Steveawiggins
MY BLOGS
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Sects and Violence in the Ancient World
http://sawiggins.wordpress.com/
A blog that tries to find intelligent things to say about religion and related subjects.
LATEST ARTICLES ( 4556 )
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Re-untold
In retrospect, Universal’s Dark Universe, itself a shadowy concept, could have been a thing. With the budget behind it, Dracula Untold could’ve been spectacular. Read more
Posted on 09 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Finding Vampires
Parents always dread when their child will ask them the inevitable question: where do vampires come from? A number of people have undertaken to answer that... Read more
Posted on 08 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Scary Things
I recently set myself the challenge to come up with the scariest movies I’ve seen, up to 1979. The date is the publication date (I think) of Stephen King’s... Read more
Posted on 07 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
LA Story
David Lynch movies aren’t always easy to understand. Last year we watched Twin Peaks, including the movie Fire Walk with Me. Some time before that I’d watched... Read more
Posted on 06 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Finding a Spot
Sometimes you’re not born among your tribe. I live where I’ve moved out of economic necessity, not where my family’s located. My family’s not quite sure what... Read more
Posted on 05 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Motorcycle Trip
Among my introductory lectures to students was one that covered genre. I recall saying something along the lines of “when you read something your expectations o... Read more
Posted on 04 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Going Below
Indiana Jones in National Treasure, in found-footage horror format. That’s the feel of As Above, So Below. Only Jones is a woman. There’s plenty of religious... Read more
Posted on 03 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Perhaps More?
Publishers use the term “deep backlist” to refer to titles that they published long ago. That’s always the phrase that comes to mind when I browse my “to read”... Read more
Posted on 02 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Hoping for 2025
Those who predict, as pollsters repeatedly remind us, can’t really prognosticate. In ancient times some prophets were thought to be given (usually... Read more
Posted on 01 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
2024 in Books
I’m trying to figure it out. My annual last post is my book reflection for the fading year. I keep track of my books on Goodreads, and I always join their... Read more
Posted on 31 December 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Bottoming Out?
It was an honest mistake, I swear! I had remembered reading in Stephen King’s Danse Macabre that The Creeping Unknown was worth seeing. I’d known about this... Read more
Posted on 30 December 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Writing Academic
One of the things that Stephen King detests (or at least detested back in the seventies) was academic literary criticism. Perhaps you’re more normal than King... Read more
Posted on 29 December 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Vampire Lovers
Stylish, gothic, dramatic. If it weren’t for the vampires you might not know that Only Lovers Left Alive is a horror movie. Indeed, some say it’s not. You can... Read more
Posted on 28 December 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
The Dark Season
It was on Goodreads that I first saw The Gathering Dark. Since I’ve been trying to read more short stories, I decided I should give it a go. Read more
Posted on 27 December 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Historic Vampires
Vampire movies have always been a guilty pleasure. The thing is, there are so many of them that watching them all would be the task of a lifetime (and a... Read more
Posted on 26 December 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
A Christmas Parable
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Donald Trump that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when... Read more
Posted on 25 December 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Eves and Holidays
If you stop in to this blog for reading about horror movies, don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of that to come. One thing everyone who knows me knows is that I... Read more
Posted on 24 December 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Mad, Bad
Although epic poetry holds an important place in literary history, I tend to read prose more. Like most wordsmiths, I do write poetry—more like dabble in it. Read more
Posted on 23 December 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Echoes
Among the first books I read that might be considered Dark Academia was P. D. James’ Death in Holy Orders. That was so long ago that I don’t remember when,... Read more
Posted on 22 December 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Solstice 2024
We have a small solstice celebration at home. We’re not pagans, but it seems that the shortest day ought to be observed. Noted. Pondered. You see, this... Read more
Posted on 21 December 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY
