Podcasts about by light unseen media

How did we get from Lord Byron’s story fragment to the billion dollar media empire of Twilight, and where does the modern vampire go from here? In this lively talk, Inanna Arthen traces the history of vampires in fiction and debunks some of the common mistakes and misinformation about the genre. Did Bram Stoker base Dracula on a 15th Century warlord? Do vampires burn in sunlight? Can vampires eat and have sex? If you think you know the answers, you’re in for some surprises! Inanna Arthen is an author, designer, and vampire expert who has been studying vampire folklore, media, and culture for 45 years. She runs By Light Unseen Media, a small press dedicated to fiction and non-fiction with a vampire theme. She is also the author of the Vampires of New England Series of novels, which includes Mortal Touch, The Longer the Fall, and, coming soon, All the Shadows of the Rainbow. Thanks go to Books and Boos for hosting the event. They have started an Indiegogo campaign to raise money to help them move to a larger store. If you appreciate independent bookstores and how they serve the reader, check out their Indiegogo campaign here. The campaign will run until 11:59 pm Pacific Time on October 13, 2013.

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. The year was 1897 and author Bram Stoker had his latest novel, Dracula, published for reader consumption. Though not a sensational hit when first released, it was still a tale worth reading for anyone who enjoyed mainstream novels of the time. Of course years later it is part of the literary canon for anyone who reads classic literature. It has crossed over to be not only joyous pulp but a novel spoken in the same breath as A Tale of Two Cities or Moby Dick. Dark Discussions welcomes once again, Inanna Arthen, author of the novels Mortal Touch and The Longer the Fall and owner of the publishing company By Light Unseen Media. She returns to talk about the most important vampire novel of all time. Though everyone knows such characters as Count Dracula and Abraham Van Helsing, other characters are discussed. Renfield, Dr. Seward, and Lucy Westerna among others are brought into the spotlight. Plus important plot points that have never been filmed are discussed. Though vampires are the main focus, the novel goes above and beyond being just a horror novel. The book brings was a forerunner to steampunk. It included important topics including the dramatic changes in technology during the Victorian Era, a subtext about parental nurturing, sexuality, xenophobia, among others; all while telling a delightful edge-of-the-seat thriller. So take a break from Dracula on screen and learn more about the source of one of the greatest villains of fiction. Director Michael Neel also appears to discuss his feature film Drive-in Horror Show and his upcoming horror animated film, Infinite Santa. As always we welcome your comments: darkdiscussions@aol.com (written email or attached mp3 files) WWW.DARKDISCUSSIONS.COM

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. As discussed in Episodes 021, 023, and 029, The State of Vampires episodes, vampires in film and literature have been a staple in media for a very long time. From such novels as John Polidori’s Vampyre, Sheridan LeFanu’s Carmilla and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, never mind the penny dreadful serial Varney the Vampire, all from the 1800’s, vampires have appeared as both the main character as well as the barely seen threat in genre fiction. After the written story, next came the impressively done stage plays followed by movies. Culturally, vampires became a large part of visual entertainment that made them larger than life, in some cases as a monstrous and ugly villain as seen in Nosferatu yet in other cases as a charming yet sociopathic individual as portrayed by Bela Lugosi. But whether literature, stage play, or film, the historical monster from folklore and myth has been twisted and redefined from the original legends. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse, vampires have grown and expanded by becoming many subgenres all under the name of the vampire. Dark Discussions is joined by a very special guest, publisher, historian, and author Inanna Arthen of By Light Unseen Media , to discuss the truth of what a vampire really is. Many questions and confusions are answered including whether the vampire was specific to one culture and/or religion or enlarged by biased single minded historians to include monsters from other cultures that have little traits of the vampire. Such topics as sunlight, garlic, religion, and the rural superstitious mind of the Eastern European peasant are discussed in great detail by Ms. Arthen and how the mythos of the vampire evolved to include the more famous modern tropes as well as those that have been forgotten or modified. As always we welcome your comments: darkdiscussions@aol.com (written email or attached mp3 files) WWW.DARKDISCUSSIONS.COM

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. Stated on their website, AnthoCon is northern New England’s only speculative fiction convention (which) showcases imaginative brilliance in speculative fiction and art, with an additional focus on the convergence of images and literature. Dark Discussions attended the convention as members of the media to mingle with fellow attendees, meet the various guests, and interview folks both famous and up and comers who’ve written novels, short stories, comics, and presented art in all the subgenres of the fantastic: horror, science fiction, fantasy, techno-thrillers, thrillers, and mysteries. In Episode 030, cohost Philip interviewed best selling horror authors Jonathan Maberry and Gord Rollo. With the latest episode of Dark Discussions, we interview other authors and artists who have spectacular genre work that all listeners of the show should not only know about but also partake in their works. Publishers like Evil Jester Press, Pink Narcissus, Raw Dog Screaming Press, and By Light Unseen Media promoted their novels and anthologies. The next generation of authors were selling their works and signing their books. Fantasy artists from the ilk of such famous artists as Frank Frazetta, Simon Bisley, and Boris Vallejo sold originals and copies of their artwork. Hand in hand with all this was a presentation of the history of absinthe followed by a tasting from the convention’s sponsor Lucid absinthe out of New Orleans. Put on your reader’s cap and grab a pen so you can start jotting down the names of all the horror and genre books that should be next on your reading queue. As always we welcome your comments: darkdiscussions@aol.com (written email or attached mp3 files) WWW.DARKDISCUSSIONS.COM