My research interests center around American literature and culture, from the late-nineteenth century to the present day. Areas of focus include architecture and urban spaces in literature, race and gender in speculative fiction, early science fiction in periodicals, and new media. My research involves study of material culture and print history, especially in terms of how ephemera and the archive inform our understandings of literary texts and their contexts, and I am particularly interested in how digital technologies afford new means of encountering and interpreting archives and archival materials.
My first monograph, American Cities in Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction (UCL Press, 2021), looks at representations of urban ruin in American fiction in a range of media, from early examples of science fiction in mainstream and pulp magazines, through blockbuster film, golden age radio drama, video games, and recent transmedia franchises. I argue that these post-apocalyptic representations of the American city are uniquely suited for explorations of contemporary urban issues, and that creators harness the singular affordances of emerging and developing media to create their immersive and compelling fictional worlds.
ORCID