Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4646 )

• Simple Gifts

  

  During my many years of studying religion I learned about the Shakers. It was many years ago and my knowledge isn’t extensive. I was caught off guard when my... Read more

  Posted on 11 May 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Equal Women

  

  It’s been so busy this year that Mother’s Day crept up on me.  We have a lot of spring birthdays in our extended family, and what with the weird weather this... Read more

  Posted on 10 May 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Million Air

  

  Life is strange.  While I was in Boston for the AAR/SBL Annual Meeting in November, something unusual happened.  For a few days back then this blog was getting ... Read more

  Posted on 09 May 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Dr. 2 P 2

  

  Before reading Lord Byron’s Doctor by Paul West, I started reading John William Polidori’s diary. This is freely available online, but I need a book in my... Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Snowballs in Spring

  

  Things snowball sometimes, even in the spring.  Weekends are among the most sacred of times when you work a 9-2-5.  They do double-duty as recovery time as... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Ghoulish

  

  Frankenstein made Boris Karloff a wanted man. In horror, that is. In need of a fix without spending anything, I took Amazon Prime’s offer of The Ghoul. (You... Read more

  Posted on 06 May 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Rabbit Holes

  

  are my favorite part of the internet.  They can be used for heavy-duty research, but in my case they’re mostly just fun.  I’ve written about Dark Shadows many,... Read more

  Posted on 05 May 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Dr. P.

  

  My recent fascination with the meeting of Lord Byron with Percy Shelley’s party in 1816 led me to read Paul West’s novel Lord Byron’s Doctor. Read more

  Posted on 04 May 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Spring Halloween

  

  Being a lifelong fan of Halloween, it’s only dawning on me now that Walpurgis is almost precisely half-a-year from its October sibling.  This occurred to me thi... Read more

  Posted on 03 May 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Eh Aye Jesus

  

  Have you ever wondered just how bizarre it can get?  At work I’ve been receiving push notifications for AI Jesus.  This is a software platform for exploring “th... Read more

  Posted on 02 May 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• May’s Cool Start

  

  Beltane always makes me think of The Wicker Man, for some reason. I recently got a royalty notice telling me sixteen copies had sold since the last statement. Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Hopeful Reading

  

  Although I prefer independent bookstores, I happened to find myself in a Barnes Noble between other activities on a recent weekend. This ended up being good... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Demonic Plot

  

  The problem with pithy titles is that many of them apply to more than one movie. That’s true of The Accursed, so I’ll specify that I mean the 2022 film, directe... Read more

  Posted on 29 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• A Sense of Scale

  

  Most people have trouble imagining very large numbers.  The things we count, in daily life, seldom top the thousands.  To the human mind, a million is an... Read more

  Posted on 28 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Academic Reading

  

  There is an art to writing biographies.  In the course of my training myself to write on literary horror, I’ve read a number of them. Read more

  Posted on 27 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Horror History

  

  The problem with writing about the history of anything is that time keeps unspooling. Published in 1967, Carlos Clarens’ An Illustrated History of the Horror... Read more

  Posted on 26 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Still Sleepy

  

  Being outside in the cold for several hours makes it difficult to think clearly. That’s my official excuse for watching Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers. Read more

  Posted on 25 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Dreamers

  

  Dreams are strange things.  I’m talking literal dreams—what your mind comes up with when sleeping.  Some dreams come out remarkably clumsily, like they were mad... Read more

  Posted on 24 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Not Crystal Lake

  

  I’d heard just enough about Sleepaway Camp to wonder if it was so bad it was good. I really knew nothing else going into it. I won’t spoil the ending, but you... Read more

  Posted on 23 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• A Day for Earth

  

  Sometimes things come just when they’re needed.  Although it was earlier this month, the Artemis II mission was a celebration of Earth Day. Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2026 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY