The Gothic Imagination Conversations on Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction in the Media

The Gothic tradition continues to excite the popular imagination. John C. Tibbetts presents interviews and conversations with prominent novelists, filmmakers, artists, and film and television directors and actors as they trace the Gothic mode across three centuries, from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, through H.P. Lovecraft, to today's science fiction, goth, and steampunk culture. H. P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Robert ( Psycho) Bloch, Chris ( The Polar Express, Jumanji) Van Allsburg, Maurice Sendak, Gahan Wilson, Ray Harryhausen, Christopher Reeve, Greg Bear, William Shatner, and many more share their worlds of imagination and terror.

John C. Tibbetts is an Associate Professor of Film at the University of Kansas. His sixteen published books include, most recently, Schumann: A Chorus of Voices (2010) and All My Loving?: The Films of Tony Palmer (2009). Other books include The American Theatrical Film (1985), Encyclopedia of Novels into Film (2002), and Composers in the Movies (2005). His articles on film, literature, painting, theatre, and music have appeared in Notes, Film Comment, Opera News, Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television, Journal of Popular Film and Television, and Literature/Film Quarterly. He has previously worked as a broadcaster for National Public Radio, the Christian Science Monitor Radio Network, Voice of America, and CBS television. Both of his radio series, The World of Robert Schumann and Piano Portraits, have been heard worldwide on the WFMT broadcast network and National Public Radio. He was awarded the 2008 Kansas Governor's Arts in Education Award. Video and audio collections from his thirty years in broadcasting and education are currently being prepared for installation at the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center in 2012. 

Preface--Richard Holmes * Prefatory note--James Gunn * INTRODUCTION: VOICES HEARD 'ROUND THE COSMIC CAMPFIRE * THE LOVECRAFT CIRCLE * The Provocative Abysses of Unplumbed Space: S.T. Joshi Explores the Universe of H.P.  Lovecraft * I Am Providence: Henry Beckwith on H.P. Lovecraft * Psycho Is Not About a Shower Scene!: Robert Bloch * From Providence to Liverpool: Ramsey Campbell * Certain Things Associated with the Night: T.E.D. Klein * THE HEROIC AGE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION * Robert E. Howard and The Whole Wide World: Dan Ireland * Batman and Me: Bob Kane * The Man Who Explained Miracles: John Dickson Carr * Superman is a Friend: Christopher Reeve * Wonder’s Child: Jack Williamson * Ragnarok and Relativity: Poul Anderson * The Way the Future Was: Frederik Pohl * I Tell People Stories: Wilson Tucker * The Complete Enchanter: L. Sprague De Camp * THE BRADBURY CHRONICLES * The Bradbury Collaborations * Stan and Ollie: Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen * Joe and Me: Bradbury and Joseph Mugnaini * The Bradbury Circle (Friends and Associates) * Let’s Put on a Show!: Julius Schwarz * Mister Monster: Forrest J Ackerman * Dandelion Chronicles: William F. Nolan * The Repairman Cometh: F. Paul Wilson * A Bradbury Companion: Donn Albright * DESTINATION: MARS! * Back to Barsoom: Bob Zeuschner Talks about the Mars Books of Edgar Rice Burroughs * This Is Where We Start Again: Kim Stanley Robinson * THE EXTRAVAGANT GAZE * A Sublime Madness: Professors Albert Boime and Tim Mitchell Talk about Goya,  Géricault, and Caspar David Friedrich * Scenes from Childhood * Album for the Young: Maurice Sendak * There’s a Lot of Reality to These Fantasies: Charles Sturridge and Fairy Tale * The Mysteries of Chris Van Allsburg * Gahan Wilson’s Diner * MUSIC OF THE SPHERES * Symphonie fantastique: Professor Jack Sullivan Talks about Berlioz, Schumann, Liszt, and Others * POSTMODERN GOTHIC * The Night Ride of Charles Beaumont * We Walk Your Dog at Night!: Stephen King * The Kiss That Bites: Susie McKee Charnas * A Magellan of the Interior: Peter Straub * The Billion Year Spree: Brian Aldiss * Savage Pastimes: Gothic Schlock and Grindhouse Horrors * Different Engines: Steampunk * WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE...: TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET, AND STAR TREK * Frankie Thomas on Tom Corbett and the Early Days of Live Television * Four members of the Enterprise crew: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, De Forest Kelly, and George Takei * THE HERESY OF HUMANISM: GREG BEAR AND GREGORY BENFORD * EPILOGUE