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Reading Ecogothic depictions of nature from cultural traditions outside of Euro-America reveals how socio-ecological relations are inextricably bound up with hierarchies of race, class and gender, but also how environmental catastrophes intersect with wider geopolitical contexts such as imperialism. This chapter compares contemporary examples of ‘resource Gothic’ fictions that figure the socio-ecological violence of extractivism, plantation and ecological imperialism in postcolonial nations, including the sugar Gothic of Roger McTair’s ‘Just a Lark (or the Crypt of Matthew Ashdown)’ (2000), set in Jamaica, the oil Gothic of HelonHabila’sOil on Water (2010), set in Nigeria, and the toxic nuclear Gothic of Robert Barclay’s Meļaļ (2003), set in the Marshall Islands. It also examines Ecogothic aesthetics in contemporary television and video games, exploring the oil and sugar imaginary of the first season of HBO television series True Detective (2014) and the nuclear magnetism of Bethesda Game Studio’s Fallout 4:Far Harbor DLC (2016).

This chapter presents the historical account of the emergence of radio crime docudramas, which had a unique program form drawn from various generic influences. Some of the examples of these police-story dramas are True Detective Mysteries (1929), Police Headquarters (1932), Calling All Cars (1933), and Gang Busters (1957). Furthermore, it discusses the formulation of these dramas through the interconnecting interests of advertising firms, police, networks, and sponsors, which then situates the police force as professional authorities. The chapter initially highlights the significance of public image management in the campaign for police reform, while the latter part focuses on how the programs went beyond existing generic patterns.

This chapter examines a final case study, the TRPG Numenera. It finds in writers such as China Miéville and Gene Wolfe precursors of how literary studies can inform and understanding of the imaginary worlds found in a game like Numenera. Miéville, for example, finds roots for his Bas Lag trilogy in elements from TRPGs like Dungeons and Dragons, articulating a granular style of textured detail like that found in the best of Lovecraft. With Wolfe, this chapter reads his blending of science fiction and fantasy elements, especially how he embraces a magical impulse. Numenera incorporates these elements into a post-anthropocene setting that imagines a post-human far future. Its cosmicism, though, lacks the pessimism of Lovecraft or a writer like Thomas Ligotto, who this chapter sees as moving beyond Lovecraft, yet retaining much of his insistence in resisting drawing the ultimate horror. This chapter ends by arguing that realized worlds such as those inspired by Lovecraft, e.g. Numenera, can also be seen in the first season of the HBO series True Detective, a series that valorized a pulp fantasism, yet refused to acknowledge it in the end.