Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4556 )

• From the Grave

  

  “Macabre” is a word of uncertain etymological origin. One of the most convincing arguments that I’ve read is that it derives from Hebrew qbr, a root associated... Read more

  Posted on 25 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Shadow off Campus

  

  I’ve been to quite a few academic conferences in my life. Some have been held in neighborhoods declared “unsafe.” I even had a job interview in a hotel room... Read more

  Posted on 24 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Saint Francis

  

  With the death of the most saint-like Pope in living memory, it feels a little like fate that I’d seen Conclave just three days before. Francis was the only Pop... Read more

  Posted on 23 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Thinking of Home

  

  The earth, and even life on it, will, I’m confident, outlive our petty desires for money and being the king of the hill.  Scientists are getting tantalizingly... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• More Than Zombies

  

  I was near fifty, if I hadn’t already passed that threshold, before I saw Night of the Living Dead. Whispered about in my high school as one of the scariest... Read more

  Posted on 21 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Easter Gathering

  

  On Easter I’m thinking of Conclave. My wife had been wanting to see it and we watched it on Good Friday—a work day, of course, in this “Christian” nation. In an... Read more

  Posted on 20 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Unusual Autopsy

  

  I avoided The Autopsy of Jane Doe for some time because, well, autopsy movies just aren’t my thing. Besides, I thought it might be a “true crime” sort of movie... Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Space Rocks

  

  The thing from another world.  No, not the movie, but an artifact.  My recent post about the asteroid sent me looking for something. Read more

  Posted on 18 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Horror Adjacent

  

  We have the basic facts, but still, it takes a good bit of imagination. We simply don’t know what the life of Mary Shelley was like, as experienced by the... Read more

  Posted on 17 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• To the Maxxx

  

  Okay, so Maxxxine will be difficult to discuss in my usual format here, but I’ll give it the old college try. Ti West is quite a stylist when it comes to... Read more

  Posted on 10 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Four-leaf Clover

  

  It was recently my late mother’s birthday.  I didn’t post about it on that that day since it might become a security question some day.  In any case, it was a... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Going Viral

  

  Okay, so there are some pretty big plot holes, but Viral is nevertheless an effective horror film. The “virus” is actually a parasite spread by blood, which... Read more

  Posted on 08 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Remembering Consciousness

  

  I recently inadvertently read—it happens!—about anesthesia.  I’ve been relatively healthy for most of my adult life and have experienced anesthesia only for... Read more

  Posted on 07 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Seeing the Forster

  

  The thing about exploring dark academia is that its recognition is fairly new. It seems that the “concept” emerged only ten years ago and the longer that it’s... Read more

  Posted on 06 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Dark Smile

  

  Romance. It’s not the same thing as Romanticism, but it’s often part of drama. It can, and often does, feature in horror. Tender feelings toward someone we... Read more

  Posted on 05 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Craving Enchantment

  

  I really want to know, but just can’t figure out, how to write like Katherine May. My wife and I read her book Wintering and now have added Enchantment. Read more

  Posted on 04 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Fabric of Time

  

  I’m not a sewer.  I mean, a person who sews.  I know people who are, though, who are quite distressed that JoAnn Fabrics is going out of business. Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Unholy Conception

  

  Religious horror is difficult to get right. Immaculate received reasonably positive reviews, and did well enough at the box office. Its message of women being... Read more

  Posted on 02 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Late Shift

  

  M. L. Rio is best known for If We Were Villains, a book I have on my shelf but haven’t read yet. She’s one of those rare PhDs who can write, and her punchy,... Read more

  Posted on 01 April 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• A Different Village

  

  If I’m honest I’ll admit that I first found out about John Wyndham’s The Midwich Cuckoos from The Simpsons. In one of the episodes, “Wild Barts Can’t Be Broken,... Read more

  Posted on 31 March 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY