@drdjohnston.bsky.social
Media lecturer: UK TV history, telefantasy, historical dramas. At Queen’s University Belfast.
New piece, in which I’m tracing the origins of the little people and tiny worlds tradition back to the early modern period (with Tolkien’s “On Fairy-stories as a touchstone)
dimitrafimi.substack.com/p/little-peo...
@tolkiensociety.org @folkloresociety.bsky.social
As we are still in the thrall of winter, JOIN ME at the Viktor Wynd museum (online) with The Last Tuesday Society THIS Friday (27th Feb) at 8pm (GMT) where I will be chatting about child ghosts.
A ticket gets you a (time limted) recording if you can't make it on the evening!
url-shortener.me/E818
This Saturday is the Goths for Breakfast charity day. Goths unite! We're raising money for Magic Breakfast to feed hungry kids with a teaching marathon of fascinating talks and writing workshops. Pop in and out as you like - the talks are recorded!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1982926549...
If you are thinking 'well I'm not a Goth so this doesn't apply to me'... how about a writing workshop with romance writer par excellence KJ Charles? Or a talk on carnivorous plants? A tour of Dante's Inferno? A cooking class?
We Goths welcome everyone!
Beautiful!
23.02.2026 19:44 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Here's a piece on my Substack about working on some of the best science fiction movies of this century, and also with Jared Leto.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Just finished the second episode of the new “Lord of the Flies”. Great, even astonishing, casting. Love the saturated colours and the calm / unsettling shots of the wildlife. Most of all, I find the Vaughn-Williamsesque score evocatively old-fashioned.
22.02.2026 19:43 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0The deadline for IGA Hull 2026 has now closed: we're delighted to have received a large number of submissions, and will be informing potential delegates as soon as possible.
Don't forget to register for IGA membership if you'd like to join us there: www.globalgoth.org/join/
One week until I’ll be chatting with Mark Norman about my forthcoming book on the BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas at QUAD in Derby.
And it’s just one event amongst a plethora of eldritch endeavours at this year’s UK Ghost Story Festival
Check out this new BBC podcast about algorithmic viral trends — ep1 is about fake AI videos that make western cities look dangerous and deteriorating (‘decline porn’), plus the new obsession with whatever the hell Looksmaxxing is
Hosted by Marianna Spring & Matt Shea
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand...
If you’re in or around NYC Friday 6 March, you should RSVP for the Irish Studies Seminar and hear me waffle about care, injurability, and the Gothic. Then we’ll go for pints. Or Manhattans. universityseminars.columbia.edu/seminar/iris...
20.02.2026 15:41 — 👍 8 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0
Waterstones 25% Off Books Coming Soon Pre-order now with code: FEB26 17-20 February Online Only
Offer ends tomorrow!
Pre-order 'Introducing the Medieval Bear' online at @waterstones.bsky.social by midnight on 20th February for 25% off!
Use code FEB26 at checkout 📚
www.waterstones.com/book/introdu...
Waterstones 25% Off Books Coming Soon Pre-order now with code: FEB26 17-20 February Online Only
Offer ends tomorrow!
Pre-order 'Introducing the Medieval Snail' online at @waterstones.bsky.social by midnight on 20th February for 25% off!
Use code FEB26 at checkout 📚
www.waterstones.com/book/introdu...
I see it as a counterpart to “Troll”, and particularly “Troll 2”!
18.02.2026 15:54 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Offscreen Film festival, 11-29 March 2026, in Brussels. Full programme now online: www.offscreen.be
18.02.2026 12:14 — 👍 11 🔁 9 💬 1 📌 1Relax, have a great conversation with people who are interested in your work!
18.02.2026 12:16 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Romancing the Gothic has an online conference this year.
We're celebrating Radcliffe's posthumous publications with a conference that looks at women in the Gothic and horror and people of marginalised genders in Gothic and horror.
Join us!
romancingthegothic.com/2025/10/15/r...
Very excited about the latest addition to the Horror Studies series. Huge congrats to @maireadcasey.bsky.social! #horrorstudies #horror @uniwalespress.bsky.social
18.02.2026 10:03 — 👍 24 🔁 9 💬 1 📌 0
player.sheffield.ac.uk/events/editi...
Episode Four of our AHRC-sponsored podcast series ‘Ann Radcliffe: A Gothic Heroine for today’ features @dalegothic96.bsky.social and Elizabeth Bobbitt, discussing Radcliffe’s posthumous works. A real treat for all Radcliffe fans!
@radcliffecup.bsky.social
Essaka Joshua’s wonderful study Disability and the Gothic has just been published! Even better, it’s free online from today until the 3rd March 2026:
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
@dalegothic96.bsky.social
@universitypress.cambridge.org
@igagoths.bsky.social
The Perilous Deep is available as an audiobook from today!
If you prefer your books via your ears than your eyes, head over to www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Peril...
Well, that’s gone into the algorithms now…
17.02.2026 12:32 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Shrove is the past tense of shrive, the act of making confession. The noun form, shrift, gives us “short shrift”; the brief, cursory confession offered to condemned prisoners and, therefore, any meagre thing.
Ironically, offering short shrift in pancakes is a capital offence in Castle Pieterstein.
The next Romancing the Gothic free talk is this one on Robert Aickman's ghostly tales!
Check out the rest of the thread for more great spooky talks by experts from around the world!
We've got everything from ancient goddesses to modern video-games!
Includes my plays Power Game, The Blood Furnace and Time In Office!
16.02.2026 17:19 — 👍 10 🔁 2 💬 2 📌 0lēod-hata, m.n: tyrant (people-hater). (LAY-od-HA-ta / ˈleːɔd-ˌha-ta)
#OldEnglish #WOTD
This year's Romancing the Gothic Online Conference is taking place on the 22nd/23rd August.
We're celebrating the publication of Radcliffe's posthumous works with a conference dedicated to women and people of marginalised genders in horror and the Gothic
romancingthegothic.com/2025/10/15/r...
Did you know if you live in the UK you can buy signed and personalized copies of some of my titles by post? (I mention this because I sold out some titles in the last few days.) Six different items still on sale. ko-fi.com/paulcornell6...
15.02.2026 19:39 — 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
New blog post on the FREE Patreon and my website -
www.patreon.com/posts/strang...
www.autocratik.com
