As the nights draw in and we approach the midwinter, what better way to celebrate the season than dipping into that most macabre of festive traditions, the Christmas ghost story? While we’re all familiar with Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, more modern traditions include the BBC’s A Ghost Story For Christmas, adaptations of typically M.R JamesContinue reading “Chronscast Episode 12 – A Ghost Story For Christmas, with Alison Littlewood”
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Chronscast Episode 11 – The Left Hand Of Darkness with Emily Inkpen
An Exodus Into the Light in The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand Of Darkness is sometimes held up as a 1960s premonition of modern and sometimes difficult — perhaps even problematic — phenomena such as gender fluidity, transsexuality, and sexual politics.
Chronscast Episode 8 – Inish Carraig with Naomi Foyle!
This month we’re joined by the award-winning British-Canadian author, poet and essayist Naomi Foyle, to talk about Inish Carraig, the alien-invasion-cum-prison break thriller by one of the friends of Chronscast, Jo Zebedee. Among the topics we cover is the quintessential “Norn Irishness” of the book, conveyed without ever lapsing into cliches about the Troubles, butContinue reading “Chronscast Episode 8 – Inish Carraig with Naomi Foyle!”
Masters of Two Worlds: Superheroes and Fantasy Heroes
Originally posted on Peat Long's Blog:
ARTWORK by chic2view from 123RF.com Before I get into the essay proper, I shall warn that this essay will mention the following works in some degree of spoilery detail: Three Hearts and Three Lions, Lord of the Rings, Earthsea Quartet, The Eternal Champion, His Dark Materials and of course, Watchmen.…
Literature Long Read: This World Is On Fire – Mysticism, Rejuvenation and Peace in The Waste Land
2022 is the centenary year of TS Eliot’s modernist masterpiece The Waste Land. It is one of the 20th century’s greatest and most influential poems, and yet seethes with such profound imagic, linguistic, cultural and religious references that it appears intimidatingly impenetrable to the lay reader. That’s the modernist way. But let’s not be temptedContinue reading “Literature Long Read: This World Is On Fire – Mysticism, Rejuvenation and Peace in The Waste Land”
Aiming High Part 2: Failure = New Information
Last week I worked through the idea of trying to capture one’s aspirations with as much detail as you can bear. The justification being that specific objectives enable one to create a useful plan or map of how to reach those objectives. The alternative is a sort of fuzzy goal that may or may notContinue reading “Aiming High Part 2: Failure = New Information”
The Rings Of Saturn – Chapter 3
Last week, Emmanuel pondered why the esteemed artist Edouardo Del Bosques had left his business card in Room 67 at the Museo Del Prado, until at last he gets a message asking to reunite. At Room 67 of the Museo Del Prado, of course.
Chronscast Episode 4 – Swords & Deviltry!
Today we’re joined by Stephen Cox, the author of the science-fiction drama Our Child Of The Stars, and the newly-published sequel, Our Child Of Two Worlds, both published by Jo Fletcher Books. Stephen’s with us to take a dive into Fritz Leiber’s swords-and-sorcery classic, Swords And Deviltry, which introduces two of fantasy’s greatest heroes, theContinue reading “Chronscast Episode 4 – Swords & Deviltry!”
The Rings Of Saturn – Chapter 2
Last week Emmanuel, a failed artist, began a series of epistolary correspondence to a woman from a previous life in London. His letters related his abandonment of London for Madrid, where he planned to drink himself to death. His plans were stalled when he ran into his artistic hero, Edourado del Bosques, in Room 67Continue reading “The Rings Of Saturn – Chapter 2”
This Literature Life 