What do Moomintrolls, Tolkien, 1978, and reindeer steaks have to do with Jukka Halme? In my third Interviewing the Fans feature, I talk to Jukka Halme about becoming an sf/f fan, the works that influenced him, the changing technological landscape, and Finland.
As most of you are aware by now, I’m teaching an upper division literature course in fall. The theme: American space opera. A few weeks ago, the department approved my syllabus, so come the end of next month, I will be teaching a whole lot of really interesting works. Here’s what my students will be reading:
As an academic, it is often very difficult to shut off the faculties I’ve spent the last fourteen years building. Since I spend almost every day of the week analyzing literature, reading or thinking about theoretical/philosophical texts, I generally use my brain in a very particular way. Turning that off is a chore, but a necessary one. In fact, it is often so difficult to turn off that even some of my colleagues have expressed dismay at the inability or unwillingness of other academics to turn those faculties off just long enough to have a “regular conversation.” It’s a problem I’ve seen, too, and it sometimes results in a distancing effect between those who can’t turn it off and those that can. Since I’m so often engaged in everyday sf/f fandom, the exercise of flipping that little academic switch is, in my opinion, crucial. One such exercise occurred last Sunday when I went with a friend to see Ant-Man, the last entry in Marvel Studio’s Phase 2. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and if I can muster the words to say something intelligent about the film, I’ll write a review for Totally Pretentious. Discussing the film on Twitter eventually prompted a brief discussion with David Annandale and John Stevens about the impact of “academic brain” on one’s ability to enjoy a creative product.
What do Transformers, unicorns, and Rachael Acks have in common? In the latest edition of my Interviewing the Fans feature, I talk to Rachael about how she became a fan, how genre has influenced her, dystopia fatigue, and more. You can find out more about Rachael and her work on her website and her Twitter account. Enjoy the episode! You can download the MP3 here or stream the file below. Intro and outro music comes from “Pyro Flow” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com); licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
Just a quick update for folks who have been listening to the Shaun’s Rambles stuff and would like to point their podcatcher to an appropriate feed. You can now subscriber directly to Shaun’s Rambles via the following links (also shown in the sidebar): Podcast-ready RSS Feed iTunes Stitcher As with the previous message, regular programming should begin on Friday. Expect one or two more non-regular posts between now and then!
That’s it. The website has been moved. Feeds have been redirected successfully, the podcast feed for Shaun’s Rambles is almost done, and any lingering blog posts have been posted. I be excited! Things aren’t in perfect order yet. There are still a few tweaks to deal with on the website, after all. However, things should return to normal in a couple days. On the docket for the next couple weeks: Finish tweaking the website Resume my posting schedule Change my Patreon page to put emphasis on my podcasting Take over the World Point people to the new RSS feed for the Shaun’s Rambles stuff and jump joyously because it’ll be on iTunes Resume Shaun’s Rambles (hopefully, it’ll be a weekly 15-minutes-or-less thing) Take over the solar system and oust the Martian Emperor from power Possibly other things I can’t think of at the moment Blow up the sun because I’m a supervillain So, yay. Done. Woot!
