Well, the world has survived another Witch Week. Lizzie and Chris couldn’t have done it without the help of everyone who participated:
- Laurie of Relevant Obscurity, for her terrific post about that ice-hearted Narnian witch, Jadis, not to mention her perceptive contributions to our discussion of DWJ’s Cart & Cwidder
- Sari of The View from Sari’s World, whose survey of Shakespearean villains dripped with bloody images
- Jean of Jean Lee’s World, who introduced us to one of the scariest aunts in fantasy literature
- people, too numerous to mention, who added comments and questions; Tweeted/Facebooked links to our posts; and included pingbacks, links, and reviews on their own blogs
- our readers across the globe
- and, finally, a nod of appreciation to Lory of Emerald City Book Review, who 5 years ago started this annual celebration of Diana Wynne Jones and fantasy fiction, yet willingly relinquished the chains so that Lizzie and Chris could have a turn — MANY THANKS, LORY!
For anyone who just can’t get enough, here are the links for the Witch Week Master Posts from earlier years.
- Witch Week 2018: Fantasy & Feminism
- Witch Week 2017: Dreams of Arthur
- Witch Week 2016: Made in America
- Witch Week 2015: New Tales from Old
- Witch Week 2014: Diana Wynne Jones
Thanks again to all of you for sharing this event with us, and we hope you’ll join us next year, at Lizzie’s blog, when our theme will be …
* GOTHICK *
Calmgrove 
Reblogged this on Readers Are Leaders 2014 and commented:
The end of another Witch Week. Villains step aside and make room for next year’s theme, announced over at Calmgrove’s blog.
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And an additional thank you as well to Lory at Emerald City Book Review, for her related Witch Week post (https://emeraldcitybookreview.com/2019/10/witch-week-are-you-a-good-witch-or-a-bad-witch.html). And don’t miss the comments, where there are more insights about that tricky line between good and bad — it just won’t allow itself to be pinned down.
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And that’s a ‘thank you’ from me too, Lory! I second what Lizzie said about both post and comments, insightful and stimulating.
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Pingback: #WitchWeek2019: When shall we all meet again? — Calmgrove – Earth Balm Creative
A villainously good week – well done to you all! I shall now return my cape to the trunk and dig out something suitable for gothick… hmm! A monk’s habit?
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Hah! I may search out my clanking chains or even jingling spurs and strut around in anticipation! Glad you enjoyed these very intense few days—hope you’ll join us again in 2020, when maybe Brexit and other crises will pale into comparison with our Gothick offerings?!
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Gothick….O the possibilities. Is it 2020, yet?
Who designed that poster. It’s great!
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Alors, c’est moi, l’artiste, Laurie, but Lizzie researched the scything skeleton image. Glad you liked it, suitably chilling, one hopes!
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Thanks, Laurie. That image is from a larger wall painting in the Mariakirken in Bergen, Norway. I’m glad my photo of that dark artwork, in a dark corner of a dark medieval church, came out so well.
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Thank you all for another wonderful week. Now I have to go research what “Gothic” actually means in terms of fantasy books….
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That means a lot coming from you, Lory, so hope we did justice to your original concept!
Yes, Gothic is such a wide, catch-all title, isn’t it! I tend to reserve ‘Gothic’ for architecture and, before it, the historic Goths of the Dark Ages, and ‘Gothick’ for anything post-Castle of Otranto.
(It was Horace Walpole of course who, together with his Strawberry Hill House, kicked off Gothick with his fake Italianate novel after centuries of medieval Gothic being maligned for representing a more barbaric style than neoclassicism.)
Now, Gothic (with or without a ‘k’) can mean almost anything not mainstream, it seems to me, so it will be interesting to see what interpretations will emerge in 2020!
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It was such a fun week, and I’m grateful to you, Chris, for all the work you did as this year’s host. I hope I can come up to your standards as next year’s host (and I’m not fishing for compliments). Keep reading, all, and I echo Chris’s wishes for a brighter 2020.
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Oh I have no doubt that you will at the very least maintain standards, and even exceed them, Lizzie, and I shall do my best to support as you have done for me! Though I’m really glad that this week is over I’m already anticipating all things Gothick next year…
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I may not have participated as much as I would have liked but I’ve been following along and have thoroughly enjoyed this week of insightful posts and comments. Thanks to everyone involved. Gothic in 2020…. can’t wait! 🦇 🦇 (Is it me or do those bats look more like dark angels? Either image works for gothic! 😁)
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Thanks, Sandra. And whether bats or angels, all are welcome at next year’s Witch Week!
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So glad you followed, Sandra, and participated in reading the ‘set text’! Lots to muse on, and to look forward to as well!
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A wonderful week of villainy! 🙂 I’m already looking forward to next year’s event! 😀
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You’ve had such fun! What a great event! I’m sorry that my plans to participate didn’t catch hold. My book is still in my stack – and I think I might still get to it in 2019 – but I have been moving relatively slowly through my stack(s) and am just on the precipice of finishing one of the CanLit prizelists, the twelfth book being Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, which was longlisted for that prize, and which also counts for Margaret Atwood Reading Month. Oct/Nov is always a tremendously busy bookish season, isn’t it? But perhaps knowing about Witch Week now, I’ll be able to plan further ahead for 2020.
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