Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4522 )

• Burn Out

  

  The Los Angeles fires are terrifying.  In my case, I can’t help but think of the Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire of 1871.  I read two books about it, the first... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Upstate

  

  Unrequited love is sometimes tragic.  Other times it’s merely sad.  People are attracted to places.  Or at least the idea of places.  I was born in Pennsylvania... Read more

  Posted on 14 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Car Talk

  

  Body horror isn’t my favorite sub-genre, but Titane (French for titanium) had been recommended in several places. Body horror directed by women takes on a... Read more

  Posted on 13 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Measuring Books

  

  You know how some email servers stock your inbox with ads?  I almost never pay attention to them.  Then one for Books by the Foot showed up.  I had to click. Read more

  Posted on 12 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Meanwhile, on Earth

  

  Low budget doesn’t always translate to cinematic disaster, but in The Crater Lake Monster, it unfortunately does. I have a soft spot for those who attempt to... Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Steve Or Stephanie

  

  I know gender is a construct, and all.  I even put my pronouns (he, him, his) on my work email signature.  I haven’t bothered on my personal email account... Read more

  Posted on 10 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• 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