Besides numerous business trips (Oldenburg, Vienna, and Sigmaringen), I used the last two months mainly to sort out my numerous writing and research projects. I also discovered the video game Phasmophobia.
Writing Projects
In November, my contribution “The Network Apocalypse in Twenty-First-Century Weird Fiction: Narratives of Interconnectedness, Cosmic Horror and the End of Mankind” was published in the edited volume Literature and Literary Studies in the Twenty-First Century: Cultural Concerns – Concepts – Case Studies. In it, I discuss the network metaphor and its significance for 21st century weird fiction. Using China Miéville’s short story “Go Between” (2006) and Stephen King’s novel 11/22/63 (2011), I explore how the idea of ubiquitous, invisible networks is an excellent subject for cosmic horror in the sense of H. P. Lovecraft.
In the last couple of weeks, raptor has published two issues that I have worked on extensively: The EXP special issue “Horror Games” (Vol. 1) and VIRUS #104. The current issue of VIRUS contains three reviews (Midnight Mass, There’s Someone Inside Your House and No One Gets Out Alive) written by me. The issue also features my ten-page article on nostalgia in the horror genre. Using Stranger Things, Fear Street, Fallout, and many other retro pop culture smashers, I explain why narratives set in the ’80s or ’90s are so popular right now, and what we can expect to see in the future.
On Zauberwelten-Online my review of the disappointing escape room game Asylum was published.
Here you can find the complete and up-to-date list of my publications.
Outlook
I am now deep in the writing phase for my contribution to the essay volume on Lovecraft and Germany, which I will publish together with three other members of the Deutsche Lovecraft Gesellschaft. My essay discusses Lovecraft adaptations by German comic artist Reinhard Kleist. How can Lovecraft’s cosmic horror be conveyed in the form of a graphic narrative? And why does Lovecraft himself appear again and again as a fictional character in Kleist’s comics?
In the meantime, I’m already working on the next reviews for VIRUS as well as an article on the 40th anniversary of Philip K. Dick’s death.
Of course, there are also several of my reviews waiting to be released at Zauberwelten. But you’ll hear more about that in the next weeks.