Kindred: the Embraced, a retrospective

Kindred: the Embraced holds the honour of being the first (and still, the only) live action television series adapted from a tabletop roleplaying game. Running for a brief eight episodes in 1996, Kindred is the story of rival vampire clans jostling for control of San Francisco’s underworld, drawing its mythos from the top-selling rpg "Vampire: … Continue reading Kindred: the Embraced, a retrospective →

Foreshadowings: Bloodlust; or The Enduring Appeal of the Vampire

Vampires are arguably the chicest of all revenants. They never get old. Literally. Like the Gothic genre, vampires have endured numerous transmutations over the centuries, progressing from primitive folklore phantasm to Byronic aristocrat. Christopher Frayling’s anthology of Vampyres (1991) charts this metamorphosis and illustrates the upward social mobility of the vampire as it is adapted … Continue reading Foreshadowings: Bloodlust; or The Enduring Appeal of the Vampire →

2014 Halloween Blog Series, Part Two

Halloween doesn't necessarily end on the morning of the 1st of November. Much like Christmas there's a hazy afterglow: a period in which the festivities seem to linger whilst the world slowly gets back to normal. Of course, in the case of Halloween, this is less likely to involve messing about with presents or spending a … Continue reading 2014 Halloween Blog Series, Part Two →

2014 Halloween Blog Series, Part One

As you'll no doubt be aware, today is October the 30th: a date known around the world as All Hallows Eve... Eve. It's when the witches are scrubbing their cauldrons, the vampires are checking their reflections (and swearing a bit), the werewolves are consulting lunar calendars and adjusting their costume accordingly and the giant helmets … Continue reading 2014 Halloween Blog Series, Part One →

Foreshadowings – Do Goths Dream of Electric Bats?

We've a little over a week to go until our first session of 2014. As usual, we're kicking off with a film: Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, but this time we'll also be reading the film's source material: Philip K. Dick's short novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Both 'texts' are famous within the canons of … Continue reading Foreshadowings – Do Goths Dream of Electric Bats? →

Sources and Resources – Background and Materials for Winterson

The Gothic Reading Group meets for its last session of 2013 this week: capping off a semester that's seen us travel from 21st century horror cinema to transatlantic 19th century fictionalisations of madness and now back (via a bit of cosmic horror) to Jeanette Winterson's 2012 novel based on the infamous Lancashire Witch trials. As … Continue reading Sources and Resources – Background and Materials for Winterson →