NecronomiCon-Providence is held every two years and I'm happy to say I'm involved in programming once again! I'll be there all weekend August 13-16, 2026.
Here's my schedule:
Corporate Horror. Biltmore Ballroom, Graduate 17th Floor
Friday, August 14, 2026 9:30 AM
Cubicles, paperwork, horrible bosses and unseen masters. Ligotti, Ballard, and others have explored the strange and terrifying world that unfolds under the baleful eye and soulless indifference of corporate ownership. Our panelists explore the hellscapes of Late-Stage Capitalism’s 9 5 and how these hellscapes serve as an excellent backdrop for exploring the Cosmic’s most common themes of existentialism and human insignificance. Panelists: John Foster (Moderator), Gillian Daniels, Errick Nunnally, Charles Tyra, Jeff VanderMeer.
That Abandoned Mall is Still Playing Music: Theory and History of Hauntology. Biltmore Ballroom, Graduate 17th Floor
Friday, August 14, 2026 11:00 AM
There’s no standard definition, but “hauntology” generally refers to the persistence of the ghosts of a possible future that did not come. On a small scale, it’s an abandoned home’s dead Christmas tree with still-wrapped, decaying gifts beneath. On a larger one, it’s the formerly “utopian” city of Pripyat or a landscape/city scarred or destroyed by war. While in a physical sense, hauntology drives many urban explorers, the ideological ghosts of the past haunt our daily lives. Our panelists discuss left-behind futures in architecture and design, language and social conventions, arts, and social structures—because the dreams we had for the future don’t matter to the passage of time. Panelists: Gillian Daniels (Moderator), Gabriel Mesa, Allen B. Ruch, Matthew Spencer, Sonya Taaffe, Jeff VanderMeer.
Author Readings. Narragansett Bay Room, Graduate by Hilton 17th Floor
Saturday, August 15, 2026 5:00 PM
Christa Carmen; Kristin Dearborn; Gillian Daniels; John Foster
Weird Film from the Pre-Code Era. South County Room, Omni 3rd Floor
Sunday, August 16, 2026 2:00 PM
The 1934 Motion Picture Production Code (“The Hays Code”) had a devastating impact on creativity and free expression in Hollywood. Pre-Hays Code films challenge much of the conventional wisdom about America’s early motion pictures: portrayals of marginalized groups, depictions of sex and sexuality, and complex explorations of criminal, supernatural, or horrific topics. Panelists consider Hollywood’s Pre-Code era specifically in light of the Weird. What characterizes or defines Hollywood’s Pre-Code Weird? What films and directors should every cinephile and connoisseur of the Weird know? Panelists: Gwen Callahan (Moderator), Matthew Cheney, Gillian Daniels, Sonya Taaffe.
