Amy H. Sturgis's Blog, page 164

Various and Sundry

Happy early birthday wishes to lexie_marie , jalara , theladyrose , and elvenjoy . May each of you enjoy a fantastic day and a wonderful year to come!

I'm writing on my next essay project at the moment, but I do have several tidbits to share...

* From The Telegraph: "Scotland Yard Fights to Keep Jack the Ripper Files Secret." (Thanks to marthawells .) (Speaking of Jack the Ripper, I'm currently reading the Sherlock Holmes-meets-the-Ripper pastiche The Whitechapel Horrors by Edward B. Hanna and quite enjoying it.)

* Chuck has been renewed! "Chuck Co-Creator Chris Fedak on the Final Season Renewal."

* The second series of Garrow's Law is finally coming to the US! I'm really looking forward to it. The first series was excellent.

* For those of you in/around the Charlotte, NC area...
-- The 2011 Can't Stop the Serenity event has been set for the afternoon/early evening of Sunday, September 18 at the UNCC Student Union Ball Room. I'll post more information as it's available.
-- A meet-up for fans of the BBC's Sherlock is in the works for ConCarolinas next month. For more information, see this post.

* Last but not least, I've received my contributor's copies of Nyx in the House of Night: Mythology, Folklore and Religion in the PC and Kristin Cast Vampyre Series (due out at the beginning of June), and I'm really thrilled at how beautiful the book is. The inside illustrations are breathtaking; for my essay ("Reimagining 'Magic City': How the Casts Mythologize Tulsa"), for example, there is a full two-page illustration of the Tulsa skyline with the face of Nyx watching over the city. Quite stunning. Hats off to illustrator Alan Torrance.




"My grandmother always used to say, 'Play your cards close to the vest. And wear a coat over the vest, or you'll look like a jerk.'"
- Volkoff, "Chuck vs.the Family Volkoff," Chuck

The Hunger Games Cometh! (or Panem in My Backyard)

You may recall that a couple of years ago I posted pictures of one of the most atmospheric and fascinating places I've found nearby, the abandoned Henry River Mill Village in Burke County. It's only about 15 minutes by interstate from our favorite restaurant (glorious poblano chile rellenos), and since we first stumbled on it during one of our drives, we often go by there, as I'm rather taken by the mournful and gothic feel of these lonely, decaying buildings.



Much to my delight, this village is now being readied as the set for shooting part of the new film adaptation of the fantastic young adult dystopian novel The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

That's right: one of my favorite places is now going to be used in the filming of one of my favorite recent books, a novel that I've already taught twice to undergraduate and graduate students!

If I had to guess, I'd imagine this will be used as part of District 12, the home of Katniss Everdeen, which represents the Appalachian coal-mining area of Panem in the books. Here's a bit more about the local preparation for the filming. You can see more of my pictures of the town, pre-filming, here, and read more about its past on Treasure.net here.

Other motion pictures have also been filmed in Burke County to take advantage of its impressive geography, including key outdoor sequences from 1992's The Last of the Mohicans .


"Here's some advice. Stay alive."
-Haymitch Abernathy, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Star Trek, Native America, and All That Good Stuff

I'm back from DC! I can't believe I didn't think about what a complete circus Reagan National Airport can be at the end of the work week. My bad. It's like several hours of complete madness overtake the place. If I hadn't literally had my copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with me (my official de-stresser), I might've panicked. *grin*

Happy birthday to bistokidsfan77 , and happy early birthday to pewterwolf . May you both enjoy many happy returns of the day!


I'm currently working on my essay "From Amerind to Dorvan: The Future History of Native America in Star Trek." Thus far, it looks like I'll be drawing particular on the following specific examples from Star Trek: "The Paradise Syndrome" (The Original Series), "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" (The Animated Series), "Journey's End" (The Next Generation), "Cathexis" and "Tattoo" (among several other episodes from Star Trek: Voyager), Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and Star Trek: Insurrection.



Random trivia I've gathered:

Starfleet personnel of Native descent:
* At least three unnamed crewpeople in Star Trek: The Motion Picture
* Dawson Walking Bear in The Animated Series
* Chakotay in Voyager
* Possibly Captain Hunter from Vonda McIntyre's novel The Entropy Effect (Thanks to marthawells !)

Starfleet ships named for individuals of Native descent (others are named for various nations):
* USS Crazy Horse (The Next Generation)
* USS Malinche (Deep Space Nine)
* USS Tecumseh (Deep Space Nine)
* Sacajawea (shuttle, Voyager)


Above and beyond the episodes/films thus far, and the uber-helpful "American Indian" entry at Memory Alpha, The Star Trek Wiki, I've put together my working bibliography of secondary sources. Just in case you're interested, I'll list the works below. If you have any recommendations or suggestions, I'd be grateful!


Working Bibliography of Secondary Sources on Native America in Star Trek

Sierra S. Adare, "Indian" Stereotypes in TV Science Fiction: First Nations' Voices Speak Out (University of Texas Press, 2005)

Daniel Bernardi, Star Trek and History : Race-ing Toward a White Future (Rutgers University Press, 1998)

Al Carroll, Medicine Bags and Dog Tags: American Indian Veterans from Colonial Times to the Second Iraq War (University of Nebraska Press, 2008)
(note: very useful section on Chakotay in Voyager)

Steven F. Collins, "'For the Greater Good': Trilateralism and Hegemony in Star Trek: The Next Generation" in Taylor Harrison, Sarah Projansky, Kent A. Ono, and Elyce Rae Helford, eds. Enterprise Zones: Critical Positions on Star Trek (Westview Press, 1996): 137-156.

Lincoln Geraghty, "'Neutralising the Indian': Native American Stereotypes in Star Trek: Voyager," U.S. Studies Online: The BAAS Postgraduate Journal, Issue 4 (Autumn 2004): online here

Lincoln Geraghty, Living with Star Trek : American Culture and the Star Trek Universe (I.B. Taurus, 2007)

Allen Kwan, "Seeking New Civilizations: Race Normaitivity in the Star Trek Franchise," Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society Vol. 27, No 1 (February 2007), 59-70.

Jan Johnson-Smith, American Science Fiction TV: Star Trek, Stargate and Beyond (I.B. Taurus, 2005)

Ted Jojola, "Absurd Reality II: Hollywood Goes to the Indians" in Peter C. Rollins and John E. O'Connor, eds. Hollywood's Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film (University Press of Kentucky, 1998): 12-26.

Darcee L. McLaren and Jennifer E. Porter, "(Re)Covering Sacred Ground: New Age Spirituality in Star Trek: Voyager" in Jennifer E. Porter and Darcee L. McLaren, eds. Star Trek and Sacred Ground : Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture (State University of New York, 2000): 101-118.

Jon Wagner and Jan Lundeen, Deep Space and Sacred Time: Star Trek in the American Mythos (Praeger, 1998)


And for the understatement of the day, I present Wesley Crusher...

Lankata: Whether you believe in your spirit or not, we believe in it. You are a sacred person here, Wesley.
Wesley Crusher: I think that's the first time anyone's used that particular word to describe me.
- "Journey's End," Star Trek: The Next Generation

May The Fourth Be With You!

* Happy Star Wars Day! May the Fourth be with you!

* Happy early birthday wishes to vyrdolak , pseudoanorexic , and lyria_theringer . May all of you enjoy many happy returns of the day!

* I'm getting ready to head up to Washington, D.C. If all goes well, I'll be filming five lectures that will go online in the near future. *fingers crossed*

* Article recommendation: Peter Monaghan's review of Steve F. Anderson's new Technologies of History: Visual Media and the Eccentricity of the Past: "What Do Rocky and Bullwinkle Have to Do With History?"

* I'll leave you with the trailer for "The Day We Died," the season finale of Fringe. (Yes, that's




"The past is routinely being remixed, reimagined, rescripted, and reappropriated in powerful and eccentric ways, often by individuals—fans, geeks, hackers, teens, and artists—who do not necessarily see themselves as engaged in the discourse of history at all."

Anderson elaborates in an interview: "It is very likely not the book by the Harvard historian that 300 people in the world read that gives us a historical sensibility and becomes part of how we behave in the world," he says. "It's The X-Files."

- Peter Monaghan, "What Do Rocky and Bullwinkle Have to Do With History?"

It's a Holmes Pastiche Party!

Happy birthday to angelinehawkes , and happy early birthday to idwoman . May you both enjoy many happy returns of the day!


Some months ago, I asked for recommendations of Sherlock Holmes pastiches and received some great replies. (Thank you!) I waited until I'd finished going through all of Arthur Conan Doyle's canonical Holmesian writings in order, but now I've embarked on my pastiche reading. I've only scratched the surface -- I have quite a long "to read" list! -- but I thought I'd list the novels I've read thus far, ranked in order from my most favorite to my least favorite. My reviews are general, and though they may contain a few spoilers about the premise of a given work, they don't give away any twist endings or key surprises.

Most Favorite Novel Thus Far:
Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson by Lyndsay Faye (2009)
Read my review.

The Last Sherlock Holmes Story by Michael Dibdin (1978)
Read my review.

The West End Horror: A Posthumous Memoir of John H. Watson, M.D. by Nicholas Meyer (1976)
Read my review.

The Seven-Percent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. by Nicholas Meyer (1974)
Read my review.

The Canary Trainer: From the Memoirs of John H. Watson by Nicholas Meyer (1993)
Read my review.

Sherlock Holmes: The Rediscovered Railway Mysteries and Other Stories by John Taylor (2010)
Read my review.

I had difficulty ranking The West End Horror and The Seven-Percent Solution, as they were rather neck-and-neck for me. I'd recommend all of these except Taylor's to fans of Holmes in general, but I'd still recommend Taylor's to those specifically who are fans of Benedict Cumberbatch.

In the novella/novelette category, I've read and thoroughly enjoyed "The Adventure of the Elusive Emeralds" (a poignant mystery with terrific Watson characterization, in particular, in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #4 ) and "The Adventure of the Haunted Bagpipes" (a truly chilling mystery with a very real and disturbing threat to Holmes and Watson in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #5 ), both by Carla Coupe (aka beledibabe ). I highly recommend them. There's also a clever Lovecraft-Holmes mashup story in #5 that I'm reading right now.

My next pastiche reading probably will be The Whitechapel Horrors by Edward B. Hanna (1992).


"At first it seemed the Ripper affair had scarred my friend Sherlock Holmes as badly as it had the city of London itself."
- Lyndsay Faye, Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson

Various and Sundry

First of all, much love and many thanks to dodger_winslow , who surprised me with this gorgeous new icon. We loves it, Precioussss, yes we does!

Second, it looks like late next week I'll be making a day-long sojourn to Washington, D.C. to film some lectures for the Institute for Humane Studies to be released on YouTube, a prospect both exciting and daunting. Mr. De Mille, I'm not sure I'm ready for my close-up! So it goes.

Third, today's TeeFury shirt is a very clever Harry Potter design.

Fourth, sad news...
* R.I.P., Joanna Russ (1937-2011)
She was a pioneering science fiction author who will be read and remembered for a long time to come. I've taught her short story "When It Changed" (which won the Nebula Award in 1972) in many university courses, and it's never failed to impress and inspire.

* R.I.P., William Campbell (1926-2011)
He had a long and varied acting career, but to me he will always be Trelane, the Squire of Gothos, from Star Trek.


And last, news of possible interest...
In past years I've posted about the still unsolved 1977 Girl Scout murders in Locust Grove, Oklahoma, including a post about the anniversary of the tragedy and the results of new DNA testing.

Up until now, only one book has been published on the murders: Someone Cry for the Children: The Unsolved Girl Scout Murders of Oklahoma and the Case of Gene Leroy Hart by Michael and Dick Wilkerson, which inspired a Discovery Channel documentary by the same title. (A separate Cold Case Files episode also was devoted to the case.) I've just learned that a new book is forthcoming: Tent Number 8: An Investigation of the Girl Scout Murders and the Trial of Gene Leroy Hart by Gloyd McCoy. I'll be very interested to read it as soon as it's available.

I have to say that I find these photos of Camp Scott today rather chilling.


"I think 100 years from now, people will say, 'Well, what's the biggest case in Oklahoma history?' And people will say this case."
- former criminal defense attorney Gloyd McCoy on the 1977 Girl Scout murders

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Lots of happiness today...

* My essay "In Search Of Fringe's Literary Ancestors" is completed and accepted for the forthcoming book Fringe Science: Parallel Universes, White Tulips, and Mad Scientists .

* StarShipSofa , for the second year in a row, has been nominated for a Hugo Award! Yay Team! There are many other reasons I'm excited about this year's Hugo nominees, too, including Lois McMaster Bujold, Doctor Who, and Saladin Ahmed, among others.

* Sherlock has been nominated for Best Drama Series, Best Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), and Best Supporting Actor (Martin Freeman) for the BAFTA TV Awards.

* It's grey and rainy, my favorite kind of day.

I hope you have a wonderful one!


Walter: Why not bring a little life to the dead I say!
- "Brown Betty," Fringe

Stirring Dull Roots with Spring Rain

Hello everyone! Happy Passover and Happy Easter weekend to those of you who celebrate, and Happy Friday to everybody!

* My most recent StarShipSofa "Looking Back on Genre History" segment, which discusses the character of Andrew Latter by Harold Begbie, is now available in the latest episode of the podcast. You can download it or listen to it here. If you listen, I hope you enjoy. (A full list of my past podcast segments, with links, is available here.)

* Information about the upcoming book The Philosophy of Joss Whedon is now available, and it's up for preorder at Amazon. This collection includes my essay "'Just Get Us a Little Further': Liberty and the Frontier in Firefly and Serenity."

* It looks like an official DVD set of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future is going to happen! I'm ridiculously excited. I have been a faithful fan for more than twenty years. (You can hear/download my StarShipSofa segment on this controversial and award-winning series here at StarShipSofa or here on the Captain Power fansite.) Thanks for the early scoop on this some time ago, sneezythesquid !

* Librivox has two new unabridged readings of special interest, the dystopian Philip Dru: Administrator, A Story of Tomorrow, 1920-1935 by Edward M. House (1912) and the apocalyptic Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson (1908).

* In happy news, happy early birthday to izhilzha ! May you have a wonderful day and a fantastic year to come.

* In sad news, R.I.P. Sarah Jane, Elisabeth Sladen (1946-2011). Tragic news indeed.

And last, memeage:
</form> What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net

Neutral. Not Northern, Southern, or Western, just American. Your national American identity is more important to you than your local identity, because you don't really have a local identity to begin with.

Take this quiz now - it's easy! We're going to start with "cot" and "caught." When you say those words do they sound the same or different? Same, no wait I mean different, maybe, a little bit different...
Same
Different



"April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain."
- T.S. Eliot

The weather, it blows.

Grateful thanks to those of you who have sent kind messages checking on us here in North Carolina, USA. I just wanted to confirm that our area escaped the worst of the tornado-pocalypse. All we suffered were a few downed limbs. Unfortunately, some of the other areas were hit much harder. The last I heard, the death toll from the last three days was around 40 people.

More soon. Thanks for keeping our region in your thoughts!

Videos for Your Friday

Happy birthday to prettybirdy979 , and happy early birthday to cherylmmorgan and muuranker ! May each of you enjoy a fantastic day and a wonderful year to come.


And to everyone, happy Friday! I come bearing videos...


Here's the first trailer from the upcoming film adaptation of Susan Hill's Gothic novel The Woman in Black (starring Daniel Radcliffe):



And here's Peter Jackson's first video blog from the set of The Hobbit:




"How can you hear your soul if everyone is talking?"
- Mary Doria Russell, Children of God