Welcome to my Substack! Here you’ll find a wide range of articles about the history of magic, theatre, the horror genre, storytelling, and more. Subscribe for free or support my writing with a paid subscription.
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About Me
In 2024, I graduated from Cambridge with a PhD in English looking at how magicians were depicted on the early modern stage. It won the English Faculty Completion Award for the best PhD completed in under three years. I am an award-winning playwright and have joined the Royal Academy of Music as a librettist supporting their Opera Makers Course. You can find out more about my writing and research here: rebekahkingwriter.com.
I am currently turning my PhD into a published monograph with Bloomsbury Arden and I hope to soon start work on a trade book about the history of magic.
Key areas of interest:
The early modern period (1550-1700).
The history of theatre and special effects.
The history of belief (particularly in magic).
Ways in which ideas about censorship and dangerous knowledge have evolved.
The horror genre in film, literature and beyond.
Rhetoric and the craft of writing, including the history of how this has been taught.
About the Substack
My grandfather began a blog on etymology in his 90s and wrote his last article two days before he passed away aged 94. In his honour, I want to practice the discipline of regularly writing about my passions, in my case the history of horror, theatre, magic, special effects, and more.
I currently post once a week on Mondays, with the first Monday of each month being a bonus post for paid subscribers only. My free articles go into a paywalled archive after a year.
Paid Subscriber Benefits
Paid subscribers are incredibly important for helping me carve out the time to research and create. If you have enjoyed Curiosities and want it to keep going, paying to subscribe is the best way to guarantee its future. I am working on expanding benefits for paid subscribers, at the moment you get:
A monthly bonus post! You can browse them here.
Access to my archive — after a year all my articles go behind a paywall.
Special chat threads with early access and information about upcoming projects.
An optional shout out in my next post after you sign up.
Rules of Engagement
Please do: engage with my writing! It's wonderful to hear everyone's thoughts on the curious content I share, including times when my readers disagree with me or have noticed an error. As long as you are respectful and polite, it's great to have you in the conversation. I'm also happy to be approached for projects or collaborations although please be aware that I am usually too busy to read and review books. If there's something you want to ask me to do please send a single short message explaining it clearly including key details like timing.
Please don't: harass or insult me (obviously). Anyone who engages with me in a disrespectful way will be blocked first time. I will also block anyone who posts an off-topic piece of self-promotion in one of my comment sections or threads and anyone who uses AI to generate a response! I will mute/block anyone who behaves in a spammy, pestering, or attention-seeking way even if your individual messages are polite.
AI Policy
I do not use AI to research, write, edit, or proofread any of my work whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. I also do not use AI to generate images, notes, or promotional material.
Thanks very much for reading and welcome to the curious gang!
