Annie Kapur
Bio
200K+ Reads on Vocal.
Secondary English Teacher & Lecturer
🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)
🎓Film & Writing (M.A)
🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd) (QTS)
📍Birmingham, UK
X: @AnnieWithBooks
Stories (2041/0)
Book Review: "Close to Midnight" edited by Mark Morris
This anthology comes from a set of different anthologies which are each dedicated to the new age horror stories that come out of specific sets of time. This happens to be (I think) the third set of said stories and within the anthology there are twenty stories or so. I have to say that I was relatively excited to read them but I was also cautious as I knew a lot of new age horror stuff just plays with the gore shock factor and honestly, it annoys me and makes for sloppy writing. Close to Midnight has some good stories within though, making it better than average but, it takes some sticking out to find these good stories. You really do have to wade through other, less interesting narratives to get there.
By Annie Kapur5 months ago in Geeks
JFK (1991)
Introduction From: IMDB One of my all-time favourite movies is Oliver Stone's JFK and no matter its run-time, I will always watch it again and again. There is a lot to explore in the movie from the classic use of black-and-white, the prologue which presents us with an aspect of nonfiction realistic cinema and even that speech given by Donald Sutherland's character known only as X. It is one of those movies by Oliver Stone which explores the political realities of things we are not allowed to know otherwise; telling the true story of Jim Garrison who criticised the Warren Report and investigated the death of President Kennedy, it is a really interesting film with tons to analyse.
By Annie Kapur5 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Celtic Weird" ed. by Johnny Mains
Full Title: Celtic Weird: Tales of Wicked Folklore and Dark Mythology edited by Johnny Mains I have currently spent a while with this book sitting on my bedside table not because I did not want to read it but because I got sick and the book is rather heavy to pick up. It's a hardback and quite weighted and I've been sick with fever and flu which means my bones and joints have been aching to the point that the only thing I have been able to hole is my Kindle. However, now that I am feeling a little bit better, I have been able to indulge myself. Celtic Weird is a text published by the British Library that compiles a good amount of Irish, Scottish short stories together in a way that really makes us feel the influence of this olden culture upon the 'weirdness' of the stories.
By Annie Kapur5 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Weird Woods" ed. by John Miller
Full Title: Weird Woods: Tales from the Haunted Forests of Britain edited by John Miller For small creatures, a tree is a world and a forest is a universe. To pay attention to those lives, we need to think beyond ourselves and put our species hubris in perspective. There is an urgent, ethical demand for humans to feel less at home in the world and less entitled to impose their own will on nature. It is one of the fuctions of good writing to generate discomfort, to prod us out of our tired ideologies and familiar assumptions. Perhaps therefore, the most significant effects we might take from these stories would be to feel more like aliens in the world and through that to tap into the world's strangeness... The Introduction to "Weird Woods" edited by John Miller
By Annie Kapur5 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Lure of Atlantis" ed. by Michael Wheatley
Full Title: The Lure of Atlantis: Strange Tales of the Sunken Continent edited by Michael Wheatley But afterwards there occured violent earthquakes and floods and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. "Critias" by Plato
By Annie Kapur5 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "I Am Stone" ed. by Daniel Pietersen
Full Title: I Am Stone: The Gothic Weird Tales of R. Murray Gilchrist edited by Daniel Pietersen As it states in the introduction to this book, there is remarkably little known about the life of R (Robert) Murray Gilchrist and though this might be the case, we have a good amount of his writings. Here's what we do actually know about him though. Though he was actually from Sheffield, he lived in the Peak District for some time. It would be these years in the Peak District that would serve as some inspiration for his stories. He is known as part of the fin-de-siècle era alongside writers such as: Vernon Lee, Robert Louis Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker and Arthur Machen. Be that as it may, Gilchrist's stories would fall into obscurity until being reprinted in the 1970s.
By Annie Kapur5 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Outcast" ed. by Mike Ashley
Full Title: The Outcast: And Other Dark Tales by E.F Benson edited by Mike Ashley It is interesting to think that the first thing that this book claims is that the Golden Age of the Ghost Story was not, as we believe, the High Victorian Age but instead the fin-de-siècle, the Edwardian era and beyond. But when we think that those mentioned as being in that era include Algernon Blackwood, M.R James and more then it doesn't seem that far-fetched anymore. I was a little taken aback by the claim but I like the fact that this is the way a book about E.F Benson starts off in order to appreciate the author of the stories within.
By Annie Kapur5 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "A Phantom Lover" ed. by Mike Ashley
Full Title: A Phantom Lover: and Other Dark Tales by Vernon Lee edited by Mike Ashley The series entitled The British Library's Tales of the Weird has seemed to encapture my thoughts for the present and, as I write this I am already researching which ones are set to come out soon. I am happy to announce that there are many very interesting ones in the coming months that are making me extremely excited with anticipation for truly frightening horror stories. This one, entitled A Phantom Lover: and Other Dark Tales by Vernon Lee has really amazed me with its ability to be both haunting and thought-provoking at the same time.
By Annie Kapur6 months ago in Geeks
Caravaggio (1986)
Introduction From: IMDB A great movie and an underrated biopic, this film is directed by the late and awesome Derek Jarman - a visionary whom I believe is one of the most talented directors of the 20th century. The first feature film role of Tilda Swinton and co-starring Sean Bean, Dexter Fletcher takes a leading role as the young and controversial artist who is played by different people over his lifetime. With the older Caravaggio being played by Nigel Terry, what more excuse could you have for watching this film? It is a masterpiece made as great as the artist's own. Derek Jarman does something very clever and makes the film look like various paintings by Caravaggio with stark references to Bacchus and The Entombment of Christ. This is more than likely one of the greatest films ever made - it is fantastic.
By Annie Kapur6 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Platform Edge" ed. by Mike Ashley
Full Title: The Platform Edge: Uncanny Tales of the Railways edited by Mike Ashley When I was at university, I used to take the trains all the time. It is one of my main forms of transport and it has been a constant worry in my mind that perhaps one day, I will meet with the wrong person on the train. If I am going to see my brother, I use the train. If I am going to the city, or to London, or to Bath or anywhere else I have been around the country - I will use the train. In this anthology edited by Mike Ashley though, we get to see the outcomes to all those questions we ask about taking the train at the wrong time or seeing the wrong thing on the lines. From stories by a large range of writers, including E.F Benson and Huan Mee - these are not just stories about taking the trains, these are stories about the weird things that we could encounter when we do.
By Annie Kapur6 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Mortal Echoes" ed. by Greg Buzwell
Full Title: Mortal Echoes: Encounters with the End edited by Greg Buzwell Admittedly, this is the second time I have read this book. If you know how my reviews are themed at the moment you will thus notice that I have slipped back into my ways of reading ghost stories. Recently, I have revisited ghost stories I enjoyed once in my teen years as well including the oddities of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the stories of Amelia B Edwards. I was surprised to think that I would enjoy this particular anthology even more than when I first read it some time last year or the year before (I don't remember). But honestly, reading a ghost story anthology or a horror anthology for a second time makes you appreciate all the stranger things about it more than you did last time. It helps you savour the entire thing, tasting it again and therefore, as far as the Tale of the Three Brothers goes - encountering death like an old friend.
By Annie Kapur6 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Polar Horrors" ed. by John Miller
Full Title: Polar Horrors: Strange Tales from the World's Ends edited by John Miller The British Library's Tales of the Weird is probably the most fantastic set of anthology books to be published in recent years. With themes such as gastronomy, insects, trains, the undead, love and more, there are so many horrors to read about. Also, if you're not too into the themes and want to get to know the authors then there are author based anthologies as well. Compilations of stories by Vernon Lee, Algernon Blackwood, Mary Elizabeth Braddon and more are available to sink your teeth into. There are definitely a whole host of books that are perfect for every kind of horror lover out there.
By Annie Kapur6 months ago in Geeks
Subscribe to my stories
Show your support and receive all my stories in your feed.
Send me a tip
Show your support with a small one-off tip.