eldritchhobbit

1>New "Looking Back on Genre History"

On my latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa podcast (Episode 754), I discuss (in a spoiler-free way!) Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, intellectual history, and genre references. Here is the link!

My graduate course on the Dystopian Tradition will be offered again this summer online at Signum University if there's sufficient interest. I hope the class will make, because it seems more relevant than ever.

I'm back from an action-packed Worldcon, just in time for the start of a new semester!

My stand-alone academic presentation from the con, "His Fordship in the Capitol and Big Brother in the Districts: How The Hunger Games' World of Tomorrow Builds on SF's Classic Past," is now available for free on the latest episode of StarShipSofa. If you listen, I hope you enjoy!

And here is Kaitlyn at Worldcon, her very first (but not her last!) con. Steampunk Star Wars shirt? Check. TARDIS? Check. Happy smile? Check.

Recently I was invited to share thoughts related both to Harry Potter and to my essay "His Fordship in the Capitol and Big Brother in the Districts: The Hunger Games and the Modern Dystopian Tradition" in an extended interview on MuggleNet Academia with hosts Keith Hawk and the Hogwarts Professor himself, John Granger, as well as the editor of Critical Insights: The Hunger Games, Lana Whited, and my fellow contributor to the volume, Elizabeth Baird-Hardy. It was great fun to be part of this conversation.

I hope you'll check out MuggleNet Academia Lesson #45: "District 9 3/4: Harry Potter and The Hunger Games: Critical Insights"! If you listen, I hope you enjoy.

It's time for my year-end review post.

Apologies for being quiet of late. I've been dealing with both shingles and sinus-related nastiness for which surgery looms in 2016. Ick. I do hope your holiday season has been more enjoyable!

But back to taking stock of 2015...



What I Published in 2015

In Books

* “Seeking Dumbledore’s Mother: Harry Potter in the Native American Context” in Harry Potter for Nerds II, Kathryn McDaniel and Travis Prinzi, eds.

* “Harry Potter and the Dystopia After Tomorrow” in Ravenclaw Reader: Seeking the Artistry and Meaning of J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts Saga, The St. Andrews University Harry Potter Conference, John Patrick Pazdziora and Micah Snell, eds.

* [Note: Also written in 2015 and accepted for 2016 publication: “His Fordship in the Capitol and Big Brother in the Districts: The Hunger Games and the Modern Dystopian Tradition” in Critical Insights: The Hunger Games, Lana A. Whited, ed., Grey House/Salem Press, forthcoming in 2016]

In Reason Magazine

*“Star Wars, Remixed: George Lucas’ Universe Is a Mashup Masterwork,” Reason (January 2016) online here

* “The Many Resurrections of Sherlock Holmes: Why the Great Detective Is Always in Fashion,” Reason (October 2015) online here

* “Feminism, Frankenstein, and Freedom: The Individualistic Works and Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley,” Reason (June 2015) online here


What I Read in 2015
( What I Read in 2015 )

Wow! The first weekend of my two-weekend "The Dystopian Tradition: What Worlds Gone Wrong Can Teach Us" event was spectacular, with amazing students and fascinating discussions. I'm very much looking forward to the second half of the event. Thanks to everyone who participated!

In other news that makes me happy, I've just proofed the final galleys for two of my essays which will be published soon. “Feminism, Frankenstein, and Freedom: The Individualistic Works and Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley” will appear in REASON, and "Seeking Dumbledore's Mother: Harry Potter in the Native American Context" will appear in Harry Potter for Nerds II (along with works by several of my current and former graduate students, I'm delighted to say).

In addition, my proposal for the essay "His Fordship in the Capitol and Big Brother in the Districts: The Hunger Games and the Modern Dystopian Tradition" has been accepted for the forthcoming 2016 scholarly volume Critical Insights: The Hunger Games.



Speaking of publications, here are some Calls for Papers of possible interest.
- New Worlds, Terrifying Monsters, Impossible Things: Exploring the Contents and Contexts of Doctor Who
- Engendering the Disc – The Fantastic Worlds of Terry Pratchett
- Being Humans. The Human Condition in the age of techno-humanism: representations, practices, experiences

Happy early birthday to sarah531, vg_ford, tunes84, captnofmyheart, wildviolet4, savagedoc45, lalam, silveraspen, denorios, prettybirdy979, sakuraember, cherylmmorgan, muuranker, izhilzha, and justicemuffins. May all of you enjoy many happy returns of the day!

I've committed another made-for-YouTube video.

My others are as follows:
* Is Katniss a Modern-Day Spartacus?
* Forgotten Rebellion: Black Seminoles and the Largest Slave Revolt in U.S. History
* The Expulsion of the Acadians
* Andrew Jackson: The First Imperial President
* The Trail of Tears: They Knew It Was Wrong
* Protest against the Trail of Tears


Here's my new kid on the block: The Rise of the Mockingjay: From Ferguson to Hong Kong.

If you check out any of these, thanks! :)

*From Reason: "Thai Protesters Use Hunger Games Salute."

* From The Guardian: "Hunger Games Salute Banned by Thai Military."

* From Time: "Hunger Games Salute Becomes a Real Sign of Dissent in ‘Tyrannical’ Thailand."



(Thanks to ankh_hpl.)

Psst! Did you know darchildre was reading Icelandic sagas and sharing the recorded narrations? Run, don't walk, to partake of the goodness.


And now, on the subject of YA dystopias...

* From The New York Times: "Our Young-Adult Dystopia" by Michelle Dean. There are some interesting assertions here, especially in the context of Divergent and The Bone Season:
"I often wonder if the people in charge of these decisions noticed that Rowling was 30 when she sold Harry Potter, or that Collins was 46 when The Hunger Games appeared.... Forgive the presumption, but our present circumstances lead me to suggest another item for C.S. Lewis’s list: We like these stories because they have a special relationship with time. Children’s literature toys with our chronological expectations because the best of it has always been written, actually, by the comparatively elderly. Lewis himself was 51 when the Narnia books came out; Lois Lowry was 56 when The Giver was published; Madeleine L’Engle wrote A Wrinkle in Time in her 40s, and L. Frank Baum his Oz books in the same decade of his life. Age is what the greats have in common. The long years between adolescence and middle age seem to be necessary soil for this craft."

* On a related note, from Charles Stross: "Generation Z." (Thanks to whswhs.)
Stross articulates some of the questions I've been asking in my work:
"There has been a boom market in dystopian young adult fiction over the past decade. There is a reason for this. Play and recreation is an important training mechanism in young mammals by which they practice or rehearse activities that will fit them for later adult life experiences. (It's also fun, but bear with me while I discuss the more ploddingly puritan angle for a moment.) Could it be that the popularity of YA dystopias reflects the fact that our youngest generation of readers expect to live out their lives in dystopia? (The alternative explanations hold that (a) high school in the age of helicopter parenting, fingerprint readers in the library, and CCTV in the corridors is an authoritarian dystopia anyway, and YA dys-fic helps kids understand their environment; and (b) that worse, their parents (who influence their reading) think this.)"



On a less dystopian note, happy early birthday wishes to angelinehawkes, idwoman, pseudoanorexic, vyrdolak, lyria_theringer, bistokidsfan77, catw, dragonrose1125, dduane, lexie_marie, jalara, theladyrose, elvenjoy, jan_u_wine, gondoriangirl, vivien529, and senket. May each of you enjoy many happy returns of the day!