What if the fallen statue in Percy Shelley’s killer sonnet “Ozymandias” is a vampire? And if so, what is it a vampire of? This is the question that sprang fresh into my mind as I listened, rapt, to Piya Pal Lapinski lecture on “The Vampire Isles of Greece: Byron, Revenants, and Archaeology in the Ottoman […]
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For the Blake-Shelley chapter draft in progress, which also includes Derek Jarman. On a hot July day just after my visit to Blake’s cottage at Felpham, the spirits of three related artists – Blake, Shelley, and Jarman – strike me, Milton-in-the-tarsus style, right outside the St Pancras tube as I’m hustling to the British Library. […]
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It’s interesting to see the places where an artist’s imagination might fall a little short. As an Alabama kid, I can’t help noticing that for William Blake, one of those places is snakes, in realistic rather than visionary form. Even in London (as I am now), I carry my ingrained habit of scanning the ground […]
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Best political news of the year: Andy Burnham, next-UK-Prime-Minister-presumptive, was an English major! As described by his former Cambridge professor, John Mullan (author of the excellent book The Artful Dickens), Burnham was a voracious and curious reader – and a fan of Philip Larkin. And, as seen in the viral “eyelash” moment, he’s still got […]
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So proud that my friend the brilliant graphic artist and Blakean John Riordan has featured CREATURE at the blog Mindless Ones (UK). As a cinephile and visual expert, John happily singles out the futuristic flash-foward scene near the end of my novel, where the Creature (in a bit of time-bending it was fun to create) […]
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On Wed., May 20th, I’ll be presenting “Reanimating Frankenstein: Reading Mary Shelley in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” online via a kind invitation from the University of Birmingham (UK)’s Centre for Digital Cultures. Later on this summer, I’ll be speaking in person on this topic at the British Association for Romantic Studies (BARS) Conference at […]
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What fun it was to talk with host Charity Nebbe on the Iowa Public Radio program “Talk of Iowa” yesterday about CREATURE, Mary Shelley, my January-term study-abroad course, and the cloud of witnesses cheering us on. Here’s the podcast: https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/talk-of-iowa/2026-03-03/iowa-author-explores-mary-shelleys-life-beyond-frankenstein
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On the top floor of the Accademia in Florence, in an overlooked panel of a medieval altarpiece, is an image that’s easy to ignore: a shepherd’s dog, barking at the angel who’s suddenly appeared to rouse the obviously startled shepherds from their sleep. There were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks […]
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Watched it with a large and lively group of students on a big screen last night (“I haven’t read the book or seen any of the other movies,” one confessed, “I’m just here for Jacob Elordi”) and have to say I was more underwhelmed than I’d hoped to be. (Although I did enjoy the Creature […]
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Decorah No Kings, Saturday, October 18, 2025. Crowd numbers: At least 1,000, estimated. The courthouse lawn was full. Weather: Warm, clear blue sky, golden October light. Signs: Cleanup on Aisle 47! No Kings or Drama Queens (with pouting Trump in 18th-c. wig) No King but King Jesus (on a stroller) I’m One Year Old and I’m Already […]
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