Penny Dreadful: dismembering and assembling the Victorian Gothic

Extraordinary Gentlepeople. Illustration by Daniela Attard As part of our ongoing run-up to Halloween, we invited Gothic scholar Conrad Aquilina to dissect Showtime’s popular Gothic panorama Penny Dreadful, aided along by illustrations by Schlock regular Daniela ‘iella’ Attard. by Conrad Aquilina Illustrations by Daniela Attard Nothing quite spells decadence, darkness, madness and excess than the Victorian

Decorum be damned: An Anatomy of Splatstick

As we continue to Get Grisly for the month of Halloween, Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone delves into the horrific-but-hilarious world of ‘splatstick’. Think Looney Tunes, with an extra topping of exposed viscera. * I’ve always felt there are very strong grounds for intersections between horror and comedy – both flirt with the ‘subversive’, both stretch

Publisher Profile | Spectral Press

As part of our horror-friendly coverage for the month of Halloween, we present a publisher profile by Simon Marshall-Smith, who speaks to us about the spooky predilections of his own literary house of horrors: Spectral Press, who have just released the Spectral Book of Horror Stories, edited by fellow Schlock Talker Mark Morris. Spectral Press was

POP CULTURE DESTRUCTION – TOKYO BAY DESTRUCTION BLUES

This month’s POP CULTURE DESTRUCTION is dedicated entirely to the one and only KING OF THE MONSTERS. Well, okay, only partially. But do I really need to admit that I’m a big fan of the big green biffer? Do I give the impression I’m not? DESTRUCTION NEWS   A fortunately timed work trip to London

The Coyote

Image: Seb Tanti Burlo by Luke Geddes Illustration by Seb Tanti Burlo’ The coyote, yellow eyes leery, fierce brows knit in concentration, crouches alert behind the Brittlebush that grows along I-19 in the Arizona desert. Perhaps he thinks enviously of his ancestors, of the freedom they had before man’s arrival, when the desert was theirs