I’m excited to share more information about my Fall 2022 online class for Signum University. The course page is coming soon. I’ll be posting links and details!
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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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October 13: Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas (2020)
Quote:
You are here. You are in. And doesn’t it feel good? You are in the house and the house is in the woods. You are in the house and the house is in you.
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Song: “The Lantern”
Quote:
In dark misty hills of Carolina, Way back where the mountain laurel grows, On cool October nights, with a lantern shining bright, There’s something out there walking through the darkness all alone, Creeping through the darkness all alone.
Read the complete lyrics.
Listen to Front Range’s performance…
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Song: “Witches of Harlan”
Quote:
I’ve heard the stories since I was a kid: Witches of Harlan haunt Black Mountain Ridge. Some say at midnight they roam the mountainside Searching for anybody that isn’t safe inside.
No, I hear ‘em whisper in the pines, I hear 'em calling to me To come on outside.
Read the complete lyrics.
Listen to the performance of Breaking Grass…
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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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Dark Academia novel: Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison (2019)
Quote:
“So seriously, you never walk the arboretum path alone. Even if it’s not haunted, it’s creepy and not safe. It’s outside the walls.” This last is said with such earnestness I simply nod.
“Outside the walls equals not safe alone. Got it.”
ALT
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I’m delighted to say I’ll be giving two presentations this autumn on Dark Academia topics at academic conferences. Both events have online options, and I hope to see some of you there!
I’ll be giving the talk “A Vanished Student Leaves a Haunted Space: An Unsolved Mystery and the Gothic Imagination on the Dark Academia Campus” at Perilous Realms and Haunted Spaces: New England Moot 2023 sponsored by Signum University in October.
I’ll be presenting the paper “Consumed by the Campus: Dark Academia, the Gothic Imagination, and the Missing Student" at the Consuming the Gothic Conference sponsored by Sheffield Gothic in November.
ALT
ALT
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It’s time for my periodic “Thank you!” to those in the Star Trek and Science Fiction communities who have helped us get the word out about our new anthology, Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier, thus far.
More details about our book (including the table of contents, reviews, etc.) are here on the Vernon Press website. (Note: The coupon code CFC10822213C4 provides a 24% “new release!” discount at the Vernon Press website. In addition, the book is also available from all major booksellers and for request via libraries as an ebook or hardcover. Library requests help us a great deal!)
If you work with a periodical, podcast, blog, or website and might be interested in reviewing our book or talking to us or our contributors, please get in contact with me. I may be able to arrange a digital review copy for you! The easiest way to reach me is through this contact form on my website.
Many thanks to @ashleywritesstuff and Mike Slamer of We Are Starfleet (hear the episode here), Brandi Jackola of Boldly Go (hear the episode here), Jarrah Hodge of Women At Warp (read the review here), and The Honorable Kavura of StarPodLog (read the review here) for their wonderful conversations, reviews, and support!
ALT
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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’m delighted to share that both of my co-edited academic anthologies with Vernon Press are now available in hardback, ebook, and (new!) paperback format: STAR TREK: ESSAYS EXPLORING THE FINAL FRONTIER and STAR WARS: ESSAYS EXPLORING A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY. More information is here.
ALTALT
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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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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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Part 1:
Song: “Bringing Mary Home”
Quote:
But 13 years ago today in a wreck just down the road
Our darling Mary lost her life, and we still miss her so.
So thank you for your trouble and the kindness you have shown;
You’re the 13th one who’s been here bringing Mary home.
Listen to The Country Gentlemen’s performance…
Part 2:
Song: “I’ve Come to Take You Home”
(Note: This song is a direct response to the song I posted above, “Bringing Mary Home.”)
Quote:
Though his life is swiftly fading, a memory remains
Of that chilly, ghostly evening while driving in the rain.
Listen to Seldom Scene’s performance…
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I was happy to be able to contribute to the University of Louisville’s year-long examination of Alexis de Tocqueville by discussing A Fortnight in the Wilderness. I’ll also be leading a seminar for Kentucky teachers on this text.
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Interview: New collection of Star Wars essays informs and inspires
Many thanks to Eric Clayton and Dork Side of the Force for sharing this kind review of — and interview with my co-editor Emily Strand and me about — our new anthology of essays on Star Wars!
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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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It’s Halloween Eve, and this is a favorite of mine! This quote, in particular, is one of my favorite lines from any song.
Song: “Crazy Mary”
Quote:
That which you fear most could meet you halfway.
Read the complete lyrics.
Listen to the performance of Victoria Williams…
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