-
Recent Posts
Top Posts & Pages
Archives
- August 2023
- May 2023
- January 2023
- November 2022
- August 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- January 2022
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- May 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- July 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- January 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
Blogs I Follow
Categories
Meta
Author Archives: nathanielwms
Is All Nostalgia Retro? Answer: No
As I researched my paper on science fiction and nostalgia, I came across the work of Svetlana Boym. In many ways, her book–The Future of Nostalgia–is an unintentional answer to SF scholars who protest contemporary science fiction’s use of retro … Continue reading
Science Fiction Music Panels at Eaton/SFRA
The Eaton Conference went well this weekend. Jason Ellis posted a great digitally curated collection of Twitter posts covering several of the major panels. Still, it’s only the tip of the iceberg. It’s worth listing the musical artists or soundtracks … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Leave a comment
Looking Back on Science Fiction Nostalgia in 2012
While researching my paper on Buddy Holly, nostalgia, and retro-futurism for the Eaton/SFRA Science Fiction conference, I came across this interesting exchange from October 2012. I’ll be mentioning these three essays (at least in passing) during my presentation; they’re worth … Continue reading
On Teaching Boneshaker; or, Steampunk’s Gritty Nostalgia
What makes steampunk tick? Is it nostalgia or something else? I understand nostalgia for the ’50s or the ’80s. A lot of people are still alive who lived through that. But why set stories a hundred-plus years in the past? … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged boneshaker, cherie priest, nostalgia, steampunk, teaching steampunk
Leave a comment
SF Fandom Birthed Rock Journalism (Remembering Paul Williams)
I just learned that rock critic and science-fiction researcher Paul Williams passed away Wednesday. Anyone looking for an example of how science fiction fandom helped create rock n’ roll journalism, look no further than the first half of this interview … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged crawdaddy, music in science fiction, nostalgia, Paul Williams, rock and roll, rock journalism, Sci Fi, science fiction
Leave a comment
Intro to Steampunk Exhibit
Earlier this school year, I contributed an introductory essay for “Worlds of Steampunk: Fiction, Art, Fashion, and Culture,” a multimedia exhibit at UC Davis’s Shields Library. Research librarians Roberto C. Delgadillo and Marcia Meister have created an invaluable resource for … Continue reading
I Want More Short Stories (for JGAA)
Some of you know I’m one of the fiction slush readers for James Gunn’s Ad Astra, an online magazine of fiction, poetry, and scholarship published at the University of Kansas. I want to make a push for more fiction submissions … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Leave a comment
Buddy Holly, Bradley Denton, and Bahktin
I’m almost reluctant to write about Brad Denton’s Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede because I’ll be talking about it in my Eaton Science Fiction Conference paper on retro-futurism and nostalgia. Instead of covering that material here, I … Continue reading
George Lucas and Pavement: My Imaginary California
When I started dating a girl from the Sacramento Valley, there were only two northern California towns I really knew and cared about. One was Stockton, the town that produced the great band Pavement. “Cesspool,” the people who’d been there … Continue reading
A Kansas City Labrick in California, Part 3
It has been brought to my attention that the term “Kansas City Labrick” may in fact be a geo-social redundancy, akin to “pushy New Yorker” or “dumbass Texan”*. *Any offended Texans, please note that the last one comes directly from … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged Bradley Denton, Buddy Holly, Ganymede, Labrick, Mark Twain, nathaniel williams, nostalgia
Leave a comment
Howard Waldrop Saves the Day!
If you know Howard Waldrop’s classic short story “Save a Place in the Lifeboat for Me,” (from his collection, Howard Who?) you know it pulls off a sci-fi/magical-realist blend of the Golden Age of Hollywood and the “Day the Music … Continue reading
“…Look, Look. Look Where Your Hands Are. Now”
What can I say about Toni Morrison’s Jazz? It’s great. I’ve taught it in American Lit surveys. But this week was the first time I covered it in a special topics upper-division class, which often puts books in a different … Continue reading
February 3rd, 2009 – A First Draft
File this under “strange things music nostalgia will drive you to do.” Four years ago today, on the 50th anniversary of their deaths, I drove to Clear Lake, Iowa and walked to the crash site of the plane that carried … Continue reading
Little Nate-o in Chabon Land
Thoughts on teaching The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, at three-quarters of the way through: As friend and fellow CSSF Writers Workshop alumnus Mark Silcox put it “I don’t think there’s another writer alive one could learn more from … Continue reading
Ragtime
Fredric Jameson’s famous essay “Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” singles out E. L. Doctorow’s Ragtime as a text that touches postmodern nostalgia, yet retains its allegiance to some cultural norm and progressive political agenda. As such, it … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged doctorow, emma goldman, houdini, jameson, postmodernism, ragtime, steampunk
Leave a comment
A Kansas City Labrick in California, Part 2 (Sci-Fi edition)
Two days after teaching Tom Sawyer (see Part 1), I find myself writing a grant proposal to visit libraries with Twain collections. So, I’m thinking about him in the scope of my research, not just as a fan or a … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged Connecticut Yankee, Edisonades, King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain, science fiction, Senarens, Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer Abroad
Leave a comment
A Kansas City Labrick in California*
I’m teaching The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in my Topics in the Novel: Nostalgia/Desiderium class today. Rather than wax on Twain’s approach to nostalgia, I want to wax on my nostalgia for Twain—or lack thereof. See, I grew up in … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged Hannibal, Labrick, Mark Twain, nathaniel williams, nostalgia, Tom Sawyer, Twain Museum
Leave a comment
Why I’m OK with “Sci-Fi”
Exhibit A in the ways pop culture nostalgia affects my work with speculative literature: I’m OK with the term “Sci-Fi.” A lot of folks working in SF hate the label. They see it as a dismissive term, used by those … Continue reading
You Sell Wonderment?
I write (mostly) speculative fiction, and I’ve taught science fiction classes at University of California, Davis, including a “Nostalgia and Desiderium” novels class covering pop music and science fiction tropes. I will intermittently post material that encompasses those endeavors. Posts usually cover one or more … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged aboutsf, desiderium, dime novels, Edisonades, nathaniel williams, nostalgia, retro-futurism, science fiction, steampunk
2 Comments
Nathaniel Williams 