Curriculum Vitae
Links provided where available.
Education
PhD – English (minor in Cultural Studies), Indiana University, Bloomington, 2010.
MA – English, Illinois State University, 2001.
BA – English (minor in Cinema Studies), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2000.
Teaching Positions
Associate Professor, English, University of Houston-Victoria (2012-2022; tenured 2019).
Adjunct Faculty, English, Ivy Tech Community College (2006, 2011).
Visiting Lecturer, English, Indiana University (2009-2010).
Teaching Fellow, Indiana University, (2007-2009).
Editorial Positions
Senior Editor, American Book Review (2022—present).
Managing Editor, American Book Review (2012-2022).
Assistant Fiction Editor, Indiana Review (2005-2007).
Films Editor, The Free Press, Bloomington, IN (2003).
Assistant Editor, Columbia Publications, Urbana, IL (1997-1998).
Longer Works
The Many Lives of the Evil Dead: Essays on the Cult Film Franchise. Editors Ron Riekki and Jeffrey A. Sartain. McFarland, 2019. ISBN: 1-4766-68710.
Sacred and Immoral: On the Writings of Chuck Palahniuk. Edited by Jeffrey A. Sartain. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009. ISBN: 1-4438-03628.
Volume Advisor. “Chuck Palahniuk,” 2nd Revised and Updated Edition, Contemporary Literary Criticism, 2022, Gale Publications.
Volume Advisor, “Chuck Palahniuk.” Contemporary Literary Criticism 359 (2014): 253-341.
Focus Editor, “Minimalisms.” American Book Review 33.4 (2012).
Discourses of the Digital Age: Representations of Computer Technology in Popular Narratives. Dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2010. Director: De Witt Douglas Kilgore (English). Committee: Dana Anderson (English), Robert Ivie (Cultural Studies), Ted Striphas (Cultural Studies). Defense 23 April 2010. Degree Awarded 30 Sept. 2010.
Selected Media Appearances
Vest, Jason. “The gonzo journalist who forever changed political campaign coverage.” 10 May 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/05/10/hunter-thompson-campaign-coverage/.
Interviewed with Betsy Baker and Ron Riekki on Everything Horror podcast, 8 April 2019.
Hefner, Nicole. “Fans return to sequels, remakes during summer movie season.” 30 April 2014. https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/361mag/entertainment/fans-return-to-sequels-remakes-during-summer-movie-season/article_d9fa6516-3505-5847-a178-32b7f0a1cd11.html.
Appeared in Postcards from the Future: The Chuck Palahniuk Documentary, dir. Dennis Widmyer, Kevin Kölsch, and Joshua Chaplinsky, Kinky Mule Films, 2003.
Shorter Works
“Amy Hempel” and “Chuck Palahniuk.” The Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Fiction. Eds. Stephen Burn, Lesley Larkin, and Patrick O’Donnell. Wiley-Blackwell, 2022.
“‘Shoot First, Think Never’: Ash’s Satire of Neoliberal Individualism.” The Many Lives of the Evil Dead: Essays on the Cult Film Franchise. Eds. Ron Riekki and Jeffrey A. Sartain. McFarland, 2019: 131-143.
“Cyberculture.” Bloomsbury Handbook of Literary and Cultural Theory. Ed. Jeffrey R. Di Leo. Bloomsbury, 2018, pp. 431-32.
“Geeksploitation: Gender and Genius in The Big Bang Theory.” Genius on Television: Essays on Small Screen Depictions of Big Minds. Ed. Ashley Carlson. McFarland, 2015. 96-112.
“Days Gone Bye: Robert Kirkman's Re-envisioned Western, The Walking Dead.” Undead and the West II: They Just Keep Coming, Eds. Cynthia Miller and A. Bowden Van Riper. Scarecrow, 2013. 249-68.
“Battle Gaming: Social Media and Sports on the Margins.” Gender and Genre in the Sports Documentary: Critical Essays. Eds. Zachary Ingle and David M. Sutera. Scarecrow, 2013. 121-35.
“Electronic Pioneers and Silicon Gunslingers: Non-Fiction Narratives of the Computer Industry.” Crisscrossing Borders in Literature of the American West. Eds. Cheli Reutter and Reg Dyck. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. 21-35.
Sartain, Jeffrey A. and Courtney Wennerstrom. “Invisible Carrots and Fainting Fans: Queer Humor and Abject Horror in ‘Guts.’” Sacred and Immoral: On the Writings of Chuck Palahniuk. Ed. Jeffrey A. Sartain. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009. 159-177.
“Phillip K. Dick,” “Gonzo Journalism,” “Dennis Hopper,” “Chuck Palahniuk,” “Medieval Re-enactment,” “Role-Playing Games,” “The X-Files.” American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History. Ed. Gina Misiroglu. Sharpe Reference, 2009. Won American Library Association’s RUSA Award for Best Reference Work, 2010.
“Chuck Palahniuk” and “Tom Spanbauer.” LGBTQ America Today: An Encyclopedia. Ed. John Hawley. Greenwood, 2008. 844-45, 1155-56.
“A Selected Bibliography of Chuck Palahniuk.” Stirrings Still 2.2 (2005): 143-67. Rev. and Rpt.: Sacred and Immoral: On the Writings of Chuck Palahniuk. Ed. Jeffrey A. Sartain. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009. 193-227.
“’Even the Mona Lisa’s Falling Apart’: The Cultural Assimilation of Scientific Epistemologies in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fiction.” Stirrings Still 2.2 (2005): 25-47.
Book Reviews
Rev. of The American Robot: A Cultural History, by Dustin A. Abnet. Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 54, no. 3, June 2021, pp. 666–669.
“Flash Five Ways.” Rev. of They Could No Longer Contain Themselves, eds. Abigail Beckel and Kathleen Rooney. American Book Review 33.4 (2012): 10.
Rev. of Clown Girl, by Monica Drake. Indiana Review 29.1 (2007): 188-89.
“The Rarest of Literary Concoctions.” Rev. of Icelander, by Dustin Long. American Book Review 28.2 (2007): 23+.
Rev. of Last Fall, by Ronald Sukenick. Indiana Review 28.2 (2007): 134-35.
Rev. of The Skyscraper That Flew, by Jesús Salvador Treviño. Indiana Review 28.1 (2006): 182-83.
Rev. of Exit Strategy, by Douglas Rushkoff. Indiana Review 27.1 (2005): 238-40.
“All the Lonely People.” Rev. of Stranger than Fiction: True Stories, by Chuck Palahniuk. American Book Review Nov. 2004: 26.
Presentations: Regional and National
“Serial Killers and Pseudonyms: Hardboiled Genre Tropes, Literary Authors, and The Hand That Feeds You.” SCMLA 2018, San Antonio, TX.
“’Shoot First, Think Never’”: Evil Dead’s Ash Williams as Critique of Neoliberal Individualism.” PCA/ACA 2018, Indianapolis, IN.
"Material and Reading: The Book Object and Chuck Palahniuk's Fiction." SCMLA 2016, Dallas TX.
“Long Live the Minimalisms: Unmasking Meaning in Contemporary Short-Short Fiction.” SCMLA 2015, Nashville, TN.
“Geeksploitation: Gender and Genius in The Big Bang Theory.” PCA/ACA 2015, New Orleans, LA.
“Technorealist Fiction: Narrating Digital Subjectivity in Analog Form.” SCMLA 2013. New Orleans, LA.
“Days Gone By: Robert Kirkman's Re-envisioned Western, The Walking Dead.” 40th Annual Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture, University of Louisville, 2012.
“Posthuman Futures: Narrative and Universal Subjectivities in Popular Posthumanism.” MLA 2011, “Race and Posthumanism” panel, Los Angeles, CA.
“Invisible Carrots and Fainting Fans: Queer Humor and Abject Horror in ‘Guts.’” 37th Annual Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900, University of Louisville, 2009.
“Silicon Gunslingers and Cyber Puritans: Myth, Masculinity, and the Development of the Information Industry.” 35th Annual 20th Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, 2007.
“Business Culture and Technorealism: Technology and Subjectivity in the Fiction of Coupland, Powers, Rushkoff, and Gibson.” 34th Annual 20th Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, 2006.
“A Man against the People: Postmodern Excess in Citizen Kane." Indiana University Conference on Excess, 2004.
"Light, Chaos, and Entropy: Contemporary Physics in Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club." 2nd Chuck Palahniuk Conference: "Postcards from the Future," Edinboro University, Pennsylvania, 2003.
"Light, Chaos, and Entropy: Contemporary Physics in Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club." 31st Annual 20th Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, 2003.
Selected Interviews, Essays, and Journalism
“Cobra Kai comes to Netflix.” The Ryder. Jan. 2021: 35.
Frequent contributor to the Victoria Advocate, Victoria, Texas (2014-2018)
“Literature for the 21st Century.” 21 Mar. 2018.
“Sartain: First spring ABR speaker tells her story of survival.” 24 Jan 2018.
“Clay Reynolds writes of a disappearing Texas.” 5 Dec. 2017.
“Ru Freeman explores Sri Lanka in fiction.” 24 Oct. 2017.
“Giving a voice to those often ignored.” 27 Sept. 2017.
“Author tackles race relations through memorable novels.” 8 Mar. 2017.
“Author mixes fact, fiction and absurdity.” 24 Jan 2017.
“Author shares darkly funny fictions.” 29 Nov. 2016.
“Author spots humor in tragic situations.” 20 Sept. 2016.
“Writer creates vivid portraits of place and time.” 9 Mar 2016.
“Prose that shimmers on the page.” 27 Jan 2016.
“Reading Series Author Champions Regional Literature.” 24 Sept. 2014.
“Author Examines Life, Nature in Essays.” 25 Mar. 2014.
“American Book Review: Speaker shares explorations of identity.” 29 Jan 2014.
“An ABR Interview with Lydia Yuknavitch.” American Book Review 34.3 (March/April 2013): 15.
Frequent contributor to Bloom Magazine, Bloomington, Indiana, 2006-2012.
“Gallery Walk: Shop, Sip Wine, and Enjoy the Art.” Bloom 13 Feb. 2012.
“Paper Crane: A New Gallery, Art Workshop, and Store.” Bloom 13 Feb. 2012.
“Village Deli Now Showing Works of Local Artists.” Bloom 13 Feb. 2012.
“B-town Business Aids Those with Autism.” Bloom 28 Nov. 2012.
“What Is BARC? And Why Is It So Important?” Bloom Aug./Sep. 2010: 47.
“Michael Koryta: Our Noir Detective Writer.” Bloom Aug./Sep. 2007: 17.
“Buzz! Whiz! Bang! Vintage Phoenix Sells Comic Books.” Bloom Aug./Sep. 2010: 45.
“Bloomington: A Dog’s Kind of Town.” Bloom Apr./May 2007: 54-57.
“Lara Moore: Artist with the Midas Touch.” Bloom Feb./Mar. 2007: 15.
“Roger Hangarter: Melding Art and Science.” Bloom Feb./Mar. 2007: 13.
“Joel Washington: Janitor and Painter.” Bloom Feb./Mar. 2007: 12.
“Randy White: A Theatrical Visionary.” Bloom Dec. 2006/Jan. 2007:12.
“Dustin Long: Bloomington’s Newest Novelist.” Bloom Dec. 2006/Jan. 2007: 13.
“Pride Film Festival Kicks off January 25.” Bloom Dec. 2006/Jan. 2007: 24.
“Interview: Chuck Palahniuk.” Strange Horizons. 16 Oct. 2006. Rpt. In Playboy Russia Dec. 2008.; Playboy Ukraine Jan. 2009.; Rpt.in Weekender [South Africa].
“Ninthletter.com.” Ninth Letter 2.1 (2005): 88.
“Professor Palahniuk? Not Quite.” Poets and Writers Mar. 2004: 16.
Frequent contributor to Micro-film Magazine, Urbana, Illinois, 2000-2004.
"The Parallel View, Pt. 2: Our Lady of Sorrow." Micro-film 6 (2004): 15-17.
“The Parallel View, Pt. 1: Our Lady of Sorrow.” Micro-film 5 (2002): 6.
Rev. of A Galaxy Far Far Away and Geek Monthly ‘Zine. Micro-film 6 (2004): 39.
“Not Your Average ‘Book of the Dead.’” Micro-film 5 (2002): 28.
Frequent contributor to The Free Press, Bloomington, Indiana, 2003.