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About this blog

Always Halloween and Never Thanksgiving

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I hope to see you in SPACE!

I’ve taught at Signum University for years, but in addition to offering my classes, I’m now also joining Signum’s SPACE Program (Signum Adult Portals for Adult Continuing Education). I have modules up for candidacy now that I am very excited about! Each will be one month long, with two one-hour meetings per week (one an interactive lecture by me and one a group discussion facilitated by me). All meetings are online. Everyone’s invited! Here’s the schedule: January 2024: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson February 2024: A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand (the first work officially authorized by Shirley Jackson’s estate to respond to The Haunting of Hill House) March 2024: The Last Man by Mary Shelley (a science fiction classic and the most relevant novel one can read while living in “unprecedented times”) Everyone is invited! For more information, please check out this link: Amy H. Sturgis, Upcoming SPACE Modules ALTALTALT
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Hugo Eligibility Post

Nominations are open for the 2024 Hugo Awards. Several works with which I’m involved are eligible, so here is my Hugos 2024 post. Eligible for Best Related Work (both published by Vernon Press in 2023): Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier (edited by Amy H. Sturgis and Emily Strand for Vernon Press, 2023) Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away (edited by Emily Strand and Amy H. Sturgis for Vernon Press, 2023) Also, StarShipSofa is eligible for Best Fancast! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all who have read and/or listened! ALT ALT
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Help launch Hangsaman!

My “Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson: Exploring a Gothic Campus Mystery” one-month module with SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) online via Signum University is currently “on the launchpad” for potential launch in the autumn of 2025. Here is the official description: “Shirley Jackson is rightly celebrated as a master of Gothic storytelling thanks to her most well-known novels such as The Haunting of Hill House (1959) and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962). In recent years, however, her earlier novel Hangsaman (1951) has received new attention and critical appreciation from fans and scholars alike.

"Far ahead of its time when it was published, Jackson’s deeply personal Hangsaman is many things: a psychological study of a young woman’s coming of age; a haunting Gothic mystery; a pointed critique of gender roles, family dynamics, and higher education; a meditation on trauma and mental illness; and an ancestor of today’s dark academia storytelling. Shirley Jackson drew inspiration from a variety of sources to craft this remarkable campus novel, from folk ballads and the Tarot, myth and ritual, to a real college campus and an unsolved New England cold case of a missing sophomore student.

"In this module, we will unpack this gem of a Gothic story, following freshman Natalie Waite as she searches for her “essential self” and discussing why Hangsaman feels freshly relevant and important to many readers today.” Here is more information on the Hangsaman module. To help launch this module, please go here, log in, and put this module on your launchpad short-list. Thanks!
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Headed to SPACE in Spring 2026!

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). Get your votes in now if you’d like your availability to be considered while we schedule these modules. I hope to see you in that galaxy far, far away! 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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Happy Halloween 2020!

The day is here, my friends! We made it! Happy Halloween, Happy Samhain, Happy soon-to-be Día de los Muertos, and Happy…. Anything that Makes You Happy!  Thank you for joining me in my month-long holiday celebration. I truly hope you’ve enjoyed it. I have! (Source is “A Halloween Party! 1907″ by Yesterdays-Paper.)   Everyone, please stop by here, grab a virtual latte or cider or hot cocoa, a candied apple or some roasted pumpkin seeds, or even a goblet of blood and a plate of brains, and say hello!
Since many of us are at home due to the pandemic this Halloween, here is a way for us to enjoy some truly spooky and fascinating destinations safely (from Cult of Weird): “10 Strange Places You Can Explore Virtually.” Check this out!
(Source is “Hope Owl’s Well On Halloween" by Yesterdays-Paper.)
Let’s close with an excerpt from “Hallowe’en” by John Kendricks Bangs (1919). You can read the complete poem here.
(Source is “Halloween Greeting” by Yesterdays-Paper.)
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Happy Birthday, Shirley Jackson!

On this day in 1916, the great Shirley Jackson was born. Here’s a little piece I wrote earlier this year about teaching Jackson’s remarkable novel Hangsaman. It’s posted at “Reading Shirley Jackson in the 21st Century,” an online resource investigating the past and future landscapes of Shirley Jackson studies. I’m looking forward to teaching The Haunting of Hill House in January! Teaching Shirley Jackson’s Hangsaman (1951) by Amy H. Sturgis
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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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Halloween Countdown 2024, Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!                                                           Today’s text is “It’s Halloween” from The Philadelphia Inquirer on 10/31/1898. Read the article here. Quote: “Goblins and fairies, good and evil, will be running amuck to-night, if the old Halloween traditions do not fail…. Every one may be both superstitious and sentimental to-night.” ALT It’s Halloween headline: “Goblins and Fairies Will Be Roaming Abroad Tonight”
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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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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 8

Another Gothic novel that was a favorite with women working in 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts was The Three Spaniards (1801) by George Walker. Read it here. Quote: “That unhappy phantom will ever pursue Fernando, till he shall be pacified. He ever attends him invisible, and at this moment sits at the foot of the corpse of Almira.” The Inquisitors and the prisoners shuddered, and turned their eyes towards the spot; but they could see nothing, except the pale body of the murdered maid. “… I will command this unhappy spirit to become visible, and say what are his particular desires, and how he shall be tranquilized in the grave; then shall Fernando enjoy that uninterrupted repose he so well merits.” ALT
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Halloween Countdown 2024, Day 7

Another Gothic title very popular with women working in 19th-century mills in Lowell, Massachusetts was The Children of the Abbey (1796) by Regina Maria Roche. Read it here. Quote: The horrors of my mind I cannot describe; I seemed to stand alone in the world, without one friendly hand to prevent my sinking into the grave, which contained the dearest objects of my love. ALT
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