Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4674 )

• Gothic Folk

  

  I smelled autumn on the air during yesterday morning’s jog. Pseudo-non sequitur: Cambridge Elements are one of the many series of short books that academic... Read more

  Posted on 21 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Not Really Free

  

  I admit that I’m a cheapskate. When you grow up poor, that comes naturally. For some of us the myth of scarcity is less of a fable than it is for others. Perhap... Read more

  Posted on 20 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Bible Lives

  

  How well do we know our parents?  Occasionally I think about the things I’ve never told my daughter.  This was brought home to me when, looking through a box... Read more

  Posted on 19 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Not Kid’s Stuff

  

  Sometimes when I go into a bookstore I don’t find anything on my list. (My list is pretty strange, and it includes many older titles. Read more

  Posted on 18 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Pearl X

  

  The danger to starting something new is that you’ll get hooked. I watched the unusual horror film X because it was getting some good press, only to find out tha... Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Book Stages

  

  There are stages to it.  Writing a book, I mean.  One stage, for me, is realizing that you’re writing one.  I started work on Sleepy Hollow as American Myth... Read more

  Posted on 16 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Academic Politics

  

  Being the curious sort, I followed up on the post I dropped the day before Valentines. I had written about Scholars Press and how details were hard to find. I... Read more

  Posted on 15 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Local Gothic

  

  One of the most valuable aspects of the humanities is the range they give the imagination. As an undergrad from a small town, I was astonished at the range of... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Good Timing?

  

  Timing is important.  I hope I have a sense of it, but it doesn’t always work out the way you hope.  My last book, The Wicker Man, was released on the fiftieth... Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Who Recommended?

  

  A couple of things: one-word titles can be confusing, and I need to start writing down where I get movie recommendations. Trying to live reasonably on an... Read more

  Posted on 12 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Lost Decade

  

  The nineties, it seems, got away from me.  Personally, they started with living in Edinburgh with my newlywed spouse. We had no television and no money, and... Read more

  Posted on 11 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Outside Invisible

  

  Some of us are fated, it seems, always to be outsiders. I have no inside knowledge of the film industry. I barely keep up with the movies I want to see. Read more

  Posted on 10 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• August Thoughts

  

  The other day I saw a headline on a BookRiot email blast: “August is Spooky Season Jr.”  I’ve often wondered why more horror fans haven’t emphasized this. Read more

  Posted on 09 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Sleeping and Watching

  

  The older I get, the more flexible my idea of reality becomes.  I’m starting to notice things that may have been happening for decades, but the reflection of ag... Read more

  Posted on 08 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Night Or Curse

  

  You just never know. I’ve read lots of books about horror movies, but clearly not enough. The field only gained academic respectability in recent years, but onc... Read more

  Posted on 07 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• In Public

  

  Mere days after my dentist appointment I had occasion to be back in the waiting room.  Of course I had a book with me.  Then my attention was caught by either... Read more

  Posted on 06 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Gothic Illumination

  

  A mere month ago I had never heard of Sally Sayward Wood. She has seldom received much attention, and it may be in part because her literary finesse wasn’t quit... Read more

  Posted on 05 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Wax Museum

  

  I admit to using Wikipedia and I even support it. It’s the starting point for looking up things for which we’re not familiar. Since most movies I watch don’t... Read more

  Posted on 04 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• In Praise of Paper

  

  There’s an old saying that the tech industry might consider.  “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  I’m thinking books.  I work in an industry that’s running afte... Read more

  Posted on 03 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Horror Homework

  

  If you write about horror movies, you have to do your homework. Of course, this means time away from house work (the weeds love all this rain and hot weather)... Read more

  Posted on 02 August 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY