TOD 046 The Outer Dark Symposium 2019, Part 1: Friday Night Readings, A Brief History of Swamp Things, and Panel: Flora and Fauna: The Pervasive Presence of Nature in Weird Fiction

April 4, 2019
14 mins to read

In this podcast The Outer Dark presents the first installment of The Outer Dark Symposium on the Greater Weird 2019 including Friday Night Readings Presented by PseudoPod hosted by Alex Hofelich and featuring Kristi DeMeester, Craig Laurance Gidney, Michael Wehunt, and Damien Angelica Walters, ‘A Brief History of Swamp Things’ presentation by Chris Gavaler, and the symposium’s first panel: ‘Flora and Fauna: The Pervasive Presence of Nature in Weird Fiction’, moderated by Gwendolyn Kiste, and featuring Mike Allen, Kristi DeMeester, Chris Gavaler, Fiona Maeve Geist, Edward Austin Hall, and Eric Schaller. These segments were recorded live on Friday March 23 at Hotel Indigo-College Park in Atlanta, GA.

Introduction

Gwendolyn Kiste joins Scott and Anya to talk about the experience of attending The Outer Dark Symposium 2019 and moderating the first panel. The episode also includes gratitude to our 2019 Platinum Sponsors including PseudoPod, Innsmouth Free Press, Nightscape Press, Kino Lorber, NecronomiCon Providence, Word Horde, Tachyon Publications, and Emerald Sponsor Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing. Plus the exclusive reveal of location and dates for The Outer Dark Symposium 2020!

Show Notes

(0:23:00) In this podcast The Outer Dark presents the first of six installments of The Outer Dark Symposium on the Greater Weird 2019 including Friday Night Readings Presented by PseudoPod hosted by Alex Hofelich and featuring Kristi DeMeester, Craig Laurance Gidney (0:50:50), Michael Wehunt (1:01:20), and Damien Angelica Walters (1:14:44).

(1:25:36)In the audiovisual presentation, ‘A Brief History of Swamp Things,’ Chris Gavaler, associate professor of English at Washington and Lee University, reveals the murky truth about the creation of the comic book character Swamp Thing and the unmapped boundaries of the swampman subgenre. Watch the slides that accompany Chris’s talk here.

(1:48:40) The symposium’s spirited first panel, ‘Flora and Fauna: The Pervasive Presence of Nature in Weird Fiction’ was moderated by Gwendolyn Kiste and features Mike Allen, Kristi DeMeester, Chris Gavaler, Fiona Maeve Geist, Edward Austin Hall, and Eric Schaller. Nature is nothing if not weird. The plants and creatures that stir in shadowy landscapes never cease to inspire the imagination. From the works of Arthur Machen and Angela Carter to Swamp Thing and Annihilation, this panel explores how nature creeps its way into The Weird through fiction, film, comics, and beyond. See the additional links below for a lengthy reading/watch list compiled by the panelists.

These segments were recorded live on Friday March 23 at Hotel Indigo-College Park in Atlanta, GA.

The Outer Dark Symposium on the Greater Weird 2019 is an immersive one-day event featuring more than 40 program participants and approximately 16 hours of panels, readings, signings, and social activities centered around contemporary Weird and speculative fiction. The third annual event was held March 22-23, 2019 at Silver Scream FX Lab and Hotel Indigo-College Park. Thank you to all our attending and supporting members, sponsors, and Indiegogo campaign supporters who helped make Something Weird happen for a third year.

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Additional Links

Nox Pareidolia Call for Submissions (Nightscape Press)

TOD 045 Playing in the Dirt with Kristi DeMeester

PseudoPod 641: ARTEMIS RISING 5: ‘A Song for Wounded Mouths’ by Kristi DeMeester

A Spectral Hue by Craig Laurance Gidney, forthcoming from Word Horde

‘Hello’ by Lionel Ritchie (Video, 1984)

Stories from the Borderland: ‘Slime’ by Joseph Payne Brennan

Reading/Watch List compiled by ‘Flora and Fauna’ panel (links to fiction, The Outer Dark previous episodes, trailers, or articles/reviews about each):

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

The Southern Reach trilogy, by Jeff VanderMeer, including the film adaptation of Annihilation

A Collection of Nightmares by Christina Sng

Swamp Thing (DC Comics)

‘White Rabbits’ by Leonora Carrington

‘The Willows’ by Algernon Blackwood

‘Bride Before You’ by Stephanie Malia Morris

‘The Great God Pan’ by Arthur Machen

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and The Day of the Triffids (1962)

The Birds by Daphne Du Maurier

‘Hallucigenia,’ ‘Proboscis,’ ‘Blackwood’s Baby,’ ‘The Men from Porlock,’ and ‘Occultation’ by Laird Barron

‘To Build a Fire’ by Jack London