I am very happy to share that my essay "‘Lifting Old Curses’: The mirror dance of The Flowers of Vashnoi and The Mountains of Mourning" has been published in Short but Concentrated #2: A Second Essay Symposium on the Works of Lois McMaster Bujold, edited by the brilliant Una McCormack. The ebook version is free for download here.
To celebrate the fact that my co-edited anthologies Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier and Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away are now available in paperback, Vernon Press is offering a limited-time 30% discount on both books. Use this coupon code at checkout from Vernon's site: WSSN30. More information is here.
It was a delight to join Emily Strand, with whom I co-edited the anthologies Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier and Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away (both 2023 from Vernon Press), to talk Star Trek and Star Wars with the Dice in Mind podcast. Dice in Mind is a podcast hosted by Brad Browne and Jason Kaufman that explores the intersection of life, games, science, music, philosophy, and creativity through interviews with leading creatives.
I'm delighted to say that my essay "Dark Arts and Secret Histories: Investigating Dark Academia" has just been published in the new academic anthologyPotterversity from McFarland.
In the piece I define Dark Academia, distinguish the storytelling genre and its history from the aesthetic, and consider why there is an explosion of new DA storytelling happening now.
(One reason of many, I argue, is that authors such as Sarah Gailey, Naomi Novik, Victoria Lee, and R.F. Kuang, among others, were both inspired by the Harry Potter series and moved to push back against J.K. Rowling's positions through their own works, which offer fresh, diverse perspectives and insightful, timely critiques.)
Many thanks to Meg Dowell of "Now This Is Lit: A Star Wars Books Podcast" for having my co-editor Emily Strand and me on the latest episode to talk about our new scholarly anthology Star Wars: Essays Exploring A Galaxy Far, Far Away!
Second, I'm delighted to say I'll be giving two presentations this autumn on Dark Academia topics at academic conferences. Both events have online options, and I hope to see some of you there!
* I'll be giving the talk “A Vanished Student Leaves a Haunted Space: An Unsolved Mystery and the Gothic Imagination on the Dark Academia Campus” at Perilous Realms and Haunted Spaces: New England Moot 2023 sponsored by Signum University in October.
* I'll be presenting the paper “Consumed by the Campus: Dark Academia, the Gothic Imagination, and the Missing Student" at the Consuming the Gothic Conference sponsored by Sheffield Gothic in November.
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!
I'm delighted to announce a weekend of free online events celebrating two anthologies from Vernon Press, Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier and Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away, edited by Emily Strand and Yours Truly. We hope you'll join us!
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!
It's time for my periodic "Thank you!" to those in the Star Trek and Science Fiction communities who have helped us get the word out about our new anthology, Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier, thus far.
More details about our book (including the table of contents, reviews, etc.) are here on the Vernon Press website. (Note: The coupon code CFC10822213C4 provides a 24% "new release!" discount at the Vernon Press website. In addition, the book is also available from all major booksellers and for request via libraries as an ebook or hardcover. Library requests help us a great deal!)
If you work with a periodical, podcast, blog, or website and might be interested in reviewing our book or talking to us or our contributors, please get in contact with me. I may be able to arrange a digital review copy for you! The easiest way to reach me is through this contact form on my website.
I'm delighted to share that both of my co-edited academic anthologies with Vernon Press are now available: STAR TREK: ESSAYS EXPLORING THE FINAL FRONTIER and STAR WARS: ESSAYS EXPLORING A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY.
They are both available at major bookstores and can be requested via libraries in hardcover or ebook formats. The coupon code CFC10822213C4 provides a 24% "new release!" discount at the Vernon Press website, which also has the Table of Contents and other information posted for both volumes.
Soon, very soon, Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier (2023) will have a sibling (also from Vernon Press): Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away (2023).
It's not every day that you and your brilliant co-editor Emily Strand submit your completed book to your publisher, but today is that day for me!
More information on STAR WARS: ESSAYS EXPLORING A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY, the sibling to our previously-submitted and also-forthcoming anthology STAR TREK: ESSAYS EXPLORING THE FINAL FRONTIER, will be coming soon!
I’m happy to say that my “Teaching Shirley Jackson’s Hangsaman (1951)” post, based on my experience of teaching Shirley Jackson in my graduate Dark Academia course in Fall 2022, is now online at Reading Shirley Jackson in the 21st Century:
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