Actually a couple of them: first I want to announce the new Digital Humanities Initiative at the College of Saint Rose, for which I got approval from the Dean this week and hastily mocked up a website (social media sites to come). In contrast to the dominant narrative of the arts & humanities as ‘luxuries’…
Tag: academia
Not Quite Radio Silence
I know I haven’t blogged since I arrived stateside but really, it’s been like this lovely Buster Keaton gif. At the moment I’m midway through the first day of classes. Film Noir this afternoon! Then a department meeting. Next month I’m house-sitting out in Brigadoon where there’s no WiFi. Gulp! I expect I might get…
Why Women Witches?
Over at my History Witch column, I explain something that I’ve come to call ‘The Great Conflation’ or what Michael D. Bailey theorised about how a Dominican theologian might have inadvertently changed history, leading to the specific gendered nature of the witch hunts of the Early Modern era and the so-called Age of Enlightenment. Of…
Making Magic Respectable
Like many folks here, I am greatly enjoying Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. It’s a terrific fantasy series: I can’t tell you how well it adapts Susanna Clarke’s novel as I haven’t read it yet (so many books, so many of them to write!) but the author seems pleased. The next episode appears to focus…
On Medievalism and ‘Realism’
I’m going to be brief because I don’t watch the television show that prompted this post, yet I’m irritated by the notions behind a certain author’s constant defensive claims about ‘realism’ as the excuse to fill a narrative with frequent rapes of women (although seemingly the show runners are more interested in how the rapes…
Today: Vonnegut in Schenectady
Join me at the Schenectady Historical Society’s Mabee Farm at 2pm for a talk about Kurt Vonnegut’s Schenectady years. I talk a lot about Player Piano as well as a bit about Cat’s Cradle and Welcome to the Monkey House. Quite shamelessly I mention Owl Stretching, too and I would be remiss if I didn’t…
Out Now: James Bond & Popular Culture
Out now: includes my essay “Flirting with James Bond” about how I developed the Chastity Flame series. read more at the McFarland site, or just click the picture to buy it for yourself, or to send the info to your college or local library! Blurb: The most recognizable fictional spy and one of the longest…
Crime Fiction in Gdansk: Day One
The short version: fantastic apart from Lot Airlines. Never fly Lot. Delays going from and coming to NY, mechanical problems, plus they didn’t admit to the delays until everyone was milling around waiting to board. The crew both in the airport at Warsaw and on the plane were unfriendly and often downright surly, so it…
Upcoming Appearances
I knew this semester was going to be busy, but it’s got even more so as time has gone along! Here are the places I’ll be appearing and the things I’ll be doing for new releases in the coming weeks. Sorry for the cut and paste — in a rush! Running from now until May….