Fairy Tales Series
This series focuses on fairy tales, their history and retellings/adaptations/reimaginings from a range of perspectives. I do one post on the chosen fairy tale with some variations from around the world, sometimes along with some ideas/prompts for how to retell it, and then all the diverse and popular recommendations for retellings and reimaginings of that story that people have suggested for me. The second post focuses on films, with a list of the direct(-ish) adaptations of this story through the decades, and then films that could arguably be said to have the basic themes of these tales. Some I haven’t seen myself, so feel free to debate.
01: Beauty and the Beast and Me
02: Beauty and the Beast in Gothic/Horror Stories
03: Beauty and the Beast in Horror Films
04: A Darker Side of Snow in Print
05: A Darker Side of Snow in Cinema
06: The Dangers of Blue Beards (in Books)
07: Bluebeard in Cinema 1901-2023
08: Waking Dangers for Sleeping Beauties
09: Sleeping Beauty in Cinema 1903-2023
10: Eating Granny (in Print)
11: Red Riding Hood in Films 1901-2024
12: (Books about) Escaping the Tower
13: Rapunzel in Cinema 1897-2024
14: Cinders and Glass (in Books)
15: Cinderella in Cinema (1898-2024)
You can find previous posts on writing prompts around fairy tales elsewhere on my site:
Cinderella – writing prompts
Snow White – writing prompts
Rapunzel – writing prompts
Sleeping Beauty – writing prompts
Beauty and the Beast – writing prompts
Werewolf Films Series 1910-1979
I did a random series of werewolf films for fun, which got very little traction at the time and now are getting more attention!
01: Werewolf films 1910-1949
02: Werewolf films 1950-1959
03: Werewolf films 1960-1969
04: Werewolf films 1970-1979 (Part 1) – Monster Mash/Fantasy Horror films
05: Werewolf films 1970-1979 (Part 2) – Crime/Thriller Horror films & Exploitation
06: Werewolf films 1970-1979 (Part 3) – Horror Comedy & Folklore and Religion
Murder During the Hundred Years’ War
This is a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of Melissa Julian-Jones’s Murder During the Hundred Years’ War (2020), my own nonfiction, true crime book published with Pen & Sword.
01: Nonfiction Spotlight: Murder During the Hundred Years’ War
02: Medieval Murder ~ The Discovery of a Body 1375
03: Medieval Murder ~ The Victim
04: Medieval Murder ~ The Indicted Suspects
05: Medieval Murder ~ The Money Motive
06: Medieval Murder ~ Motive: Affairs of the Heart
07: Medieval Murder ~ Communal Revenge or Communal Vengeance?
08: Medieval Murder ~ Justice, Law Enforcement & Cross-County Networks
09: Medieval Murder ~ The Trial’s Outcome & Aftermath (buy the book to find out!)
10: Medieval Murder ~ Source Material in the Appendix (buy the book to find out!)
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON AND FROM PEN & SWORD BOOKS
Gothic Fiction Series
I did a fun series on Gothic fiction and film looking at tropes and subgenres, but highly recommend the Romancing the Gothic project for their hundreds of talks on all things Gothic and Gothic-adjacent, with diverse global and queer perspectives: https://romancingthegothic.com/
01: Goth is [Not] Dead: Genre Chat
02: Goth is [Not] Dead: Subgenre Chat
03: Goth is [Not] Dead: What is Gothic Weird Fiction?
04: Goth is [Not] Dead: Corruption
05: Goth is [Not] Dead: Isolation
06: Goth is [Not] Dead: Darkness
07: Urban Gothic Recs
08: Welsh Gothic: Landscape
09: Welsh Gothic: Language
10: Welsh Gothic in Film: Darklands
11: Welsh Gothic in Film: House of the Long Shadows
Welsh Gothic (2013) Review Series
This is the chapter-by-chapter breakdown of Jane Aaron’s Welsh Gothic (2013), with added historical context and, where possible, links to the texts cited/reviews and other related articles.
01: Welsh Gothic by Jane Aaron: The Introduction
02: Cambria Gothica (1780s-1820s): Chapter 1 and Texts
03: Cambria Gothica (1780s-1820s): A Selection of Welsh Ghost Stories and Folklore pre-1830
04: Welsh Gothic Fiction (1830s-1900s): Chapter 2: Historical Context
05: Welsh Gothic Fiction (1830s-1900s): Chapter 2: An Underworld of One’s Own
06: Haunted Communities (1900s-1940s): Chapter 3: Gothic Dissent
07: Haunted Communities (1900s-1940s): Chapter 3: Industrial Gothic
08: Wales, Land of the Living Dead (1940s-1997): Chapter 4: Context and Poetry
09: Wales, Land of the Living Dead (1940s-1997): Chapter 4: Zombies and Zombification
10: Wales, Land of the Living Dead (1940s-1997): Chapter 4: Vampire Lore and Vampire Lit
11: Post-Devolution Welsh Gothic (1997-2013): Epilogue
12: Welsh Gothic Tropes: Death Omens
13: Welsh Gothic Tropes: The Witch
14: Welsh Gothic Tropes: The Druid
15: Welsh Gothic Tropes: The Cwn Annwn
16: Welsh Gothic Tropes: The Sin Eater
Gothic Studies Reviews
Body Gothic by Xavier Aldana Reyes
Pulp Gothic Fiction Reviews
Echo in a Dark Wind by Julia Withers
Fantasy/Paranormal/Supernatural Gothic Reviews
The Pendragon Legend by Antal Szerb
Stoker’s Wilde by Steven Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi
The Truth in Lies by Gemma Cartmell
Spectred Isle by K. J. Charles
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Weird/New Weird Fiction Reviews
Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman
The Divinity Student by Michael Cisco
From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury
Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk
The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen