A pleasure to see this fresh Southern Hawker dragonfly resting up in my garden earlier today #wildlife #nature #rewilding #Leicestershire BBC Springwatch

Halfway across a bridge when I paused on hearing a moorhen's distress call. Looked over to see a whole family of otters scurrying across the rocky riverbank, pups at the back squeaking their excitement. First time I've seen them (outside of TV). What a privilege! BBC Springwatch

Excellent opening paper from Dr Jonathan Greenaway Jon for today's CNCSI #C19Natureandhorror webinar, exploring Zola's Germinal and its eco-gothic elements. The passage with the drowning horse continues to haunt me some two decades after I encountered it 😱

#C19Natureandhorror continues with Dr Eleanor Dobson's "Familiar[s] of the Deep" on the spectral depths, aquatic nasties and a strange Titanic premonition. Fascinating stuff from CNCSI

"in the shrubbery [...] stood a strange horrible object" Daisy Butcher (Daisy Boooootcher 👻) explores weird plant-women in the works of George McDonald & Jane G. Austin. Great feminist analysis and interpretation. Tolkien's ruddy-cheeked entwives they aren't! #C19natureandhorror CNCSI

A trip across the pond as Professor Matthew Wynn Sivils takes on the deeply sinister Plantation Tales of Charles Chesnutt which bring rot and decay to the eco-gothic. #C19Natureandhorror and CNCSI keep on delivering 👍

A whistle-stop tour from Dr Janette Leaf Dr Janette Leaf 🪲 🐝👻 🌊👩‍🦰 on 'Gothic Insects Creeping Out the 19th Century' for #C19Natureandhorror: information rich with beautiful slides and an engrossing topic. Be afraid...be very afraid! CNCSI 🦟🪰🐜🪲

Worth the wait: an illuminating paper from the erudite Dr Joan Passey Joan Passey with 'Vampires on the Beach', exploring queer coastal eco-gothic literature via some less well-known 19th century writers. Spooky bloodsucking goodness to round off #C19Natureandhorror from CNCSI!

Currently enjoying William Delisle Hay's DOOM OF THE GREAT CITY (1880), a London apocalypse story and early progenitor of better-known Wyndham and Matheson novels. It's only 50-odd pages, an overwrought combination of Victorian moralising and eerie death 'tableaux'.

Just finished this excellent critical study of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, written by Dr Aoife Dempsey and published by Uni of Wales Press. A fascinating read, erudite, superbly researched, loaded with intriguing detail and engaging analysis. Recommended.

A compelling opener for the CNCSI's #19thC Contamination & Contagion Workshop: Melissa Dickson on the Russian flu epidemic. Was the Influenza Fiend a deus ex machina or were the "boundaries between the everyday and the fantastic becoming more permeable"? Fascinating stuff!

Pseudoscientific health investigations in Timothy Mills' 'Implausible Deniability', a paper exploring imperialist responses to contagion in #19thC India & South Africa. A disturbing story of racial discrimination and segregation for the CNCSI's all-day Contagion Workshop

'Constructing Cholera's Landscape': Dr Amanda Sciampacone on miasma theory, troubling notions, and British reactions to racialised 'Indian cholera'. The CNCSI's #19thC Contagion & Contamination Workshop continues apace with engaging and erudite analysis of cholera maps and charts

Next up, Mark Frost's exploration of contaminated waterways and the microbial threat: the CNCSI's #19thC Contagion & Contamination Workshop continues with the Thames transformed into a 'monster soup'. Only strong stomachs need apply!

Microbial warfare and the rise of germ theory: Prof. Priscilla Ward's paper 'A Germ's Eye-View' explores the thought-provoking origins of public health and the theory behind species interdependence. All part of the #CNCSI's all-day #19thC Contagion & Contamination online workshop

As the last talk for the #CNCSI's all-day Contagion & Contamination #19thC Workshop, Katherine Ott shares museum objects, looks at the history of public health, and argues the importance of fully understanding a culture by knowing it medically and becoming "trauma informed"

A huge thanks to the team at Haunted Shores for running their beautiful and strange #UnquietShores conference at Edinburgh Napier this week. A wonderful three days of papers exploring coastal soundscapes, selkies, flooded villages, and a tidal wave of weird and uncanny content!

**Halloween giveaway** Win a copy of Graveyard Gothic, edited by Dr Eric Parisot, David McAllister and Xavier Aldana Reyes To enter, 🎃Like this post 🎃Re-post Closing date 02/11/25 Winner announced 03/11/25 Xavier Aldana Reyes Eric Parisot The Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies

Delighted to attend another fantastic Halloween workshop from @CNCSI, this year on c19 Gothic Afterlives. Talks included fresh insight on Melmoth the Wanderer, Gothic Radio, Wuthering Heights, Resident Evil & Taboo. Thanks to the organisers and all the excellent speakers!

Having my eyes opened.