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.
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Dark Academia novel: River of Ashes by Alexandrea Weis and Lucas Astor (2022)
Quote:
He waited for the animal to charge. Instead, it turned and raced into the brush.
Smug with his victory, he turned back toward The Abbey. At the iron gate, he raised his head to the night sky. The stars weren’t twinkling, and there was no moon. Perfect.
He cut across the field of high grass. Not far from the cells, the lone howl of a dog stopped him in his tracks. Silence. Seconds ticked by, but the only sounds were the chirp of the crickets and the occasional croak of frogs.
When the dogs appear, death is near.
He chuckled. Maybe the dogs knew what he had planned.
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So it begins! Each day of this dark and beautiful month I’ll be posting a different Dark Academia title with a haunting, atmospheric quote. I hope you’ll enjoy the recommendations!
Dark Academia story: “X House” by J.T. Ellison, from In These Hallowed Halls: A Dark Academia Anthology edited by Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan (2023)
Quote:
There was a bog near the bridge, on the other side of the forest. The things that disappeared into that place… Animals. Trees. People.
Yes, it was beautiful, but it was dangerous. So many were lost over the years, women who vanished into the woods and never returned. Why someone would build a school in this desolate area was a forever unknown.
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Dark Academia novel: Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (2021)
Quote:
“This is where it gets interesting. The second son loves this girl so much he decides to step onto an unholy path. Now the story varies, but in the one my mama told me, he makes a deal. He takes his youngest sister, goes to a crossroad on the property past the witching hour, and he waits until some evil comes to him. He looks that evil square in the face and offers it his sister in return for his wife.”
… “He kills his sister,” Sam guessed.
“Of course he does,” Mr. McCormick said.
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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!
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Dark Academia work: “Presentation of an Intact Specimen” by Premee Mohamed, from Wilted Pages: An Anthology of Dark Academia edited by Ai Jiang and Christi Nogle (2023)
Quote:
No. This one is mine. This museum is mine. I worked too hard for this, and it belongs to me and if he intends to take anything of mine, I will not show the restraint I did when we were students. No one is watching me now. Only God, so they say; and He will, I think, forgive me this. Surely it is not a sin to remove a sinner from the face of the Earth to prevent future sins. Think of everything Bainbridge has done. Think of the oceans of blood on his hands.
And the tiny, tiny bit that would be on hers.
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It was madness, it was all madness; but she examined the madness from every angle and it seemed good and sound, like an old tool of forged iron. She saw no weaknesses in it. It was merely the removal of something worthless from the museum — it was curation. She and Godfrey could find a more suitable assistant. It would only benefit the institution.
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Dark Academia novel: Promise Boys by Nick Brooks (2023)
From the cover:
Perfection. Excellence. Discipline. Murder.
Quote:
Sometimes what’s obvious takes a while to see – the person who pulls a trigger doesn’t just disappear into the dark. They are right here among us once we decide we’re ready to question everything we think we know. They’re always closer than you think.
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Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away Is a Book For the Nerds
Many thanks to Meg Dowell for this lovely review of our anthology Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away at Now This Is Lit!
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Dark Academia novel: The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew (2022)
Quote:
She’d heard of Godbole. Everyone had. It was a highly prestigious yet controversial program, a magnet for those who dabbled in the occult.
… And so, on a bluebird day in September, she packed up her things and she went. To conquer the world, and maybe some others. To prove that she could.
She took a breath and she took a step.
And the shadows followed.
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My latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment is now available on the new episode of the StarShipSofa podcast. I discuss the concept of the timeslip.
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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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StarShipSofa 714 William Meikle | StarShipSofa
In my latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa podcast, I discuss Library of America’s recent “Back to The Future Is Female!” event and some of the works of science fiction related to it.
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Dark Academia novel: The Honeys by Ryan La Sala (2022)
Quote:
I don’t fear the dark. I know the dark, and it knows me. Within it, I’m safe from the sun’s lovely illusions. I know what I’ve always known: The monsters worth fearing are the ones that are dangerous enough to hide in daylight.
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Dark Academia novel: The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven (2022)
Quote:
It was open on the very last page I’d looked at: ‘How the Ritual Was Performed’.
I wondered which of my fellow philosophy students had stumbled upon it. And why did they leave in such a hurry that they left the volume lying around like a piece of old junk?
The page was exactly as I last saw it, with one tiny, significant exception: the droplet of blood in the bottom right corner. A small smudge, as though someone had pricked their finger on a spindle and then tried to turn the page.
The sight made me smile. Someone had tried to perform the ritual. I knew it in my bones. There was someone at Carvell as intrigued by the occult as I was. For some reason, this knowledge bolstered me.
In a moment, the decision was made. I was going to attempt the ritual too.
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It’s not every day that you and your brilliant co-editor Emily Strand submit your completed book to your publisher, but today is that day for me!
More information on STAR WARS: ESSAYS EXPLORING A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY, the sibling to our previously-submitted and also-forthcoming academic anthology STAR TREK: ESSAYS EXPLORING THE FINAL FRONTIER, will be coming soon!
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I’m delighted to share that I will be presenting my paper “Consumed by the Campus: Dark Academia, the Gothic Imagination, and the Missing Student” at Sheffield Gothic’s “Consuming the Gothic” conference in November!
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Dark Academia novel: The Raising by Laura Kasischke (2011)
Quote:
There were goose bumps on her arms now. Wrapping her arms around herself, Mira realized that not only had she shivered, but now she was trembling. She worried that her teeth might begin to chatter. It was truly autumn. The sun had clearly slipped a few notches down on the horizon, and the light on the leaves was amber now, not white, not even golden, as it had been the week before, and a breeze seemed to be pouring through the centuries-old window of Godwin Honors Hall despite the fact they were all closed. That cold breeze seemed to pour in a steady stream down the hallway, bathing her.
“I know you’re an expert on death,” the boy said to her, “and dying, and the undead.”
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Star Trek and the Final Frontier of Essays
Many thanks to The Honorable Kavura for this wonderful review of our new book STAR TREK: ESSAYS EXPLORING THE FINAL FRONTIER!
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Soon, very soon, Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier (2023) will have a sibling: Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away (2023).
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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)!
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Dark Academia novel: The Cloisters by Katy Hays (2022)
Quote:
Death always visited me in August. A slow and delicious month we turned into something swift and brutal. The change, quick as a card trick.
I should have seen it coming. The way the body would be laid out on the library floor, the way the gardens would be torn apart by the search. The way our jealousy, greed, and ambition were waiting to devour us all, like a snake eating its own tail. The ouroboros.
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Emily Strand and Amy H. Sturgis, “Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away” (Vernon Press, 2023) by New Books in Film
It was a joy to join my co-editor, Emily Strand, to talk about our anthology Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away with the New Books Network!
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Many thanks to Journals of the Whills for this wonderful review of our new anthology StarWars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away!
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