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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
Yay! More Richard Marsh available!
Another book by the awesome Richard Marsh has been released by Valancourt! You can purchase A Spoiler of Men (1905) through Amazon. I’m a big fan of Marsh’s work, and have read a lot of things reprinted by Valancourt — … Continue reading
Horror writers on horror films, from Focus Features
A few days ago, I got a nice email from FilminFocus.com, the film culture website of film company Focus Features (A Serious Man, Brokeback Mountain, Coraline). For Halloween, they asked five horror writers to each list their five favorite horror … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Horror
3 Comments
Halloween treats 2009
It’s time again for my yearly dose of Halloween chills, courtesy of some classic horror stories! The 2007 edition can be found here, and the 2008 edition can be found here. Have a happy Halloween! The Willows, Algernon Blackwood. This … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
4 Comments
Claimed! by Francis Stevens
Not too long ago, I took a first look at the weird short fiction of Francis Stevens (1883-1948), a groundbreaking author who has been credited with helping create the genre of “dark fantasy“. Though Stevens was a somewhat uneven writer … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
4 Comments
Marie Corelli’s Ziska
(I’ve had a backlog of fiction I’ve wanted to blog about, and a lack of energy for physics blogging thanks to heavy work on my book. I’ll get back to science-y posts in a few days.) 1897 was a very … Continue reading
Leonard Cline’s The Dark Chamber
Lovecraft’s essay Supernatural Horror in Literature is a great starting source for finding very good but relatively unknown horror gems. I’ve been slowly working my way through Lovecraft’s picks, and recently Leonard Cline’s The Dark Chamber (1927) caught my eye: … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
4 Comments
Lord Dunsany’s Pegana
A bit over a month ago, I decided to read a few of Lord Dunsany’s plays after reading Lovecraft’s glowing review of them in Supernatural Horror in Literature. The plays are wonderfully eerie and capture the spirit of ancient myths … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction, Lovecraft
4 Comments
Edward Lee’s Ghouls
When I was a teenager, I used to read a lot of horror novels, some good, many very bad. In fact, I gave up on reading horror for a number of years due to my frustration. After starting the blog, … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
4 Comments
Francis Stevens’ The Nightmare and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy
In my readings for this blog, I am constantly surprised by how many truly excellent authors and works of weird fiction have been (mostly) lost in the passage of time. Fortunately, a number of publishers have valiantly taken up the … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Weird fiction
5 Comments
Here’s some Lord Dunsany to perform…
I’m currently in Oklahoma visiting a collaborator, so my time is rather short. While I’m away, I’ve been reading through Lovecraft’s Supernatural Horror in Literature, and came across descriptions of some of the short plays of Lord Dunsany (1878-1957). They’re … Continue reading
