As a freelance cultural journalist, I write features, interviews, reviews, commentaries, and scientific articles in German and English. My main focus lies with horror and science fiction in literature, film, and video games. Due to my educational background in cultural studies, I also have a broad knowledge of pop cultural topics in general. I have published articles in every issue of the bimonthly VIRUS magazine since 2019 and have since written for several other print and online magazines, such as Lovecrafter and Zauberwelten-Online.
Below is a complete list of my publications, giving an overview of my writing activities in journalism and academia. Please note: A similar list regarding my talks and podcasts can be found on the corresponding page.
Journalistic publications
No english language publications
Scholarly work
Schmitz-Beckers, Rahel Sixta (2025). “The Devil in Popular Culture: Tempter, Rebel, and Mirror of Humanity”. The Devil: Myth, Power, Mystery (exhibition catalogue). Draiflessen Collection. 87-107.
Schmitz, Rahel Sixta (2021). “The Network Apocalypse in Twenty-First-Century Weird Fiction: Narratives of Interconnectedness, Cosmic Horror, and the End of Mankind.” In: Ansgar Nünning, Vera Nünning, Alexander Scherr (eds.). Literature and Literary Studies in the Twenty-first Century: Cultural Concerns – Concepts – Case Studies. WVT Trier. 315-328.
Schmitz, Rahel Sixta (2020). “Virus Anxiety, Haunted Telecommunication, and Contagious Narratives: The Supernatural Media Virus as a Paradigmatic Crisis Narrative of the Network Society in the 21st-Century.” In: Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift 70 (3/4). 337-356.
Schmitz, Rahel Sixta (2020). “Mapping Digital Dis-Ease: Representations of Movement and Technology in Jim Sonzero’s Pulse and Stephen King’s Cell.” In: Michele Brittany & Nicholas Diak (eds.). Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays. McFarland. 201-213.
Schmitz, Rahel Sixta (2020). “A Tale of Two Carmillas: The Representation of Styria in Le Fanu’s “Carmilla” and its Web Series Adaptation.” In: Michael Newton & Evert Jan van Leeuwen (eds.). Haunted Europe: Continental Connections in English-Language Gothic Writing, Film and New Media. Routledge. 171-189.
Schmitz, Rahel (2018). “The Resurrection of the Monstrous Vampire: Hybrid Zombie-Vampires and the Global Apocalypse in Justin Cronin’s Passage Trilogy.” In: Thomas M. Bohn & Kirsten von Hagen (eds.). Mythos Vampir – Bissige Lektüren. Romanistischer Verlag. 173-184.