eldritchhobbit |

On my latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa podcast (Episode 783), I remember Anthony Stewart Head, his many contributions to genre storytelling, and in particular his pathbreaking series VR.5.

I'm tickled to share that I'll be presenting my paper "Strange Girls Now Missing: How Dark Academia Storytelling Revisits Historical Cold Cases" in the "History and Popular Uses of the Past" track at the 2026 annual conference of the Northeast Popular Culture Association (NEPCA) online in October.

On my latest "Looking Back on Genre History" segment on the StarShipSofa podcast (Episode 780), I discuss the books of Frank Tallis, the series Vienna Blood, and the phenomenon of Sigmund Freud in genre fiction. Come for the science fiction (and the history of science), and stay for the mystery and crime — and, of course, Jürgen Maurer and Matthew Beard.

A stack of Frank Tallis books, namely the Liebermann Papers novels, with one facing forward showing cover art that notes the adaptation of the novels into the Vienna Blood series starring J�rgen Maurer and Matthew Beard.

Our Hunger Games series went so well the first time, we're doing it again! And it's perfect timing, too, given that the film adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping will be coming this autumn.

You're invited to join me in SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) online via Signum University to talk about all five books in The Hunger Games series! The first module has been confirmed to run in June 2026.

The first live online discussion section is full, but we've added a second. If you enroll now, you can be a part of the scheduling to make sure it's convenient for you!

What lessons do the Capitol and Districts have to teach us? What warnings should we heed? What road leads from here to Panem? Over the course of five months, participants in these SPACE modules will read and discuss a modern classic of dystopian storytelling, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.

In this hybrid series, each week will include one lecture and one live discussion. The lectures will examine the inspirations behind, allusions in, and questions posed by that month's novel. In live discussions, participants will share their insights on, interpretations of, and reactions to the story. Together we will consider why this series has spoken to so many readers and explore how its messages remain relevant today.

Here is more information.

Watch on YouTube

My proposal for an academic essay on Andor and Rogue One has been accepted for an upcoming anthology on Star Wars and politics. I’m delighted.

For Ferrix! For Jedha! Rebellions are built on hope.

Our Hunger Games series went so well the first time, we're doing it again! And it's perfect timing, too, given that the film adaptation of Sunrise on the Reaping will be coming this autumn.

You're invited to join me in SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) online via Signum University to talk about all five books in The Hunger Games series! The first module has been confirmed to run in June 2026.

What lessons do the Capitol and Districts have to teach us? What warnings should we heed? What road leads from here to Panem? Over the course of five months, participants in these SPACE modules will read and discuss a modern classic of dystopian storytelling, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.

In this hybrid series, each week will include one lecture and one live discussion. The lectures will examine the inspirations behind, allusions in, and questions posed by that month's novel. In live discussions, participants will share their insights on, interpretations of, and reactions to the story. Together we will consider why this series has spoken to so many readers and explore how its messages remain relevant today.

Here is more information.

Watch on YouTube

Now confirmed! I am so happy to report that in May 2026, I'll be offering a standalone module with SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) online via Signum University on Donna Tartt's The Secret History.

May 2026: The Secret History by Donna Tartt: Unpacking the "Whydunit" Mystery

The Secret History, the 1992 debut novel of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Donna Tartt, has its own secret history, including an origin story at an actual college campus and inspiration from a real-life missing person case. The celebrated novel opens with the murder of a Classics student by his eccentric and close-knit group of college friends. The tale then unfolds as an inverted mystery, a “whydunit” rather than a “whodunit,” a narrative that interrogates the nature of obsession, beauty, and education.

Featuring ingredients of the campus novel, the coming-of-age story, and the New England Gothic, The Secret History has long been hailed as a modern classic, and now it’s been rediscovered by a new generation of readers who consider it a foundational text of Dark Academia storytelling. Why does this mystery have such staying power? How does it serve as a turning point in genre history? And how do its haunting themes relate to us and our search for knowledge today? In this module we will explore the fictional Hampden College and peel back the literary layers of The Secret History.

Hello, all! I am always looking for recommendations of Dark Academia works (novels, short stories, films, television series) based on true crime. I just updated my working list. I would be grateful for any suggestions for it Thank you!

I am intentionally casting my net widely, defining the Dark Academic genre (as opposed to the aesthetic) as one that focuses on an academic setting and educational experience, employs Gothic modes of storytelling, cultivates a dark mood by contemplating the subject of death, and offers critique for interrogating imbalances and abuses of power.

Here is a link my current list of Dark Academia Works Inspired by True Crime Cases. All suggestions are welcome!

It was a thrill to narrate “Dread and Faith” by Ash Vale for Episode 1016 of the Pseudopod podcast!

You can listen to the episode here.

On my latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa podcast (Episode 774), I discuss four recent works about science fiction that are perfect for your 2026 "To Be Read" list.

Listen here!

The latest episode of the Strange New Worlds podcast features an interview with the brilliant Dr. Kristina Šekrst talking about the linguistics of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Darmok," the subject of her amazing essay in our book Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier!

Call for Papers: Welcome to Hawkins: A Special Issue on Stranger Things

Slayage plans a special issue on Stranger Things for publication in late June 2026. Here is more information.

For in the midst of his military and political victories, that was Hitler’s most diabolical triumph—one man succeeded in deadening every idea of what is just and right by the constant attrition of excess. Before this “New Order” was ushered in, the world would have been horrified if a single human being had been murdered for no reason, and without recourse to the law. Torture had been considered unthinkable in the twentieth century, and expropriation was called, in plain language, robbery and theft. However, after a whole series of St. Bartholomew’s Eve Massacres, of prisoners tortured to death in SA cells and behind the barbed wire of concentration camps, what was still wrong, what did earthly suffering mean? After the annexation of Austria In 1938, our world became inured to inhumanity, injustice and brutality as never before in hundreds of years. Once what happened in the unfortunate city of Vienna alone would have been internationally condemned, but in 1938 the conscience of the world kept quiet, or murmured just a little before forgetting and forgiving.

- The World of Yesterday (1942) by Stefan Zweig, translated by Anthea Bell

Here is a Star Trek-related Call for Papers for a forthcoming academic anthology of essays:

Call for Book Chapters: Beyond the Next Star: The Importance of Failure in Star Trek

Our trek through the The Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins reaches its finale this January as we begin a month-long exploration of Sunrise on the Reaping in SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) online via Signum University.

May the odds be ever in our favor.

Watch on YouTube

Speaking of Sunrise on the Reaping, I've been thinking a lot today about the David Hume quote that opens the novel:

“Nothing appears more surprising to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers. When we enquire by what means this wonder is effected, we shall find, that, as Force is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion. It is therefore, on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most free and most popular.”

Now confirmed! I am delighted to report that in Spring 2026, I'll be offering two standalone (but related) modules with SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) online via Signum University. Each focuses on an important novel related to the same real-life, true-crime unsolved case.

March 2026: Last Seen Wearing by Hillary Waugh: Discovering a Turning Point in Crime Fiction

May 2026: The Secret History by Donna Tartt: Unpacking the "Whydunit" Mystery

Now confirmed! Here are the details of the new three-part online module for SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) that I'll be offering for Signum University in Spring 2026.

Rebellions Are Built On Hope: A Star Wars Series

Over nearly half a century of storytelling, Star Wars has challenged audiences to find their own agency and power in the face of injustice and tyranny. The Star Wars works Andor (2022, 2025), Rogue One (2016), and A New Hope (1977) fit together to provide a story of resistance, resilience, and rebellion built on a deep engagement with history, philosophy, and political thought. Join Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as we consider how Star Wars wrestles with big ideas, invites conversation and action, and inspires hope in unprecedented times.

This SPACE series consists of three hybrid modules:

Module 1 (Only 1 seat left!) (Feb. 2026) covers the series Andor, Season 1 (more info here);

Module 2 (March 2026) covers the series Andor, Season 2 (more info here); and

Module 3 (April 2026) covers the films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (more info here).

Watch on YouTube

On my latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa podcast (Episode 772), I discuss early feminist science fictional utopias and focus on A Few Hours in a Far-Off Age (1883) by Henrietta Dugdale.

Listen here!

A black-and-white portrait of reformer, freethinker, and author Henrietta Dugdale as a young woman.

My half-hour talk "Star Wars and Resistance" is now on YouTube as part of the SPACE Showcase. My talk kicks in around 11 minutes into the Showcase.

This talk is a "sneak peek" into my new three-part online module for SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) for Signum University in Spring 2026.

Watch on YouTube

Rebellions Are Built On Hope: A Star Wars Series

Over nearly half a century of storytelling, Star Wars has challenged audiences to find their own agency and power in the face of injustice and tyranny. The Star Wars works Andor (2022, 2025), Rogue One (2016), and A New Hope (1977) fit together to provide a story of resistance, resilience, and rebellion built on a deep engagement with history, philosophy, and political thought. Join Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as we consider how Star Wars wrestles with big ideas, invites conversation and action, and inspires hope in unprecedented times.

This SPACE series consists of three hybrid modules:

Module 1 (Feb. 2026) covers the series Andor, Season 1 (more info here);

Module 2 (March 2026) covers the series Andor, Season 2 (more info here); and

Module 3 (April 2026) covers the films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (more info here).

I'm delighted to share that I will be teaching a new three-part online module for SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) for Signum University in Spring 2026.

Module 1 (Feb. 2026) covers the series Andor, Season 1 (more info here);

Module 2 (March 2026) covers the series Andor, Season 2 (more info here); and

Module 3 (April 2026) covers the films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (more info here).

Watch on YouTube

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eldritchhobbit

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1: Strange Girls Now Missing
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eldritchhobbit

Remembering Anthony Stewart Head

Strange Girls Now Missing

Frank Tallis, Vienna, and Genre

Second live discussion section added for The Hunger Games!

Yay!

We're going back to Panem!

Only 2 seats left for May!

Dark Academia Inspired by True Crime (Updated!)

Pseudopod! (Just in Time for Friday the 13th.)

New Science Fiction Works for Your TBR!

Darmok!

Stranger Things-Related Call for Papers

Timely quote

Star Trek-Related Call for Book Chapters

Sunrise on the Reaping and Implicit Submission

Dark Academia in SPACE!

Rebellions Are Built on Hope - in SPACE!

Feminist Utopian Thought

Star Wars and Resistance

Rebellions Are Built on Hope

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