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Always Halloween and Never Thanksgiving

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Book Review - Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier Thanks to Jarrah Hodge and Women at Warp for this in-depth review of our new book Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier!
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Dark Academia Works Inspired by True Crime Cases?

Hello, all! I am looking for recommendations of Dark Academia works (novels, short stories, films, television series) based on true crime. I would be grateful for any suggestions for my list. 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.* ALT Below the cut is my current list of Dark Academia Works Inspired by True Crime Cases. All suggestions are welcome! Dark Academia Works Inspired/Informed by True Crime Cases Note 1: “True crime” is defined here as a specific case (for example, a murder or missing person’s case), not as a larger historical event (for example, the Salem Witch Trials or the Opium Wars) or an amalgam of cases (for example, general hazing in fraternities).
Note 2: This list is in chronological order based on the true crime case.
Note 3: Some works that aren’t fully DA but incorporate DA sections are included. TRUE CRIME: 1897 disappearance of student Bertha Mellish from Mount Holyoke College
DA novels: The Button Field by Gail Husch (2014)
Killingly by Katharine Beutner (2023) TRUE CRIME: 1924 killing of Bobby Franks by University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb
DA Novels: Compulsion by Meyer Levin (1956)
Nothing but the Night by James Yaffe (1957)
Little Brother Fate by Mary-Carter Roberts (1957)
These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever (2020)
Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed (2022)
Jazzed by Jill Dearman (2022)
DA films: Rope (1948), Compulsion (1959), and Murder by Numbers (2002) TRUE CRIME: 1932 kidnapping and killing of Charles Lindbergh, Jr.; 1933 kidnapping and killing of Brooke Hart; and 1932-1934 crime spree of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
DA novels: Truly Devious books by Maureen Johnson (especially the first trilogy, 2018-2020) TRUE CRIME: 1944 killing of David Kammerer by Columbia University student Lucien Carr
DA film:
Kill Your Darlings (2013) TRUE CRIME: 1946 disappearance of student Paula Jean Welden from Bennington College
DA novels:
Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson (1951)
Last Seen Wearing by Hillary Waugh (1952)
The Secret History by Donna Tartt (1992)
Shirley by Susan Scarf Merrell (2014)
Quantum Girl Theory by Erin Kate Ryan (2022) TRUE CRIME: 1973 killing of student Cynthia Hellman at Randolph-Macon Women’s College
DA novel:
Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison (2019) TRUE CRIME: 1978 killing of students Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy and attack of students Kathy Kleiner and Karen Chandler by Ted Bundy at Florida State University
DA novel:
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (2023) TRUE CRIME: 1985 killing of Derek and Nancy Haysom by University of Virginia students Elizabeth Haysom and Jens Söring
DA novel:
With a Kiss We Die by L.R. Dorn (2023) TRUE CRIME: 1999 killing of student Hae Min Lee from Woodlawn High School (by Adnan Syed? debated)
DA novel:
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (2023) TRUE CRIME: 2022 killing of students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin from the University of Idaho (by Washington State University student Bryan Kohberger? currently awaiting trial)
DA novel:
This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead (2025) *(I go into this definition in further detail in my segment here on the StarShipSofa podcast, my graduate course on Dark Academia, and my 2023 academic essay “Dark Arts and Secret Histories: Investigating Dark Academia.”)
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Halloween 2022: Day 5

Song: “Long Black Veil” Quote: Oh, the scaffold is high and eternity’s near. She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear. But late at night, when the north wind blows, In a long black veil, she cries o'er my bones. She walks these hills in a long black veil. She visits my grave when the night winds wail. Nobody knows. Nobody sees. Nobody knows but me. Read the complete lyrics. Listen to Gillian Welch’s performance…
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“The Contrary Gardener”

Escape Pod | The Original Science Fiction Podcast I was delighted to narrate the wonderful science fiction story “The Contrary Gardener” by Christopher Rowe. Both parts are now available from the Escape Pod podcast!
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“Looking Back on Genre History”

My latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment is now available on the new episode of the StarShipSofa podcast. I discuss the concept of the timeslip. ALT ALTALT
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Halloween Countdown 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 1

So it begins! Each day of this dark and beautiful month I’ll be posting a different Dark Academia title with a haunting, atmospheric quote. I hope you’ll enjoy the recommendations! Dark Academia story: “X House” by J.T. Ellison, from In These Hallowed Halls: A Dark Academia Anthology edited by Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan (2023) Quote: There was a bog near the bridge, on the other side of the forest. The things that disappeared into that place… Animals. Trees. People. Yes, it was beautiful, but it was dangerous. So many were lost over the years, women who vanished into the woods and never returned. Why someone would build a school in this desolate area was a forever unknown.   ALT
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Halloween 2022: Day 6

Song: “The Ghost of Eli Renfro” Quote: Can’t you hear? Can’t you hear? When the moon is bright and clear From time to time, It’s old Eli dragging chains And moaning people’s names. I just hope and pray he never thinks of mine. Read the complete lyrics. Listen to The Nashville Bluegrass Band’s performance…
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Happy anniversary, Enterprise!

ALT ALT Happy anniversary, Enterprise! On this day in 2001, Enterprise debuted. Happy 22nd anniversary to a chapter of Star Trek that has a lot to say and deserves greater attention. This year I was thrilled to put my essay on Enterprise out into the universe! Cue “Faith of the Heart”… ? ?
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Star Trek and Star Wars are here!

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 for both at the Vernon Press website. ALTALT Vernon Press - Authors
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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 15

_____ Dark Academia novel: The It Girl by Ruth Ware (2020) Quote: Afterwards, it was the door she would remember. It was open, she kept saying to the police. I should have known something was wrong. She could have retraced every step of the walk back from the Hall: the gravel crunching beneath her feet of the path across Old Quad, under the Cherwell Arch, then the illegal shortcut through the darkness of the Fellows’ Garden, her feet light on the dew-soaked forbidden lawn. Oxford didn’t need KEEP OFF THE GRASS signs; that lawn had been the preserve of dons and fellows for more than two hundred years without needing to remind undergraduates of the fact…. Then up staircase VII, four flights of worn stone steps, right up to the top, where she and April slept, on the left-hand side of the landing, opposite Dr. Myers’s rooms. Dr. Myers’s door was closed, as it always was. But the other door, her door, was open. That was the last thing she remembered. She should have known something was wrong. But she suspected nothing at all.  ALT
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Halloween 2022: Day 17

Song: “Little Omie Wise” Quote: Little Omie, little Omie, I’ll tell you my mind:
My mind is to drown you and leave you behind. Read the complete lyrics. Listen to Doc Watson’s performance…
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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 6

Dark Academia novel: The Honeys by Ryan La Sala (2022) Quote: I don’t fear the dark. I know the dark, and it knows me. Within it, I’m safe from the sun’s lovely illusions. I know what I’ve always known: The monsters worth fearing are the ones that are dangerous enough to hide in daylight. ALT
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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 23

Dark Academia novel: The Raising by Laura Kasischke (2011) Quote: There were goose bumps on her arms now. Wrapping her arms around herself, Mira realized that not only had she shivered, but now she was trembling. She worried that her teeth might begin to chatter. It was truly autumn. The sun had clearly slipped a few notches down on the horizon, and the light on the leaves was amber now, not white, not even golden, as it had been the week before, and a breeze seemed to be pouring through the centuries-old window of Godwin Honors Hall despite the fact they were all closed. That cold breeze seemed to pour in a steady stream down the hallway, bathing her. “I know you’re an expert on death,” the boy said to her, “and dying, and the undead.”     ALT
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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 9

Dark Academia novel: The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue (2020) Quote: The cabinet was filled with curious and bizarre items. There was a jar with a dead tarantula in it, a case of butterflies and one with insects, a chain made of teeth; there were stamps, an ivory horn, a photo of a two-headed calf, an old jewelry box, some gemstones, a miniature violin and other jars filled with liquid which was too murky to see what was inside. I chose a skull. It was small, like that of a child. Mr. Lavelle nodded as he handed it to me. And for what was not the first time, I felt like he was a seer and that everything that would come to happen he had already foreseen. I held the skull in my hands. I imagined, for a moment, I could squeeze it and it would shatter. I have not thought about this for many years, but now I wonder if I should not have chosen the skull. That perhaps if I had just picked a gemstone, things would have been different. I would not have become what I did. But then I remember the way I felt as they both, he and Victoria, looked at me, and I think perhaps not. It was all inevitable. ALT
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Halloween 2022: Day 8

Song: “Little Margaret” Quote: Is Little Margaret in her room
Or is she in the hall?
Little Margaret’s in her coal-black coffin
With her face turned toward the wall. Listen to the performance of Sheila Kay Adams…
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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 2

Dark Academia work: “Presentation of an Intact Specimen” by Premee Mohamed, from Wilted Pages: An Anthology of Dark Academia edited by Ai Jiang and Christi Nogle (2023) Quote: No. This one is mine. This museum is mine. I worked too hard for this, and it belongs to me and if he intends to take anything of mine, I will not show the restraint I did when we were students. No one is watching me now. Only God, so they say; and He will, I think, forgive me this. Surely it is not a sin to remove a sinner from the face of the Earth to prevent future sins. Think of everything Bainbridge has done. Think of the oceans of blood on his hands. And the tiny, tiny bit that would be on hers. ___ It was madness, it was all madness; but she examined the madness from every angle and it seemed good and sound, like an old tool of forged iron. She saw no weaknesses in it. It was merely the removal of something worthless from the museum — it was curation. She and Godfrey could find a more suitable assistant. It would only benefit the institution. ALT
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Halloween 2022: Day 13

Song: “Caleb Meyer” Quote: I drew that glass across his neck,
Fine as any blade,
Then I felt his blood pour fast and hot
Around me where I laid. Caleb Meyer, your ghost is gonna
Wear them rattling chains,
But when I go to sleep at night
Don’t you call my name. Read the complete lyrics. Listen to the performance of The Greencards…
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