A Decade of Necromancy Never Paying (“never? well, hardly ever”)
Books with necromancy . . . on my radar from February 3, 2008 until today.
In honor of a decade of what started out as–at least mostly–silliness, I am using my extensive list of books in which necromancy doesn’t pay as the basis for a survey of books (and stories) which feature the reanimation of dead bodies following the 1818 publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I’ll be delivering a talk on my survey at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts on March 15.
So please let me know if you’ve read anything that’s not on my list, particularly if it’s in what I sometimes call (after Gilbert and Sullivan’s captain of the Pinafore) the “what never? well, hardly ever” category (on the list I’ve called this section “fun with necromancy, reanimation, and resurrection”).
Necromancy Never Pays 
Congratulations! Good luck with the talk 🙂
Thank you! I have to start writing it soon…
Amazingly thorough list! The conference sounds really fun. Will there by cosplay?
Probably no cosplay, but there will be lots of SF authors there, including my friend Joan Slonczewski.
Happy Blogiversary! Love the comic. Good luck with your talk!
Someone sent me the comic on Facebook and another friend commented that it’s probably from a 1950s comic called Black Magic.
I’m so delighted you’re giving this talk. Where’s the conference? Anywhere nice?
Oh — do you count Hamlet? Communicating with the dead kicks the whole thing off, and I’d say it distinctly doesn’t pay.
Ugh, never mind, just spotted that this is post- 1818. Sorry!
Also this focuses on reanimation, rather than talking to the dead. The conference is in Orlando, Florida.
I don’t see HP Lovecraft’s, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. This is a creepy weird book, but might be right up your Necromantic alley 🙂
Among other things is featured, some say actual historical, incantations for reviving the dead.
I really liked this book, but a word of warning if you read it: read it during the day near a window with a lot of light coming in!
Oh, you’re right. I picked out the two most obvious Lovecraft stories, but that one ought to be on the list. I read those stories many years ago and went back through a complete Lovecraft to see which I should include–thanks for pointing out that I missed that one. It is creepy.
How coooool! That talk sounds amazing, and I wish I could see you do it! And happy belated blogging birthday to you as well!
Thanks!
That comic is great! Happy Blogiversary! And congrats on the paper presentation!
Thanks. It’s proving fun to think about (and soon I do have to start, er, writing it).
Congratulations, Jeanne, and all the best for your talk!
Thanks. I’m writing it, and ideas I hadn’t put together before are becoming clear to me. More about this to come, I’m sure!