Good morning everyone,

It’s the Friday closest to Hallowe’en! Long term subscribers will know what that means – it means it’s time for a photograph of Susan Sontag in a bear suit:

Those of you who are going to a party this weekend and have not yet figured out your costume, you could do a lot worse than Susan Sontag in a Bear Suit. Here's a great article about the woman herself:

The point was to be serious about power and serious about pleasure: cherish literature, relish films, challenge domination, release yourself into the rapture of sexual need—but be thorough about it. “Seriousness is really a virtue for me,” Sontag wrote in her journal after a night at the Paris opera. She was twenty-four. Decades later, and months before she died, she mounted a stage in South Africa to declare that all writers should “love words, agonize over sentences,” “pay attention to the world,” and, crucially, “be serious.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/11/the-other-susan-sontag

Or here is another costume idea; this photo from the next article, which is about Edith Nesbit. This is not a photo of Edith Nesbit, I confirmed this via reverse image search and deleted my little paragraph about how wow this is heavy Victorian Gothic even for someone who was pretty much a Victorian Goth:

It sounds like E Nesbit's marriage had its horrifying moments, though:

As a person, Nesbit often appeared to be a mass of contradictions. Despite her delicate, Pre-Raphaelite appearance, she smoked like a chimney and was in many other ways amazingly unconventional for a woman of her times (she lived between 1858 and 1924). She was [eighteen and seven months pregnant] when she married and her relationship with her husband, Hubert Bland, was a stormy one. Bland was a noted philanderer and fathered a child with one of Nesbit’s best friends – a child whom she eventually adopted as her own.

https://anilbalan.com/2012/12/09/edith-nesbits-tales-of-terror/

Anyway, about Nesbit's achievements – were you aware that she wrote extremely chilling horror stories, along with her delightful children’s books? Here’s one of the classics, Man-size In Marble, as PDF for you to frighten yourself with:

Although every word of this story is as true as despair, I do not expect people to believe it. Nowadays a "rational explanation" is required before belief is possible. Let me then, at once, offer the "rational explanation" which finds most favour among those who have heard the tale of my life's tragedy. It is held that we were "under a delusion," Laura and I, on that 31st of October; and that this supposition places the whole matter on a satisfactory and believable basis.

https://anilbalan.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/man-size-in-marble-1893.pdf

Finally, doesn't everyone love lists. Enjoy an Autostraddle list of witches, ranked ascending by lesbianism. You will perhaps be able to guess who number one is, but I won't spoil that for you. Here's Morgan le Fey at number 40:

Most depictions of Morgan le Fey have her in some very strong outfits, and indicate that she is hated and feared by men, which are positive, if vague, indicators of lesbianism. Could also just be indicators of being a powerful witch trying to usurp her brother’s prophesied throne though! Tough call here.

https://www.autostraddle.com/55-fictional-witches-ranked-by-lesbianism-434660/

Have a lovely weekend! Stay safe from things that go bump in the night.

Alex.