Photo: Alexis Wary & NEXTpittsburgh
scop (noun): Old English – bard, minstrel, storyteller
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Mary Shelley’s Monster:
The Legacy of Frankenstein. Frankenhooker, AI Intelligence, and Mel Brooks–those were only a few of the topics touched on when six horror writers joined forces at StokerCon 2026 to discuss the ways that Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel remains relevant today. Previewed in my previous post, the StokerCon panel took place at the height of the…
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This Week at StokerCon:
Celebrating the Genre of Poe and Shelley. Of the same generation but an ocean apart, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) and Mary Shelley (1797-1851) spawned a genre that horror writers and fans celebrate each year at StokerCon. Billing itself as “an all-inclusive event where writers of all of the many subgenres the horror world may convene…
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Defending “The Lighthouse”
While recovering from cholera in the summer of 1849, Edgar Allan Poe resolved to put his chaotic life in order. He quit drinking, made plans to marry his childhood sweetheart, began raising money for a literary magazine, and started work on a story that would become known as “The Lighthouse.”
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The Writing Life:
Running Twice as Fast to Get Ahead. I’ve been runnin’ a long timeOn this traveling groundWishin’ hard to be free ofGoin’ round and round … This Traveling Ground. Cat Stevens’s “Bitter Blue” (1971) recalls a scene in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass (1871). In Carroll’s story, Alice and the Red Queen race full tilt…
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Super Stocking Stuffers!
Minute Men in Print, eBook & Audio. Books are “the quintessential Christmas — or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or other December celebration — gift.” So writes New York Times book review editor Jennifer Harlan in her article “How a Good Book Became the ‘Richest’ of Holiday Gifts.” Supporting that point, writer and editor Tom Connair sent us the…
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Now on the TEDx Channel:
The Resilience of Frankenstein. [The following is a transcript of my TEDx talk on Mary Shelley and resilience, presented in Rea Auditorium, Sewickley PA, May 11. 2024. The video is currently streaming on the TEDx Channel.] It occurs to me that when I think about resilience, I think everything I’ve learned comes from a novel…