K.A. Laity's Blog, page 28

Is It Funny? Episode 14: Muriel Spark

Guess who’s back? Staggering up to the finish line just before 2021 ends is another episode of the languishing series Is It Funny? This time we turn to the Scots style icon Muriel Spark, whose books never fail to cheer me. She is both vicious and economical, as well as laugh out loud funny when... Read More

Gothic Mists

It would have been a crime to waste this beautiful misty morning late in the year, and after all I was dropping off the recycling at the transfer station nearby, so a little jaunt through Hudson City Cemetery seemed just the thing.

Ghosts at Xmas

As I haunt my home town in the mauve misty snow, I have no new ghost story for Fox Spirit which has been a tradition of recent years. Things are just too… 2021, I guess. What excuse will there be next year? So here’s an ebook of the trilogy of ghost stories written in past... Read More

Surreal Noir: 22 Dec 21

In a contemplative yuletide vein, it’s SURREAL NOIR at NoBounds Radio. This episode gets me belatedly into seasonal mode: an exploration of fictional accounts of the Parker-Hulme murder and its repercussions. In the darkest days of the year we tend to hide; with good reason – who knows what might lurk in the dark. Even... Read More

TAROT IN GRESHAM’S NIGHTMARE ALLEY

[N.B. Written when I first heard that GDT was remaking it] When I showed Nightmare Alley to the students in my noir film course, one came up at the end to complain that the tarot readings were way off. I agreed and encouraged him to pick up Gresham’s novel. I assured him that the author cared a... Read More

Surrealism Beyond Borders

Somehow I managed not to post about the fantastic exhibit at the Met, Surrealism Beyond Borders, even though now I have seen it twice and could go back again in a heart beat. I did upload some two or three hundred photos to FB so if you’re over there, you probably saw it. It’s so... Read More

Surreal Noir: 24 Nov 21

Coming up on the eating holidays, it’s SURREAL NOIR at NoBounds Radio. This episode gets me belatedly into Noirvember mode: a dive into Highsmith’s Cry of the Owl which my students just read (they’re not onto Deep Water so maybe I will get on to that next here). I also wrote about the 2009 adaptation... Read More

MAPACA & Witches

MAPACA kicks off today and the rest of the week will be a blur obviously because of ISSS Surrealisms, too. Yes, I am grateful that my two presentations do not overlap (though both are Saturday, argh). I am grateful, too, that I know ISSS panels will be viewable for a couple weeks after the conference... Read More

ISSS Surrealisms Conference

I’ll be giving a presentation at the ISSS SURREALISMS 2021 Worldwide Virtual Conference. It is open to the world! If you have an interest in surrealisms, you can attend from any where in the world for a modest fee. The fee also allows replay of the presentations for two weeks after the 11-14 November dates.... Read More

#FolkloreThursday Review: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT (2021) Reppion & Penman No, I haven’t got around to the film. The blu-ray sits on a pile back in NY whilst I am idling in Michigan. So I was gratified to get an advance copy of the new comics version of this terrific medieval story AKA the only... Read More