Tag: dystopian lit

What I Read: May & June 2024

Summer has begun! Although I love being back in school (I’m one of those weirdos), there’s definitely something to be said for summer. I’ve had a lot more control over what research I want to work on, though never enough time with kids at home. In May, I also got to participate in a workshop of youth print culture at the Church History Library, which opened up my eyes to a lot of interesting resources from past eras. I love this “Bookish Corner for Bookish Girls” column from an early Church magazine and the title of this musical made me laugh.

At the end of May and into June, we went on an extended family trip to Disneyland, which was fun and exhausting. Then I made a quick turnaround to attend the Mormon History Association conference the next weekend. I’m still not sure whether this will get a separate summary post, but I am pleased to report there were at least three panels relevant to speculative fiction, which was an improvement from the last time I attended. My panel was nice and full and people asked very thoughtful questions. I came away from MHA with at least two new research projects to complete, so I consider that a win.

at MHA in Kirtland

On the writing front, “Through the Wardrobe,” my piece for Wayfare Magazine on the Chronicles of Narnia and the LDS temple experience, is now available for free on their Substack. I’ve been getting a lot of great reactions to it, which makes me really happy since I worried it was too esoteric for anyone else to be interested in. I’ve also finished my paper on YA dystopias written by LDS authors, which I’ll be presenting next weekend at the AML Conference. I’m really excited about all of the other panels and presentations. The whole conference will stream live on the AML YouTube channel, so come learn about the history of Mormon writing for children and young adults.

Due to my co-host breaking his knee and moving to Utah, Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree has been on a bit of a hiatus, but we did release an episode on Dune at the end of May. Also, just last week, the Association for Mormon Letters announced we were a finalist for this year’s podcast award. The other finalists are also amazing, so I don’t know if we stand much chance of winning, but it’s an honor to be listed with them.

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What I Read: April 2024

Tulips make running better

I thought that it would get easier to keep up with blogging when the semester ended, but I guess things just keep on piling on. I finished up two really good papers–one on teaching students with dysgraphia in first-year writing and another using C.S. Lewis’s The Four Loves as a lens to interpret Fatima Mirza’s novel A Place for Us–and all of my grading, and promptly collapsed.

Then I got back up again and promptly made up for my lack of mom-hours during the semester by chaperoning my daughter’s field trip the zoo and running all the last-minute errands for various school projects. My husband and I also ran a 5K at our local tulip festival with my teenagers, who we’ve been forcing to run all year. I don’t think they enjoyed it as much as I did.

In writing news this month, my short story “Birthright” was published as part of an anthology called Tales of Mystery: Dead for a Spell. The collection features detective stories with a fantasy twist, while the companion volume, Tales of Mystery: The Gravity of Death, is science-fiction themed. My story features a reluctant detective forced to take a case from a dangerous magical family. If you pay attention to the biblical allusions in the story, you may get a hint as to whodunit. I feel honored to be included in the collection along with some other really wonderful writers (including one who wrote one of the books reviewed below).

I had hoped to do more creative writing during the summer, but looks like academia has other ideas. I’m currently working on a paper about memory in dystopian novels by LDS authors for the Association for Mormon Letters conference in July. And in April, my podcast co-host Carl Cranney and I received a conditional acceptance for a paper on The Mandalorian and religious clothing for a possible edited collection, so now I am being forced to rewatch the show for research purposes. Oh, the hard life of the speculative fiction literary critic. 🙂

Speaking of the podcast, this month’s release is a short conversation about The Most Reluctant Convert, a film about C.S. Lewis’s conversion based on his memoir Surprised by Joy. I can’t believe it took me 42 episodes to get a legitimate Lewis episode into the podcast. The film is very short and really faithful to the book. Highly recommend for Lewis fans.

And now onto book reviews, of which 4/5 are rereads. It’s interesting (to me, at least) to see how my perspective on a book has changed over time. I hope the reevaluations you see below are an indication that I’m growing over time.

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What I Read: Sept 2023

Graduate school has begun in earnest, and man, I’m sliding back into school like a fish into water. It’s so refreshing to be around people who are deep thinkers, great writers, and prolific readers all day long. Grad school is a blast! (Remind me of that in December when the paper deadlines hit.)

bundle of books on a library
Photo by Guilherme Rossi on Pexels.com

This weekend (Oct 13 & 14) I’ll be at the Latter-day Saints and Media Studies Symposium presenting my analysis of the portrayal of LDS characters in The Expanse and Stranger Things. Tickets are $30 for two days of interesting research about the interaction between the media and the church and its members. If you’re in the Las Vegas area, I’d love to say hello!

A short essay/fiction/something I wrote made the finalist list for the 12th Mormon Lit Blitz! The Lit Blitz will be starting on October 23rd with my piece being released on November 2nd. I’m also involved behind the scenes this time as I’ll be putting together a podcast version of the Lit Blitz to make it even easier to follow along and vote.

Over at Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree, we finished our Barbenheimer miniseries by talking about Barbie. I know there’s been a lot of LDS coverage of the film, but I think our discussion added a perspective that wasn’t as prevalent. I also really enjoyed our discussion of season two of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. If you’re not already watching it, I highly recommend using your free trial of Paramount+ to do so (maybe over the holidays?).

Onward to book reviews!

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