Dr Alastair G Gunn
@draggunn.bsky.social
Astrophysicist/Science Journalist & Author/Victorian Ghost Story Researcher/Musician/Painter/Martial Artist/Associate Editor at Royal Astronomical Society
Coming soon; The Lumber Room and Other Tales: The Ghost Stories of Mary Ann Bird. I spent five years rediscovering this forgotten author. What I found was fascinating; emotional turmoil, destitution, ostracism, marital failure. And some great ghost stories. #ghosts #gothic #victorian #literature
November 18, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Coming soon; The Lumber Room and Other Tales: The Ghost Stories of Mary Ann Bird. I spent five years rediscovering this forgotten author. What I found was fascinating; emotional turmoil, destitution, ostracism, marital failure. And some great ghost stories. #ghosts #gothic #victorian #literature
Today, for your viewing pleasure, I visited the Angel of the North, a 208-tonne sculpture by Antony Gormley near Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, England. Enjoy...
November 2, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Today, for your viewing pleasure, I visited the Angel of the North, a 208-tonne sculpture by Antony Gormley near Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, England. Enjoy...
Yesterday I took a walk to the ruins of a farmhouse called "Top Withens", on Stanbury Moor, near Haworth, West Yorkshire. This house is supposedly the inspiration for Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights". #emilybronte #bronte #WutheringHeights
October 10, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Yesterday I took a walk to the ruins of a farmhouse called "Top Withens", on Stanbury Moor, near Haworth, West Yorkshire. This house is supposedly the inspiration for Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights". #emilybronte #bronte #WutheringHeights
Today, for your viewing pleasure, a shot across the ruins of the Roman town of Nora, Sardinia. #Sardinia #Archaeology #Roman #History
September 10, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Today, for your viewing pleasure, a shot across the ruins of the Roman town of Nora, Sardinia. #Sardinia #Archaeology #Roman #History
Today, for your viewing pleasure, the 4000-year-old Duddo Stone Circle (aka The Singing Stones), Northumberland, England. #Archaeology #ancient
July 4, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Today, for your viewing pleasure, the 4000-year-old Duddo Stone Circle (aka The Singing Stones), Northumberland, England. #Archaeology #ancient
William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) originally studied law but was ultimately destined for a life of letters. His first novel, Antonina, appeared in 1850 and a chance meeting with Dickens a year later soon propelled him to literary stardom. Collins produced some excellent ghost stories. #ghosts
June 6, 2025 at 1:55 PM
William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) originally studied law but was ultimately destined for a life of letters. His first novel, Antonina, appeared in 1850 and a chance meeting with Dickens a year later soon propelled him to literary stardom. Collins produced some excellent ghost stories. #ghosts
I wrote an article for the good people at BBC Sky at Night magazine @skyatnightmag #astronomy #space #Cosmos #astrophysics
May 30, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I wrote an article for the good people at BBC Sky at Night magazine @skyatnightmag #astronomy #space #Cosmos #astrophysics
Lafcadio Hearn's earliest tale, The Cedar Closet, a traditional ghost story, is always cited as being first published in The Cincinnati Enquirer in March 1874. But I have discovered it first appeared in The Belgravia Annual in November 1873 under the pseudonym "M. K. Woods". #ghosts #gothic
May 22, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Johnny, this particular "Nemo" is an author named George T. Eyre. Here's the evidence; Lynn Advertiser, 26th December 1885. Cheers
May 21, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Johnny, this particular "Nemo" is an author named George T. Eyre. Here's the evidence; Lynn Advertiser, 26th December 1885. Cheers
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) is widely regarded (even by M. R. James himself) as the greatest ever exponent of the ghost story genre. His stories include Green Tea, Madam Crowl’s Ghost, Squire Toby’s Will and The Familiar. #ghosts #supernatural #macabre #uncanny #ghost
May 18, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) is widely regarded (even by M. R. James himself) as the greatest ever exponent of the ghost story genre. His stories include Green Tea, Madam Crowl’s Ghost, Squire Toby’s Will and The Familiar. #ghosts #supernatural #macabre #uncanny #ghost
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865) was an English author best-remembered for her novel Cranford (1851). She was a master of gothic and supernatural fiction (e.g. The Squire’s Story, The Doom of the Griffiths, The Old Nurse’s Story). #ghosts #gothic #supernatural
May 8, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865) was an English author best-remembered for her novel Cranford (1851). She was a master of gothic and supernatural fiction (e.g. The Squire’s Story, The Doom of the Griffiths, The Old Nurse’s Story). #ghosts #gothic #supernatural
May 1, 2025 at 8:35 AM
The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories
The paperback versions of Volumes 20 and 21 are now available on Amazon. #ghosts #gothic #supernatural
Amazon US Volume 20 bit.ly/4iCfIge
Amazon UK Volume 20 bit.ly/4cWGGho
Amazon US Volume 21 bit.ly/4cTgqUT
Amazon UK Volume 21 bit.ly/42Ngukl
The paperback versions of Volumes 20 and 21 are now available on Amazon. #ghosts #gothic #supernatural
Amazon US Volume 20 bit.ly/4iCfIge
Amazon UK Volume 20 bit.ly/4cWGGho
Amazon US Volume 21 bit.ly/4cTgqUT
Amazon UK Volume 21 bit.ly/42Ngukl
April 29, 2025 at 7:38 AM
The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories
The paperback versions of Volumes 20 and 21 are now available on Amazon. #ghosts #gothic #supernatural
Amazon US Volume 20 bit.ly/4iCfIge
Amazon UK Volume 20 bit.ly/4cWGGho
Amazon US Volume 21 bit.ly/4cTgqUT
Amazon UK Volume 21 bit.ly/42Ngukl
The paperback versions of Volumes 20 and 21 are now available on Amazon. #ghosts #gothic #supernatural
Amazon US Volume 20 bit.ly/4iCfIge
Amazon UK Volume 20 bit.ly/4cWGGho
Amazon US Volume 21 bit.ly/4cTgqUT
Amazon UK Volume 21 bit.ly/42Ngukl
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-1870) is regarded as a stalwart of Spanish post-romantic literature within his home country; second only to Cervantes. Bécquer’s ghostly tale "Maese Pérez, the Organist" was first published in newspaper El Contemporaneo in December 1861. #ghosts #gothic #supernatural
April 28, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-1870) is regarded as a stalwart of Spanish post-romantic literature within his home country; second only to Cervantes. Bécquer’s ghostly tale "Maese Pérez, the Organist" was first published in newspaper El Contemporaneo in December 1861. #ghosts #gothic #supernatural
Just published! The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories: Volume 26 (eBook) #ghosts #gothic #Supernatural
bit.ly/44v4yGL (Amazon UK)
bit.ly/3SapsDm (Amazon US)
bit.ly/4jOyr99 (Amazon CA)
bit.ly/4jOywJZ (Amazon AU)
bit.ly/44v4yGL (Amazon UK)
bit.ly/3SapsDm (Amazon US)
bit.ly/4jOyr99 (Amazon CA)
bit.ly/4jOywJZ (Amazon AU)
April 27, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Just published! The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories: Volume 26 (eBook) #ghosts #gothic #Supernatural
bit.ly/44v4yGL (Amazon UK)
bit.ly/3SapsDm (Amazon US)
bit.ly/4jOyr99 (Amazon CA)
bit.ly/4jOywJZ (Amazon AU)
bit.ly/44v4yGL (Amazon UK)
bit.ly/3SapsDm (Amazon US)
bit.ly/4jOyr99 (Amazon CA)
bit.ly/4jOywJZ (Amazon AU)
Dinah Maria Craik nee Mulock (1826-1887) is not widely known for her supernatural writings, but produced several excellent tales of the macabre (M. Anastasius, The Last House in C- Street). She is best remembered for John Halifax, Gentleman (1857), a tale of a lowly orphan’s rise. #ghosts #gothic
April 23, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Richard Harris Barham (1788-1845) is most remembered for his verse and prose tales collectively known as The Ingoldsby Legends. If you're brave you can visit (and sleep in) the room haunted by ‘Bad Sir Giles’ (in Denton, Kent) immortalised in Barham's "The Spectre of Tappington". #ghosts #gothic
April 19, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915), best remembered for her 1862 novel Lady Audley’s Secret, was a prolific ghost-story writer (Eveline’s Visitant, At Chrighton Abbey, The Scene-Painter's Wife, The Cold Embrace, John Granger, Her Last Appearance, The Shadow In the Corner etc.). #ghosts #gothic
April 17, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Perhaps one of the most prolific writers of all time, George Manville Fenn (1831-1909) published 161 novels in the space of only 43 years; producing eleven titles in 1890 alone! His writing featured pirates, explorers and smugglers, but he also produced some excellent ghostly tales. #ghosts #gothic
April 16, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Rhoda Broughton was born in Denbigh, north Wales, in 1840, a granddaughter of the eighth baronet of Broughton, and a niece to J. S. Le Fanu. Her collection, Tales for Christmas Eve (1873) contained five ghost stories that have been described as ‘skilfully wrought’. #ghosts #gothic #ghoststories
April 15, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Rhoda Broughton was born in Denbigh, north Wales, in 1840, a granddaughter of the eighth baronet of Broughton, and a niece to J. S. Le Fanu. Her collection, Tales for Christmas Eve (1873) contained five ghost stories that have been described as ‘skilfully wrought’. #ghosts #gothic #ghoststories
Make-shift projection, about 20 minutes before mid-eclipse, before the cloud arrived... #astronomy #space #EclipseSolar #Eclipse2025
March 29, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Make-shift projection, about 20 minutes before mid-eclipse, before the cloud arrived... #astronomy #space #EclipseSolar #Eclipse2025
Today's March Equinox will occur at precisely 09:01 UTC. However, despite common belief, night and day are not the same length at the equinoxes. It is also no longer called the "spring" equinox, as that only applies to the northern hemisphere. #astronomy #cosmos #space #equinox #earth #science
March 20, 2025 at 7:59 AM
This week I've been in Bologna. Here is the beautiful Baroque Porta Gallieria, completed in 1661, now isolated from the demolished medieval walls it once spanned. #italy #bologna #architecture #baroque
March 10, 2025 at 7:01 AM
This week I've been in Bologna. Here is the beautiful Baroque Porta Gallieria, completed in 1661, now isolated from the demolished medieval walls it once spanned. #italy #bologna #architecture #baroque
Is "The Invisible Playmate" (1894), by William Canton (1845-1926), the saddest ghost story ever written? It was both a memorial to a dead daughter and a disturbing premonition of another tragedy in the author's life. Creepy! #ghosts #uncanny #literature #gothic #Victorian amzn.to/2YJBX0z
March 6, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Is "The Invisible Playmate" (1894), by William Canton (1845-1926), the saddest ghost story ever written? It was both a memorial to a dead daughter and a disturbing premonition of another tragedy in the author's life. Creepy! #ghosts #uncanny #literature #gothic #Victorian amzn.to/2YJBX0z
