witch a headstone. And those similarities are just scratching the surface.

Paper

Any ideas for a paper topic involving His Unconquerable Enemy? Maybe what Mr. Duncan mentioned about the narrator's dilemma as a physician?

Mardi Gras

So, since my weekend was spent in Mobile, I figured Mardi Gras would be a good topic for this week.

First, a little back-story for the uninitiated:

Mardi Gras is a celebration leading up to Ash Wednesday, or the start of Lent, a Christian custom that includes fasting from certain foods. It originated as a way to use perishable goods, such as eggs and milk, before Lent. It ballooned into huge celebrations in various locales.

As for Mobile's Mardi Gras, it is thought to be the oldest American city to celebrate Mardi Gras in an organized fashion. The celebration, in modern times, includes both parades and balls. Parades are a big deal in Mobile, and have "secret" society members decorate elaborate floats and throw beads, plushies, and small snacks to the hordes on the side of the street. The more fantasy part of Mardi Gras is the masquerade balls. Many of these are held in Mobile, and they are invitation only. The society members all wear masks and generally party. They are very secretive even today.

I hope this informs people of how Mardi Gras is celebrated today!

Paper Topic

This might be too broad, but I was thinking about doing my paper on the roots of anthropological fantasy using a couple of the early stories in the first Straub volume as sources. I don't have the book in front of my right now, and can't remember which ones in particular would be useful, but there were a couple I remember reading and thinking that they seem like the direct ancestor of things like Heinlein or Dune (if you turn your head and squint).

If this is too broad, I might do something about the Other and how it's treated in early fantasy.

Paper Topic: Luella Miller

I think I will cover the topic of Luella Miller for the paper. This was one of my favorites and I'd like to learn more about it.

As far as the Graveyard Book, I can't believe it's a children's book. The dark and scary parts would have absolutely terrified me as a kid.

Paper Topics: Yuki-Onna

Before anyone else has a chance, I am going to lay claim to one of the paper topics Andy sent out that had interested me. The topic is comparing the version of Yuki-Onna that we read to the Japanese versions. I will research some this weekend and report back as to what I find.

From April Witch to the Addams Family

We'll talk about this more in class, but I wanted to make a quick post about "The April Witch." Some people may be disappointed that it is not as dark and they expected, but it is interesting to know that is has served as the basis for some darker fantasy. According to Wikipedia, "The April Witch" was part of 3 of Bradbury's short story books, until it was assimilated into his 2003 fix-up novel called From the Dust Returned.  The book centers around a family of vampires, whose characters were created with the help of his friend Charles Addams, and later provided the basis for The Addams Family.

Here is the Wikipedia article.

I'd like to know if any of you have had the chance to read this novel?

Dysfunctional as it gets, the Family

Well, I'll probably be covering this and more in class, but one thing I want to know is if anyone felt a definite time period with Family. To me, I got a definite dustbowl era feel, but at the same time a 1950's suburban dystopia feel as well. I guess really it could exist in no time at all. There is mention quite a few times that the passage of time seems to be an abstract thing, never knowing how much of it has passed. The ending itself is a talk of whether or not time should move on, if the calendar should be changed to the new year. Thoughts?

And Now For Something Completely Different

Since I'm not responsible for talking about a specific story this week and we keep saying that the dark fantastic can encompass all sorts of media, not just literature I figured I would write something about one of my true joys in life. LOST.
I believe that this show definitely belongs to the world of dark fantasy because what other show brings you polar bears, frozen donkey wheels, and "Smokey" the friendly island black cloud that enjoys bashing peoples brains in.
In my opinion Lost deserves to be in the conversation when it comes to the greatest television shows ever not just because its a great show, but because it has such a rich mythology and take so many cues from different artforms such as other shows and many different literary texts like Lord of the Flies and Alice in Wonderland.
Since this course runs through the final season of Lost theres a good chance I'll continue posting about this amazing show and spoil just about everything that happens this season because its just too hard not to talk about a show this good, especially when it airs on Tuesday nights and its all I raelly want to talk about on Wednesdays.

The April Disappointment

Was anyone else really disappointed with "The April Witch?" I was hoping it would be as creepy and interesting as Something Wicked This Way Comes. I've always remembered watching the film adaptation with my mom when I was younger. The beginning of "The April Witch" looked like it could be heading in the same direction as "The Thing on the Doorstep," but then it ended up being pretty pointless. Maybe I just like my fantasy stories a little darker.

The Daemon Lover

So, I am discussing "The Daemon Lover" by Shirley Jackson. I did a little research on the author and found out that she put a character named James Harris in several of her stories. He appears in "Of Course," "Like Mother Used to Make" and "Elizabeth." However, I don't think these characters are the same character; they only share a name. Jackson also included the traditional British ballad called "The Daemon Lover" in her short story collection. The ballad is about a man named James Harris who persuades his old girlfriend to leaver her husband and children for him. Here's the link to the Wikipedia article on the ballad: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daemon_Lover

Prey

So, I've read the story "Prey". I found it to be a fascinating little story with quite a good ending. It seems in movies or stories such as this that when an object such as a doll is possessed that the victims struggling against the object never stop to consider that the spirit stuck in the doll wouldn't be permanently gby destroying the carrier. If anything the spirit would be allowed to roam completely free at that point, and that's where the ending of this story went. The protagonist destroys the spirit's prison in a sense, and the spirit then decides to take up residence in the victim's body. That's what pretty much what I found interesting about this story is that it seems more "realistic" in a sense the spiritual entity wouldn't be destroyed just because its physical carrier has been.

This is a reproduction of the Zuni fetish doll from the TV movie, Trilogy of Terror starring Karen Black produced in 1975.

Also, you can find the entire Trilogy of Terror on youtube if you do a surface level search.

When the Robot Revolution Comes...

I'll probably be the first against the wall.

So, I read Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" last night and one of the things that struck me is that, in fiction, when computers gain sentience, they almost always use it to nefarious ends. Like the Machines in The Matrix or ...what was the computer's name in 2001 A Space Odyssey? They always seem to hate humanity. Then I got to thinking, how is that any different from folk tales of trees that harbor a deep and abiding hatred for humans because we can move around and they cannot? Is this just the latest incarnation of that trope? Or have stories like this become popular because somewhere within us we fear that we really are building our machines a bit too smart? I don't know about y'all but I think I'm going to be a little nicer to my laptop after reading this.

I don't really know what to do with this one...

I'm supposed to present "The Mysteries of the Joy Rio," but I'm still trying to wrap my head around what exactly was going on, so I'll just say some things about the author for now. Tennessee Williams was best known for his plays. Probably his most famous plays were The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Needless to say, he was a pretty big deal in the 40's and 50's. I did some reading and found that Williams was believed to be a homosexual, which really puts this story into context. While he never openly confessed it, it was a somewhat well-known fact. This is reflected a lot in his poems, and some in his short stories. It seems that when it pops up in his short stories, however, homosexuality is usually met with disease and death. For example, both Kroger and Pablo get colon cancer after a life of homosexuality. I'll go into further detail about that tomorrow.

Real or Not Real

After reading Shirley Jackson's The Daemon Lover, I have to ask.. is Jamie Harris even a real person?? The girl cannot seem to picture his face, but claims that is because of love, which I thought odd. Her only descriptions were tall, handsome and that he often wears a blue suit. These details could describe a number of people. I am just confused about rather or not this guy exists or not and what was going on in that weird room at the end. That just came out of nowhere. I don't know who was covering this story for this week, but let me know your thoughts.

The Sexist Doctor

With all the sexist stories we've read, it's interesting that the David H. Keller story we read wasn't sexist. He is actually known for being very anti-feminist. Two of his other short stories are "Feminine Metamorphosis" and "The Little Husbands." "Feminine Metamorphosis" is about a group of women who take male hormones and try to take over the world. "The Little Husbands" is about 70 ft tall Amazon women who keep normal-sized men as their slaves.

Mr. Fiddlehead

Mr. Fiddlehead was quite a change from the stories in the first book (maybe not so much from the previous stories in Volume II, but I always read my story first) in that it is set in fairly modern times (i.e., the year of my birth). I thought it was interesting because, as with most of our stories so far, they start out seeming fairly benign and then you begin to see something is wrong (first really seen with the earrings in the shop). I thought it was a good story about how things in our imagination can truly come to life. Again, I find myself pinpointing the ending before it has arrived, but maybe I am just thinking of the obvious stories.

Edinburgh the Erie

In class I mentioned that while in Edinburgh, Scotland I could identify with the sense of a place being inherently creepy just as the glen in "Genis Loci." As soon as we arrived I was overtaken by the gloomy atmosphere that had settled in the city just below the highlands, and going on a ghost tour surly did not help to brighten the mood. Here is the link to the website of the company who gave us our tour. It has lots of cool facts and lore about the city and outlines the different tours available. Also I wanted to add that J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the "Chamber of Secretes" in Edinburgh at a cafe called The Elephant House.

The primitive future

"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream," seems to fit the typical '60s persona, at least in my eyes. It mixes futuristic ideas, like the computer, while keeping a primitive basis. The captives don't have any sort of technology, like a car or other means of escape. The computer seems to have taken away the scientific means that led to his own assembly.

I say it reminds me of the '60s because it makes me think of "Planet of the Apes" for some reason. Like the show, things are primitive while being in the future, at least that's my take. Both examples show humans as the captive, or the ones who don't belong.

Where are the women?

Women continue to get the short-end of the stick with the stories for this week. I have never seen "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" movie, but I wonder if his mom had more of a role than she did in the book. I would think the mom, who gave birth to this phenomenon, would be mentioned more to give her perspective. What did she think when she gave birth to Benjamin? Did she have any idea things were wrong during the pregnancy? I feel like a whole side of the story is missing without more input from her. At least a woman had some whole in this story — Hildegarde — unlike stories like "Unseen — Unfeared," with no female characters, and "The Jelly-Fish," which stated that the graduates were all male.

What A Coincidence

Robert E. Howard's "The Black Stone" was really fun and interesting to read. It did an outstanding job of grabbing and keeping my attention throughout the story. However, I had a bad taste in my mouth after reading it and it wont quite go away. Throughout the story's buildup you just know that sooner or later this guy is going to see the black stone and sure enough he does. Howard adds this great backstory to the black stone and its rich history and the people who worship it and make up the small town that surrounds the stone but then he is sure to mention that the real crazy stuff at the stone happens on Midsummer's Night. I get that its a ritual and its spookier if it happens once a year but it really upsets me when the narrator just matter of factly declares that this very night is...you guessed it..Midsummer's Night.

It's still a very rich and creepy story, but I cant help but feel like just randomly throwing that in just so the story fits better was a bit of a cop-out. If anybody else has ever been disappointed like this by a story/movie/play/whatever and feel that that one specific part of the story ruined what otherwise would have been a really enjoyable experience I would love to know about it just for the comfort that somewhere out there people are just as confused as I am.

all the best,

Paul

Don't let the movie fool you

Before reading the short story, I had seen the movie the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The movie however has little to do with the story. The plot of the movie does not follow that of the short story. In fact, I believe the people who wrote the movie script just like Fitzgerald's idea of aging backwards and built another story around that, but kept the title of Fitzgerald's story.

Other than comparing movie to story, I thought it was interesting that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote this. I did not know who had written this until this class, and I am somewhat shocked to find out it was Fitzgerald because he totally broke away from his traditional style of writing when he wrote this fantasy piece.

The idea behind this came from what some sources say as a quote from Mark Twain. You can find the source here. Paraphrasing what was said..It's a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst at the end. On a weird note, Fitzgerald apparently called this story, the funniest story he had ever written, which is kind of odd, I think. Any one else think that's weird?

"The Cloak"

"The Cloak" by Robert Bloch was a fun story to read and a far different take on Vampires. Apparently all it takes to become Vampire-like is to wear one of their cloaks. The story has a twist at the end which, In my opinion, was a little obvious. Maybe I am jsut to cynical for twists of that nature to phase me.

As for Bloch himself, I found a few interesting tidbits here. Some of those tidbits include:

1. When Bloch was nine he saw a version of The Phantom of the Opera which had him sleeping with the light on.
   
2. Influenced by Poe and H.P. Lovecraft
3. Once said "Comedy and horror are opposite sides of the same coin," which plays out in this story.

Auburn Hauntings

After reading the post about the good Alabama school's hauntings and going to the other school last weekend for the basketball game, I decided to look up information on Auburn's ghost stories.

http://www.realhaunts.com/haunted-houses/united-states/alabama/auburn/

http://www.ghostsofamerica.com/3/Alabama_Auburn_University_ghost_sightings.html