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Always Halloween and Never Thanksgiving

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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 26

Today’s text is “Hallowe’en Activities” from The News-Pilot on 10/29/1928. Read the article here. Quote: Goblins gobble and werewolves howl; Banshees shriek and cry and scream Ululations, while the mournful owl Makes many fitful mortals dream. Hallowe'en Activities (With an Owl and Witch)
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ICYMI, there is a documentary series that highlights the contributions of women and non-binary…

ICYMI, there is a documentary series that highlights the contributions of women and non-binary people in the Star Wars fandom and in related discussions of resilience and resistance. I was delighted to play a small role as a consultant on this project, and I will be sharing it with my graduate students this semester as we discuss Star Wars and popular culture. It’s Looking for Leia, and all seven episodes are free to watch! ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 1

Halloween season is here! Since 2005, I’ve been observing a Halloween countdown on whatever social media I was using at the time with a daily post throughout October. These days I am primarily on Mastodon (so if you’re in the Fediverse, or connected to it via Threads or some other means, please say hi!), but I also post on Tumblr, my Goodreads blog, and Dreamwidth, among other places.  I look forward to sharing October with you! Happy Countdown to Halloween 2024! This year I will focus on Halloween-friendly texts (long and short) available for free online. I will try to lean away from the usual suspects and, I hope, bring you some treats that you will enjoy! This countdown will have several separate parts. The first part is inspired by Bridget M. Marshall’s excellent 2021 work Industrial Gothic: Workers, Exploitation and Urbanization in Transatlantic Nineteenth-Century Literature. In her book, Marshall notes that dark and dreadful Gothic novels were very popular with the “mill girls” who worked in 19th-century factories. I’d like to start the countdown by recommending some of the shiver-inducing texts these women reported reading and savoring. ALT Here begins the Day 1 post! One of the most popular titles with women working in factories in Manchester and Lancashire, UK, was Mysteries of London (1844-1845) by G.W.M. Reynolds. Read it here. Quote: “Perhaps there is no other cry in the world, save that of ‘fire!’ more calculated to spread terror and dismay, when falling suddenly and unexpectedly upon the ears of a party of revellers, than that of ‘A corpse! a corpse!’”
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 5

Another title very popular with women working in 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts was The Romance of the Forest (1791) by the mother of the Gothic, Ann Radcliffe. Read it here. Quote: “She saw herself surrounded by the darkness and stillness of night, in a strange place, far distant from any friends, going she scarcely knew whither, under the guidance of strangers, and pursued, perhaps, by an inveterate enemy.” ALT
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Happy Star Trek Day!

On this Star Trek Day, as Trek turns 58, I feel tremendous gratitude for the many years of joy I’ve had teaching, writing about, and being inspired by Star Trek and the Trek community. ALT ALT ALT ALT
2024’s STAR TREK DAY Kicks Off a Global Charity Awareness Campaign
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 27

Today’s text is “Spook and Goblin Atmosphere of Halloween Today Tame Compared with Horror Motif Expressed in Gothic Tales” from Indianapolis Star on 10/31/1937. Read the article here. Quote: “… the Halloween tradition in its various aspects runs through a surprising amount of highly respectable adult literature. Shakespeare’s frequent ghosts, the so-called Gothic novels or novels of terror which came to a climax in Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein,’ Irving’s ‘Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ and Poe’s ‘Ligeia’ are certainly all in line with the Halloween tradition…”  ALT Goblin Atmosphere at Halloween
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 29

Today’s text is “Hallowe’en – A Holiday of Traditions” from The Stoughton Courier on 11/1/1907. Read the article here. Quote: “From time out of mind this has been heralded as a night when witches, devils and other mischief-making beings go abroad on their baneful midnight errands…. The traditions of Hallowe’en also teach that on no other night in the twelve-month do such supernatural influences prevail as after dark on the final day of October.” ALT Hallowe'en - A Holiday of Traditions
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 6

A second Ann Radcliffe novel read and savored by women working in the 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts was The Mysteries of Udolpho (1994). Read it here. Quote: “… I am not so much afraid of faeries, as of ghosts, and they say there are a plentiful many of them about the castle; now I should be frightened to death, if I should chance to see any of them. But hush! ma’amselle, walk softly! I have thought, several times, something passed by me.” ALT
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New essay on the Vorkosigan saga!

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 @unamccormack. The ebook version is free for download here. ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 18

Today’s text is “A Night in Monk-Hall,” an excerpt from The Quaker City; or, The Monks of Monk Hall (1845) by George Lippard. Read it here. Quote: I was sitting upright in bed, chilled to the very heart, afraid to move an inch, almost afraid to breathe, when, far, far down through the chambers of the old mansion, I heard a faint hushed sound, like a man endeavouring to cry out when attacked by night mare, and then great God how distinct! I heard the cry of `Murder, murder, murder!’ far, far, far below me. ALT
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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 Countdown 2024, Day 13

One more of the so-called “horrid novels” referenced in Northanger Abbey is The Orphan of the Rhine (1798) by Eleanor Sleath. Read it here. Quote: “Here Silence has fixed her abode, disturbed only at intervals by the howling of the wolf, or the cry of the vulture. In such a situation actions have no witnesses; these woods are no spies.” ALT
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“Exploring Star Trek” in Fall 2025

“Exploring Star Trek” in Fall 2025 I’m excited to say that in Fall 2025 I will be offering the 12-week online class “Exploring Star Trek” for M.A. students and non-degree-seeking auditors alike at Signum University. I’m delighted to be teaching this course once again! Exploring Star Trek - Signum University
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 2

Another Gothic title very popular with women working in 19th-century factories in Manchester and Lancashire, UK, was The String of Pearls; or The Barber of Fleet Street (aka Sweeney Todd)  (1846-1847) by James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest. Read it here. Quote: “How still everything was in those vaults of old St. Dunstan’s. Were there no spirits from another world—spirits of the murdered, to flit in horrible palpability before the eyes of that man who had cut short their thread of life? Surely if ever a visitant from another world could have been expected, it would have been to appear to Todd to convince him that there was more beyond the grave than a forgotten name and a mouldering skeleton.” ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 14

Before we leave the subject of Northanger Abbey completely, let’s include one more work that inspired the novel (and left a lasting mark on the Gothic tradition), The Monk (1796) by Matthew Gregory Lewis. Read it here. Quote: “Be cautious not to utter a syllable!” whispered the Stranger; “Step not out of the circle, and as you love yourself, dare not to look upon my face!” ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 16

Today’s text is The Black Vampyre; A Legend of St. Domingo (1819) by Uriah Derek D’Arcy. Read it here. Quote: When reason and sense returned, she [The Lady] found herself in the same place; and it was also the midnight hour. She was laying by the grave of Mr. PERSONNE, and her breast was stained with blood. A wide wound appeared to have been inflicted there, but was now cicatrized. Imagine if you can, her surprise; when, by a certain carniverous craving in her maw, and by putting this and that together, she found she was a—VAMPYRE!!! and gathered from her indistinct reminiscences, of the preceding night, that she had been then sucked; and that it was now her turn to eject the peaceful tenants of the grave!  With this delightful prospect of immortality before her, she began to examine the graves, for subject to satisfy her furious appetite. When she had selected one to her mind, a new marvel arrested her attention. Her first husband got up out his coffin, and with all the grace so natural to his countrymen, made her a low bow in the last fashion, and opened his arms to receive her!  ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 10

We’ve reached the last post in the portion of this countdown devoted to the creepy Gothic books beloved by the women working in 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts. Today’s entry is the controversial autobiography of Maria Monk (1836). Read it here. Quote: We all believed in ghosts. ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 3

We have even more evidence of which Gothic novels the women who worked in 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts read and enjoyed. The next few posts will highlight these titles. ALT One of the most popular titles was The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (1764). Read it here. Quote:  …and then the figure, turning slowly round, discovered to Frederic the fleshless jaws and empty sockets of a skeleton, wrapt in a hermit’s cowl. “Angels of peace protect me!” cried Frederic, recoiling. “Deserve their protection!” said the spectre.
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 23

Today’s text is The Book of Hallowe’en (1919) by Ruth Edna Kelley. Read it here. Quote: All superstitions, everyday ones, and those pertaining to Christmas and New Year’s, have special value on Hallowe'en. It is a night of ghostly and merry revelry. ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 19

Let’s wrap up the Gothic portion of this year’s countdown with a classic that was published the same year as the now-better-known Dracula: The Beetle (1897) by Richard Marsh. Read it here. Quote: So far, in the room itself there had not been a sound. When the clock had struck ten, as it seemed to me, years ago, there came a rustling noise, from the direction of the bed. Feet stepped upon the floor,— moving towards where I was lying. It was, of course, now broad day, and I, presently, perceived that a figure, clad in some queer coloured garment, was standing at my side, looking down at me. It stooped, then knelt. My only covering was unceremoniously thrown from off me, so that I lay there in my nakedness. Fingers prodded me then and there, as if I had been some beast ready for the butcher’s stall. A face looked into mine, and, in front of me, were those dreadful eyes. Then, whether I was dead or living, I said to myself that this could be nothing human,— nothing fashioned in God’s image could wear such a shape as that. ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 22

Today’s text is Games for Hallow-e’en (1912) by Mary F. Blain. Read it here. Quote: The dining-room should also be in total darkness, except for the light given by the Jack-o’-lanterns, until the guests are seated, when they should unmask. The supper could be served in this dim light or the lights turned up and the room made brilliant. After the supper is over and while the guests are still seated a splendid idea would be to extinguish all the lights and to have one or more of the party tell ghost stories…. Another suggestion is to have the hall totally dark with the door ajar and no one in sight to welcome the guests. As they step in they are surprised to be greeted by some one dressed as a ghost who extends his hand which is covered with wet salt. ALT
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“In particular, the researchers focused on a concept called ‘identification with all humanity.’ This…

Science fiction may help foster a sense of global solidarity by evoking awe, study finds “In particular, the researchers focused on a concept called ‘identification with all humanity.’ This refers to how much individuals feel connected to all people, regardless of nationality, race, or background. It reflects a broad, inclusive identity that supports concern for others around the globe. Previous studies have linked this identification to prosocial behaviors such as donating to international causes, supporting refugees, and caring about the environment. The authors theorized that science fiction, with its imaginative worlds and frequent focus on humanity’s shared future, might encourage people to adopt this global perspective.”
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 9

Another dark and dreadful novel that women working in 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts reported enjoying was Alonzo and Melissa (aka The Asylum) by Isaac Mitchell (1804/1811).          Read here the later version attributed to Daniel Jackson, Jr. Quote: The person in her room then uttered a horrible groan, and gliding along by her bed, took his stand behind the curtains, near the foot. The noises below, the cry of murder, the firing of the second pistol, and the running up stairs, were all corresponding scenes to impress terror on her imagination. The pretended ghost then advanced in front of her bed, while lights were slowly introduced, which first shone faintly, until they were ushered into the room by the private door, exhibiting the person before her in all his horrific appearances. On her shrieking, and shrinking into the bed, the lights were suddenly extinguished, and the person, after commanding her to be gone in a hoarse voice, passed again to the foot of the bed, shook it violently, and made a seeming attempt to get upon it, when, perceiving her to be springing up, he fled out of the room by the secret door, cautiously shut it, and joined his companions. ALT
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