Teaching
In Spring 2025 I’m teaching LIT 102 Approaches to Literature and 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.
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.
Research
- Ongoing work in speculative fiction
Recently published:
The Sentient Tree in Speculative Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, November 2024. See Springer (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-60541-3) or Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/25t936uh)
“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:
“‘Black Lord Herbert’ and the Construction of Race,” Studies in Philology, vol. 122 (Winter 2025): 81-98.
Recent good read
R. F. Kuang, Yellowface
