Charlotte Spence and I can now happily say The Christian and the Supernatural in Late Antiquity was published yesterday! 🎉🎉 📖 The page on Trivent’s website with the full table of contents: trivent-publishing.eu/home/241-464... And the open access Introduction chapter: doi.org/10.22618/TP....

Newest podcast interview out now! 🎙️ It was so fun to have been invited to speak on Dani’s wonderful Myths, Gaming & Meaning podcast about an assortment of different aspects of my research work. The link to the episode: open.spotify.com/episode/7twX...

Latest academic book review out from me in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review this morning!

Another new journal article out from me! 📝 This one is for Greece & Rome, examining the hippocamps and the other imaginary animals of Greco-Roman culture that are 'sea versions' of terrestrial animals in art and literature. Open access as well: doi.org/10.1017/S001...

Newest book project in the works! 📖 I can announce that I've signed a contract for a third book project, entitled The Folklore of Herodotus: Translation and Commentary. This will be published with the University of Exeter Press in their Folklore and Traditional Narrative in Antiquity series.

Latest academic book review from me, which I was delighted to be asked to write for the journal Folklore. This one is an impressively wide ranging volume that explores the concept of Promethean Horror. doi.org/10.1080/0015...

As a reminder, there’s still plenty of time to submit an abstract for our online conference on Byzantine hybrids and imaginary animals. This takes place in November and being organized us here at the Centre for Byzantine Studies at the University of Silesia. www.academia.edu/166258740/CF...

New conference alert! And it's on a topic perfectly timed for the upcoming spooky season! 🎃 👻 This one Is entitled: An Extraordinary Substance: A History of Blood and Demons Across Time.

Let's talk about sea monsters, baby! Dr Ryan Denson, the author behind 'A Zoobiography of the Ancient Sea Monster', chatted ancient and mythical sea creatures with @mythsbaby.bsky.social. Check out the episode and an exclusive pre-order discount on Ryan's book 👇 bit.ly/4gjmQPu

Conversations: The Wonders of the Ancient and Mythical Mediterranean, More Sea Monsters w/ Dr Ryan Denson

Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean · Episode

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Newest podcast interview out now! 🎙️ And it’s a very special one to promote the book! [See the comments for our only ancient Greco-Roman depiction of a shark that we talk about here]

Final Call for Contributions 🚨 The deadline for the CFC for the deserts imaginative landscapes and otherworlds volume by Charlotte Spence and myself is this weekend!

Proofs in for this very fun chapter! This’ll be in the Christian Political Cultures In Late Antiquity volume for LUP, edited by Robin Whelan, Richard Flower, and Meaghan McEvoy, and out this December.

Another publication in the mail last week! The editor, Jessica Hemming, also very kindly let me recommend a cover image for this issue of Folklore. It’s one very good depiction of a Nereid riding a sea-bull on a second century BCE sculptural relief.

Final stages of this one with Charlotte Spence! 📚

Final call for abstracts! 🚨 The deadline for abstracts for our online conference on demons and blood closes in just under one week! This is being organized by Tiana Blazevic, Charlotte Spence and myself. The link to the abstract submissions and conference website: sites.google.com/view/bloodan...

New publication today! 🚨 I had the fantastic opportunity to write this ecotheological piece comparing the traditions of sea monsters in ancient Judaism and Greco-Roman mythology. The full volume here: www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

Proofs in for another article - to be published for Greece & Rome. I was surprised how there’s never been an article to directly examine the hippocamps, given how ubiquitous they are, not just in ancient art, but also in later medieval and modern media. So I had to write such an article myself 😊

New series alert! 🚨 This one from UEP and led by Daniel Ogden. Especially in the current climate of attacks on the humanities, it comes as a good reminder of the brilliant things Exeter academics are putting out into the world. Series page: www.exeterpress.co.uk/collections/...

Call for Contributions out today from Charlotte Spence and I for a volume that we’re proposing for UEP! For a PDF of this, see: www.academia.edu/169383930/Ca...

I’d love it if you’d sign this. It might not prevent me and my colleagues losing our jobs, but it will draw attention to the ideological vandalism being perpetrated by the wealthy execs running our university. Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter - sign the petition below! c.org/NpvY4sR9gH

Sign the Petition

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

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🚨 PLEASE SHARE WIDELY 🚨 If you are an Exeter alumnus, and wish to express your horror at the proposed cuts to the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, please sign the Google Doc petition below. Not an alumnus? You can still help by signing the Exeter UCU petition at c.org/msXfsb2g5b 🗃️

Alumni petition against the cuts to the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

Any Exeter alumni who wish for their names to be added to the petition below should please complete the form at this link: https://forms.gle/SpdYvmmsCaJbmZft6. If you are not an alumnus, but still wis...

docs.google.com

If you asked me, off the top of my head, to name a non-Oxbridge university in England synonymous with excellence in the Humanities - I would probably think of Exeter first. This feels like a very deliberate, targeted and ideological Bonfire of the Humanities

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 4mo ago

'About 150 academic roles are set to go at the south-west institution, which said it was targeting areas that are “no longer sustainable” or have seen changes in student demand.' History and English are name-checked. 1/3

Newest academic publication out now! This one is a article for the journal Folklore, centered around a legend from Nearchus’ lost historiographical work, but getting to do a lot with Nereids up to a pair of Byzantine/medieval references. Full text here: doi.org/10.1080/0015...

The final reminder for registration on the 2026 iteration of the Imaginative Landscapes and Otherworlds conference on the theme of The Alterity of Deserts and Arid Environments. The (free) registration link: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imaginativ...

My book review of Jeremy McInerney’s Centaurs and Snake-Kings. Hybrids and the Greek Imagination (2024), now out for Sehepunkte: www.sehepunkte.de/2026/05/4064...

The proofs now in for our edited volume, The Christian and the Supernatural in Late Antiquity - and will be out later this year!

Delighted to put out the programme for our 2026 iteration of the Imaginative Landscapes and Otherworlds (ILO) conference! This year we received a fantastic variety of topics on desert/arid spaces To attend, register here to receive the Zoom link the day before: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imaginativ...

New Call for Papers! This one being for an online conference in the fall being organized by us here at the Centre for Byzantine Studies at the University of Silesia. www.academia.edu/166258740/CF...

New book contract acquired! This one should be particularly fun to work on. It’ll be a monograph, entitled Triton. This’ll be examining the ambiguous figure of Triton (and his pluralized form), while also exploring his reception in the medieval, Byzantine, and modern imaginations.

Received an email notification from PSU that our Preternature special issue on has now been put up on Scholarly Publishing Collective! They’ve kindly provided the below link to put up on social media as well that allows for free access for 90 days scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/pretern...