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About this blog

Always Halloween and Never Thanksgiving

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The Dystopian Tradition

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. ALT The Dystopian Tradition - Signum University
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The Button Field

I’m currently reading a fascinating book called The Button Field: A Novel by Gail Husch (2014). It’s based on an actual unsolved mystery, the disappearance of student Bertha Mellish from Mount Holyoke College in 1897. ALTALT
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Teaching Shirley Jackson’s Hangsaman

Teaching Shirley Jackson’s Hangsaman (1951) by Amy H. Sturgis 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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Stranger Things-Related Call for Papers

Stranger Things-Related Call for Papers Call for Papers: Welcome to Hawkins: A Special Issue on Stranger Things Slayage plans a special issue on Stranger Things for publication in late June 2026. ALT Slayage is an international and interdisciplinary refereed scholarly journal concerned with the “fuzzy set” with Buffy the Vampire Slayer at its center, and Stranger Things, a multi-season television series with kick-ass heroines, the irruption of the supernatural into the mundane, high-stakes action, strong characterizations, snarky humor, and an emphasis on relationships and the complexities of queerness and race, fits our definition nicely. It’s even got a Hellmouth in a library! As an interdisciplinary journal primarily concerned with visual media, we will be interested in nearly any approach to Stranger Things: literary-critical, sociological, historical, musical, queer theory, pop science, etc. Read more about Slayage at http://www.buffystudies.org/slayage-the-international-journal-of-buffy.html and please see the Slayage Style Sheet at http://www.buffystudies.org/slayage-house-style-sheet.html for guidance on citation style, especially for television episodes.

Here are some ideas to consider:

• Mothers and mothering: good mothers, evil mothers, avenging mothers
• Strong women, beweaponed and weaponized girls, and the Ripley (Alien) trope
• Fathers and fathering, and masculinities in general
• Groupings of generations and cohorts, and how their different story arcs work together
• Nostalgia and audience engagement
• Mythic patterns in storytelling
• Music used in the show and its significance; music as weapon and lifeline
• Resonances with other texts: A Wrinkle in Time, The Lord of the Rings, the Indiana Jones movies, the Star Wars movies, Carrie, The Goonies, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Ghostbusters, the Whedonverse, and on and on and on. Not just a recap of inspirations, but digging into the how and why.
• The show’s use of Dungeons and Dragons, and the early D&D panic
• Queer characters, queer theory, queer history
• Race in the 1980s: what the show got right, what it got wrong
• US/Russia/world relations in the 1980s and what the show does with them
• Crazy science and conspiracy theories
• The stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow and the canonicity of other supplemental texts
• The independent-kids-on-bikes motif in Stranger Things and its sources
• The midwestern setting and its callbacks to sources like Breaking Away
• The suburban shopping mall: its significance in 80s teen culture and its use in horror films like Dawn of the Dead

Editors for this special issue are:

Dr. Kristine Larsen is distinguished Connecticut State University Professor of Earth and Space Sciences at Central Connecticut State University, where she has taught since 1989. Her teaching and research focus on the intersections between science and society, including science in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Her latest books are Science, Technology and Magic in The Witcher: A Medievalist Spin on Modern Monsters (McFarland, 2023), and The Sun We Share: Our Star in Popular Media and Science (McFarland, 2024).

Janet Brennan Croft (ORCiD 0001-0001-2691-3586) recently retired from the University of Northern Iowa as Librarian Emerita.  She is the author of War in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien (recently reissued by Bloomsbury; 2005 Mythopoeic Society Award for Inklings Studies). She has also written on the Peter Jackson Middle-earth films, the Whedonverse, Orphan Black, Terry Pratchett, Lois McMaster Bujold, and other authors, TV shows, and movies, and is editor or co-editor of many collections of literary essays, the most recent being Loremasters and Libraries in Fantasy and Science Fiction, co-edited with Jason Fisher (Mythopoeic Press, 2021). She edits the refereed scholarly journal Mythlore, is archivist and associate editor of Slayage: The International Journal of Buffy+, and chairs the Tolkien in Popular Culture Area at SWPACA.

Send abstracts of 400 words plus selected preliminary references to Kris Larsen and Janet Brennan Croft at janet.croft@uni.edu and larsen@ccsu.edu by January 30, 2026. Decisions on abstracts will be made by February 4. Initial submissions are due by April 15, and final revisions completed by June 10 for publication at the end of June.
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Star Wars and Resistance

My half-hour talk “Star Wars and Resistance” is now on YouTube as part of the SPACE Showcase. My talk kicks in around 11 minutes into the Showcase. This talk is a “sneak peek” into my new three-part online module for SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) for Signum University in Spring 2026.
The Signum University Webathon 2025!: SPACE Showcase And here are the details of my Spring Star Wars modules. Rebellions Are Built On Hope: A Star Wars Series Over nearly half a century of storytelling, Star Wars has challenged audiences to find their own agency and power in the face of injustice and tyranny. The Star Wars works Andor (2022, 2025), Rogue One (2016), and A New Hope (1977) fit together to provide a story of resistance, resilience, and rebellion built on a deep engagement with history, philosophy, and political thought. Join Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as we consider how Star Wars wrestles with big ideas, invites conversation and action, and inspires hope in unprecedented times.

This SPACE series consists of three hybrid modules: Module 1 (Feb. 2026) covers the series Andor, Season 1 (more info here); Module 2 (March 2026) covers the series Andor, Season 2 (more info here); and Module 3 (April 2026) covers the films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (more info here).
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STAR TREK: ESSAYS EXPLORING THE FINAL FRONTIER is here!

I’m so excited to share this with the universe! This anthology includes contributions from Emily Strand, Una McCormack, Daniel Unruh, Edward Guimont, Brunella Tedesco-Barlocco, Kristina Šekrst, Javier Francisco, Erin Bell, Martine Gjermundsen Ræstad, Andrew Higgins, John Jackson Miller, and me. The cover art is by Emily Austin. More information, including the full Table of Contents, is at the link below. The book can be requested via libraries as a hardcover or ebook, and the coupon code CFC10822213C4 provides a 24% “new release!” discount at the Vernon Press website: https://vernonpress.com/book/1672 ALT
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Star Trek-Related Call for Papers

Star Trek-Related Call for Papers Call for Book Chapters: “Beyond the Next Star: The Importance of Failure in Star Trek"  ALT The editors of Second Star to the Right: Essays on Leadership in Star Trek (Vernon Press), Jason A. Kaufman and Aaron M. Peterson, invite book chapter proposals for a forthcoming edited volume tentatively titled Beyond the Next Star: The Importance of Failure in Star Trek. Star Trek provides an opportunity to explore the final frontier of leadership through six decades of series and films. With its basis in Enlightenment thinking (reason coupled to compassion) and its encouragement of diversity in its myriad threads, Star Trek offers guidance on how to improve the human condition that has application to any academic and professional field. Importantly, Star Trek also offers numerous examples of how individuals in roles of leadership large and small are able to navigate the emotional and practical challenges of failure. Failure is a part of life, an experience all too common to anyone who has achieved a modicum of success. While some people never learn from failure and others seek to avoid it altogether, Star Trek offers myriad examples large and small of how moments of failure can lead to personal development, professional success, and even galactic salvation. Of course, sometimes failure is just that, a cessation of progress. However, even in these moments, failure can still be a poignant teacher. This edited volume will explore the application of Star Trek to moving forward from failure across a diverse array of fields and perspectives. We seek chapters from leaders, scientists, educators, professionals, writers, and others, whether their expertise is drawn from boardroom, lab, classroom, field, or page. Our goal is to utilize the wealth of canon to inform business, law, politics, ethics, peace studies, conflict management, academic leadership, religious studies, literary and textual analysis, and beyond. By acknowledging the realities of failure, our goal is to make the world a better place. We seek chapter proposals focused not on a single character, but instead on a situation portrayed in a specific scene, episode, or film that depicts failure and how it was navigated positively or negatively. Chapter proposals should be academically rigorous yet accessible to an informed non-academic audience. We want you to write to inform practice in your field using Star Trek as the background of the discussion, not the focus. Similarly, please do not utilize your own failures as examples. Humor and honesty are always appreciated. Chapter proposal submission Please submit an abstract no longer than 300 words to volume editors Jason A. Kaufman (jason.kaufman@mnsu.edu) and Aaron M. Peterson (aaron.peterson@converse.edu) by February 27, 2026. The abstract should include a clear overview of the main focus of the chapter. In addition, please include a brief bio of 100 words or fewer for the author(s). Co-authored proposals are welcome, but please limit submissions to two per author. Finally, please begin your email heading with “NEXT STAR:” when you submit the proposal for review. Now…hit it! Deadlines Proposal submission deadline: February 27, 2026 Acceptance of proposal sent out: March 27, 2026 Chapter submission: September 8, 2026 (Star Trek Day)
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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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Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New

Thanks to all of you for your friendship throughout this past year. Here’s to making the new year a much better one! Happy 2021! Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light; The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more, Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws. Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes, But ring the fuller minstrel in. - Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Ring Out, Wild Bells”
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Revisiting Frankenstein

I’ve been on a Mary Shelley roll lately! On my latest “Looking Back at Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa podcast (Episode 747), I revisit the brilliant Frankenstein. Here is the episode. ALT ALT
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Register here (it’s free)!

Everyone is welcome! The Mythgard Institute at Signum University will be dedicating its upcoming “Mythgard Miscellany” Pub Night to a celebration of our two Vernon Press anthologies, Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier and Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away. You’re invited to this free and informal event, live on Zoom at 6pm Eastern on Sunday, September 10. Register here (it’s free)! ALT
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Rebellions are built on hope - in SPACE!

Here are the details of the new three-part online module for SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) that I’ll be offering for Signum University in Spring 2026. Rebellions Are Built On Hope: A Star Wars Series Over nearly half a century of storytelling, Star Wars has challenged audiences to find their own agency and power in the face of injustice and tyranny. The Star Wars works Andor (2022, 2025), Rogue One (2016), and A New Hope (1977) fit together to provide a story of resistance, resilience, and rebellion built on a deep engagement with history, philosophy, and political thought. Join Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as we consider how Star Wars wrestles with big ideas, invites conversation and action, and inspires hope in unprecedented times.

This SPACE series consists of three hybrid modules: Module 1 (Feb. 2026 - Only 1 seat left!) covers the series Andor, Season 1 (more info here); Module 2 (March 2026) covers the series Andor, Season 2 (more info here); and Module 3 (April 2026) covers the films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (more info here).
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Rebellions Are Built on Hope

I’m delighted to share that I will be teaching a new three-part online module for SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) for Signum University in Spring 2026. Rebellions Are Built On Hope: A Star Wars Series Over nearly half a century of storytelling, Star Wars has challenged audiences to find their own agency and power in the face of injustice and tyranny. The Star Wars works Andor (2022, 2025), Rogue One (2016), and A New Hope (1977) fit together to provide a story of resistance, resilience, and rebellion built on a deep engagement with history, philosophy, and political thought. Join Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as we consider how Star Wars wrestles with big ideas, invites conversation and action, and inspires hope in unprecedented times.

This SPACE series consists of three hybrid modules: Module 1 (Feb. 2026) covers the series Andor, Season 1 (more info here); Module 2 (March 2026) covers the series Andor, Season 2 (more info here); and Module 3 (April 2026) covers the films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (more info here).
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Reading…

My two-part plan to fill the time between the end of Picard and the start of the new season of Strange New Worlds is going very well. Cheers for Una McCormack, John Jackson Miller, and Star Trek.
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Radium Age

My latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment is now available on Episode 741 of the StarShipSofa podcast. I discuss the Radium Age imprint of reissued science fiction classics from 1900-1935 published by MIT Press. ALT ALT ALT
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Paula Welden and Missing Students

On December 1, 1946, sophomore Bennington College student Paula Jean Welden vanished. Her disappearance remains an unsolved mystery. I’m currently working on a book project that involves the Welden case. Today it feels especially important to say her name. Note: If anyone would like a (very brief!) peek into my current book project, here is a video of my presentation “Missing Students and Their Fictional Afterlives: True Crime, Crime Fiction, and Dark Academia.“ I gave this talk earlier this year at the Popular Culture Research Network’s “Guilty Pleasures: Examining Crime in Popular Culture” conference. ALT ALT
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