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Criticism

Review of Untold Night and Day, by Bae Suah

October 9, 2025

I’ve been meaning to write this review of Untold Night and Day by the Korean author Bae Suah a long, long time. Until now I hesitated, the reason being I didn’t feel it’s the kind of book that can be easily described (let alone reviewed) with words. I felt I needed something else – literally another work of art; keep reading! – to properly express what a masterpiece this short novel is.

You see, Untold Night and Day is so out of the ordinary that it utterly defies traditional categories of literary criticism. Genre? Plot? Characters? These concepts break down when dealing with such a masterpiece, such an authentic writers’ book.

I’ll try anyway. Just as a sign of respect toward Bae Suah, who gave the world such a stunning piece of art.

Suffice to say, I’ve read it five times already in less than three years and will surely repeat it again. It’s the kind of book that actually demands such a thing.

Untold Night and Day, image of Seoul, Korea.
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Cinema Today: a Disappearing Art

September 1, 2025

This post has all the ingredients of an old man tilting at windmills or rosy retrospection and all that, but at least I have backups! That is to say, I’m not alone in lamenting the state of cinema today and dreaming of other cinematic realities.

This post is based on an ongoing discussion I’m having with my good friend Igor da Silva Livramento, fellow writer, academic, and creative-writing advisor. He’s also a composer, music theorist, and producer. You can find him on LinkedIn, and also take a look at his blog and his page on Bandcamp.

Both Igor and I agree that cinema today – especially mainstream, mass-produced US-made films – rarely has anything of value to demonstrate. It’s once again, a living example of what happens when art is industrialized.

Cinema today. Painting of sunset by Chris Angelis
In a discussion about cinema today – more generally: art – and the effects of mass production, I felt it appropriate to use my own paintings as accompanying images. My technique is rudimentary and one can freely criticize my artistic ideas but guess what: At least I have artistic ideas.
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Do Female Vampires Menstruate?

November 18, 2024

“Of course not, you idiot”, I hear the pedant telling me, “female vampires don’t menstruate because vampires don’t exist”. Well, not so fast. Remember my post on whether narrative worlds are real. Yes, vampires are fictional. But reality is another point altogether.

Nonetheless, let’s not get caught in semantics. Most of us agree that vampires aren’t “real” in the sense that we might bump into one in the supermarket – buying tampons?

And yet, as a Gothic scholar and overall someone interested in vampires, the question has intrigued me: Would female vampires menstruate? What would it mean in terms of their ontology? After all, blood is directly connected with a vampire’s existence. The absence of any reference in literature and art in general is deafening. So, since there are no answers that I have found, I decided to write this post and give them myself.

Do Female Vampires Menstruate? Image of goth woman.
A vampire’s existence is directly connected with blood: They consume it and must be careful not to have theirs spilled carelessly. So, in this context, whether female vampires menstruate or not seems to be a crucial question with important repercussions about their ontology; what they really are
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