October 19: How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao (2021)
Quote:
A kid at our school died, and my parents’ biggest concern is my calc grade. Smh —Anon
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“I think that there is no genre of horror fiction that so easily and intuitively speaks to our present day anxieties as the gaslit fantasies of our distant ancestors.”
Terror and Power: Is Gothic Horror Poised for 21st Century Revival?
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Song: “Sad Wind Sighs”
Quote:
Now the sad wind sighs in the lonesome graveyard. The cold rain falls, and the trees bow down. I can hear my darlin’ softly callin’, But she’s asleep in the cold cold ground.
Read the complete lyrics.
Listen to the performance of The Grascals…
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2024 Wrap-Up: Podcasts
Thank you to all of the podcasts that invited me on this year!
My “Looking Back on Genre History” science fiction segment ran each month on StarShipSofa.
I talked to Potterversity about my book chapter “Dark Arts and Secret Histories: Investigating Dark Academia”; to Trash Compactor and New Books Network about my book Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away; and to New Books Network about my book Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier.
I also talked about Alexis de Tocqueville with the Vital Remnants podcast and Mary Shelley (twice, once about The Last Man and once about Frankenstein) with The McConnell Center podcast.
Links to all of these podcast episodes are here.
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Song: “Matty Groves”
Quote:
So Matty struck the very first blow, and he hurt Lord Orland sore. Lord Orland struck the very next blow, and Matty struck no more. And then Lord Orland took his wife, and he sat her on his knee, Saying, “Who do you like the best of us, Matty Groves or me?” And then up spoke his own dear wife, never heard to speak so free, “I’d rather a kiss from dead Matty’s lips than you or your finery.”
Lord Orland he jumped up and loudly he did bawl, He struck his wife right through the heart and pinned her against the wall. “A grave, a grave, ” Lord Orland cried, “to put these lovers in, But bury my lady at the top for she was of noble kin.”
Read the complete lyrics.
Listen to the performance of Alela Diane and Alina Hardin…
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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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Dark Academia novel: Fraternity by Andy Mientus (2022)
From the cover:
Be careful what you pledge.
Quote:
How to make a Perfect Storm:
1. Allow terrible, unholy powers to find their way into the hands of children. See that those children only half-translate their conjurations, missing key protective details.
2. Have them perform those conjurations at the very height of autumn, the dying of the year, when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest. Make sure they are coming to the work not soberly but at an emotional breaking point, dripping blood, hungry for violence. Aim their violence at another child.
3. Pray for those children.
Terrible consequences await them.
ALT
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Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Speculating about our AI Future with Cory Doctorow, Ken Liu, and Martha Wells. After registering
This promises to be a terrific online event! Thursday, January 11, 2024.
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Song: “Old Tom’s Restless Bones”
Quote:
Old Tom on the front porch smoked his cigarette,
And when he was done, another one he lit.
“Hey, now,” Old Tom said,
“You’re the reason that I’m dead.”
Listen to the performance of David Norris…
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October 6: The Secret History by Donna Tartt (1992)
Quote:
Does such a thing as ‘the fatal flaw,’ that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does.
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Song: “Callie Calling”
Quote:
I hear my Callie callin’, callin’ every night. She stirs around each evenin’, but never in the light. Haunts me and she taunts me and fills my heart with fright. I hear my Callie callin’, callin’ every night.
Sometimes she whispers, other times she screams. It’s hard to tell the difference, if she’s real or in my dreams. She’s the creakin’ in the ceilin’, the knock upon the door, The wind outside the window, and the footsteps on the floor.
Listen to Milan Miller’s performance…
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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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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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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.
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Listen to The Nashville Bluegrass Band’s performance…
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Song: “Bluestone Mountain”
Quote:
Sometimes I wonder if God watches. And sometimes life can turn in cruel ways ‘Cause on a cold autumn day in late October Little Jacob wandered in Scott Hollow Cave.
Now the caves of West Virginia run forever Like a maze of black ribbon through the ground. Cora went to search for little Jacob, But neither Jake nor Cora would be found.
Read the complete lyrics.
Listen to the performance of Bluestone County Bluegrass…
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Song: “Blackadders Cove”
Quote:
I tell you a secret that nobody knows: Her body’s still layin’ in Blackadders Cove.
Read the complete lyrics.
Listen to NewFound Road’s performance…
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Dark Academia novel: Don’t Forget the Girl by Rebecca McKanna (2023)
From the cover:
We never remember the dead girls. We never forget the killers.
Quote:
Sometimes it seems like an answer – any answer – to what happened to Abby that night is what Bree needs to move on.
… for one second, she sees the moment in exact detail: Abby crying under the statue of the Black Angel in her Hermione Halloween costume, snowflakes collecting on her coppery hair. Chelsea and Bree watching her, not putting their arms around her, letting her walk away. Her footprints in the snow leading down that blacktop path. The last trace of her they ever saw.
ALT
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This year I’ve been delighted to join SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) online with Signum University. This week I’m wrapping up teaching my first module, which is on The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It’s been so much fun!
Currently my March module candidate is up for vote for until 2/1. It’s on A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand. I hope you’ll join me!
More information on my offered modules is here.
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