News & Views

Purloined Spirits and Pale Silence: Notes on Submerged Narratives

September 20, 2026

1. Submersible Edgar Allan Poe was a trickster, a hoaxster; were he peering over our shoulders as we stare at pages of his words

Fires in the Night

July 8, 2026

1. In the early morning hours of October 19, 1998, the Two Elk Lodge and other structures at the Vail ski resort in Colorado burst

image of the illustration, headline, and byline for "Poetry from the Plague Pit" on the Reactor website. Image is from Clive Barker's artwork for the original UK edition of The Books of Blood.

On Clive Barker, Joel Lane, Margaret Thatcher, and the AIDS Crisis

June 11, 2026

Reactor has published my essay “Poetry from the Plague Pit: The Early Stories of Clive Barker and Joel Lane”, which explores the work of two

Dylan at 85

May 24, 2026

Today is Bob Dylan’s 85th birthday. I expect he finds that number at least as weird as the rest of us do — how did

For Karl Marx on His 208th Birthday

May 5, 2026

Today is May 5, Karl Marx’s 208th birthday. Last night, celebrities got together for the annual display of wealth that is the Met Gala, this

The Golden Age Is In Us

March 16, 2026

0. When I was putting Finite Eyes together, the most fascinating pieces for me were the ones from right before COVID-19 hit the world and the

Horror in Theory

February 18, 2026

We must theorize horror. (We must horrify theory.) * …instead of arriving at a clear grip on what kind of entity is horrifying, we are

Finite Eyes: The Book

January 18, 2026

I’ve been working on a secret project: a new book. From 2018 to 2024, I wrote a blog called Finite Eyes (the title comes from a

The Matter of Horror

November 6, 2025

If you read a lot of horror literature because you like to be scared, then you’re probably a normal, healthy person. If you read horror

Matthew Cheney

Occasional Writings

This page also includes posts originally published at my academic and pedagogy-focused blog, Finite Eyes (2018-2024)

For older writings, see the archive of my blog The Mumpsimus (2003-2023)