"The Last Baby Will Be Born in 2012 and, Worse, He'll Look Like This." A 1913 news article suggested that a decline in birth rates and social changes, such as women entering the workforce and fewer people marrying, would lead to a "neuter type" of human and eventually, the end of the human race.

In the #earlymodern period, #wetlands were associated with disease and were often represented as a place of horror. Here's the tale of St. Guthlac as told in William Dugdale's The History of Imbanking and Drayning of Divers Fenns and Marshes (1662). [see alt-text] 1/x #WorldWetlandsDay

A #17thC protest song against the draining of the fens narrated from the perspective of a burbot: "Come brethren of the water, and let us all assemble, To treat upon this matter, which makes us quake and tremble; For we shall Rue if it be true that Fens be undertaken" 3/x #WorldWetlandsDay

EVEN THE DULL ONES.

CFP deadline for abstracts has been extended to 15 February! 🗃️

#IchBinHanna #StopTheCuts

These excavated, and later reconstructed barrows in Marburg's Botanical Garden are part of wider fields of c. 250 tombs across the Lahnberge. They are part of the Urnfield Culture, c. 1000 BCE. #TombTuesday 🏺

You can now read my article on "'Continuall feare, and danger of violent death:' Re-Imagining the 17th Century as Early-Modernism in Folk Horror" open access: angl.winter-verlag.de/article/ANGL... #folkhorror #earlymodern #oa #horror

In the #earlymodern period, #wetlands were associated with disease and were often represented as a place of horror. Here's the tale of St. Guthlac as told in William Dugdale's The History of Imbanking and Drayning of Divers Fenns and Marshes (1662). [see alt-text] 1/x #WorldWetlandsDay

In Ildikó Enyedi's film Silent Friend, all the plants featured in the film are listed in the credits like actors. The actants have arrived! www.pandorafilm.de/filme/silent...

Cor Blok es uno de mis ilustradores de #Tolkien favoritos, y al Profesor le gustaban bastante sus obras. Esta es una de las pinturas que Tolkien le compró, «La batalla de Cuernavilla».

American Gothic Studies wants YOUR research! AGS is the first scholarly journal dedicated to the American Gothic and publishes rigorously vetted scholarship on the topic, broadly construed. For more information about the journal, please visit www.americangothicstudies.com

On request, the deadline for abstract submissions has been extended to 13 February, so you have two more weeks to get yours in! hullgothic.wordpress.com/cfp/

So happy to share that @dimitrafimi.bsky.social and I have submitted this project to the publisher. I am very excited for the pieces in this volume to get into circulation because our authors worked diligently and put together some amazing chapters!

I made this for @kjsoar.bsky.social back on the old site

Dearest Gentle Readers, it has come to this author's attention that a new season is upon us. It is that scandalous #Bridgerton family again! We are consulting our collection on them - for knowledge, dear reader, is power - and it looks rather good in one's hands 🪶📖 #BridgertonSeason4 @netflix.com

Our new podcast FOLKLORE MATTERS launches today! Have at it! #folklore

It's time for me to re-share my post about 1. what is - and how to get - a free RSS Feed Reader to keep up-to-date with all your friends' blogs, and 2. a ready-made "British Weird" starter pack of blogs to follow, if that's your particular jam www.lazaruscorporation.co.uk/blogs/artist...

Some more impressions of Marburg being covered in snow - before it's all gone again. ☃️❄️

☃️☃️☃️

Out in the wild. Witchcraft edited by @marieoregan.bsky.social and @paulkane.bsky.social including my story Kittycat and work from some of my absolute faves.

Fifteen years ago today, dinosaurs roamed the snowy wasteland that was once @princeton.edu's campus! Gradosaurus (L) is seen here defending its thesis/egg from Advisorsaurus (R) during what may be the earliest known example of a dissertation defense. #OnThisDay #dinosaurs #SnowArt #Princeton ⛄🦖

Hi everyone, I'm organising a conference in Leuven, 4-5 June, and you're all invited*! It's called 'Performing evil: the mediation and display of diabolic spectres 1700-2000' and here is the call for papers (get in touch if you'd like a pdf!). Please share widely! *to submit an abstract before 21/3

Join @gothicstudies.bsky.social as our new Assistant Editor! Deadline Monday 9th March. Annual honorarium of £200. More information in attached image, via the @igagoths.bsky.social newsletter or you can message me and I can send you the text if preferred.

(1/9) 82 % der wissenschaftlichen Beschäftigten unterhalb der Professur arbeiten befristet. Das ist kein vorübergehendes Nachwuchsproblem, sondern Ausdruck struktureller Fehlanreize im deutschen Hochschulsystem. Unser neues Positionspapier ist hier angehängt; unten findet ihr eine Kurzfassung 👇👇

Did you miss the Romancing the Gothic talk this week on Irish Bogs and Abject Femininity in Irish Horror Cinema? You can catch up here! youtu.be/0uleaR0aP8M

It was a surprising amount of fun making this Arte film about witch trials - I LOVE their animation! #hexenverfolgung #arte youtu.be/iLSSx5lm0So?...

Just arrived! I'm honored to be in such good company. My chapter is "Stoves, Stocks, and Shovels: North American Changeling Beliefs and Murders."

☃️☃️☃️

While the terrifying Pomeranian has you here... Looking for anyone who's had a successful #MSCA postdoc fellowship who'd be willing to share an application with me. Please RT and/or share if you know someone who could help. #EarlyModern #LiteraryStudies #AnimalStudies #Ecocriticism #History

Nicht vergessen: VG-Wort Deadline diese Woche!

Disco Inferno 🔥🔥🔥 #BurnsNight

First, if you have ideas for your own public scholarly engagements with 2026 historic anniversaries, check out Clio & the Contemporary’s call for submissions, featured our Black & White & Read All Over site’s Announcements page! blackwhiteandread.com/announcements/

Extreme & dangerous ice out there, & a nasty winter storm too, so stay in with all the great public scholarly writing, podcasts, new & forthcoming books in my 260th #ScholarSunday thread. Add more below, share widely, & stay warm & safe, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

‘Consider it a spell, to encircle the wild peat of your heart.’ Brontës and Boggarts: @jennychambles.bsky.social sinks into @clareshawpoet.bsky.social and Anna Chilvers’ (eds), ‘The Book of Bogs’ (@littletollerbooks.bsky.social) www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/01/the-...

Welcoming the weekend like... #earlymodern #17thC

One of a great series of drawings depicting balloonfish and pufferfish made during the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842. More here: publicdomainreview.org/collection/d... #fishfriday

The book released to coincide with the exhibition is a goodun, my copy just turned up...

Still time to get those proposals in for this excellent conference #horror peeps! 😁👇 #HorrorSky

CfP: Attuning to More-than-human Seas: Negotiating Multispecies Justice in the Anthropocene Ocean 🌊🦐🐳🪸🦈🐠🌊 Please share! @rgsibg.bsky.social @rgs-agwg.bsky.social @marsocsci.bsky.social @marineconservation.bsky.social

The plenary speakers have just been announced! And a reminder that the CfP for the 18th biennial conference of the International #Gothic Association closes on the 31st of January. hullgothic.wordpress.com @igagoths.bsky.social @gothicstudies.bsky.social

I'm excited to share that you can now pre-order your copy of this forthcoming intervention in the Gothic. I have a piece on the Windigo in it! @universitypress.cambridge.org @msvuenglish.bsky.social @igagoths.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/se/universit...

Just what everyone was after... another Dr Who podcast! 😉 Join @sarahhamstera.bsky.social and me, a newbie and a fan, rambling through Dr Who. First episodes now live! Links below: shorturl.at/fiwfU #drwho #doctorwho #podcast #ramblingthrougheternity

Bookplate of Hans Igler (Johannes Knabensperg) c. 1480-1490 'hanns Igler das dich ein igel ku[e]s' 'Hanns Igler the #hedgehog kisses you' Ok. (British Museum)

The next special issue of Victorian Popular Fictions Journal is “Human–Animal Relations in Victorian Popular Literature and Culture” and will be guest-edited by Dr Bethany Dahlstrom & Dr Helena Esser. For full CFP and submission guidelines, please see: victorianpopularfiction.org/wp-content/u...

This reminds me of the time when I taught War of the Worlds and asked students to name some alien invasion films or texts. Somebody mentioned this "really old" film they couldn't remember the title of, and it turned out to be Mars Attacks.

In 1872, #ThomasHardy recorded some folk divination customs: "Old Midsummer custom: on old Midsr. eve, at going to bed: 'I put my shoes in the form of a T, And trust my true love for to see.'" 1/4 #WyrdWednesday

My favourite kind of post….editor copy post. And even more so when it’s this little gem full of terrific essays on all things twins, clones and doppelgängers. 😃

Abstracts due in 10 days! Reposting partially to remind myself!