Jiang Shi (Mandarin Chinese), also known as Geungsi in Cantonese, Gangshi in Korean, and Kyonshi in Japanese can be best described as a reanimated hopping corpse feeding on the life essence, or qi, of the people it kills.Thanks to the influence of the Western movies, in the twentieth century popular imagination Jiang Shis have also acquired flesh-eating and blood-drinking qualities that have earned them the name of Chinese zombies or vampires. A still from Mr Vampire (1985). Pacified Jiang Shis ready to begin their last journey. In popular Chinese beliefs, human souls are frequently depi

Gothic reading group

Global Gothic symposium The Global Gothic symposium for postgraduates and early career researchers will be held on Saturday 1 December 2007 at the University of Stirling. Keynote speakers are David Punter, speaking on ŒCyborgs, Borders and Stories for Virgins: Mexico and the Gothic and Fred Botting, speaking on ŒZombie Questions for Global Gothic A full programme is available here. For those not presenting papers but wishing to attend the symposium, we have a limited number of places available. There is no registration fee, but we would ask that you register before Monday 26 Nove

Having spent many a day in the past straining my neck to catch a glimpse of ghastly gargoyles adorning castle turrets and Gothic cathedrals, I am somewhat overwhelmed by the abundance of grotesque imagery assailing me, so to speak, from almost every direction in Thailand. The excessive presence of Thai grotesque ornamentation can only be described through the Baudrillardian metaphor of obscenity, they truly are “the visible, the all-too-visible and the more-visible-than-the-visible,” whether in art and architecture, in commercial design, in fashion, in street ornaments and decorati

As part of the continuing Gothic community at Stirling, we hold a reading group several times a semester. Usually, the text in question is a contemporary Gothic (or arguably Gothic!) novel or collection of short stories; in previous weeks, we've discussed Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, James Robertson's The Testament of Gideon Mack, Chuck Palahniuk's Haunted and Rachel Klein's The Moth Diaries, among others. The most recent reading group looked at Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box, which was published earlier this year. It's difficult to talk about this new author without bringing up his father:

Third issue now online

Photographic Evidence!

Although my affair with Edogawa Rampo cannot truly be described as particularly intense, I must admit that I have become somewhat of a fan of the man whose darkly twisted tales of imagination certainly deserve more attention in the Gothic world than they are currently getting. Edogawa Rampo in his trademark pose with a gun. Edogawa Rampo is a pen name of a Japanese mystery and detective story writer Hirai Taro (1894-1965). And although this may not be immediately obvious to everyone, it is in fact a Romanised transcription of the Japanese pronunciation of the name of one of Rampo’s lit