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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Category Archives: Horror
Madness on canvas: art in horror fiction
When you read enough horror fiction, certain themes recur consistently in the wonderful chaos of ideas. Among these, I was recently struck by how often the visual arts appear as the centerpiece of horror stories. This primarily involves paintings, but … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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Martin Cruz Smith’s Nightwing
It can take an author many years of writing to establish their own unique voice and style. Their early works are often a fascinating “what if” scenario, giving a glimpse of directions a well-known novelist may have alternatively taken. The … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Horror
3 Comments
Laird Barron’s The Imago Sequence
Still working on my NaNoWriMo novel, though I hope to finish well before the end of the month. In the meantime, I’m trying to catch up on a few long-delayed posts! Last month, I had the pleasure of reading and … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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The Lady of the Lake… a scientific ghost story
Ghost stories are somewhat passé in our modern, technical world — many of the mysterious phenomena that used to fill people with fear in past eras have been demystified thanks to our better knowledge of science. The phantom lights in … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Horror
19 Comments
Datlow and Mamatas’ “Haunted Legends”
I can always tell when Halloween is near — wandering through the bookstore, I inevitably find multiple new books of horror that I absolutely cannot resist. This time around, I found three must-have hardcovers, putting a significant dent in my … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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My favorite weird fiction of the past 3 years
Happy (belated) blogiversary to me! August 14th was the 3rd year anniversary of this blog, a milestone that I missed yet again in the hubbub of daily life. Nevertheless, an anniversary is a good time for reflection, and one thing … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Weird fiction, [Etc]
12 Comments
Richard Marsh’s The Goddess: A Demon (Valancourt edition)
With the release of the Valancourt edition of Richard Marsh’s The Goddess: A Demon, I thought I’d repost my earlier review of the book, with some modifications specific to this edition. I’ve read a lot of the books of Richard … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Mystery/thriller
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Joe Hill’s Horns
Joe Hill is a good horror author, but not an incredibly prolific one; his first book was 20th Century Ghosts (2005), a collection of ghost stories, and his second was Heart-Shaped Box (2007), which I reviewed on this blog a … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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Ramsey Campbell’s Creatures of the Pool
As I’ve noted countless times on this blog, Ramsey Campbell is my favorite horror writer of all time. He is a wizard with words, and the subtle horror of his stories carry a punch that lasts long after you finish … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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Jeff VanderMeer’s Finch
I’ve had the good fortune to read many good works of weird fiction since starting this blog — in fact, one of the major motivations for starting the blog was to “force” myself to get back into reading strange and … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Science fiction, Weird fiction
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