Upstart Tuition

28/08/2026

Number Six in the First 100 Words series ...

"It's not screaming 'meet the heroine' at me.
My main question?
How am I supposed to feel about this person?"

https://buff.ly/3QyWreS

It’s not screaming ‘meet the heroine’ at me. My main question? ‘How am I supposed to feel about this person?

28/08/2026

Who’s YOUR favourite vampire?

I’ve been in thrall to the vampire as long as I can recall ... but not all of them are created equally. Here’s why ‘Carmilla’ is a favourite, and should be one of yours, too.�

https://a-levelenglishlit.uk/2026/08/28/28-08-j-sheridan-le-fanu/

28/08/2026

Any normal, sane person feels the need for post-apocalyptic body horror now and again.

Don't they?

https://a-levelenglishlit.uk/2026/08/28/unlikely-shelf-mates/
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This is what I’m reading this weekend - what about YOU?

26/08/2026

Never mind Romeo's chat-up lines - can you be a great writer if you're not at least a good reader?

https://a-levelenglishlit.uk/2026/08/26/from-the-archives-23-08-18/

26/08/2026

It’s John Buchan’s birthday today. What links ‘The Thirty-Nine Steps’ and Blade Runner?

https://a-levelenglishlit.uk/2026/08/26/26-08-john-buchan/

25/08/2026

No-one enjoys - or deserves - a nasty surprise on Results Day.

But with hard work and the right help, you might beat your expectations.

https://a-levelenglishlit.uk/2026/08/25/didnt-think-id-get-that-grade/
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24/08/2026

Aristocratic, urbane, seductive, and at home in respectable society. Oh, and monstrous. Polidori's contribution to THAT literary house party is too often overlooked.

https://a-levelenglishlit.uk/2026/08/24/24-08-john-polidori/

23/08/2026

I've learned to embrace my own scruffiness, but at the same time I HATE the idea that my students live in a world where, increasingly, appearance equals personality or worth.

Because what happens when you put the right clothes on the wrong person?
For this week’s ShakespeareSunday, I’ve turned to King Lear …

https://a-levelenglishlit.uk/2026/08/23/sharp-dressed-man-costume-in-king-lear/

21/08/2026

It’s my blog’s 100-post anniversary, and I thought I'd look back at what has been occupying my mind since May.
So I made a map …

The answer appears to be: a little bit of everything.

Shakespeare, Orwell, Gothic fiction, close reading, weird fiction, students, poetry, Terry Pratchett …

New to the site? This is what you can expect to find.
Come and say hello!

https://a-levelenglishlit.uk/2026/08/21/100-posts-what-have-i-been-thinking/

20/08/2026

A short study of HP Lovecraft to celebrate his birthday.��

‘Cthulhu’s done spectacularly well for an entity that seems to sleep like a teenager the day after a house-party. But sometimes the horror is far more personal and intimate ... and all the weirder for it.’

��https://a-levelenglishlit.uk/2026/08/20/20-08-hp-lovecraft/