Amy H. Sturgis's Blog, page 166

News and Such

Happy birthday to ankh_hpl and dqg_neal , and happy early birthday to , jagash , and nightlywanderer . May all of you enjoy many happy returns of the day!


FYI, Here's a list of where I'll be when in the next couple of weeks...

Where I'll Be When

Sunday, February 27
Unitarian Universalist Church of Catawba Valley
My Talk: "Lasting Lessons of the Trail of Tears"


Friday, March 4-6
StellarCon 35
My schedule:

Friday
4pm: Podcasts, Finally Getting Respect? (I'm moderating this panel)
5pm: 10 Rules About Writing

Saturday
12pm: 13 Dooms (Dystopias and Post-Apocalypses)
4pm: Tony Ruggiero's Quick Write

Sunday
10am: Harry Potter Retrospective
11pm: Signing


Teaching

I've also got my teaching schedule lined up for the near future. This summer I'll be offering an undergraduate/graduate cross-listed course:

"The American and the Frontier: Is the U.S. Exceptional?"
Is the frontier really a key ingredient to American identity? Where did the idea of "American exceptionalism" come from, how has it influenced U.S. culture and policy, and what does it imply for the future of the country? By exploring key romantic images of the ideal American across time from the colonial era to the present [such as Explorer, Pioneer, Highwayman/Cowboy, Policeman (of home and/or of the world), Spy, and Astronaut] in rhetoric, fiction, film, and music, this course will consider "American exceptionalism," who is included and excluded by this concept, how it may be a limited and problematic idea, and what "the frontier" might be in the twenty-first century.


In Fall 2011, I'll be offering both an undergraduate and a graduate version of my Harry Potter course:

"Harry Potter and His Predecessors"
This course discusses the ancestors to the Harry Potter phenomenon, examines the specific works and traditions that inform the Harry Potter universe, and, most importantly, considers why the Harry Potter books and films are so popular today. In the process, students analyze 1) how the young readers' fiction of a given historical period prioritizes certain lessons, values, and enduring questions; 2) what this tells us about the way a culture conceptualizes childhood in a given era and how this changes across time; and 3) how the lessons, values, and enduring questions of fantasy texts (literature, film, and even fan-created works) can educate consumers as well as reinforce and/or subvert the mainstream status quo. This course takes both a theoretical and historical approach to popular culture in general and J.K. Rowling's works in particular.



The day is ending,
The night is descending;
The marsh is frozen,
The river dead.

Through clouds like ashes
The red sun flashes
On village windows
That glimmer red.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Afternoon in February"

The YA Dystopias List That Wouldn't Die, Etc.

Yes folks, it's that time again: I've updated my working list of English-language young adult dystopian novels from the last fifty years (plus). There have been a number of new releases and forthcoming titles announced lately. If you have any recommendations or suggestions for me, I'd be most grateful! Thanks so much.

Click here for my working list of young adult dystopian fiction from the last fifty years.


And, for your amusement...




My quotes for the day come from this past week's terrific episode of Fringe:
___
Peter Bishop: You know, a thank you wouldn't kill you.
Dr. Walter Bishop: Oh, I'm sorry if at this moment when the universe is collapsing I forgot the magic word.
___
Astrid Farnsworth: How come?
Dr. Walter Bishop: Dear God, is it second-guess everything I do day? Because I haven't been informed.

- Fringe, "6B"

On the Fringe

The forthcoming Smart Pop book Fringe Science: Parallel Universes, White Tulips, and Mad Scientists , dedicated to the series Fringe , now has cover art! (I'm writing an essay for this collection now.) I'm very happy to see that TV Guide is reporting that Fringe has a good chance of renewal for next season.


I have a few links to share:

* Two great websites and fannish resources, The John Castle Gallery and CI5 Addict, are now accepting donations (via a donation button at the bottom of each site) to help cover their hosting fees. The buttons will disappear once the fees have been met. If you enjoy these sites, please consider helping out!

* From SFSignal: "The All-Encompassing Machinery: Dystopia in the 21st Century."

* From Morgan Dempsey at Inkpunks: "Why I Like YA SFF."

* Happy early birthday wishes to firiath and alicia_stardust . May you both enjoy many happy returns of the day!


The historian in me gets quite a laugh from this (and, for that matter, you can never have too much Martin Freeman)...





"My dear, I'm not certain that you're not simply a figment of my imagination."
- Dr. Walter Bishop, "Momentum Deferred," Fringe

Drive-By Posting

Just a quick post to share some links:

* From The Chronicle of Higher Education: "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Zombies: An international-relations scholar's satire yields some serious lessons."

* From Locus Online: "2010 Locus Recommended Reading List."

* My latest dramatic narration for StarShipSofa, which is of Caitlín R. Kiernan's haunting Galapagos, is now available on the most recent episode of the podcast.

* Recently I was interviewed by Jeanne Hoffman of the KosmosOnline Podcast about the theme of liberty in science fiction. The interview is now available here.


And last, because it makes me happy, here's the official Hobbit cast photo from the recent press conference:




"Surely you don't disbelieve the prophecies just because you helped them come about. You don't really suppose do you that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck? Just for your sole benefit? You're a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I'm quite fond of you. But you are really just a little fellow, in a wide world after all."

"Thank goodness!"

- The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

Happy Valentine's Day!

Virginia in her new sweater
Happy birthday to mr_earbrass and mollypunkin , and happy early birthday to cookiefleck and firiath . May you enjoy a fantastic day and may your next year be all you could wish!


I have a few quick links to share:

* From Frankensteinia: The Frankenstein Blog (aka frankens ), a terrific post on the National Theatre's Frankenstein (with pictures).

* The KosmosOnline Podcast has a new interview up with my friend and colleague Dr. Brad Birzer on "Themes of Liberty in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien."

* From The Washington Post: "'Tolkien Professor' Corey Olsen brings Middle-earth to iTunes via podcasts" (Thanks to penfold_x .)

* The trailer for the new Atlas Shrugged film is now available here. (Thanks to whswhs .)


Happy Valentine's Day to all! In honor of today's occasion, a quote:

Hail Bishop Valentine, whose day this is,
All the air is thy Diocese,
And all the chirping choristers
And other birds are thy parishioners,
Thou marryest ever year
The lyric Lark, and the grave whispering Dove,
The Sparrow that neglects his life for love,
The household bird, with the red stomacher;
Thou maks't the black bird speed as soon,
As doth the Goldfinch, or the Halycon;
The husband cock looks out, and straight is sped,
And meets his wife, which brings her feather-bed.
This day more cheerfully than ever shine,
This day, which might enflame thy self, old Valentine.

Till now, thou warmd'st with mutiplying loves
Two larks, two sparrows, or two doves,
All that is nothing unto this,
For thou this day couplest two Phoenixes;
Thou mak'st a Taper see
What the sun never saw, and what the Ark
(Which was of fowls, and beasts, the cage and park,)
Did not contain, one bed contains, through thee,
Two Phoenixes, whose joined breasts
Are unto one another mutual nests,
Where motion kindles such fires, as shall give
Young Phoenixes, and yet the old shall love.
Whose love and courage never shall decline,
But make the whole year through, thy day, O Valentine....

from John Donne, "An Epithalamion, Or Marriage Song, On the Lady Elizabeth and Count Palatine Being Married on St. Valentine's Day"

A Happy List for Friday

Hi everyone! Apologies for being quiet of late. Lots and lots of work to do... But I just had to post about a few really wonderful things that make me happy and share them with you:

1. The new full cast media conference for 2012's The Hobbit: Part 1 . See it here.

2. A new clip for 2011's Jane Eyre . See it here.

3. Here's a message from our girl Virginia, courtesy of my better half.

4. I thoroughly enjoyed Jana Oliver's new book The Demon Trapper's Daughter .

5. I am once again rereading (I've lost count of how many times I've done this) one of the seminal texts a) in world literature, b) in the Gothic and science fiction traditions, and c) in my personal life, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, in anticipation of seeing this next month:



6. From Slice of Scifi , "Everything You Needed to Know about Doctor Who in One Poster":




Holmes looked at me thoughtfully and shook his head.
"I never get your limits, Watson," said he. "There are unexplored possibilities about you."
- from Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire"

Close Encounters of the SFnal Kind

I've been thrilled at the response my last "History of the Genre" segment on StarShipSofa has received. (It was a survey of some of the authors of Native American descent who have contributed to the genre of speculative fiction, including Vine Deloria, Jr., Sherman Alexie, Gerald Vizenor, Drew Hayden Taylor, Daniel Heath Justice, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and William Sanders.) Thanks so much to all of you who've been listening!

My newest segment, which discusses the classic Winston Science Fiction series for juveniles, is now available in the latest episode of the podcast. You can download it or listen to it here. If you check it out, I hope you enjoy. (A full list of my past podcast segments, with links, is available here.)


And now, a smile for your day (thanks to agentxpndble ):



In other news...
Happy early birthday wishes to akaihyo , vonjunzt , and wiredwizard . May all three of you enjoy many happy returns of the day!

The latest issue of Innsmouth Free Press is out, and February is the fundraiser month for this eldritch publication. Read about the I Heart Innsmouth campaign here.

It's official: I'll be an author guest this spring at both StellarCon 35 and ConCarolinas 2011.

From Financial Times, a discussion with playwright Nick Dear on his new stage adaptation of Frankenstein (for more on this, see here and here).

Based on recent viewing, I have three quick film recommendations to share:

-- Population 436 (2006) is a clever indie work of SF/horror that owes a debt both to Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and M. Night Shyamalan's The Village. It views like a mix between an episode of The X-Files and The Twilight Zone, and I mean that as a compliment. It's definitely worth watching, especially if you like your horror to be gothic, psychological, paranoid, and light on gore. Fred Durst actually does quite a nice job with his supporting but key role, as well.

-- The Last Enemy (2008) is a BBC miniseries depicting a new-future dystopian UK. It gets off to a slow start but soon becomes utterly captivating with its chilling depiction of the surveillance state and its abuses. (We'll be discussion sections of this miniseries in my graduate university course on the dystopian tradition.) Both Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Carlyle, unsurprisingly, give understated but quite powerful performances. I highly recommend this thought-provoking work.

-- Monsters (2010) is a refreshing work of SF/horror set six years after an alien invasion. It follows the trek of a reporter and a tourist as they pass through an "infected zone" in Mexico to try to reach the United States. I'm not sure what I expected, but I was surprised and impressed by the fact this film focused on the characters' journey through the post-apocalyptic landscape, relying on good writing, big ideas, and solid cinematography rather than special effects or stunts. We need more genre movies like this.

Holmes: "I followed you."
Sterndale: "I saw no one."
Holmes: "That is what you may expect to see when I follow you."
- Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot"

Mary Shelley-icious

As a long-term fan of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's amazing writing, I'm fascinated by this. This oil painting, dated to 1843 and attributed to Richard Rothwell, surfaced in 1955 and only recently has been recognized as a "lost" portrait of Mary Shelley.



(Rothwell was also responsible for one of the most famous portraits of the author.)

This rediscovered painting is being shown for the first time as one of many artifacts in the Shelley's Ghost exhibition at the Bodleian Library, which is dedicated to Mary Shelley, her parents William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, and husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. If you can't make it to the Bodleian, there's an extensive website for Shelley's Ghost showing all of the exhibits, complete with detailed descriptions. The companion book to the exhibition is Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family by Stephen Hebron and Elizabeth C. Denlinger.


* Speaking of Mary Shelley, it looks like the March 17, 2011 National Theatre Live performance of the Danny Boyle-directed play Frankenstein that I mentioned here will be the one featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as the Creature and Jonny Lee Miller as Victor Frankenstein (which was the combination I most wanted to see). I can't wait! Reports suggest that the alternate performance (with the lead roles switched) is also being taped for later airing, however, and I suspect I'll want to catch that one, as well. I'd love to hear spoilers if anyone happens to see it in London.

* In other news, Presenting Lenore is hosting a month-long celebration of dystopian literature, so be sure to check out her Dystopian February posts here.


"You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been."
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein

John Barry (1933-2011), R.I.P.

Just today I was listening to one of my all-time favorite soundtracks, John Barry's Academy Award winning score for The Lion in Winter. I then went online only to learn that John Barry died yesterday.

R.I.P., composer John Barry, father of the James Bond theme, the scores for The Lion in Winter, Born Free, Dances with Wolves, and Out of Africa, and so many other excellent works.

News from the Fringe...

The cover art has been released for the Smart Pop Books anthology Nyx in the House of Night: Mythology, Folklore and Religion in the PC and Kristin Cast Vampyre Series . The book is scheduled for June 2011 release and includes my essay "Reimagining 'Magic City': How the Casts Mythologize Tulsa."



And speaking of Smart Pop Books, I've just agreed to write an essay for their forthcoming collection on Fringe about the debt the series owes to the fictional investigators of early science fiction literature and the works of H.P. Lovecraft, in particular. It should be great fun!


In other news...

* StarShipSofa is hosting an Online Writers Workshop featuring Gregory Frost, James Patrick Kelly, Michael Swanwick, Sheila Williams, and David Mercurio Rivera.

* Bookstove lists 100 Novels All Horror Fans Should Read.

* Happy early birthday wishes to time_shark and alitalf . May you both enjoy many happy returns of the day!


This seems like an appropriate quote for the day:

Dr. Walter Bishop: When the Victoria, the last surviving ship, return to its harbor of departure after the first circumnavigation of the earth, only 18 of the original 237 men were on board.

Small Child: What happened to them?

Dr. Walter Bishop: They all died, young lady. Horrible and most likely painful deaths. You see, when you open new doors, there is a price to pay. Now imagine... tonight, you look under your bed, and, lo and behold, you find a monster! And you're immediately eaten. Now, if you hadn't looked for the monster, you wouldn't have found it and you'd still be happy in your bed, instead of being slowly digested in the stomach sack of the creature. But, with any luck, your sister or your brothers might have heard your screams, and your endeavor will serve as a valuable lesson to them.

- from "What Lies Below," Fringe