I am Reader in English Literature and Film and col-lead of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University. I research contemporary literature and cinema (postwar to the present), and my specialism is Gothic and horror film and fiction. I am particularly interested in the role of corporeality and embodiment to our experience of literature and cinema, and my work offers empiricist and transmedial insights through a transnational framework.
I have published four monographs - Gothic Cinema (Routledge, 2020), Spanish Gothic (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), Horror Film and Affect (Routledge, 2016) and Body Gothic (UWP, 2014) - and three edited collections - Twenty-First-Century Gothic: An Edinburgh Companion (with Maisha Wester; Edinburgh University Press, 2019), Horror: A Literary History (British Library Publishing, 2016) and Digital Horror (with Linnie Blake; I.B. Tauris, 2015). These publications have been reviewed in international journals such as Gothic Studies, Horror Studies, C21 Literature, The Years’ Work in Cultural and Critical Theory, Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind, The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies, Atlantis, MEDIENwissenschaft (Germany), Revista de Literatura (Spain), Brumal (Spain), Helikon (Hungary) and Fantastika, as well as in The Times Literary Supplement and the magazines Rue Morgue, Starburst and The Lady.
As an editor, I have prepared six fiction anthologies for the British Library on their Tales of the Weird series: Visions of the Vampire: Two Hundred Years of Immortal Tales (with Sorcha Ní Fhlainn, 2020), The Gothic Tales of Sheridan Le Fanu (2020), Promethean Horrors: Classic Tales of Mad Science (2019), Roarings from Further Out: Four Weird Novellas by Algernon Blackwood (2019), The Weird Tales of William Hope Hodgson (2019) and The Gothic Tales of H. P. Lovecraft (2018). I am chief editor for the international Horror Studies book series (University of Wales Press), which has published over 12 books.
I have contributed liner notes and video essays to various film releases by Arrow Video, Arrow Player (streaming service), Diabolik DVD/Cauldron Films and Severin Films, and have written for newspapers like The Irish Times, La Vanguardia (Spain) and The Skinny, as well as for the websites Five Books and The Conversation.
I currently lecture and run seminars across the BA and MA English programmes. More specifically, I am Unit Leader for the MA research-led unit 'Post-Millennial Gothic' and the second year film unit 'Theorising the Screen', and I co-teach on 'Modern Gothic' (third year) and 'Twentieth-Century Gothic' (MA). In the past, I have taught units on Gothic cinema, critical theory, gender and the Gothic, modernist literature and postwar fiction. Outside the Gothic and horror, I have strong interests in affect studies, film theory, critical theory and contemporary (postwar) literature.
- Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PG CAP). Lancaster University (2013)
- PhD in English Literature. Lancaster University (2013)
- Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. Lancaster University (2012)
- MA Modern and Contemporary Literature. Birkbeck College, University of London (2009)
- BA (Hons) English Philology. Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain (2007)
2015-2019
- Senior Lecturer in English, Manchester Metropolitan University, Department of English
2014-2015
- Lecturer in English, Manchester Metropolitan University, Department of English
2013-2014
- Research Fellow, Manchester Metropolitan University. Centre of Research in English.
2009-2013
- Associate Lecturer, Lancaster University. Department of English and Creative Writing.
2011-2012
- Associate Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University Cheshire. Department of Interdisciplinary Studies.
2016-2019
- Impact coordinator for English.
2009-2013
- Academic Coordinator and Convenor, 'International Summer Programme (British Culture and Society 1800-2000)', Lancaster University. Department of English and Creative Writing.
Native level in English, Spanish and Catalan.
I can read German, French and Italian.
I firmly believe that studying English can, and should, have a direct impact on the day-to-day life of others, and should help us build the tools necessary to understand the world that surrounds us. As a member of both the Department of English, I am personally invested in helping students develop a critical mind.
Currently Teaching
Previously Taught
Currently Teaching
Previously Taught
I am interested in supervising doctoral dissertations on any aspect of modern and contemporary Gothic film and fiction and horror film and fiction, especially those with a focus on the body, affect and emotion or the nature of genre/s.
PhD Supevision
Completed
Ongoing
MA Supervision
I have supervised a number of subject-specific MA dissertations on topic as varied as representations of skin in the Gothic, the weird subgenre and historiographic fiction.
External examiner for academic programmes:
External examiner for PhD theses:
External examiner for MA degrees:
My areas of expertise are Gothic Studies and Horror film and fiction. I teach, publish and present on these subjects regularly, particularly in relation to corporeality, affect theory and (trans)nationalism. I am particularly interested in the corporeal engagement between humans and the texts they read or films they watch. I have also taught Adaptation Studies, Gender Studies, Queer Studies, Modernism, Critical Theory and Postcolonial Literature, all of which remain areas of interest for me. More recently, I have developed an interest in transnational literary and filmic models in relation to European Gothic film and literature.
I have co-written and co-edited research with a number of international academics, such as Maisha Wester (US), Eric Parisot (Australia), David McAllister (UK), Rocio Rødtjer (US) and Rachid M'Rabty (UK), and with Gothic Centre colleagues Linnie Blake, Sorcha Ní Fhlainn and Joanna Verran (Emeritus Professor in Microbiology). I have organised various events with colleagues from the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies, most importantly the 14th conference of the International Gothic Association in 2018. As part of the Gothic Manchester festival, I have collaborated with a number of academics from the departments of Microbiology (Prof Joanna Verran), Geography (Dr Julian Holloway) and Film Studies (Dr Emily Brick and Dr Jo Ormrod).
E. Parisot, D. McAllister, X. Aldana Reyes (2024). Graveyard Gothic. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
B. Stoker (2023). 'The Burial of the Rats' and Other Tales of the Macabre by Bram Stoker. X. Aldana Reyes. London: British Library Publishing.
SN. Fhlainn, X. Aldana Reyes (2021). Visions of the Vampire: Two Centuries of Immortal Tales. London: British Library Publishing.
S. Le Fanu (2020). The Gothic Tales of Sheridan Le Fanu. X. Aldana Reyes. London: British Library Publishing.
X. Aldana Reyes (2020). Gothic Cinema. London and New York: Routledge.
A. Blackwood (2019). Roarings from Further Out: Four Weird Novellas by Algernon Blackwood. X. Aldana Reyes. London: Tales of the Weird.
W. Hope-Hodgson (2019). The Weird Tales of William Hope Hodgson. X. Aldana Reyes. London: British Library Publishing.
X. Aldana Reyes (2019). Promethean Horrors: Classic Stories of Mad Science. X. Aldana Reyes. London: Tales of the Weird.
M. Wester, X. Aldana Reyes (2019). Twenty-First-Century Gothic. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
HP. Lovecraft (2018). The Gothic Tales of H. P. Lovecraft. X. Aldana Reyes. London: British Library Publishing.
X. Aldana Reyes (2017). Spanish Gothic. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
X. Aldana Reyes (2016). Horror: A Literary History. X. Aldana Reyes. London: British Library Publishing.
X. Aldana Reyes (2016). Horror Film and Affect: Towards a Corporeal Model of Viewership. London and New York: Routledge.
L. Blake, XA. Reyes (2015). Introduction: Horror in the Digital Age.
L. Blake, XA. Reyes (2015). Digital Horror: Haunted Technologies, Network Panic and the Found Footage Phenomenon. X. Aldana Reyes. London and New York: I. B. Tauris.
X. Aldana Reyes (2014). Body Gothic: Corporeal Transgression in Contemporary Literature and Horror Film. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
X. Aldana Reyes, J. Verran (2018). Emerging Infectious Literatures and the Zombie Condition. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 24(9),
X. Aldana Reyes (2017). The Curious Case of the Spanish Televisual Vampire. Horror Studies. 8(2), pp.241-254.
X. Aldana Reyes (2017). The Cultural Capital of the Gothic Horror Adaptation: The Case of Dario Argento’s The Phantom of the Opera and Dracula 3D. The Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies. 5(2), pp.229-244.
X. Aldana Reyes (2015). Reel Evil: A Critical Reassessment of Found Footage Horror. Gothic Studies. 17(2), pp.122-136.
X. Aldana Reyes (2015). Fear, Divided: Terror and Horror. Emagazine: The Magazine for Advanced Level English. 67, pp.49-52.
X. Aldana Reyes (2014). Artaud's Theatre of Affect: From Cruelty to Horror. A/V Journal. 18,
X. Aldana Reyes (2013). ‘Who ordered the hamburger with AIDS?’: Haematophilic Semiotics in Tru(e) Blood. Gothic Studies. 15(1), pp.55-65.
X. Aldana Reyes (2013). Skin Deep? Surgical Horror and the Impossibility of Becoming Woman in Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies. 90(7), pp.819-834.
XA. Reyes (2012). Beyond psychoanalysis: Post-millennial horror film and affect theory. Horror Studies. 3(2), pp.243-261.
X. Aldana Reyes (2010). ‘The Body is a Bloody Battlefield’: Gender (De)Constructions in Angela Carter’s The Passion of New Eve and Jackie Kay’s Trumpet. Bodies of Work.
X. Aldana Reyes (2023). 22. Online Gothic. In: The Edinburgh Companion to Globalgothic. Edinburgh University Press, pp.337-352.
X. Aldana Reyes (2023). Queer Zombies. A. Haefele-Thomas. In: Queer Gothic An Edinburgh Companion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp.136-153.
X. Aldana Reyes (2023). Online Gothic. R. Duncan. In: The Edinburgh Companion to Globalgothic. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Companions to Literature and the Humanities, pp.337-349.
X. Aldana Reyes (2023). Spanish Vampire Films. In: The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire. Springer International Publishing, pp.1-18.
X. Aldana Reyes (2023). Spanish Vampire Films. S. Bacon. In: The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire. Basingstoke: Springer International Publishing, pp.1-18.
X. Aldana Reyes (2022). The Cambridge Companion to American Horror. S. Shapiro, M. Storey. In: The Cambridge Companion to American Horror. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.107-119.
X. Aldana Reyes (2022). Mid-Century Gothic Cinema (1931-79): From Monster Business to Exploitation Horror. S. Ní Fhlainn, BM. Murphy. In: Twentieth-Century Gothic: An Edinburgh Companion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp.114-128.
X. Aldana Reyes (2022). Gothic Exploitation: Transnational Appropriation, Hybridity, and Originality in Continental Horror Cinema, 1957–1983. N. Neill. In: Gothic Mash-ups Hybridity, Appropriation, and Intertextuality in Gothic Storytelling. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, pp.37-53.
X. Aldana Reyes, R. Rødtjer (2020). The Cambridge History of the Gothic. D. Townshend, A. Wright. In: The Cambridge History of the Gothic: Volume 2, Gothic in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.285-302.
X. Aldana Reyes (2020). Gothic Cinema from the 1970s to Now. RJ. Hand, J. McRoy. In: Gothic Film: An Edinburgh Companion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp.77-86.
X. Aldana Reyes (2020). A Gothic Barcelona?: Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Cemetery of Forgotten Books Series and Franco’s Legacy. H-G. Millette, R. Heholt. In: Palgrave Gothic. Basingstoke: Springer International Publishing, pp.237-250.
X. Aldana Reyes (2020). Abjection and Body Horror. C. Bloom. In: The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic. Basingstoke: Springer International Publishing, pp.393-410.
X. Aldana Reyes (2019). Transitional origins. In: Gothic Cinema. Routledge, pp.43-71.
X. Aldana Reyes (2019). Revisiting the Spanish Civil War: An Interview with Patrick McGrath. M. Foley, R. Duncan. In: Patrick McGrath and his Worlds: Madness and the Transnational Gothic. Routledge, pp.63-69.
X. Aldana Reyes (2019). Gothic and Cinema: The Development of an Aesthetic Filmic Mode. D. Punter. In: The Edinburgh Companion to Gothic and the Arts. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp.395-405.
X. Aldana Reyes, R. M'Rabty (2019). Better Not to Have Been: Thomas Ligotti and the 'Suicide' of the Human Race. W. Hughes, A. Smith. In: Suicide and the Gothic. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp.124-138.
X. Aldana Reyes (2019). Contemporary Zombies. In: Twenty-First-Century Gothic An Edinburgh Companion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp.89-101.
XA. Reyes (2019). Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza's [REC] (2007). S. Bacon. In: Horror: A Companion. Bern: Peter Lang Publishing, pp.27-34.
X. Aldana Reyes (2018). ‘Fantaterror’: Gothic Monsters in the Golden Age of Spanish B-Movie Horror, 1968-80. JD. Edwards, J. Höglund. In: B-Movie Gothic International Perspectives. Edinburgh: Traditions in World Cinema, pp.95-105.
XA. Reyes (2018). Guillermo del toro’s crimson peak (2015). In: The Gothic: A Reader. pp.169-176.
X. Aldana Reyes (2018). Promethean Myths of the Twenty-First Century: Contemporary Frankenstein Film Adaptations and the Rise of the Viral Zombie. CM. Davison, M. Mulvey-Roberts. In: Global Frankenstein. Springer International Publishing, pp.167-182.
XA. Reyes (2017). DraculaQueered. R. Luckhurst. In: The Cambridge Companion to ‘Dracula'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.125-135.
XA. Reyes (2017). Clive Barker’s late (anti-)horror fiction. S. Ní Fhlainn. In: Clive Barker. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp.194-207.
X. Aldana Reyes (2017). Entries on 'Horror in the Twenty-First Century' and 'The Gothic Literary Tradition'. M. Cardin. In: Horror Literature Through History: An Encyclopedia of the Stories That Speak to Our Deepest Fears. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing, pp.41-47; 72-77.
X. Aldana Reyes (2016). Discipline... But Punish!: The Twisted Pleasures of Torture Porn's Thanatopolitical Scaffold. M. de Valk. In: Screening the Tortured Body: The Cinema as Scaffold. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.51-70.
X. Aldana Reyes (2016). John Farris (1936-). E. McCarthy, BM. Murphy. In: Lost Souls of Horror and the Gothic: Fifty Neglected Authors, Actors, Artists and Others. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, pp.80-82.
X. Aldana Reyes (2016). Post-Millennial Horror, 2000-16. In: Horror: A Literary History. London: British Library Publishing, pp.189-214.
X. Aldana Reyes (2016). What, When and Why Is Horror Fiction?. In: Horror: A Literary History. London: British Library Publishing, pp.7-17.
XA. Reyes (2016). The Mediation of Death in Fictional Snuff: Reflexivity, Viewer Interpellation, and Ethical Implication. N. Jackson, S. Kimber, J. Walker, TJ. Watson. In: Snuff: Real Death and Screen Media. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, pp.211-224.
XA. Reyes (2016). Genre Trouble: The Challenges of Designing Modern and Contemporary Gothic Modules. K. Shaw. In: Teaching 21st Century Genres. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp.3-21.
X. Aldana Reyes (2015). Mobilising Affect: Somatic Empathy and the Cinematic Body in Distress. K. Sellberg, L. Wånggren, K. Aghtan. In: Corporeality and Culture: Bodies in Movement. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., pp.35-46.
X. Aldana Reyes (2015). Gothic Affect: An Alternative Approach to Critical Models of the Contemporary Gothic. L. Paitti-Farnell, D. Lee Brien. In: New Directions in 21st Century Gothic: The Gothic Compass. London and New York: Routledge, pp.11-23.
XA. Reyes (2015). The [REC] Films: Affective Possibilities and Stylistic Limitations of Found Footage Horror. X. Aldana Reyes, L. Blake. In: Digital Horror: Haunted Technologies, Network Panic and the Found Footage Phenomenon. London and New York: I. B. Tauris, pp.149-160.
X. Aldana Reyes (2014). Nothing but the Meat: Posthuman Bodies and the Dying Undead. D. Keetley. In: 'We're All Infected': Essays on AMC's the Walking Dead and the Fate of the Human. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, pp.142-155.
XA. Reyes (2013). Violence and Mediation: The Ethics of Spectatorship in the Twenty-First Century Horror Film. In: Violence and the Limits of Representation. Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp.145-160.
X. Aldana Reyes (2013). Gothic Horror Film, 1960-Present. G. Byron, D. Townshend. In: The Gothic World. London: Routledge, pp.388-398.
X. Aldana Reyes (2012). A ‘Flesh’ New Start: The Transgressive Case of ‘Torture Porn’. M. Foley, N. McRobert. In: Transgression and Its Limits. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp.179-188.
X. Aldana Reyes (2011). Bodily Boundaries and Desire: “Genderlessness” in Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body. D. Falconi, N. Acedo. In: El cuerpo del significante: La literatura contemporánea desde las teorías corporales (The Body of the Signifier: Contemporary Literature and Body Theory). Barcelona: UOC, pp.125-136.
X. Aldana Reyes (2010). Obsessed with Pain: Body Politics and Contemporary Gothic. B. Cherry, P. Howell, C. Ruddell. In: Twenty-First-Century Gothic. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp.53-97.
XA. Reyes (2024). Gothic Utterance: Voice, Speech and Death in the American Gothic by Jimmy Packham (review). Modern Language Review. 119, 263-264.
X. Aldana Reyes (2023). Audio Commentary for Imprint Films' special edition of The Orphanage (2023).
X. Aldana Reyes (2023). 'The Cracks in Our Foundations: From Bonds to Bondage in The Dead Mother', booklet article for the Radiance Films special edition of The Dead Mother (1993).
X. Aldana Reyes (2023). ‘"I Saw Something Horrible": Emanuelle in America and the "Snuff" Myth’, booklet chapter for Severin Films 'The Sensual World of Black Emanuelle' box set. 64-79.
X. Aldana Reyes, J. França, FJ. Sánchez-Verdejo Pérez (2022). Special Issue of Abusões Journal: 'Ibero-American Gothic: Gothic Production in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America'. Abusões Journal. 19,
X. Aldana Reyes (2022). Video Essay on Eloy de la Iglesia for the Cauldron Films special edition of Murder in a Blue World / Una gota de sangre para morir amando (1973).
X. Aldana Reyes (2022). 'Breaking the Silence: Fiction as Artistic Reparation', essay for Ainadamar: The Fountain of Tears opera programme. 36-40.
X. Aldana Reyes (2022). 'Domestic Science Fiction', interview with Chema Garcia Ibarra for the Arrow Video special edition of The Sacred Spirit (2021).
X. Aldana Reyes (2021). 'Untamed Revenge: An Introduction to Wild Tales', video introduction for Wild Tales (2014) in streaming service Arrow Player.
X. Aldana Reyes (2021). 'One Step Beyond', booklet article for the Arrow Video special edition of Beyond Re-Animator (2003). 9-15.
X. Aldana Reyes (2021). 'Run. Escape. Survive. But Never Stop Taping.', booklet article for the Arrow Video special edition of REC (2007). 6-19.
X. Aldana Reyes (2018). 'Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth: Studies in the Horror Film', book review for Gothic Studies. GOTHIC STUDIES. 20, 382-383.
X. Aldana Reyes (2018). The Contemporary Gothic. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature.
X. Aldana Reyes (2017). 'The Feel-Bad Film', book review for Film Studies. FILM STUDIES. 16, 103-105.
- 'Dracula's Grand Tour: The Industrial and Cultural Coordinates of Vampire Cinema in Continental Europe, 1959-1982', Recovering the Vampire: From Degeneration to Regeneration conference, Edge Hill University (4-6 November 2022). Invited keynote.
- 'Spain's Restless Dead: On the Silences, Monsters and Graves of the Spanish Civil War', Gothic Interruptions: 16th International Gothic Association Conference, Trinity College Dublin (26-29 July 2022). Invited keynote.
- '(Re)framing Nosferatu: Early German Gothic Cinema and the Visual Composition of Monsters', Nosferatu at 100: The Vampire as Contagion and Monstrous Outsider, University of Hertfordshire (12 March 2022). Invited public talk.
- 'An Introduction to Gothic Literature', Literally Gothic Festival, Alderney Literary Trust, Channel Islands (16 October 2021). Invited public talk.
- 'Horror Film and Affect: The Experiential Dynamics of Cinematic Fear', First International Workshop of the Recreational Fear Lab, Aarhus University, Denmark (26 August 2021). Invited research paper.
- 'Viewer Alignment, Affect and Horror Cinema', Researching Representations of CSA in Contemporary Culture: Wellcome Trust funded seminar series, UCD Dublin, Ireland (25-26 May 2021). Invited research paper.
- 'The Value of Public Engagement to Research in the Humanities: The Case of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies', University of Milan, Italy (6 May 2021). Digital guest lecture and PhD workshop.
- 'Automata, Cyber Terror and Technocratic Reality', 50+ Shades of Gothic: The Gothic Across Genre and Media in US Popular Culture, PopMeC (Popular Media and Culture) (2 March 2021). Digital keynote interview.
- 'Ghost Stories for Christmas', Casa Con Popular Culture Convention, New York, US (18 December 2020). With Dr Emma Liggins. Digital keynote.
- 'The What and Why of Found Footage Horror', XVIII Semana da imagem: Entre archivar e experimentar na tecnocultura, Unisinos - Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brazil (16 November 2020). Digital keynote.
- 'Spanish Horror Cinema: Industry, Political Trauma and the Gothic Imaginary', Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, London branch (8 October 2020). Digital keynote.
- 'Future Gothic: The Critical Turn to Empirical Research and Reception Studies', Gothic Spectacle and Spectatorship, one-day symposium, Lancaster University (1 June 2019). Keynote.
- 'Vampiros: On the Spanish Vampire', 'Some curious disquiet’: Polidori, the Byronic Vampire, and Its Progeny, a symposium for the bicentenary of 'The Vampyre', Keats House, Hampstead (6-7 April 2019). Invited public talk.
- 'Why Affect Matters: The Importance of Emotion and Somatics to the Study of the Horror Film', Screening the Unreal symposium, Research and Enterprise Group for Screen Studies, University of Brighton (4 July 2018). Invited research paper.
- 'Spirits in the Labyrinth, or Why the Civil War Continues to Be Spain's Favourite Gothic Tale', The Politics of Gothic, EAC Research Seminar, University of Manchester (15 November 2017). Invited paper.
- 'Visualising Monstrosity in Early Gothic Cinema', Monsters Film Festival, Health Humanities Research Group, University of Reading (11 October 2017). Invited public talk.
- 'Horror Heroines in the Age of Postfeminism', Women-in-Peril or Final Girls? Representing Women in Gothic and Horror Cinema, 2nd Gothic Feminism conference, University of Kent (25–26 May 2017). Keynote.
- 'Time and Timing in Gothic Horror Film: An Affective Reading', Temporal Discombobulations: Time and the Experience of the Gothic, University of Surrey (24 August 2016). Keynote.
- 'What We Talk about When We Talk about the Gothic', Teaching the Gothic and the Supernatural for A Level course, English and Media Centre, London (9 June 2016). Invited talk.
- 'On the Pain of Others: Horror and Selfhood', Self and Society postgrafuate symposium, University of Huddersfield (2 June 2016). Keynote.
- 'Rethinking the Monstrous-Feminine: The (Un)Gendered Body of Abjection', Monsters and Monstrosities. Reimagining the Gothic: 2016 Symposium and Showcase keynote (6 May 2016). Keynote.
- 'The New Spanish Gothic Cinema: Continuities, Contexts, Approaches', Stirling University (23 April 2016). Invited research paper.
- 'Gothic Pedagogies: Challenges, Strategies and Design of Modern and Contemporary Gothic Modules', Reading the Fantastic: Tales beyond Borders, Leeds University (23 April 2015). Keynote.
- 'Sex, Blood and Rock n' Roll: Splatterpunk and the Rise of Popular Horror Fiction in the 1980s', English and Creative Writing Research Seminar, Northumbria University (22 April 2015). Invited research paper.
- ‘Gothic Studies and Public Engagement: The Case of Gothic Manchester’, Madrid’s Gothic Week / Semana Gotica de Madrid (9 November 2013). Invited talk.
- ‘Mad Science and Surgical Horror’, British Film Institute (11 November 2013). Invited talk.
- ‘The Christmas Ghost Story’, Ghost Stories, organised by The Longest Night writers and Portico Library (13 December 2013). Invited talk.
- J-Horror Day. Organised by Grimmfest, with assistance from the BFI, Sotckport Plaza (31 October 2021).
- European Horror panel. Weekday Night Bites public discussion organised by the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies SIG (27 October 2021).
- Turning a Negative into a Positive. Workshop for PhD and Early Career Scholars, International Gothic Association Biennial Conference 2019 (30 August 2019).
- Q&A with Rosie Garland. Gothic Manchester 2017 (27 October 2017).
- Reading 21st Century Horror guest panel. With Stephen Jones, Dara Downey and David Moody. Guest panel at Horror Expo Ireland 2016 (30 October 2016).
- Q&A with Andrew Michael Hurley. Twisted Tales of the North special event for Gothic Manchester 2016 (21 October 2016).
- Exploring the Influence of Gothic Horror on Contemporary Culture. Discussion following the performance of Gothic play Cuddles at the Royal Exchange Theatre (21 May 2015).
- Hellraiser special event. With actors Nicholas Vince and Barbie Wilde, writer Sam Stone and publisher David J Howe. Grimmfest horror festival and Grimm Up North (4 October 2013).
- International Gothic Association 2018 conference. Co-organised with Dr Linnie Blake, Prof Dale Townshend, Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn, Dr Chloe Germaine Buckley, Dr Emma Liggins, Dr Sarah Ilott and Dr Matt Foley (31 July-3 August 2018).
- Emerging Infectious Literatures symposium, with Prof Jo Verran (22 July 2016).
- Gothic Manchester festival (October 2013).
- Postgraduate Gothic Networking Day, MMU (12 July 2014).
- Day of the Droogs, one-day symposium organised in collaboration with Prof Andrew Biswell and Prof Berthold Schoene, Manchester Metropolitan University (29 January 2014).
I have acted as external reviewer for renowned academic publishers (Oxford University Press, Routledge, Manchester University Press, Bloomsbury, Palgrave Macmillan, Edinburgh University Press, University of Wales Press, Liverpool University Press, Anthem Press, McFarland and Peter Lang), as well as a host of academic journals, including PMLA (Modern Language Association), Gothic Studies (MUP), Horror Studies (Intellect), Cinema Journal (University of Texas Press), Film-Philosophy (EUP), The Journal of Aesthetics and Culture (Taylor & Francis), Somatechnics (EUP), Studia Neophilologica (Taylor & Francis), C21 Literature (Gylphi), Medical Humanities (British Medical Journal), New Review of Film and Television Studies (Taylor & Francis), The Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies (Intellect), Text Matters (Lodz University Press, Poland), Studies in Gothic Fiction (National University), Aeternum: The Journal of Contemporary Gothic Studies (Auckland University of Technology), Senses of Cinema (Senses of Cinema Inc., Australia), Humanities (MDPI), Open Screens (British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies), Palgrave Communications (Palgrave Macmillan), Open Library of Humanities, Revenant: Critical and Creative Studies of the Supernatural (Falmouth University, UK), Atlantis (Spanish Association of English Studies, Spain), Brumal: Revista de investigación sobre lo Fantástico (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain), Alambique: Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasia / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica (University of South Florida), Cuadernos de Ilustración y Romanticismo (Universidad de Cádiz, Spain), PCEIC: International Journal on Collective Identity Research (Universidad del Pais Vasco, Spain), and the Journal of the Whedon Studies Association (US). He is on the editorial boards of the following open-access journals: Dissections: The Journal of Contemporary Horror (University of Brighton), The Journal of Stephen King Studies (Lancaster), The Dark Arts Journal and Fantastika Journal.
- British Academy Small Grant for 'The (Lost) Origins of Gothic Cinema: Reconstructing the Old Dark House Mysteries' (£8115). (October 2018 - January 2020).
- AHRC / BBC 3 New Generation Thinkers scheme. Shortlisted in 2016 and 2017.
- British Academy Small Grant for 'Spain, Britain and the Gothic' project (£4885) (October 2013 - January 2016).
- Higher Education Academy grant (£400) in support of the Gothic Networking Day (April 2014).
- Lord Mayor’s Fund for Gothic Manchester: £300 obtained to host the launch of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at the Town Hall. Includes a short introduction by Manchester’s Lord Mayor. October 2013.
- Full doctoral research scholarship from Lancaster University. Duration: three years. (2010-2013).
- Transport bursary received from the Higher Education Academy to attend ‘How far can you go?’ Ethics, Transgression and Independent Study Workshop at the University of Derby (2012).
- Transport bursary from the Science Fiction Foundation to attend the Apocalypse and Its Discontents conference at Westminster University (11-12 December 2010).
- Gothic Cinema, HOME 8-week course (14 January - 3 March 2020). The course included public screenings of the films Son of Frankenstein (1939) and Black Sunday (1960), and a book launch.
- Introduction to the Female Gothic, HOME day course (14 September 2019), co-organised with Drs Emma Liggins and Sorcha Ní Fhlainn.
- Detecting Pessimism: Thomas Ligotti and The Weird in an Age of Post-Truth (12 June 2019), Manchester Metropolitan, co-organised with Dr Rachid M'Rabty and Pilot Light TV festival.
- Emerging Infectious Literatures (27 July 2016).
- Gothic Networking Day (12 July 2014).
- Contemporary Gothic strand of the Humanities in Public programme (7th-21st October 2013).
- Gothic Manchester festival (21st-27th October 2013) and launch of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies.
- Contemporary Gothic Reading Group (10 October 2013).
- Day of the Droogs, co-organised with Prof Berthold Schoene and Prof Andrew Biswell (January 2014).
- Darkness and Light: Exploring Gothic, academic advisor and co-ordinator (16 July 2016-10 January 2016). Featured in Manchester Everning News (30 July 2016).
- Leopoldo Torre Nilsson's Hand in the Trap, interview BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking podcast (30 March 2022).
- Horror corporal y amor incondicional, mention in La Razón de México newspaper article (18 March 2022).
- Menopause: Fertile ground for creative expression in the arts, mention in Monash Lens article (25 February 2022).
- Japanese Horror & Guests, Grimmfest podcast, Manchester (13 November 2021).
- A Body of Horror: Jocelyn McGregor in conversation with Dr Maisha Wester and Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes, special Halloween podcast for Castlefield Gallery, Manchester (29 October 2021).
- The Morbid Appeal of "Botched" Plastic Surgery, interview in Vox, part of 'The Highlight: The Horror Issue', US (28 October 2021).
- Video introductions for the films Wild Tales (Arrow Player, February 2021, streaming service) and Murder in a Blue World (Diabolik DVD and Cauldron Films, April 2021, Blu-ray release).
- The Arrow Video Blu-ray releases of the films [REC] (January 2021) and Beyond Re-animator (February 2021), which include new liner notes, were covered by the websites Horror Cult Films (UK), Screen Anarchy (US, international) and The Hollywood News (US) (Jan-Feb 2021).
- 29 Best Gothic Novels of All Time, Including Rebecca, The Oprah Magazine, US (21 October 2020).
- Rebecca’s 80th Anniversary, TRT World, Turkish television (15 October 2020).
- Exploring the literary and film history of horror across the world: an interview with Gothic academic Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes, interview in HAUNT Manchester (5 October 2020).
- Ruiz Zafón, “escritor de lectores”: Las claves de un éxito, La Vanguardia newspaper article, Spain (27 June 2020).
- The Scariest Books, Five Books website, UK (2 June 2020).
- The Psychological Reason You’re So Terrified of the Twins in The Shining, Bustle magazine, US (26 May 2020).
- Watching Through the Pandemic, TRT World, Turkish television (20 April 2020).
- Episode 10: Gothic Manchester Festival 2019, interview in RAH! podcast (1 October 2019).
- How a day course at HOME explored the Female Gothic – with experts from the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies, mention in HAUNT Manchester (20 September 2019).
- Haunted City: Inside our fascination with Manchester’s Gothic past, interview in Mancunian Matters (8 July 2019).
- Are we living in ‘Gothic Times'? – the focus of the Gothic Manchester Festival Symposium 2019 is revealed, mention in HAUNT Manchester (28 May 2019).
- Meet the Manchester based horror scholar opening up weird fiction and the twenty-first-century Gothic, interview in HAUNT Manchester (23 May 2019).
- Interview in The Times Higher Education (16 May 2019).
- Manchester Horror Expert has put together The Weird Tales of William Hope Hodgson, article about the Hodgson collection in About Manchester (13 April 2019).
- Cult Conversations part 1 and part 2, interview in Confessions of an Aca-Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins (20 and 24 November 2018).
- ‘Monsters and Horror' ('Antika monster, skräckromantiska studier och Kung Lear i Göteborg'), P1 Kultur, 105 10, Swedish Radio (October 2018).
- Sinking Your Teeth into Vampires, Arts and Ideas podcast for BBC Radio 3 / AHRC (17 October 2018).
- Forgotten Books: 17 Years since the Publication of The Shadow of the Wind, lead article for the cultural supplement of The Irish Times, Ticket (29 September 2018, print and online).
- Interviewed for Our Age of Horror article for Aeon magazine, (19 September 2018).
- Manchester and Gothic Publishing, article for HAUNT Manchester, Visit Manchester website (19 September 2018).
- Exploring H. P. Lovecraft's Gothic Roots, article for The Irish Times (4 September 2018).
- Why the Spanish Civil War Continues to Haunt Gothic Literature, article for The Conversation (30 September 2018). Also appeared in Spanish as Por qué la Guerra Civil Española sigue obsesionando a la literatura gótica.
- HOME and the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies, article for HAUNT Manchester, Visit Manchester website (28 June 2018).
- Seeing Double: The Origins of the 'Evil Twin' in Gothic Horror and Hollywood, article for The Conversation (14 June 2018).
- Twins, interview for The Anthill, a podcast from The Conversation UK (14 June 2018).
- Trick or Treat? A Guide to Halloween’s Hidden (and Not So Hidden) Gems, article for The Conversation (30 October 2017).
- How George A. Romero Made Humans of Violent Brain-Devouring Zombies, article for The Conversation (17 July 2017).
- Bride of Frankenstein: Gothic Horror, interview in episode 2 for The Horror Lab podcast (iTunes) (20 June 2017).
- The Loney and Andrew Michael Hurley At Manchester Gothic Festival, mention in Manchester Confidential (21 October 2016).
- Ghosts, Monsters and Werewolves: Manchester Goes Gothic, mention in I Love Manchester (6 October 2016) .
- World Goth Day: Shedding Some Light on the Darkness of a Much-Maligned Culture, interview in The Independent (22 May 2016).
- Zombies and the City: In a Tel Aviv Show, Chinese Artist Cao Fei Re-imagines the Urban Apocalypse, mention in Hareetz, Israeli news (16 April 2016).
- Special guest in Hannah's bookshelf, North Manchester FM (9 April 2016),
- Horror Movie Special, interview in podcast (episode 64) of the George Lamb Show (21 August 2015).
- Introducing the Children to the Darkness of Gothic Fiction, interview and article mention in Manchester Evening News (30 July 2015).
- Fangs for the Memories: Death of Christopher Lee Draws a Veil over Golden Years of Horror, article for The Conversation (11 June 2015).
- Animal Worlds: Humanities in Public, interview in The Skinny (19 October 2014).
- Interview in Why Horror? documentary film feature (21 January 2014). Bronze Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2014.
- Hero Worship: Stephen King, interview in The Skinny (9 October 2013).
- Interview for Twisted Tales website (26 August 2013).
- Ghostly Goings on as Manchester Uni Offers Gothic Studies, Manchester Evening News (9 August 2013).
- A Degree in Twilight: University Launches Course in Gothic Horror to Cash in on Popularity of Vampire Fiction, mention in Daily Mail (12 August 2013).
- Profile in ‘Ambassador Spotlight’ section of Visit Manchester’s research newsletter (May 2013).
- Outstanding Academic Achievements Award for English (Autonomous University of Barcelona). This annual prize is awarded to the best student in each of the programmes (2007).
- Austrian Science Fund - FWF der Wissenschaftsfonds (2021).
- British Academy, 'The Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling the UK’s International Challenges' (2019).
I am chief editor of the Horror Studies book series published by the University of Wales Press (2018-). I also sit on the editorial boards for the international book series Anthem Studies in Gothic Literature (Anthem Press), Queer and Trans Intersections (University of Wales Press), Dialogarts (Brazil) and for the journals Australasian Journal of Popular Culture (Intellect), Dissections: The Journal of Contemporary Horror (Brighton University) and Fantastika Journal (Lancaster University).
I am a founding member of the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies' Horror Studies Special Interest Group (founded in 2020).
- Higher Education Academy (HEA). Fellow (2013).
- The Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image. Member (2021-).
- Modern Languages Association (MLA). Member (2013-).
- International Gothic Association (IGA). Member (2009-), Postgraduate Representative and Peer Reviewer for Gothic Studies (2011-13).
- British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS). Member (2020-).
- Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS). Member, Peer Reviewer for Cinema Journal (2013-).
- Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA). Member (2013-).