For the past few years, I’ve had a mounting sense that the abortive consciousness revolution of the 1960s and early 70s may have come back from the dead, riding on the wave of apocalyptic sentiment that’s been washing over us all since the late 1990s. Sometimes a new datum, or something that I interpret as…
Author: Matt Cardin
Teeming Brain founder and editor Matt Cardin is the author of DARK AWAKENINGS, DIVINATIONS OF THE DEEP, A COURSE IN DEMONIC CREATIVITY: A WRITER'S GUIDE TO THE INNER GENIUS, and TO ROUSE LEVIATHAN. He is also the editor of BORN TO FEAR: INTERVIEWS WITH THOMAS LIGOTTI and the academic encyclopedias MUMMIES AROUND THE WORLD; GHOSTS, SPIRITS, AND PSYCHICS: THE PARANORMAL FROM ALCHEMY TO ZOMBIES; and HORROR LITERATURE THROUGH HISTORY.
Lovecraft, Christian Horror, and Weird Fiction
Christian pastor and writer Mike Duran recently published a fascinating and provocative blog post titled “On ‘Christian Horror’ and Atheist Dread” in which he argues that Christian horror — which, by implication, he views as a valid form of fiction — is categorically distinct from what he calls “atheist horror.” He offers Lovecraft’s work as…
This I Believe: An uber-agnostic on religion, psychology, consciousness, the paranormal, and the meaning of life
It has come to my attention that although I write all the time about religion, philosophy, spirituality, psychology, consciousness, culture, the paranormal, and other idea-based subjects, my own position on any or all of them generally comes off as obscure. ITEM: My friend Kim Paffenroth, the religion scholar and zombie horror author, has characterized me…
The Motley Fool invokes zombies and Lovecraft to describe booksellers’ financial woes
You’ve seen me talk here before about the delicious rise of monster metaphors, specifically zombies and Frankenstein‘s monster, to describe the apocalyptic economic troubles of the past few years. Now a writer for The Motley Fool — always a useful and amusing site for its combination of investment advice and cheeky humor — has invoked…
A New Golden Age of Horror Fiction?
We just may be living through a new golden age of horror fiction. That’s my diagnosis as I survey the range of wonderful books that have recently appeared, and that have been appearing for the past few years, and that are set to appear in coming months. I make this claim in full awareness that…
Be Careful What You Daydream; Big Brother May Be Watching
Despite the fact that I’ve thought the rash of new research into daydreaming and imagination over the past several years is really cool, this newest article definitely triggers my Creep Out/Dystopian Warning meter: Time out boosts brains The Sydney Morning Herald, August 2, 2010 New research shows some types of optimistic daydreaming are productive, improve…
On clarity of language, thought, consciousness, and being
As a professional writer and English teacher for the past decade, I’ve been prone to think frequently about the role of language in life. One of the recurring themes in my thoughts — occasioned at least in part by some of my grad school studies in philosophy, anthropology, and sociolinguistics, and also by my being…
The value of good books and films to human souls and societies
I want to versify the following words, set them to music, and print them in hymnals to be sung in churches. Either that, or have them accompany the national anthem at school assemblies and baseball games. [W]here does one go, exactly, to cultivate “the capacity of imagination” and “the exercise of imagination”? Where, in other…
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos actually *gets* books and their value
I’ve been quite enthusiastic about the Kindle and the e-reading revolution ever since buying a Kindle DX last year. I’ve also been pleased at the way Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos continues to say things that demonstrate his authentic commitment to positioning the Kindle as a device that doesn’t destroy the reading experience but instead preserves…
The zombie as “a remnant of an imperialistic and racist era”
Here’s a bold and interesting reading of the zombie as a monster that is at root “a remnant of an imperialistic and racist era”: UA doctoral student Kyle W. Bishop argues that while the zombie has become a hugely popular cinematic device, the creature is a remnant of an imperialistic and racist era. ….Bishop, who…