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Always Halloween and Never Thanksgiving

Entries in this blog

 

<p>October is almost here! </p><p>I’m currently...

October is almost here! I’m currently working on new academic projects related to Dark Academia (the subgenre, not the aesthetic), so for Halloween month I’ll be posting a different DA title each day with a haunting/atmospheric quote. I hope you’ll enjoy the recs!
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eldritchhobbit

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Vernon Press - Call for Book Chapters: Edited volume on Star Trek and Star Wars

Vernon Press - Call for Book Chapters: Edited volume on Star Trek and Star Wars: Call for Abstracts Edited volume on Star Trek and Star Wars Edited by Emily Strand, MA and Amy H. Sturgis, PhD Vernon Press The generations-spanning, multimedia franchises Star Trek and Star Wars will form the focus for this edited collection of scholarly essays. As venerable and evolving repositories of science fiction and fantasy storytelling, and as towering pillars of popular culture, both Star Trek and Star Wars inspire, transform, and even at times inflame their often overlapping fan bases. Together with the publisher, the editors seek proposals for essays exploring these franchises’ themes, narratives, characters, treatment of moral and philosophical dilemmas, religious or spiritual notions, and other aspects. (Abstracts for essays which compare or contrast the two franchises are also welcome.) Collected essays will offer insight — from a variety of disciplines and perspectives — on how these franchises contribute to popular culture and the tradition of speculative storytelling. Abstracts and subsequent essays should be academically rigorous yet accessible to the informed (even non-academic) reader. Abstracts of 300-500 words in length should be submitted, along with a brief biographical statement, by August 2, 2021. Authors of accepted papers will be notified by September 1, 2021, and paper drafts should be submitted by January 10, 2022. More information is here.
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eldritchhobbit

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This music mix is inspired by The Magic Ring by Baron de la...

This music mix is inspired by The Magic Ring by Baron de la Motte-Fouqué (1813, translated into English in 1825). Roughly half of the songs are authentic to the era in which the story is set, and two were written by historical figures who actually appear in the novel. I made this mix while editing this edition of the novel for Valancourt Books.
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Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New

Thanks to all of you for your friendship throughout this past year. Here’s to making the new year a much better one! Happy 2021! Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light; The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more, Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws. Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes, But ring the fuller minstrel in. - Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Ring Out, Wild Bells”
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eldritchhobbit

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I’m excited to say that in Summer 2021, I will boldly go where no Signum University prof has...

I’m excited to say that in Summer 2021, I will boldly go where no Signum University prof has gone before! I will be offering the 12-week online class “Exploring Star Trek” for M.A. students and non-degree-seeking auditors alike. I’m delighted at this opportunity! I’m pleased to announce that we will have a very special guest at one meeting of the “Exploring Star Trek” Signum University class in Summer 2021: New York Times bestselling author Una McCormack! What a delight this will be! The catalog page for the “Exploring Star Trek” class is now available. See the link below! Exploring Star Trek
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eldritchhobbit

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The House of Night, Watchmen, and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921

In my latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on the new episode of the StarShipSofa podcast, I talk about Ray Bradbury’s concept of science fiction as a “reflecting shield” by discussing The House of Night, Watchmen, and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. You can listen here. 
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eldritchhobbit

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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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eldritchhobbit

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Halloween 2020, Day 30

(Photos above by Yours Truly. Plaster castings by Pumpkintown Primitives. The above are “1730s Lamson Death Head Plaster Casting” on top and “Plaster Casting Poole Stone 1754″ on bottom.)
Look no more for some perfect streaming music for this Halloween season!
Celebrating its 22nd year, “Out ov the Coffin” is hosted by the fabulous DJ Ichabod. What was born as a means of spreading dark and esoteric music to the Nashville area via WRVU, broadcasting from my graduate alma mater, Vanderbilt University (Go ‘Dores!), is now an spine-tingling and atmospheric podcast. Check it out for some perfect seasonal music! You won’t be sorry.
Here is the official description of the show: “’Out ov the Coffin’ is a specialty dark-music radio program, hosted by DJ Ichabod, designed to celebrate dark and interesting styles of music, from the goth perspective. Brand new entries are featured each episode, alongside older favorites and cult classics. Oft-featured sub-genres include: Goth, Gothic rock, deathrock, post-punk, darkwave, ebm, industrial, damnbient / dark ambient, dark metal, neoclassical, ethereal works, film scores, and theatrical experimentation.”
The time has come: The 2020 “Out ov the Coffin” Halloween Special is now available!  Here is the official description of the episode:  Listen to or download the special here! Pssst! Scroll through earlier shows to find past Halloween specials. Last year’s was brilliant! If you really want to party on (or like it’s) Halloween, you can play several Halloween specials back to back! DJ Ichabod’s regular shows also make for perfectly splendid spooky listening.  
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eldritchhobbit

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Halloween 2020, Day 29

This year I took part in the Ladies of Horror Fiction anniversary mini-readathon, and one of the titles I read may be the best book I’ve read in… well, ages and ages: the Shirley Jackson Award-winning novella Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand (2015). A key word there is novella; if you’re looking for a wonderfully chilling read for the season that won’t take days to digest, there’s still time to devour this atmospheric, Gothic, folk-horror beauty. (My 2021 plans now include reading lots and lots of books by Elizabeth Hand!)  Here is the official description: “When the young members of a British acid-folk band are compelled by their manager to record their unique music, they hole up at Wylding Hall, an ancient country house with dark secrets. There they create the album that will make their reputation, but at a terrifying cost: Julian Blake, the group’s lead singer, disappears within the mansion and is never seen or heard from again. Now, years later, the surviving musicians, along with their friends and lovers—including a psychic, a photographer, and the band’s manager—meet with a young documentary filmmaker to tell their own versions of what happened that summer. But whose story is true? And what really happened to Julian Blake? ”
And here is a brief excerpt, to give you a sense of the atmosphere.  - from Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand (2015) 
I discuss this novella in my recent Halloween-themed “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa podcast, October 2020′s Episode 645, which you can listen to here.
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