Pleased to have my Graham Wynd story ‘The Pick-Up’ in the first anthology from the fine folks at Bristol Noir. Tainted Hearts & Dirty Hell Hounds is just one of the two simultaneously released volumes. The second, Savage Minds & Raging Bulls, is just as packed with noir goodness — or is that badness? Buy…
Author: katelaity
All-Purpose Writer & Arcane Artist
A Fire Ritual for the Heart @ Library
The Claverack Library here in the Hudson Valley (NY) is hosting an exhibition Creativity Amid Chaos. My video ‘A Fire Ritual for the Heart’ will be featured in the Marilyn and Bob Laurie Gallery. There is an opening today from 5-7pm — and it’s Food Truck Day, too! Stop by the library to see all…
Neo-Noir: Julia (2008)
JULIA (2008) dir Erick Zonca An A-list star takes a role in a crime film that offers a chance to slum it as a low-life in a downward, drunken spiral amongst the neon flicker of dive bars and low-rent flop houses. A recipe for Oscar-bait — well, if you’re male. If you’re Tilda Swinton, not…
Listen Now: Surreal Noir 25 Aug 21
After a brief delay the August program has been archived: Surreal portraiture—Muse or artist? Can you fall in love with a picture? Can you fall in love with someone from a picture? What about sel-portrait? How do you conjure the image of yourself? How much do you reveal? How much do you hide? The image…
Highsmith @ 100: The Course
The fall semester begins today. My courses are still all online. I have changed the Crime Fiction course to be all Highsmith, because obviously being busy already means nothing. I’m resisting overloading them with biographical information at the start, instead planning to parcel it out as they make their own discoveries, though I gave them…
Surreal Noir: Wed 25 Aug 21
EPISODE TWO 25 AUG 2030-2130 BDT/1530-1630 EDT Surreal portraiture—Muse or artist? Can you fall in love with a picture? Can you fall in love with someone from a picture? What about self-portrait? How do you conjure the image of yourself? How much do you reveal? How much do you hide? The image of women in…
Ritual & Fashion
Some people are surprised to find that I love fashion, but who doesn’t love wearable art? I’m pretty sure it must have been the poet/translator Alessandra Bava who pointed me toward ‘Embodying Pasolini’ a performance co-created by Olivier Saillard and Tilda Swinton. To honour Pasolini and his long film career, Saillard and Swinton evoke the…
Classic Crime: The Dream Walker – Charlotte Armstrong
Of course I have an interest in noir that overlaps with the supernatural–even if it’s just an element that the protagonists are at pains to discredit as quickly as possible. Probably best known for her novel Mischief, which became the film Don’t Bother to Knock, Charlotte Armstrong has unconventional approaches to crime fiction that make…
Enchanted: Fantasy Illustration
I ran up into the Berkshires to join the QoE Stephanie at the Norman Rockwell Museum, the unlikely setting for Enchanted: A History of Fantasy Illustration. It ended up being a lot more rainy then we expected, in fact bucketing down while we enjoyed a leisurely lunch until it stopped long enough for us to…
Listen Any Time: Surreal Noir
Thanks to all the folks who listened live! I was very gratified 🙂 but I know that’s not possible for everyone, so use the link above to listen to the archived show. Here’s a little more about what awaits you in this premiere episode: Audio: Clips from In A Lonely Place (1950) Pauline Oliveros: The…
K. A. Laity 