Teaching
In Fall 2024 I am teaching LIT 499 Monster Literature and two sections of FYS First Seminar: Climate Fiction.
In Spring 2025 I’m excited about offering LIT 210 Speculative Fiction. We will read:
Ackerman, Elliott. Halcyon. A frightening and funny novel that asks two questions: What if Gore had become President? What if scientists discovered a way to prevent death?
Butler, Octavia. “Bloodchild.” A Hugo-, Nebula-, and Locus-Award-winning short story by one of the first Afrofuturists, “Bloodchild” offers a story about a human colony on an alien planet.
Clark, P. Djélí. The Haunting of Tram Car 015. A novella with a steampunk vibe and magical creatures, set in an alternate-universe Egypt.
El-Mohtar, Amal, and Max Gladstone. This is How You Lose the Time War. A novella about time travel, alternate universes, futuristic technology, and love. Winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards.
Kuang, R. F, editor. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023. A short story collection that offers a bit of everything bizarre and thought-provoking, from AI to children eating ghost preserves. A preview is available here: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/r-f-kuang/best-american-science-fiction-and-fantasy-2023.htm
Le Guin, Ursula K. The Word for World is Forest. A Hugo-winning classic, this novella focuses on an attempt to colonize a forest planet.
Okorafor, Nnedi. Binti. An Africanfuturist novella, Binti won the Hugo and Nebula awards. The strong protagonist thinks she’s going to university, but becomes involved with aliens, ancient technology, and a war.
You will write two 5-7-page essays and a longer project which may be a traditional researched essay, a poster presentation for COSA, or a work of speculative fiction in response to our readings.
Research
- Ongoing work in early modern British poetry
Just published:
“Gender Fluidity and Violence in Edward Herbert’s ‘Echo to a Rock,’” Early Modern Literary Studies 23, no. 2 (2024). https://journals.shu.ac.uk/index.php/EMLS/issue/view/27
“The Green Apocalypse and Empathy for Vegetal Life,” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 51, part 2 (July 2024): 221-37.
“Difference in Narnia: Giants, Dwarfs, and Others,” Children’s Literature vol. 52 (2024): 118-35. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/chl.2024.a928815.
Forthcoming article:
“‘Black Lord Herbert’ and the Construction of Race,” forthcoming 2025.
Forthcoming book:
The Sentient Tree in Speculative Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming November 2024. Available for pre-order at Amazon https://tinyurl.com/25t936uh
Latest good read
Johns, Jessica. Bad Cree
Latest good movie or series
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
