eldritchhobbit

We had a great time celebrating our new Star Trek and Star Wars books at events this past weekend -- so much so that Mr. Spock seemed to join me, old-school Victorian spirit photography style!

Everyone is welcome! On September 9 at noon Eastern, the Digital Cultural Studies Cooperative is hosting this free virtual event!

Join us for a Book Talk on our new anthology STAR WARS: ESSAYS EXPLORING A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY. My co-editor and I, as well as some of our wonderful contributors, will be discussing our anthology of essays. We hope you will join us!

The registration link is here.

I’m delighted to talk Star Trek at an event by Licking County Library on Jan. 18, 2022 at 7pm Eastern. This event is live, online, and free to everyone.

My presentation: “Empowered Minds: How Star Trek Changed the World and Why It Still Matters”

Just a couple of weeks ago I had the very good fortune to be part of A Long-Expected Party 4 at the exquisite Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill.

(You can see my photos from the event here and from the last ALEP three years ago here.)



While I was there, I heard some wonderfully spooky ghost stories, several of which revolved around faces seen in the topmost windows of the West Family Wash House (1842), shown below, the building in which I gave my presentations and workshops for the event.



Since then, I’ve indulged in Shaker Ghost Stories from Pleasant Hill, Kentucky by Thomas Freese (2005) and learned some more spooky lore from the place. Here is one of my favorite anecdotes from the book, which is about the Meeting House and told by Bill Bright, a former Pleasant Hill employee:

Since I was a bit bored, I walked over to a spot between the two front doors to sing a little. I was next to a gap in the wall benches, facing the back wall. I started to sing sets of three (triads). Since I had spent plenty of time in high school band, I figured that it’s be a neat exercise to try the acoustics in the large room of the Meeting House.

As I was singing, something appeared in the middle of the benches to my right, on the sister’s side. For lack of a better explanation, it looked like a human form, very similar to the special effect done in Star Trek when they beam up somebody. It seemed to rise up from the floor to my height. At that point, the hair on the right side of my body stood on end, while the left side was not affected. I immediately got cold chills, like I had just walked into a meat locker. I just wanted to get out of there. I left the building immediately…

When I saw Randy [Folger, the music director], I told him about the experience and he simply asked me if I knew what I had been doing. At that point I had no idea. Then Randy asked me to sing as I had been singing in the Meeting House. After I sang for him, Randy explained to me that I had unwittingly been singing the “Angel Shout.” The Angel Shout was a set up notes that were sung like: “Lo…lo…lo…” and were sung in descending thirds. The Angel Shout was supposed to call the Shakers to meeting.  

This photo is from the Shaker graveyard at the village (1811).

I am beyond delighted to be a featured speaker at Asheville Wordfest 2017: Ten Years of Multiculturalism at the Mic on April 18-23, 2017, speaking about world science fiction. If you're in beautiful Asheville, please do join me! And check out the amazing programming planned for the rest of the weekend!

I'm very excited about heading off shortly to a convention that never fails to be great fun, ConCarolinas.

This year's planned events look great!

I intend to post updates from the con on my Twitter feed.



Here is the schedule of my events at the con:

Friday
3pm: "Star Wars Literature: New Canon and Legends" (I'm moderating this panel.)
5:30pm: "Star Trek and Diversity" (I'm moderating this panel.)

Saturday
12:30pm: "Fifty Years of Star Trek"
2:00pm: "Where's Rey?"
6:30pm: "We Are SHERLOCKed!" (I'm moderating this panel.)

Sunday
1pm: "Disney-Era Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One" (I'm moderating this panel.)

It's official! I'll be a guest speaker/program participant at the following science fiction cons this spring/summer: RavenCon, ConCarolinas, and MidAmeriCon II/The 74th Worldcon.

My most recent "Looking Back on Genre History" segment is my third (and last for now) discussion of Star Wars inspirations. This is a stand-alone segment discussing the inspirations behind the Republic's transformation into the Empire, and you can find it here on Episode 419 of StarShipSofa. (My two-part look into the science fictional and historical inspirations behind the Jedi of Star Wars include Part 1 here and Part 2 here.) This is my 80th "Looking Back" segment! If you listen, I hope you enjoy!

The next two online events in Mythgard Institute's Guest Lecture Series are all about science fiction. You're invited to attend live for free!

DAVID BRIN will give his talk “Can Science Fiction Change the World?” on Saturday, 25 July, 2015 at 6:00pm ET. There's no cost, but virtual space is limited, so register now to reserve your seat!

David Brin is a scientist, speaker, technical consultant, and world-known author. His novels have been New York Times Bestsellers, winning multiple Hugo, Nebula, and other awards. At least a dozen have been translated into more than twenty languages. Some of his best-known novels include Earth, The Postman (filmed in 1997), and Hugo Award winners Startide Rising and The Uplift War. A leading commentator and speaker on modern trends, his nonfiction book The Transparent Society won the Freedom of Speech Award of the American Library Association. Brin serves on advisory committees dealing with subjects as diverse as national defense and homeland security, astronomy and space exploration, SETI and nanotechnology, future/prediction and philanthropy. He has served since 2010 on the council of external advisers for NASA’s Innovative and Advanced Concepts group (NIAC), which supports the most inventive and potentially ground-breaking new endeavors. In 2013, David Brin helped to establish the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UCSD, where he was honored as a “distinguished alumnus” and where he was thereafter a Visiting Scholar in Residence.

Brin’s newest novel Existence explores the ultimate question: billions of planets are ripe for life. So where is Everybody? David’s main thread: how will we shape the days and years ahead – and how will tomorrow shape us?



As for myself, AMY H. STURGIS, I will give my talk “The Jedi, the Cowboy, and… Thomas Edison?: Pulp Science Fiction and Star Wars” on Saturday, 15 August at 3:00 pm ET. There's no cost, but virtual space is limited, so register now to reserve your seat!

You know me (and if you don't, here is my website). Below is the official synopsis of my talk:

What images come to mind when you think of Star Wars? Luke Skywalker watching the twin suns set on Tatooine? Princess Leia with a blaster in her hand and buns on her head? The glow of a lightsaber in the darkness? These visuals convey volumes, and they spring in part from a common origin.

One of the keys to the worldwide success of Star Wars is that the saga draws from a variety of global sources, both classical and contemporary. Join Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as she discusses one particular tradition that has left its indelible imprint on the Star Wars franchise. How did pulp science fiction evolve? What is the relationship between this genre and the Western? And how can tracing the pulp ancestry of Star Wars give us new insights on key moments and messages across the Star Wars canon — and quite possibly shed light on the forthcoming film The Force Awakens? Star Wars fans and newbies alike are welcome!

Please spread the word if you know of others who might be interested! Thanks so much. I hope to see you at these talks.

Everyone's invited! I'll be Mike Davis's guest on The Lovecraft eZine's Live Video Chat Show tomorrow (Sunday) at 6pm Eastern. Everyone is welcome! I'll be talking about the online Lovecraft course I'm teaching for Mythgard Institute this summer, and there will be some special giveaways for those who attend the chat show live -- including a free auditor's seat in the class!

In other news, my narration of Neal Asher's wonderful story "Recoper" is on the latest episode of StarShipSofa. If you listen, I hope you enjoy.

I'll shortly be off to Asheville, and I look forward to seeing some of you at my "The Dystopian Tradition: What Worlds Gone Wrong Can Teach Us" weekend event.

Before leaving I had to make a quick post to say how very excited I am that The X-Files is returning (excited is an understatement!) and to share this Honest Trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, which says it all as far as I'm concerned. (Thanks to cookiefleck!)

I'll catch you on the flip side, folks!