I am the guest blogger today at the superb site “Wonders & Marvels: A community for curious minds who love history, its odd stories, and good reads.” That’s us, right? The post is about my research into Victorian insane asylums and female hysteria for DRACULA IN LOVE.
THE SITE IS ALSO HOSTING A 5 COPY GIVEAWAY OF DRACULA IN LOVE!
Enjoy!
Imagine a television show with 400 million viewers getting the axe? That is exactly what just happened when the Chinese government put the kabosh on SUPERGIRL, China’s wildly popular answer to AMERICAN IDOL and the UK’s X-FACTOR. Deploring its corruption of China’s youth, the government says it will replace the show with practical information about—you won’t believe it—HOUSEWORK!
While the Chinese government claims to be concerned over the country’s morals, I suggest that the agenda is more a blatant attempt to control China’s female population, with whom the show was particularly popular. In fact, it seems obvious that the show’s winner, Li Yuchun, a 21 year-old with a bold personality and an androgynous appearance, was what threw the censors over the edge and caused them to give the show the axe. Ms. Yuchun apparently electrified hundreds of millions of young Chinese females with her talent and cocky style.
Libyan women have demonstrated bold and courageous acts during the revolution. Will they go the way of Rosie the Riveter once peace is restored? In Egypt, women were on the front lines of the revolution but NOT A SINGLE female is on the committee to rewrite the Egyptian constitution. Will this document represent women’s rights? Probably not.
Historically, once a revolution or war effort has used female talent, intelligence, energy, and drive, it sends those very women back into traditional roles, denying their evolution as active members of civic life. What a shame it would be if the Arab Spring repeats that mistake. I am hoping that the brave women of Tripoli are neither silenced not sent back into the kitchens.
“Well, I think it’s male, a great age, unpredictable, it’s diseased, it’s impatient, it’s energetic… that’s it.”
This is how one of my living literary heroes Peter Ackroyd describes London. I’ve just taken an hour-long walk under that city’s ominous gray skies, heavy with the answer to London’s daily mystery: will it rain? And like the cantankerous old man Ackroyd says London is, it would not give an answer.
Also known for not giving answers is Peter Ackroyd himself, who has written many books set in this city, as well as the massive and brilliant London, a Biography. Now he has taken on a three-part history of the city from its inception to the present.
More missing sheep, this time in Tuscany! Call it a panther if it makes you feel better…but we know the truth!
Tuscany Trembling over Big Cat
By Hans-Jürgen Schlamp in Massa Marittima, Italy
A large black cat believed to be a panther is stalking the fields and forests of southern Tuscany, striking fear into residents and holidaymakers. Hunters have angered animal rights campaigners by offering to kill it, but the debate is academic — “Bagheera” is running rings around its pursuer.
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