Tag Archives: the fantastic

This Blossom In Your Side: New Essay on Kafka

I have a new essay up over at Fantasy Matters on the ever fantastic Kafka–if you have never read his shorter work (which is speculative fiction at its finest), then perhaps my essay can give you some tips on which stories to try out. Hint: you get crazy village people, a boy with a “strange” blossom in his side, a machine that tattoos its victims to death, and a bucket that can fly. And no, Kafka was not on LSD (in case you were wondering).

But right now I’m am busy writing the catalogue essay for the wonderful artist Xi Zhang, whose work fuses the fantastic, pop culture and Buddhist philosophy. In September and October, I’ll be blogging more about the upcoming Cute and Creepy exhibit, so stay tuned!

The Fantastic in Lit, Art, and Film

Fantasy Matters is a website started by Kat Howard and Jen Miller, two academics who believe in the transformative, wonderful power of fantasy literature, art, and all other related media. You’ll see academics, artists, and writers talking about the stories that you have come to love.

AND you can check out my essay on Kanai Mieko’s “Rabbits,” because hell yeah, I get to write for them too. And it brings together my love for narrative and teaching the powerful rhetoric found in stories and art that engage the fantastic, uncanny, and grotesque.

The Cute and Creepy Website Is Up!

Curated by Carrie Ann Baade (whose work graces the newest cover of Weird Tales), the Cute and Creepy exhibit coming in October is sure to be a deliciously creepy and fun show. My essay–geez, that sounds so dry. I promise it isn’t–“Revelatory Monsters: Deconstructive Hybrids, the Grotesque, and Pop Surrealism,” is the catalogue article, and you can see a preview of it on the website. More news about the show as it comes down the pipeline.

I have other writing adventures coming up–both in the art and fantasy world, so stay tuned!