-
Recent Posts
Top Posts & Pages
- Doc Savage: A Potential Beginner's Guide
- The Best of The Destroyer (Author's Choice): Revisiting Remo and Chuin
- Defining Science Fiction: A Writing Assignment
- What Stories Were Most Popular in SF Course?
- The Replacements: "Live and Drunk" at 35
- Essay from Worlds of Steampunk Exhibition
- Influential Albums - 10) Dinner Music for People Who Aren't Very Hungry
Archives
- 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
Category Archives: All Posts
Influential Albums – 3) The Complete Buddy Holly
To celebrate the upcoming publication of my short story, “The Record Collector,” I’m finally doing the “post an influential album each day for 10 days” thing that several friends challenged me to do. This was the first box set I … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged Buddy Holly, Buddy Holly Memorial Society, KCUR, The Record Collector
Leave a comment
Influential Albums – 4) Born in the U.S.A.
To celebrate the upcoming publication of my short story, “The Record Collector,” I’m finally doing the “post an influential album each day for 10 days” thing that several friends challenged me to do. Every song tells a story. All the … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged Album Sequence, Born in the USA, Bruce Springsteen, Buckaroo Banzai, I'm on Fire
Leave a comment
Influential Albums – 5) Still Life
To celebrate the upcoming publication of my short story, “The Record Collector,” I’m finally doing the “post an influential album each day for 10 days” thing that several friends challenged me to do. It’s not even close to the best … Continue reading
Influential Albums – 6) Alien Lanes
To celebrate the upcoming publication of my short story, “The Record Collector,” I’m finally doing the “post an influential album each day for 10 days” thing that several friends challenged me to do. 7) Alien Lanes, Guided by Voices I … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged abstract expressionism, alien lanes, Grinnell College, guided by voices
Leave a comment
Influential Albums – 7) This Year’s Model
To celebrate the upcoming publication of my short story, “The Record Collector,” I’m finally doing the “post an influential album each day for 10 days” thing that several friends challenged me to do. 7) This Year’s Model, Elvis Costello and … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Ten Influential Albums, This Year's Model
Leave a comment
Influential Albums – 8) The Blues, Vol. 1
To celebrate the upcoming publication of my short story, “The Record Collector,” I’m finally doing the “post an influential album each day for 10 days” thing that several friends challenged me to do. 8 – The Blues, Vol. 1 (Chess … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged 101 the Fox, American Graffiti, Blues, Chess Records, Chuck Berry, Hard Again, most influential albums, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Volume 1
Leave a comment
Influential Albums – 9) Still Feel Gone
To celebrate the upcoming publication of my short story, “The Record Collector,” I’m finally doing the “post an influential album each day for 10 days” thing that several friends challenged me to do. 9 – Still Feel Gone, Uncle Tupelo … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged Gun, Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Still Feel Gone, uncle tupelo, Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Leave a comment
Influential Albums – 10) Dinner Music for People Who Aren’t Very Hungry
To celebrate the upcoming publication of my short story, “The Record Collector,” I’m finally doing the “post an influential album each day for 10 days” thing that several friends challenged me to do. 10 – Dinner Music for People Who … Continue reading
Influential Albums – G.I. Blues
To celebrate the upcoming publication of my short story, “The Record Collector,” I’m finally doing the “post an influential album each day for 10 days” thing that several friends challenged me to do. Honorable Mention – G.I. Blues, Elvis Presley … Continue reading
More Gears and God Book Reviews
I’m pleased to share two great book reviews of Gears and God: Technocratic Fiction, Faith, and Empire in Mark Twain’s America that came out recently. Both do a fantastic job of covering the book’s focus on how dime-novel science fiction … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged American Literary Realism, C19, dime novels, Gears and God, Mark Twain, Mark Twain Annual, science fiction
Leave a comment
MLA 2020: A Final Reminiscence
In hindsight, my favorite moment of the 2020 MLA Conference in Seattle wasn’t the excellent panels or my presentation or the fine coffee, beer, and seafood. It was approaching the University of Minneapolis Press’s cubicle in the Academic Press Exhibition … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged 2020, Lemon Jail, MLA, The Replacements, University of Minneapolis
Leave a comment
MLA and Book Reviews
MLA 2020 went well. I gave my presentation on Mark Twain’s “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses” and got to connnect/re-connect with a lot of great scholars. University of Iowa Press was gracious enough to allow me to display Gears and God … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Leave a comment
The Replacements: “Live and Drunk” at 35
Thirty-five years ago, the Replacements performed one of rock music’s most brilliant acts of artistic sabotage. In 1984, the Minneapolis-based band was receiving accolades in the press. Music fans discussed when (not if) they’d move to a major label and … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged 12/9/84, 1984, Bill Sullivan, Bob Mehr, Bob Stinson, CBGB, December 9, Live and Drunk, New York, Paul Westerberg, The Replacements, Tour, Trouble Boys
Leave a comment
C19 Presentation on Steampunk
I learned this week that my proposed presentation, “The Pros and Cons of Steampunking a C19 Syllabus,” was accepted for the C19 (Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists) 2020 Conference. The presentation will be part of the “Teaching the Weird Nineteenth Century” … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged C19, c19 conference, steampunk, Teaching the Weird Nineteenth Century
Leave a comment
Minor Updates: Writing & Teaching
October is always a busy month that starts with a birthday and ends with Halloween. Not having any major news doesn’t mean I’m not really busy. To wit: Drafting paper for MLA presentation on Twain’s love of sea adventure fiction. … Continue reading
Go Country, Young Man (90s Music Nostalgia)
The Ken Burns-produced Country Music documentary that premiered on PBS last week is predictably great. It’s also giving me fits of nostalgia remembering the time I tried to be an “alternative country” singer. It was a very late-1990’s thing to … Continue reading
Twain Trip and Strange Stars Review
I’ll have at least one more research trip to the Mark Twain Papers in Berkeley between now and December (before I present at MLA on Twain’s love of sea adventure novels). I’m hoping to work a Bay-area bookstore appearance in … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged David Bowie, Mark Twain, Mark Twain Papers, Strange Stars
Leave a comment
American Novel to 1900 (Class Details)
This summer, I’m teaching UC Davis’s “American Novel to 1900” class. I used the class to try something I’d always wanted to do–something scholar Paul Lauter did while developing the uber-inclusive Heath Anthology of American Literature–namely, asking students to prioritize … Continue reading
August Updates: Book and Articles
My American Novels to 1900 class for UC Davis started last week, and I’m finishing up some big projects before fully diving into that pool. First, I’m doing final proofreading review for my “Science and Technology” chapter of Cambridge University … Continue reading
New Gears and God Review
Last month’s issue of Nineteenth-Century Literature featured a review of Gears and God. It requires a subscription to read the whole thing, but I’m providing a link to the preview of the first page from University of California Press’ page. … Continue reading
New Editing Gig at Mark Twain Annual
Last week, I formally agreed to be the new Book Review Editor for the Mark Twain Annual. The Annual is a fantastic journal–one that I look forward to each year. They publish Twain scholarship that takes risks, tries things, and … Continue reading
Live at ConQuesT 50
I returned from Kansas City a few weeks back and thought I’d share some highlights from the annual science fiction convention (ConQuesT). I appeared on two panels (one on American Gods, one on Doctor Who) and had reading that included … Continue reading
Posted in All Posts
Tagged American Gods, Bland Lemon Denton, ConQuesT, Doctor Who, Gears and God, James Hollaman, Kansas City, Keith Stokes
Leave a comment
Nathaniel Williams 