beatriz

One morning while I was exercising with Daniel, the youtube video we were following deployed an “encouraging” message: “It’s You Versus You!”

Immediately, Daniel said, “Yeah, and I’m going to beat the shit out of that guy.”

Since writing a novel is also you versus you, it is not always clear when the match has begun, since the opponents are always in... See more

If you want to know more about these sorts of mental states, I recommend José Luis Ricón Fernández de la Puente’s recent write-up of his experiences, Nadia Asparouhova on her experiences, and her how-to guide.

A social network composed entirely of incredibly smart, obsessive opera fans would deliver all the information I could want about the opera scene , but it would fail to clue me in to the fact that, say, my country had been infested by a rising tide of neo-Nazis. Each individual person in my network might be superbly reliable about her particular in... See more

Theoretically, a social media feed should heighten awareness and memory, and dilate time, because it selects for content that’s exciting, outrageous, and scary. And yet we seldom remember such content. The reason for this discrepancy is simple: when every post is alarming, your brain quickly becomes desensitised, and starts to interpret alarming co... See more

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Frequently gothic settings are physically isolated and, for one reason or other, the protagonist is often isolated emotionally or physically too. But despite all of this horror, there is a sort of wild, wonderful beauty to the gothic—a stunning quality to the setting, secrecy, and suspense. Think of the hauntingly beautiful heathered moors of Wuthe... See more

This newer gothic style is, like the original gothic novel, full of old gothic buildings. Setting often acts as character in gothic works. An old crumbling manor house. An ancient castle. A mouldering monastery. These settings are often of primary importance to the story and frequently feel animate, as if they have a mind and motivations of their o... See more

The Haunting of Hill House