APPEARENCES:
                   (Discussions, Lectures, Presentations, Book Signings)

Curt is available for a variety of Speaking Engagements.  He is a highly respected orator who will engage your group in exciting and thought provoking subjects.  Curt is known for his easy-going, comfortable style of speaking as well as a deep passion for his field of expertise.  Whether it is an appearance at your Library, School, Book Club, or Social Function, Curt will tailor a program to fit your event.

Suggested topics include:

• Victorian Penny Dreadfuls (working class fiction)
  • the Penny Dreadful Press-
  • Writing street serials that went from pen to press in minutes.
  • Information on the lost writers of Penny Dreadful Fiction.
  • The battle over Penny Dreadfuls and their assumed corruption of the youth.
  • The most famous Penny Dreadfuls.
  • The Newgate novel and crime literature (Victorian Pulp).
  • The First Vampire novel ever written: Varney the Vampire.
    
    
• Forgotten Female Best-Selling Authors (Late Romantic & Victorian)
  • Victorian Sensation Fiction- the publication phenomenon of the 1860's
    • Victorian best-selling tales of mystery, murder, and scandal- The novels that everyone was reading!
  • The novels Mrs. Henry Wood (Ellen Wood)-
    •  Mrs. Wood's record breaking second novel, East Lynne, outsold all other novels of the century.  Her award winning temperance novel, Dansebury House, was her first book and sold a record breaking 90,000 copies in its first five years.
  • The novels of Marie Corelli- the #1 Victorian seller of all time.
    • Novels of Gothic romance, science fiction, addictions and revisionist Biblical history.
  • The novels of Mary Elizabeth Brandon.
    • Lady Audley's Secret, a best-selling novel of insanity, murder, and corruption- yet also a subversive novel of female empowerment.
  • The overlooked female writers of the late 18th Century-
    • Elizabeth Bonhote and Mrs. Carver. Feminist tales of mystery and intrigue w/ heroic female figures
      
      
•   Literary Vampires
  • The Vampire in transition- from the late 17th century to today.
  • The First Vampire novel ever written: Varney the Vampire.
  • a serial of 250 chapters sold by the week on the streets of London.
  • The literary Vampire as contemporary metaphor.
  • Dracula and gender.
  • Twilight: An American Epic.
    
   
 
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• In October of 2009, Curt spoke at the Muhlenberg Community Library on The Literary Vampire and Pop Culture.

• In October of 2009, Curt delivered his paper, "Stolen Thunder: James Malcolm Rymer's Varney The Vampire" at the Scottish Gothic Symposium at Stirling University, Stirling Scotland.

• In July of 2009, Curt had a book signing at the Tinicum Arts Festival in Erwinna, Pennsylvania.
   
• In February of 2008, Curt presented his paper "Wrapped in Rapunzal: Elizabeth Bonhote's Shifting Codes on Gender in Bungay Castle" at the South Central Society for Eighteenth Century Studies Conference in New Orleans.
   
• In March of 2007, Curt had a book-signing at the Doylestown Bookshop where he spoke about Female Gothic fiction and signed copies of his edition of The Horrors of Oakendale Abbey.

• In February of 2007, Curt was interviewed on "Stepping Stones with Hillary Murray" WDVR Radio, Seargentsville, NJ.  The interview covered Female Gothic Fiction and The Vampire in Literature.

• In May, 2006, Curt traveled to Bungay, England to visit the ruins of the actual Bungay Castle where the book Bungay Castle was written.

With the castle as a backdrop, he and his publisher, Franz Potter, presented this new edition of the novel. Curt discussed the novel’s use of feminist literary devices and themes with a delighted audience of over 80 Bungay residents, Gothic enthusiasts and members of the British press.