Amy H. Sturgis's Blog
October 10, 2025
Headed to SPACE in Spring 2026!
I’m delighted to share that I will be teaching a new three-part online module for SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) for Signum University in Spring 2026.
Rebellions Are Built On Hope: A Star Wars S eries
Over nearly half a century of storytelling, Star Wars has challenged audiences to find their own agency and power in the face of injustice and tyranny. The Star Wars works Andor (2022, 2025), Rogue One (2016), and A New Hope (1977) fit together to provide a story of resistance, resilience, and rebellion built on a deep engagement with history, philosophy, and political thought. Join Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as we consider how Star Wars wrestles with big ideas, invites conversation and action, and inspires hope in unprecedented times.
This SPACE series consists of three hybrid modules:
Get your votes in now if you’d like your availability to be considered while we schedule these modules. I hope to see you in that galaxy far, far away!
ALT
October 1, 2025
News!
I’m tickled to share that my paper “Star Trek’s Son of the Royal Navy: Malcolm Reed’s Subversive Voyage in Space, Then and Now” has been accepted for NavyCon 2025, a conference sponsored by the Center for International Maritime Security, King’s College, and the Naval War College. The theme is “The Influence of Navies on Science Fiction, NASA, and the Future of Space,” and the event will be held online on December 6. 🖖
In other news, Happy October! 🎃 On my latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa podcast (Episode 766), I praise the Dracula “group read” experience. Here is the episode.
ALT
September 29, 2025
New Conference Presentation!
September 14, 2025
“The Liar” by Darcie Little Badger
I’m delighted to say that my narration of “The Liar” by the brilliant Darcie Little Badger is now available on Episode 651 of the Cast of Wonders podcast.
ALT
August 21, 2025
It’s almost time for The Hunger Games!
You’re invited to join me in SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) online via Signum University to talk about all five books in The Hunger Games series! The first module has been confirmed to run in September 2025.
What lessons do the Capitol and Districts have to teach us? What warnings should we heed? What road leads from here to Panem? Over the course of five months, participants in these SPACE modules will read and discuss a modern classic of dystopian storytelling, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.
In this hybrid series, each week will include one lecture and one live discussion. The lectures will examine the inspirations behind, allusions in, and questions posed by that month’s novel. In live discussions, participants will share their insights on, interpretations of, and reactions to the story. Together we will consider why this series has spoken to so many readers and explore how its messages remain relevant today.
August 7, 2025
Timey-Wimey
On my latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa podcast (Episode 762), I talk about Doctor Who, history, time travel, and the new Who novel Shirley Jackson and the Chaos Box by Kalynn Bayron.
StarShipSofa 762 Gustavo Bondini
July 31, 2025
“Exploring Star Trek” in Fall 2025
I’m excited to say that in Fall 2025 I will be offering the 12-week online class “Exploring Star Trek” for M.A. students and non-degree-seeking auditors alike at Signum University. I’m delighted to be teaching this course once again!
July 25, 2025
Join me in Panem starting in September 2025!
Signum University — Blackberry
Join me in SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) online via Signum University!
What lessons do the Capitol and Districts have to teach us? What warnings should we heed? What road leads from here to Panem? Over the course of five months, participants in these SPACE modules will read and discuss a modern classic of dystopian storytelling, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.
In this hybrid series, each week will include one lecture and one live discussion. The lectures will examine the inspirations behind, allusions in, and questions posed by that month’s novel. In live discussions, participants will share their insights on, interpretations of, and reactions to the story. Together we will consider why this series has spoken to so many readers and explore how its messages remain relevant today.
July 9, 2025
On Edge!
StarShipSofa 760 Libby Cudmore
On my latest “Looking Back on Genre History” segment on the StarShipSofa (Episode 760), I discuss Ashley Lawson’s new book On Edge: Gender and Genre in the Work of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, and Leigh Brackett.
June 19, 2025
Help launch Hangsaman!
My “Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson: Exploring a Gothic Campus Mystery” one-month module with SPACE (Signum Portals for Adult Continuing Education) online via Signum University is currently “on the launchpad” for potential launch in the autumn of 2025.
Here is the official description:
“Shirley Jackson is rightly celebrated as a master of Gothic storytelling thanks to her most well-known novels such as The Haunting of Hill House (1959) and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962). In recent years, however, her earlier novel Hangsaman (1951) has received new attention and critical appreciation from fans and scholars alike.
"Far ahead of its time when it was published, Jackson’s deeply personal Hangsaman is many things: a psychological study of a young woman’s coming of age; a haunting Gothic mystery; a pointed critique of gender roles, family dynamics, and higher education; a meditation on trauma and mental illness; and an ancestor of today’s dark academia storytelling. Shirley Jackson drew inspiration from a variety of sources to craft this remarkable campus novel, from folk ballads and the Tarot, myth and ritual, to a real college campus and an unsolved New England cold case of a missing sophomore student.
"In this module, we will unpack this gem of a Gothic story, following freshman Natalie Waite as she searches for her ‘essential self’ and discussing why Hangsaman feels freshly relevant and important to many readers today.”
Here is more information on the Hangsaman module.
To help launch this module, please go here, log in, and put this module on your launchpad short-list. Thanks!
