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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Song: “Wind and Rain”
Quote:
So she pushed her into the river to drown. Oh, the wind and rain! And watched her as she floated down… Oh, the dreadful wind and rain!
Read the complete lyrics.
Listen to Crooked Still’s performance…
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Escape Pod | The Original Science Fiction Podcast
I was delighted to narrate the wonderful science fiction story “The Contrary Gardener” by Christopher Rowe. Both parts are now available from the Escape Pod podcast!
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Thesis Theater: Laurel Stevens, “An Awareness of Debts: Dark Academia and its Source-Texts”
Congratulations to Laurel M. Stevens! It’s been a true joy to be Laurel’s M.A. thesis director.
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My latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment is the first of a two-part review of the anthology AI Narratives: A History of Imaginative Thinking about Intelligent Machines, edited by Stephen Cave, Kanta Dihal, and Sarah Dillon, published by Oxford University Press in 2020. It’s now up on the new episode of the StarShipSofa podcast.
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StarShipSofa 718 Lincoln Michel | StarShipSofa
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Dark Academia novel: All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth (2018)
Quote:
There was a story on campus about a student who had died many years ago—so long ago that no one remembered anymore what his name was or how he had died exactly, but there were reports every now and again of a sighting of his ghost. Some said he’d hanged himself in the showers of the senior boys’ dormitory over a broken heart; others said he’d overdosed on pills and fallen into an eternal slumber in his dorm bed over a failing exam grade. It was bad luck if you saw him, a harbinger of terrible things to come. Bryce Langston had reported seeing the ghost on his way home from the library one night. The next morning, he got a rejection letter from Harvard. Everyone had thought he would be a shoo-in, and he hadn’t even gotten on the waiting list. The next year, Amanda King supposedly saw the ghost right before she got in a fatal car accident. I always thought about the ghost when I was walking around campus at night by myself. I imagined seeing a white smear in the corner of my vision, but every time I turned my head, there was nothing there.
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ACAFANS: The Rigorous Study of Star Wars
It was a delight to join my co-editor Emily Strand to talk about our new anthology Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away with Josh of Trash Compactor: A Star Wars Podcast.
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Song: “Little Margaret”
Quote:
Is Little Margaret in her room Or is she in the hall? Little Margaret’s in her coal-black coffin With her face turned toward the wall.
Listen to the performance of Sheila Kay Adams…
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Song: “Willie Moore”
Quote:
She threw herself in Willie Moore’s arms, As oft time had done before, But little did he think when they parted that night Sweet Anna he would see no more.
It was about the tenth of May, The time I remember well, That very same night her body disappeared In a way that no one could tell.
Read the complete lyrics.
Listen to the performance of the Kossoy Sisters…
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Song: “Down in the Willow Garden”
Quote:
My father often told me That money would set me free, If I’d but murder that dear little girl Whose name was Rose Connolly.
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Listen to the performance of Tim O'Brien & Paul Brady…
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Song: “Ghost”
Quote:
In the wind, there’s a lonesome sound. In the night, there’s a cry from the hill country ground. It’s a hum from an ancient tone. It’s a presence. I can feel it in my bones. Somethin’ I can’t see has been surroundin’ me, There’s a ghost trying to talk through me.
Read the complete lyrics.
Listen to South Austin Jug Band’s performance…
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Emily Strand, with whom I co-edited Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away and Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier (both from Vernon Press in 2023), is a cosplayer and costumer extraordinaire. Check out her latest essay!
A Defense of Dressing Like a Bad Guy
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Song: “Caleb Meyer”
Quote:
I drew that glass across his neck, Fine as any blade, Then I felt his blood pour fast and hot Around me where I laid.
Caleb Meyer, your ghost is gonna Wear them rattling chains, But when I go to sleep at night Don’t you call my name.
Read the complete lyrics.
Listen to the performance of The Greencards…
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Dark Academia novel: The Good Girls by Claire Eliza Bartlett (2020)
From the cover:
secrets and lies, then somebody dies
Quote:
The end of my life starts here.
A rainy, sodden autumn has turned the river below into a roaring monster. Rocks jut out like jagged teeth, jet black against frothy white. My blood sings as the weathered wood sags behind me—someone has followed me onto the tiny bridge over Anna’s Run….
Legends say Anna’s Run takes one unlucky sacrifice every year. The wind wraps around my neck like a cord.
ALT
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Song: “Ghost of Norma Jean”
Quote:
When you see another cross
By the road where she is lost,
You’ll know that she has some company.
Listen to the Steep Canyon Rangers’ performance…
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ICYMI, my talk “Whitechapel ‘What Ifs’: Evolving Perspectives on the Autumn of Terror in Science Fiction” is now on Rippercast.
Casebook: Jack the Ripper - Podcast - Dr. Amy Sturgis -Whitechapel What Ifs- Evolving Perspectives on the Autumn of Terror in Science Fictio
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