+++ Wishing a most wonderful birthday, to Robert James Smith of The Cure, who was born on this day, the 21st of April 1959, in Blackpool, Lancashire. +++

#robertsmith #thecure #postpunk #newwave #icon #altrock #goth #OTD #blackpool #lancashire #gothcore #gothic #alt

Episode 4 - On Wuthering Heights (Directed by Emerald Fennell, 2026)

New Lancaster University School of Arts podcast dropped! Listen in on me, Richard Rushton, @debraferreday.bsky.social and Kamilla Elliott get over-excited about Wuthering Heights, Charli XCX, costume design and much more: open.spotify.com/episode/2hKg...

I'm headed to Sheffield later this term to talk about one of my obsessions for the Ann Radcliffe, Then and Now project. Come and join me and talk women in white dresses and why we are all watching Gothic cinema now!

Thrilled that my poem 'Scrimshaw' has been commended in the Magma Poetry Competition Editor's Prize. Magma Poetry is a fabulous magazine, so the commendation is really worth having.

Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball reveals the gothic tradition behind modern celebrity The tour delivered everything fans have come to expect from the artist: spectacle, innovation and, above all, immersion in a gothic world.

Great blog by @harrietfletcher.bsky.social on Lady Gaga and Gothic Celebrity: theconversation.com/lady-gagas-m...

Mighty Nine for Lancashire Mind Help Caleb Woodhouse raise money to support Lancashire Mind

Young men get a lot of bad press at the moment, but my 18yo & 8 of his friends walked from Lancaster to Kendal (40km) this weekend to support a friend with mental health difficulties & raise money for Lancashire Mind. They’re still accepting donations at
www.justgiving.com/page/mighty-...

Superb afternoon @litfest.bsky.social listening to the most talented #authors and #illustrators @moohara.bsky.social @mglnrd.bsky.social @chrismould.bsky.social with @catherinespooner.bsky.social thank you to all of you for sharing your talent and stories today 👏👏

I published a journal article on this a few years back! I’d say more or less, yes - there are one or two ambiguous precedents from the 19thC onwards, particularly among female vampires, but they don’t command the same levels of audience sympathy as Barnabas.

We didn’t finish it.

Book covers of The Cut Up by Louise Welsh and We Call Them Witches by India Rose-Bower

Lancaster’s first LGBTQ+ bookstore opened today on the charter market and look what I got! Brand new books by @louisewelsh00.bsky.social and @inkyrosey.bsky.social

One of the projects you can support on Smelt is a new sitcom by me. It's called The Least Bad Of All Possible Worlds and it's about refugees from parallel universes trying to integrate into society in Morecambe. You can pledge to fund it here: if you fund it, we make it! mirlo.space/leadmojo/rel...

How I’m walking out of 2025

How I’m walking out of 2025

‘And oh, she was so pretty and so sweet, I could not choose but go.'

Please someone remake It’s a Wonderful Life but from the POV of Violet narrating her adventures in Pottersville.

As a journal editor this is fucken horrifying. Asbestos in the walls.

People say AI is a magic shortcut to creativity & success. I’ll tell you the real secret and it’s voraciously reading, being interested in everything, being diligent in the pursuit of learning, paying attention to the interior lives of others & keeping a heart open to the world.

Thanks Elen! It’s great isn’t it?!

Just officially launched this wonderful @sidekickbooks.bsky.social anthology which I contributed to... it's perfectly stocking-sized, just right for the vampire lover in your life! sidekickbooks.com/booklab/book...

Seals singing in a sea cave

#Orkney 🦭🎧

When people say that Wuthering Heights doesn't have anything to do with race or that no film has engaged with race, what they mean is that for them Romani people do not count and they also haven't been paying attention. I'm going to share a little material from a recent talk. Content note: racism 1/

You don’t need a master’s degree to see Britain depends on foreign students Editorial: The government’s effort to drive down the number of student visas coming to study in this country is misguided and self-defeating – it will do untold damage to our universities and communit...

Strong editorial in the Independent today www.independent.co.uk/voices/edito...

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

I contributed to this one… guess what I chose?

How to Hibernate.

Scanned by us from the 1952 book Animal Fair, by the Provensens.

It’s time.

Big black cat on a window sill sniffing a pumpkin

#BlackCatAppreciationDay

So I've been reading the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper. There's some good things in there. But when it comes to universities there's very little to cheer. The situation is very tough and will get worse. The last chance to preserve what we've got has passed. Let me explain why. (1/?)

Guillermo de Toro’s Frankenstein: beguiling adaptation stays true to heart of Mary Shelley’s story Guillermo del Toro’s retelling of the story about a scientist trying to create life is a visual treat and a rousing adaptation.

My fab colleague Sharon Ruston on the new Guillermo Del Toro Frankenstein: theconversation.com/guillermo-de...

´It’s not about knowing. It’s about being present.´ Devastating essay on the power of gaps, errors, mishearing in the way we teach.