eldritchhobbit

I’ve been on a Mary Shelley roll lately! On my latest “Looking Back at Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa podcast (Episode 747), I revisit the brilliant Frankenstein. Here is the episode. ALT ALT View the full post.

One of the most relevant works you can read right now was published in 1826. View the full post.

dramyhsturgis: Hello, all! I am looking for recommendations of Dark Academia works (novels, short stories, films, television series) based on true crime. I would be grateful for any suggestions for my list. Thank you! I am intentionally casting my net widely, defining the Dark Academic genre (as opposed to the aesthetic) as one that focuses on an academic setting and educational experience, employs Gothic modes of storytelling, cultivates a dark mood by contemplating the subject of death, and offers critique for interrogating imbalances and abuses of power.* ALT Below the cut is my current list of Dark Academia Works Inspired by True Crime Cases. All suggestions are welcome! Dark Academia Works Inspired/Informed by True Crime Cases Note 1: “True crime” is defined here as a specific case (for example, a murder or missing person’s case), not as a larger historical event (for example, the Salem Witch Trials or the Opium Wars) or an amalgam of cases (for example, general hazing in fraternities). Note 2: This list is in chronological order based on the true crime case. Note 3: Some works that aren’t fully DA but incorporate DA sections are included. TRUE CRIME: 1897 disappearance of student Bertha Mellish from Mount Holyoke College DA novels: The Button Field by Gail Husch (2014) Killingly by Katharine Beutner (2023) TRUE CRIME: 1924 killing of Bobby Franks by University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb DA Novels: Compulsion by Meyer Levin (1956) Nothing but the Night by James Yaffe (1957) Little Brother Fate by Mary-Carter Roberts (1957) The Secret History by Donna Tartt (1992) These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever (2020) Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed (2022) Jazzed by Jill Dearman (2022) DA films: Rope (1948), Compulsion (1959), and Murder by Numbers (2002) TRUE CRIME: 1932 kidnapping and killing of Charles Lindbergh, Jr.; 1933 kidnapping and killing of Brooke Hart; and 1932-1934 crime spree of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow DA novels: Truly Devious books by Maureen Johnson (especially the first trilogy, 2018-2020) TRUE CRIME: 1944 killing of David Kammerer by Columbia University student Lucien Carr DA film: Kill Your Darlings (2013) TRUE CRIME: 1946 disappearance of student Paula Jean Welden from Bennington College DA novels: Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson (1951) Last Seen Wearing by Hillary Waugh (1952) The Secret History by Donna Tartt (1992) Shirley by Susan Scarf Merrell (2014) Quantum Girl Theory by Erin Kate Ryan (2022) TRUE CRIME: 1973 killing of student Cynthia Hellman at Randolph-Macon Women’s College DA novel: Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison (2019) TRUE CRIME: 1978 killing of students Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy and attack of students Kathy Kleiner and Karen Chandler by Ted Bundy at Florida State University DA novel: Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (2023) TRUE CRIME: 1985 killing of Derek and Nancy Haysom by University of Virginia students Elizabeth Haysom and Jens Söring DA novel: With a Kiss We Die by L.R. Dorn (2023) TRUE CRIME: 1999 killing of student Hae Min Lee from Woodlawn High School (by Adnan Syed? debated) DA novel: I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (2023) TRUE CRIME: 2022 killing of students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin from the University of Idaho (by Washington State University student Bryan Kohberger? currently awaiting trial) DA novel: This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead (2025) *(I go into this definition in further detail in my segment here on the StarShipSofa podcast, my graduate course on Dark Academia, and my 2023 academic essay “Dark Arts and Secret Histories: Investigating Dark Academia.”) View the full post.

On December 1, 1946, sophomore Bennington College student Paula Jean Welden vanished. Her disappearance remains an unsolved mystery. I’m currently working on a book project that involves the Welden case. Today it feels especially important to say her name. Note: If anyone would like a (very brief!) peek into my current book project, here is a video of my presentation “Missing Students and Their Fictional Afterlives: True Crime, Crime Fiction, and Dark Academia.“ I gave this talk earlier this year at the Popular Culture Research Network’s “Guilty Pleasures: Examining Crime in Popular Culture” conference. ALT ALT View the full post.

On November 18, 1897, junior student Bertha Lane Mellish vanished from Mount Holyoke College. Her disappearance remains an unsolved mystery. I’m currently working on a book project that involves the Mellish case. Today it feels especially important to say her name. Note: If anyone would like a (very brief!) peek into my current book project, here is a video of my presentation “Missing Students and Their Fictional Afterlives: True Crime, Crime Fiction, and Dark Academia.“ I gave this talk earlier this year at the Popular Culture Research Network’s “Guilty Pleasures: Examining Crime in Popular Culture” conference. ALT ALT View the full post.

On my latest “Looking Back at Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa podcast (Episode 745), I discuss the New Wave in science fiction and the Dangerous Visions anthologies, including the newly-published The Last Dangerous Visions. ALT ALT View the full post.

dramyhsturgis: Just a reminder that these great dystopian works were meant to be warnings, not suggestions. View the full post.

“Men love a prop so well, that they will lean on a pointed poisoned spear…” Mary Shelley, The Last Man (1826) View the full post.

Happy Halloween! Today’s text is “It’s Halloween” from The Philadelphia Inquirer on 10/31/1898. Read the article here. Quote: “Goblins and fairies, good and evil, will be running amuck to-night, if the old Halloween traditions do not fail…. Every one may be both superstitious and sentimental to-night.” ALT It’s Halloween headline: “Goblins and Fairies Will Be Roaming Abroad Tonight” View the full post.

Today’s text is “The Goblins" from Asbury Park Press on 10/31/1913. Read the article here. Quote: Who said that elves were banished? That goblins were no more? That sprites and fays had vanished From all their haunts of yore? Not so. They surely flourish As in their golden prime, And Hallowe’en they cherish As their most joyous time. ALT The Goblins artwork depicting trick-or-treaters on Halloween View the full post.

Here is my talk for the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville on “Why You Should Read Frankenstein”! View the full post.

Today’s text is “Hallowe’en – A Holiday of Traditions” from The Stoughton Courier on 11/1/1907. Read the article here. Quote: “From time out of mind this has been heralded as a night when witches, devils and other mischief-making beings go abroad on their baneful midnight errands…. The traditions of Hallowe’en also teach that on no other night in the twelve-month do such supernatural influences prevail as after dark on the final day of October.” ALT Hallowe'en - A Holiday of Traditions View the full post.

Today’s text is “Halloween Lore Told” from The Butte Daily Post on 10/31/1931. Read the article here. Quote: “Halloween, the night of black hours, ‘when churchyards yawn and graves give up their dead.’ will be celebrated in traditional style when the sun goes down… legend has it, the lake of hades freezes, and friends skate across to stalk the world unchallenged. Evil will possess the shadows until cock-crow.” ALT Halloween Lore Told View the full post.

Today’s text is “Spook and Goblin Atmosphere of Halloween Today Tame Compared with Horror Motif Expressed in Gothic Tales” from Indianapolis Star on 10/31/1937. Read the article here. Quote: “… the Halloween tradition in its various aspects runs through a surprising amount of highly respectable adult literature. Shakespeare’s frequent ghosts, the so-called Gothic novels or novels of terror which came to a climax in Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein,’ Irving’s ‘Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ and Poe’s ‘Ligeia’ are certainly all in line with the Halloween tradition…” ALT Goblin Atmosphere at Halloween View the full post.

Today’s text is “Hallowe’en Activities” from The News-Pilot on 10/29/1928. Read the article here. Quote: Goblins gobble and werewolves howl; Banshees shriek and cry and scream Ululations, while the mournful owl Makes many fitful mortals dream. Hallowe'en Activities (With an Owl and Witch) View the full post.