Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

This week, I read the eagerly anticipated “The End of the World as We Know It- New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand”.

Solid collection but more non-N. American stories would have been nice. We just lived through a pandemic which saw different countries react in strikingly different ways after all.

A collage of photos from the Covid-19 Pandemic in Singapore

August 25, 2025 at 2:01 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

So I asked my six year old to help me pick up this pin that had fallen from my bag and he said 'Oh yeah, your Minecraft guy pin'.

@officialjackblack.bsky.social would honestly work for a Marx biopic. #Marx #Minecraft #MeansOfProduction #MeanGirls

A Mean Girls parody pin of Karl Marx sitting in a car, captioned 'Get in loser, we're seizing the means of production'

Jack Black as Steve from the Mlnecraft movie

May 20, 2025 at 5:58 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

This week the Reggie Oliver Project reads ‘Garden Gods’. We discuss class, conformity, amateurism and the danger of dabbling in the dark art of gardening
open.substack.com/pub/sanjayma...

#ghoststories #weirdfiction #TheWeird #ReggieOliver #Class #Paganism #Exploitation #horticulture

Statue of The Great God Pan at Columbia University. Photo by Another Believer https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Another_Believer

March 28, 2025 at 12:12 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

This week the Reggie Oliver Project reads ‘Tiger in Snow’ and consider Art, exploitation, and how #solidarity and #intersectionality may not always be as prevalent as we would wish.
substack.com/home/post/p-...

#ghoststories #weirdfiction #TheWeird #ReggieOliver #Class #Gender #Intersectionality

A painting of a tiger in a winter landscape

March 12, 2025 at 8:01 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

This week in the Reggie Oliver Project, we read 'Evil Eye'
substack.com/home/post/p-...

I discuss found footage & voyeurism in horror as well as the intersection of Oliver’s work with Clive Barker. #Weird #WeirdFiction #ReggieOliver #TheReggieOliverProject #englishghoststories #englishweird #horror

A painting of a CCTV camera on a gritty concrete wall

February 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

This week in the Reggie Oliver Project I read 'In Arcadia': substack.com/home/post/p-...
We consider hubris, arete, and ask whether you would choose a life in the arts, or eternity in Tartarus.

#Weird #WeirdFiction #ReggieOliver #TheReggieOliverProject #englishghoststories #englishweird #litcrit

A 17th C painting by Nicolas Poussin depicting shepherds in an Arcadian landscape examining a tomb

February 18, 2025 at 3:46 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

What's your sign?

February 16, 2025 at 3:48 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

The Reggie Oliver Project 2: Feng Shui
substack.com/home/post/p-...
We ask ourselves if there's a suburban equivalent to Folk Horror. Also a #cat faces his comeuppance. #Weird #WeirdLit #Horror #GhostStories #Reviews #LitCrit #ReggieOliver

A 19th Century picture titled 'Original Sin' depicting Adam, Eve and a demon-faced Serpent.

February 12, 2025 at 1:30 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

In the first of what I hope will be a series of reviews of all of Reggie Oliver's stories, I read 'Beside the Shrill Sea'
substack.com/home/post/p-...
#Weird #WeirdLit #Horror #GhostStories #Reviews #LitCrit #ReggieOliver

February 5, 2025 at 4:52 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

I read 'The Age of Decayed Futurity: The Best of Mark Samuels'- check out my review at open.substack.com/pub/sanjayma...

#Weird #WeirdLit #Horror #Lovecraft #Reviews #BookReviews #MarkSamuels

February 3, 2025 at 1:38 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

Reviewing 'Koko' by Peter Straub. Non-supernatural horror, but a real blast from the past with evocative descriptions of 1980s Singapore and Bangkok.
open.substack.com/pub/sanjayma... #Weird #bookreviews #horror #thrillers #WeirdFiction #UnintentionalPeriodPieces #VietnamWar #Singapore #Bangkok

January 23, 2025 at 4:00 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

Reviewing 'Experimental Film' by Gemma Files. Canadian film history, Yezidi cosmology, Wendish mythology and a good old fashioned haunting.
substack.com/home/post/p-...

#GemmaFiles #Horror #WeirdFiction #Weird #Reviews #Books #TheWeird #Film #Canada

January 17, 2025 at 2:37 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

Reviewing 'A Colder War', by Charles Stross. Sometimes there are worse things than nuclear megadeaths. We begin bombing in five minutes.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
#WeirdFiction #horror #ColdWar #atompunk #CharlesStross #reviews #bookreviews #TheWeird

January 10, 2025 at 3:14 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

The Antipodean Weird- I read Terry Dowling's work. Carnivals, Sydney, the Outback, Chaos and Old Night

open.substack.com/pub/sanjayma...

#weirdlit #TheWeird #TerryDowling #Australia #horror #fiction #bookreviews

December 26, 2024 at 4:08 PM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

I read Walter de la Mare's 'All Hallows'

open.substack.com/pub/sanjayma...

#WeirdFiction #Horror #TheWeird #BookReviews

December 12, 2024 at 5:09 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

I Read the Weird: Crooked, by Austin Grossman

What if the Russians got an asset into the White House?! Richard Nixon, Elder Gods, Espionage.

#WeirdFiction #BookReviews #Lovecraftian #Horror #AustinGrossman #RichardNixon #SpyFiction #ColdWar

December 4, 2024 at 1:53 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

Difficult choice for me. Either my Kaweco Sport (small, fits in pocket) or my knockoff replica of a 1970s Super Rotring (beautiful crows quill line).

November 26, 2024 at 4:06 AM

Sanjay Mathew

@sanjaymathew.bsky.social

Reading the Weird: 'The Lesser Dead', Christopher Buehlman
The older a vampire is, the stronger it gets, and the hungrier it becomes. Don't trust the children. They're older than they look.

#TheWeird #WeirdFiction #BookReview #ChristopherBuehlman #vampires #NewYork #horror