It's here! I am very pleased to announce the release of my latest book project, The Intersection of Fantasy and Native America: From H.P. Lovecraft to Leslie Marmon Silko.

A number of contemporary Native American authors incorporate elements of fantasy into their fiction, while several non-Native fantasy authors utilize elements of Native America in their storytelling. Nevertheless, few experts on fantasy consider American Indian works, and few experts on Native American studies explore the fantastic in literature. Now an international, multi-ethnic, and cross-disciplinary group of scholars investigates the meaningful ways in which fantasy and Native America intersect, examining classics by American Indian authors such as Louise Erdrich, Gerald Vizenor, and Leslie Marmon Silko, as well as non-Native fantasists such as H.P. Lovecraft, J.R.R. Tolkien, and J.K. Rowling. Thus these essayists pioneer new ways of thinking about fantasy texts by Native and non-Native authors, and challenge other academics, writers, and readers to do the same.

Praise for Intersection of Fantasy and Native America:

The essays in Sturgis and Oberhelman’s The Intersection of Fantasy and Native America open our eyes to the kinship between families of literature hitherto seen as separate-fantasy and Native American fiction-showing their interconnections in subject matter, in techniques of dream and trance and magical realism and post-modern meta-narrative, and most importantly, in their ability to penetrate appearances in search of underlying truths. The result is that we see each in light of the other and both as parts of the larger, so-called “mainstream,” and as essential to our understanding of literature, its writers and readers, in the 21st century.
—Verlyn Flieger, Professor of English, University of Maryland at College Park, Author of Interrupted Music, A Question of Time, and Splintered Light

With excellent and accessible scholarship, this book opens wide the door of Native American mythology and fantasy by connecting it with the fantasy many of us already know and love. I'm now convinced there's a vast treasure store of fantasy I haven't even begun to experience, and there's nothing more exciting than that for the lover of fantasy fiction!
—Travis Prinzi, Author of Harry Potter and Imagination and Editor of Hog’s Head Conversations

( Table of Contents )

The book is now available at Amazon and directly from Mythopoeic Press. I also will have a few signed copies available through my website.

The new book Hog's Head Conversations: Essays on Harry Potter is now available. This collection includes my essay "When Harry Met Faërie: Rowling’s Hogwarts, Tolkien’s Fairy-Stories, and the Question of Readership.”

Here is the "book trailer":

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I have a brand new official website! You're invited to drop by and check it out. My primary blog also has been redesigned to match the site. Huge thanks to the very talented Melissa K. Slouber, who created the banners for the website and LJ using artwork I love, a classic illustration by J.J. Grandville from Un Autre Monde (1844).

My recent public lecture "When Harry Met Faërie: The Tolkien Solution to the Rowling Problem" (which is based on my article "Harry Potter is a Hobbit: Rowling, Tolkien, and the Question of Readership" and my book chapter "When Harry Met Faërie: Rowling's Hogwart's, Tolkien's Fairy-Stories, and the Question of Readership" in Hog's Head Conversations: Fantastic Essays on Harry Potter, forthcoming from Zossima Press) is now available on the latest episode of StarShipSofa: The Audio Science Fiction Magazine. You can listen to it streaming or download it here.

Additional updates on my publications, podcasts, and appearances are available at my website.

I'm a bit flabbergasted, to tell you the truth. I consider myself a fan of all of my fellow finalists for the "Best Fact Article Contributor" award - Jim Campanella, Cory Doctorow, and Matthew Sanborn Smith - and so I felt honored just to have made the short list with them.

The winners of The 2009 Sofanaut Awards have been announced:

- Best Flash Fiction: Spider Robinson's "In The Olden Days"

- Best Main Fiction: Ted Chiang's "The Merchant & the Alchemist's Gate"

- Best Poetry Contributor: Laurel Winter

- Best Fact Article Contributor: Me

- Best Narrator: Spider Robinson


Congratulations to the other winners and finalists, and many thanks to StarShipSofa: The Audio Science Fiction Magazine! I'm thrilled that listeners enjoy my "History of the Genre" segments, because it's such great fun to share my love for speculative fiction this way. Sincere thanks to all of you who support and encourage me in my podcasting adventures. I am truly grateful.

I'm hosting a 200th birthday party, and you're invited! Edgar Allan Poe turns 200 years old this month, and today I've taken over the StarShipSofa Audio Science Fiction Magazine to host an hour-long tribute to this pioneer of the short story, luminary of Gothic horror, father of detective fiction, and giant of science fiction. You can stream the podcast live at the StarShipSofa website, or download it here, or access it via iTunes. I hope you enjoy my celebration of Poe's life, works, and legacy.

I have agreed to write a book for Zossima Press for mid-2010 publication. At this point my working title is The Gothic Imaginations of J.R.R. Tolkien, Madeleine L'Engle, and J.K. Rowling. I'm pleased that this book will allow me to combine my interests in and research on the Gothic, Tolkien, L'Engle, Rowling, fantasy, and science fiction, and I'm looking forward to working with Zossima Press.

Since the end of the year is a good time to take measure of one's work, here is my tally:

( My 2008 Publications )

( My Publications Due Out in Early and Mid-2009 )

Thank you, everyone! Thanks to your kind support and encouragement, I am a finalist in this year's Sofanaut Awards for podcasting in two categories: Best Narrator and
Best Fact Article Contributor.

The final round of voting is open now here and will remain open until January 23. (A complete list of my podcast commentaries, interviews, and unabridged dramatic readings, complete with links for downloading, is available here.)

Many, many thanks to all of you who have been listening, encouraging, and supporting me! I am truly grateful.

StarShipSofa: The Audio Science Fiction Magazine has just celebrated its first year of providing listeners with exemplary audio fiction, poetry and fact articles. To mark this occasion, StarShipSofa is running its very first awards: The Sofanauts!

Nominations can be made on this online voting poll. I am eligible in two categories, Best Fact Article Contributor (for my "History of the Genre" segments) and Best Narrator, as are a number of worthy contributors. There are also categories for Best Main Fiction, Best Flash Fiction, and Best Poetry. A list of all of my segments and narrations is available here with links for downloading. To those of you who listen and/or vote, many thanks indeed for your kind support!

I will be teaching an online, upper-division Liberal Studies seminar in the first eight weeks of Spring 2009.

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 and values, 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 and values of young readers' fiction can reinforce and/or subvert the mainstream status quo. This course takes both a theoretical and historical approach to popular literature in general and J.K. Rowling’s works in particular.

I will be appearing at the Voices Film Series "Big Brother, Little Sister" events in Hickory, North Carolina on November 12 (Children of Men) and November 19 (1984) as a discussant after the films. Both events are free and open to the public.

Read additional information here.

* I am the interviewee today in a special "Engine Room" episode of StarShipSofa: The Audio Science Fiction Magazine. The interview, which covers subjects related to science fiction, fantasy, and technology, among other things, is a little over an hour - the entire show, in fact. You can download it here or via iTunes under "StarShipSofa," or listen to it streaming here. A list of my other podcast commentaries, interviews, and unabridged dramatic readings is available here with links.

My latest podcast narration, an unabridged dramatic reading of Jeff Carlson's science fiction story "Frozen Sky," is now available here at StarShipSofa or under "StarShipSofa" at iTunes. My reading begins approximately 18 minutes into the podcast and runs for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

All of my podcast appearances to date can be found here.

I have two new podcast appearances to report:

1. I was the featured guest for last week's episode of The Future and You, available here. The interview runs about half an hour. You can also access The Future and You via iTunes.

2. My latest contribution to the StarShipSofa podcast is now available here and via iTunes. My seventeen-minute spot (which begins about ten minutes into the program) is about rediscovering the fiction of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué.

As you may know, I've begun narrating contemporary science fiction stories for the UK audio science fiction magazine StarShipSofa. (You can hear my narration of Elizabeth Bear's "And the Deep Blue Sea" here, and other narrations will go up soon.) As of today, I've also begun contributing an audio "article" for StarShipSofa's "Aural Delights" Wednesday program, in which I give my commentary about a science fiction topic. These will run once a month. My first is available on today's show. (It begins approximately 10 minutes into the podcast.) If you listen, I hope you enjoy!

My biography of Tecumseh debuts in bookstores today.

I've begun narrating contemporary science fiction stories for one of my very favorite podcasts, StarShipSofa. I've read about half a dozen thus far, and today my first narration went live. It's a reading of Elizabeth Bear's short story "And the Deep Blue Sea," and it's available here or via iTunes under StarShipSofa.

(Since this narration, I've invested in a new microphone setup, so my other readings sound a bit crisper.)

Please check it out - and the rest of the podcast installments for StarShipSofa, as well - if you're interested. Thanks!

* I am pleased to announce that the book chapter "Sexy Nerds: Illya Kuryakin, Mr. Spock, and the Image of the Cerebral Hero in Television Drama," which I had the great pleasure of co-authoring with Dr. Cynthia W. Walker of St. Peter's College, is now available in the new book Common Sense: Intelligence as Presented on Popular Television, edited by Lisa Holderman and published by Lexington Books. It was great fun to revisit the worlds of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek, Blake's 7, The X-Files, MacGuyver, Stargate SG-1, VR.5, Buffy, Firefly/Serenity, Numb3rs, and NCIS for this piece, and I'm happy to see it in print.

* Additionally, The Charlotte Observer ran a short article on me today entitled "Amy Sturgis Keeps Busy Schedule Writing, Editing, Speaking."

* Reminder: Tomorrow (Thursday, February 28) I will be the guest on the "Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins" radio program from 9-10am (Eastern) on 90.7FM WFAE in Charlotte, North Carolina. The show is streamed live online here and is also available in downloadable podcast form here. I will be talking about my work in both Native American and Science Fiction/Fantasy studies. Listeners can join the conversation by calling 704-926-9323 or emailing charlottetalks@wfae.org.

* Today and tomorrow, I'll be appearing at the First American: Voices Film Series in Hickory, NC. My talk and book signing are on the evening of Thursday, February 28.

I have two new interviews scheduled:

* On Tuesday, February 19, I will be a guest on the "First Talk with Hal Row" radio program from 8-9am (Eastern) on 1290AM WHKY in Hickory, North Carolina. The show is streamed live online here. Questions can be submitted before the show online here. I will be interviewed along with Lisa Miller, Executive Director of the Women's Resource Center, about the First American: Voices event we are producing at the end of the month (free and open to the public). I will also be talking about my presentation and book signing at that event, and my work in Native American and Science Fiction/Fantasy studies in general.

* On Thursday, February 28, I will be the sole guest on the "Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins" radio program from 9-10am (Eastern) on 90.7FM WFAE in Charlotte, North Carolina. The show is streamed live online here and is also available in downloadable podcast form here. I will be talking about my work in both Native American and Science Fiction/Fantasy studies. Listeners can join the conversation by calling 704-926-9323 or emailing charlottetalks@wfae.org.