Curatorial Lead (Exhibitions) at the Science Museum, London
Education
Ph.D. in English Literature, University of Liverpool, June 2017.
M.A. (with distinction) in Science Fiction Studies, University of Liverpool, December 2009.
B.A. (Hons) (2:1) in English Language and Literature, University of Liverpool, June 2008.
Publications
M.A. (with distinction) in Science Fiction Studies, University of Liverpool, December 2009.
B.A. (Hons) (2:1) in English Language and Literature, University of Liverpool, June 2008.
Publications
(forthcoming) "Alternate History Holocaust Fiction", in Erin Mcglothlin and Stuart Taberner (eds.), The Cambridge History of Holocaust Literature. (Cambridge University Press)
(forthcoming) "Trauma", in Gavin Miller, Anna McFarlane, and Donna McCormack (eds.), The Edinburgh Companion to Science Fiction and the Medical Humanities. (Edinburgh University Press)
(2024) "Science Fiction Voyage to the Edge of the Imagination by the Science Museum in London" in Kristin Alford (ed.) Cultivating Futures Thinking in Museums (Routledge), pp. 160-165.
(2024) "Science Fiction Voyage to the Edge of the Imagination by the Science Museum in London" in Kristin Alford (ed.) Cultivating Futures Thinking in Museums (Routledge), pp. 160-165.
(2024) "Alternate History", in Mark Bould, Andrew M. Butler, and Sherryl Vint (eds.), The New Routledge Companion to Science Fiction. 2nd Edition. (Routledge), pp. 284-291.
(2024) "Plastics", "Cinema", and "The Internet", in Science Museum, A Brief History of Stuff: The Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary Objects. (DK)
(2024) various chapters contributed, in Mark Bould and Steven Shaviro (eds.), This is Not a Science Fiction Textbook. (MIT Press/Goldsmith Press): "Alternate History" (80-81), "Nisi Shawl, Everfair (2016)" (82-83), "Time travel" (144-145), "Annalee Newitz, The Future of Another Timeline (2019)" (146-147).
(2023) "Y Sŵn: this dramatisation
of the struggle for S4C is worth tuning into". Sight and Sound. Review.
(2022) Science Fiction: Imagining the Unimaginable. (Thames & Hudson). Edited Collection.
(2021) "New Ways: The Pandemics of Science Fiction". Interface Focus. 11. Peer-reviewed. Article.
(2021) "Science x Fiction: The Scientific Imagination and Science Fiction". The Open Eye Gallery. Guest blog post.
(2020) "Fabien Nury (writer), Sylvan Vallée (illustrations), Once Upon a Time in France", European History Quarterly. vol. 50, no. 4. pp. 734-736. Critical Review.
(2020) "Catherine Gallagher, Telling It Like It Wasn’t: The Counterfactual Imagination in History", SFRA Review. vol. 15, no. 2-3. Critical Review.
(2020) Imagining the Unimaginable: Speculative Fiction and the Holocaust. (Bloomsbury). Monograph
(2019) Sideways in Time: Alternate History and Counterfactual Narratives. (Liverpool University Press). Edited Collection.
(2018) "Detective, Historian, Reader: Alternate History and Alternative Facts in William Gibson's The Peripheral", Polish Journal for American Studies. vol. 12. pp. 307-318. Peer-reviewed Article.
(2018) "Patrizia Violi, Landscapes of Memory: Trauma, Space, History", European History Quarterly. vol. 48, no. 3. pp. 589-591. Critical Review.
(2018) "Where Have We Come From? Where Are We Going?: Identity and Self in Ann Leckie’s “Provenance”, Los Angeles Review of Books. Critical Review.
(2018) "Daniel H. Magilow and Lisa Silverman, Holocaust Representations in History: An Introduction", European History Quarterly. vol. 48. no. 1. pp. 167-169. Critical Review.
(2014-2017) Regular "Torque Control" editorials in Vector. no. 275-286.
(2016) "Beyond Brobdingnagians and Bolsheviks: Extra-Textual Readings of Swiftly and Yellow Blue Tibia", Christos Callow and Anna McFarlane (eds.), Adam Roberts: Critical Essays (Canterbury: Gylphi). Book Chapter.
(2015) "War in Pieces: Violence and Conflict in David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks". Los Angeles Review of Books. Critical Review.
(2015) "Speaking the Unspeakable and Seeing the Unseeable: The Role of Fantastika in Visualizing the Holocaust, or, More Than Just Maus", The Luminary, no. 6. Peer-reviewed Open-Source Article.
(2015) "The Ticking of Bone Clocks: David Mitchell in Conversation with Glyn Morgan". Vector. no. 281. pp. 12-17. Interview.
(2015) "An Interview with Gareth L. Powell Talking About a Monkey", Vector. no. 278. pp. 8-10. Interview.
(2014) "Alternate Histories and Conflicting Nows: Robert Harris' Fatherland and Fears of a Nazi Empire", Paradoxa, 26. pp. 173-190. Peer-reviewed Article.
(2013) "SFRA / Eaton 2013", Science Fiction Studies, vol. 54, no. 2, pp.405-6. Conference Report.
(2013) "Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio", Vector. no. 271. Critical Review.
(2012) "The Immersion Book of Steampunk ed. by Gareth D. Jones and Carmelo Rafala", Vector. no. 269. Critical Review.
(2011) "Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF] 2011", Science Fiction Studies, vol. 38, no. 3, p.567. Conference Report.
(2011) "This Shared Dream by Kathleen Ann Goonan", Foundation, no. 110, pp. 101-107. Critical Review.
(2011) "Understanding Maus", The Penguin Blog. Guest Blog Post.
(2001) Interview with Joe R. Lansdale, Twisted Tales website.
(2011) "The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction ed. by Mark Bould et al.", Vector, no. 267. Critical Review.
(2011) "The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories ed. by Ian Watson and Ian Whates", Foundation, no. 109, pp. 93-95. Critical Review.
(2011) "The Holy Machine by Chris Beckett", Foundation, no. 108, pp. 94-97. Critical Review.
Conferences and Talks
(2020) "Economies of Scale: Environmental Plastics, SF, and Graphic Narratives", Paradoxa. no. 31. [Climate Fictions special issue edited by Ali Sperling]. pp. 445-461. Peer-reviewed Article.
(2020) Imagining the Unimaginable: Speculative Fiction and the Holocaust. (Bloomsbury). Monograph
(2019) Sideways in Time: Alternate History and Counterfactual Narratives. (Liverpool University Press). Edited Collection.
(2018) "Detective, Historian, Reader: Alternate History and Alternative Facts in William Gibson's The Peripheral", Polish Journal for American Studies. vol. 12. pp. 307-318. Peer-reviewed Article.
(2018) "Patrizia Violi, Landscapes of Memory: Trauma, Space, History", European History Quarterly. vol. 48, no. 3. pp. 589-591. Critical Review.
(2018) "Where Have We Come From? Where Are We Going?: Identity and Self in Ann Leckie’s “Provenance”, Los Angeles Review of Books. Critical Review.
(2018) "Daniel H. Magilow and Lisa Silverman, Holocaust Representations in History: An Introduction", European History Quarterly. vol. 48. no. 1. pp. 167-169. Critical Review.
(2014-2017) Regular "Torque Control" editorials in Vector. no. 275-286.
(2016) "Beyond Brobdingnagians and Bolsheviks: Extra-Textual Readings of Swiftly and Yellow Blue Tibia", Christos Callow and Anna McFarlane (eds.), Adam Roberts: Critical Essays (Canterbury: Gylphi). Book Chapter.
(2015) "War in Pieces: Violence and Conflict in David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks". Los Angeles Review of Books. Critical Review.
(2015) "Speaking the Unspeakable and Seeing the Unseeable: The Role of Fantastika in Visualizing the Holocaust, or, More Than Just Maus", The Luminary, no. 6. Peer-reviewed Open-Source Article.
(2015) "The Ticking of Bone Clocks: David Mitchell in Conversation with Glyn Morgan". Vector. no. 281. pp. 12-17. Interview.
(2015) "An Interview with Gareth L. Powell Talking About a Monkey", Vector. no. 278. pp. 8-10. Interview.
(2014) "Alternate Histories and Conflicting Nows: Robert Harris' Fatherland and Fears of a Nazi Empire", Paradoxa, 26. pp. 173-190. Peer-reviewed Article.
(2013) "SFRA / Eaton 2013", Science Fiction Studies, vol. 54, no. 2, pp.405-6. Conference Report.
(2013) "Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio", Vector. no. 271. Critical Review.
(2012) "The Immersion Book of Steampunk ed. by Gareth D. Jones and Carmelo Rafala", Vector. no. 269. Critical Review.
(2011) "Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF] 2011", Science Fiction Studies, vol. 38, no. 3, p.567. Conference Report.
(2011) "This Shared Dream by Kathleen Ann Goonan", Foundation, no. 110, pp. 101-107. Critical Review.
(2011) "Understanding Maus", The Penguin Blog. Guest Blog Post.
(2001) Interview with Joe R. Lansdale, Twisted Tales website.
(2011) "The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction ed. by Mark Bould et al.", Vector, no. 267. Critical Review.
(2011) "The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories ed. by Ian Watson and Ian Whates", Foundation, no. 109, pp. 93-95. Critical Review.
(2011) "The Holy Machine by Chris Beckett", Foundation, no. 108, pp. 94-97. Critical Review.
Conferences and Talks
(June 2023) "Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination", York Festival of Ideas
(April 2023) "Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination", Edinburgh Science Festival
(March 2023) "Science Fiction and Careers in Museums", invited talk, Swansea University.
(March 2022) "'The Translucent Ghosts of Unwritten Books': Speculative Fiction and the Holocaust", Research Seminar, University of Chester.
(February 2022) "On Public Engagement and Ph.Ds", Bloomsbury Seminar, Birkbeck College, University of London.
(February 2021) "New Reflections: SF and the Holocaust's Continued Memory", New Directions in Science/Speculative Fiction, University of St. Andrews.
(September 2020) "‘The Sight of the Beautiful Wall’: Pandemic, Gentrification and Traumatic Apocalypses in Colson Whitehead’s Zone One", London Science Fiction Research Community Annual Conference: Beyond Borders, Birkbeck College, University of London.
(June 2019) "Inviting Worlds: An Introduction to Forbidden Planet", Science Fiction Theatre, The Castle Cinema.
(September 2018) "'For God's Sake Where Is God?' Evil, The Holocaust, and Fantastic Fiction", London Science Fiction Research Community Annual Conference: Sublime Cognition, Birkbeck College, University of London.
(April, 2018) "Alternate History, Alternate Fact: Detective, Historian, Reader", The Join 32nd European Association for American Studies & 63rd British Association for American Studies Conference [EBAAS], King's College London/University College London/The British Library
(December, 2017) "Speculative Pasts: Archaeology, Alternate History, and Excavating Trauma", Theoretical Archaeology Group [TAG] Conference, Cardiff University.
(March, 2017) "Blurred Lines: Interplay between Biography and the Fantastic in Graphic Memoir", Speculations lecture series, King's College London.
(May, 2016) "The Words Around Empty Spaces: Howard Jacobson’s J and the power of not writing about the Holocaust", Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Liverpool.
(August, 2015) "The Life and Works of Terry Pratchett", Lunchtime Classics, Waterstones Liverpool One.
(May, 2015) "Undoing What Was Done: Fantasies of Undoing the Holocaust, Great Men of History, and Meta-Trauma in Two Novels from 1970s America", Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Liverpool.
(August, 2014) "Alternate Histories and Conflicting Nows", SF/F Now, Warwick University.
(July, 2014) "The Necessity of Speaking the Unspeakable, Seeing the Unseeable: The Role of Fantastika in Visualising the Holocaust", Visualising Fantastika, Lancaster University.
(June, 2014) "Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five", Lunchtime Classics, Waterstones Liverpool One.
(May, 2014) "Non-Mimetic Fiction and the Language of Trauma", Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Liverpool.
(April, 2014) "Peace in Our Time: A Forgotten Piece of Theatre History", Stage the Future: The First International Conference on Science Fiction Theatre, Royal Holloway, University of London.
(October, 2013) "Fantasies of the Third Reich: Sarban's The Sound of His Horn and Spinrad's The Iron Dream", Fragments of Time: Interdisciplinary Conference on Culture and Social Change, Lancaster University
(June, 2013) "It's Not All About Maus: The Holocaust in Comics", Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF], University of Liverpool.
(May, 2013) "Under the Fence: Truth and Fiction in Graphic Holocaust Narratives", Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Liverpool.
(April, 2013) "H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds", Lunchtime Classics, Waterstones Liverpool One.
(April, 2013) "Mirror on the Edge of Forever: Alternate History and Televisual Narratives", SFRA / Eaton Conference, University of California Riverside.
(June, 2012) "Investigating Nothing: Trends in the Publication of Alternate Histories of the Second World War", Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF], University of Liverpool.
(May, 2012) "The War Before the War to End All Wars: Pre-1945 Visions of the Second World War and Their Impact on Post-War Alternate History", Science Fiction Seminar Series, University of Liverpool.
(May, 2012) "Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart'", Lunchtime Classics, Waterstones Liverpool One.
(July, 2011) "Branching Paths: Nazi Victories in Alternate Second World Wars", The Second World War: Popular Culture and Cultural Memory, University of Brighton.
(June, 2011) "Alternate Histories and the Paratextual Instinct", Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF], University of Liverpool.
(May, 2011) "The Enemy Within: British Fascism in Alternate Histories of the Second World War", Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Liverpool.
Interview and Event Experience
I've conducted interviews with authors, historians, editors, and academics at the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts, the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, the International Festival of Business, the British Science Fiction Association, and for Waterstones Liverpool and Waterstones Gower. Some of these I was invited to conduct, others I have organised myself, including booking the authors and publicising the events. For a full list of my interviews, and links to some of the recordings or transcripts look here.
Professional Affiliations and Services
Peer-Reviewer, The Luminary 2016. Medical Humanities 2016. Fafnir: The Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research 2017. C21 Literature 2020. BMJ: Medical Humanities 2022.
Exam Invigilator, Liverpool International College 2015-16
Sideways in Time: Alternate Histories and Counterfactual Narratives, conference organiser 2015.
Features Editor, Vector: The Critical Journal of the British Science Fiction Association, 2014-2017, #275- .
Science Fiction Foundation Conference, "Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space: the Fantastika and the Classical World", conference organisation team member 2013.
Current Research in Speculative Fiction (CRSF), conference team leader 2010-2017.
Twisted Tales Events, co-founder and events coordinator, 2010-2015.
Lunchtime Classics Readings and Lecture Series, founder and coordinator 2012-2015. Multi-University Public Impact.
Editorial work for The Science Fiction Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition.
Teaching Experience
(2021-22) Curating Science & Technology [HPSC0089], UCL. Lecturing & Tutoring.
(April 2020) "A Bunch of Stuff I Did and Learned in the First Ten Years of Being in Academia", Work in Progress, London Science Fiction Research Community. Invited keynote talk.
(September 2019) "Eco-nomy: Environmental Economics, SF, and Graphic Narratives", London Science Fiction Research Community Annual Conference: Productive Futures, Birkbeck College, University of London.
(September 2019) "Eco-nomy: Environmental Economics, SF, and Graphic Narratives", London Science Fiction Research Community Annual Conference: Productive Futures, Birkbeck College, University of London.
(June 2019) "Inviting Worlds: An Introduction to Forbidden Planet", Science Fiction Theatre, The Castle Cinema.
(September 2018) "'For God's Sake Where Is God?' Evil, The Holocaust, and Fantastic Fiction", London Science Fiction Research Community Annual Conference: Sublime Cognition, Birkbeck College, University of London.
(April, 2018) "Alternate History, Alternate Fact: Detective, Historian, Reader", The Join 32nd European Association for American Studies & 63rd British Association for American Studies Conference [EBAAS], King's College London/University College London/The British Library
(December, 2017) "Speculative Pasts: Archaeology, Alternate History, and Excavating Trauma", Theoretical Archaeology Group [TAG] Conference, Cardiff University.
(March, 2017) "Blurred Lines: Interplay between Biography and the Fantastic in Graphic Memoir", Speculations lecture series, King's College London.
(May, 2016) "The Words Around Empty Spaces: Howard Jacobson’s J and the power of not writing about the Holocaust", Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Liverpool.
(August, 2015) "The Life and Works of Terry Pratchett", Lunchtime Classics, Waterstones Liverpool One.
(May, 2015) "Undoing What Was Done: Fantasies of Undoing the Holocaust, Great Men of History, and Meta-Trauma in Two Novels from 1970s America", Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Liverpool.
(August, 2014) "Alternate Histories and Conflicting Nows", SF/F Now, Warwick University.
(July, 2014) "The Necessity of Speaking the Unspeakable, Seeing the Unseeable: The Role of Fantastika in Visualising the Holocaust", Visualising Fantastika, Lancaster University.
(June, 2014) "Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five", Lunchtime Classics, Waterstones Liverpool One.
(May, 2014) "Non-Mimetic Fiction and the Language of Trauma", Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Liverpool.
(April, 2014) "Peace in Our Time: A Forgotten Piece of Theatre History", Stage the Future: The First International Conference on Science Fiction Theatre, Royal Holloway, University of London.
(October, 2013) "Fantasies of the Third Reich: Sarban's The Sound of His Horn and Spinrad's The Iron Dream", Fragments of Time: Interdisciplinary Conference on Culture and Social Change, Lancaster University
(June, 2013) "It's Not All About Maus: The Holocaust in Comics", Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF], University of Liverpool.
(May, 2013) "Under the Fence: Truth and Fiction in Graphic Holocaust Narratives", Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Liverpool.
(April, 2013) "H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds", Lunchtime Classics, Waterstones Liverpool One.
(April, 2013) "Mirror on the Edge of Forever: Alternate History and Televisual Narratives", SFRA / Eaton Conference, University of California Riverside.
(June, 2012) "Investigating Nothing: Trends in the Publication of Alternate Histories of the Second World War", Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF], University of Liverpool.
(May, 2012) "The War Before the War to End All Wars: Pre-1945 Visions of the Second World War and Their Impact on Post-War Alternate History", Science Fiction Seminar Series, University of Liverpool.
(May, 2012) "Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart'", Lunchtime Classics, Waterstones Liverpool One.
(July, 2011) "Branching Paths: Nazi Victories in Alternate Second World Wars", The Second World War: Popular Culture and Cultural Memory, University of Brighton.
(June, 2011) "Alternate Histories and the Paratextual Instinct", Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF], University of Liverpool.
(May, 2011) "The Enemy Within: British Fascism in Alternate Histories of the Second World War", Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Liverpool.
Interview and Event Experience
I've conducted interviews with authors, historians, editors, and academics at the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts, the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, the International Festival of Business, the British Science Fiction Association, and for Waterstones Liverpool and Waterstones Gower. Some of these I was invited to conduct, others I have organised myself, including booking the authors and publicising the events. For a full list of my interviews, and links to some of the recordings or transcripts look here.
Professional Affiliations and Services
Peer-Reviewer, The Luminary 2016. Medical Humanities 2016. Fafnir: The Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research 2017. C21 Literature 2020. BMJ: Medical Humanities 2022.
Exam Invigilator, Liverpool International College 2015-16
Sideways in Time: Alternate Histories and Counterfactual Narratives, conference organiser 2015.
Features Editor, Vector: The Critical Journal of the British Science Fiction Association, 2014-2017, #275- .
Science Fiction Foundation Conference, "Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space: the Fantastika and the Classical World", conference organisation team member 2013.
Current Research in Speculative Fiction (CRSF), conference team leader 2010-2017.
Twisted Tales Events, co-founder and events coordinator, 2010-2015.
Lunchtime Classics Readings and Lecture Series, founder and coordinator 2012-2015. Multi-University Public Impact.
Editorial work for The Science Fiction Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition.
Teaching Experience
(2021-22) Curating Science & Technology [HPSC0089], UCL. Lecturing & Tutoring.
(2019-2023) Science Fiction in Art, Literature and Film, Imperial College, London. Evening Course. Module Design. Lecturing and Tutoring.
(2016-17) Modernism, 1950s Theatre, Shakespeare, Romantic Literature, Liverpool Hope University. Lecturing and Tutoring.
(2013) Completed Graduate Teaching Programme, University of Liverpool.
(2012-13, 13-14) Awarded Academic Development Bursary, University of Liverpool.
(2012-16) Talking Pictures [ENGL362], University of Liverpool. Lecturing.
(2012-14) Literature in Time [ENGL111], University of Liverpool. Tutoring.
(2011-12) Modernist Literature 1890-1939 [ENGL232], University of Liverpool. Tutoring.
(2011-12) The Way the Future Was: Anglo-American Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century [HIST238], University of Liverpool. Lecturing.
Other
(2024) Completed Mental Health First Aider training. MHFA England.
(2016-17) Modernism, 1950s Theatre, Shakespeare, Romantic Literature, Liverpool Hope University. Lecturing and Tutoring.
(2013) Completed Graduate Teaching Programme, University of Liverpool.
(2012-13, 13-14) Awarded Academic Development Bursary, University of Liverpool.
(2012-16) Talking Pictures [ENGL362], University of Liverpool. Lecturing.
(2012-14) Literature in Time [ENGL111], University of Liverpool. Tutoring.
(2011-12) Modernist Literature 1890-1939 [ENGL232], University of Liverpool. Tutoring.
(2011-12) The Way the Future Was: Anglo-American Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century [HIST238], University of Liverpool. Lecturing.
Other
(2024) Completed Mental Health First Aider training. MHFA England.
(2016- ) Head Steward at Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts, Hay-on-Wye.
(2009-2011) Weekly Book Review slot, Andy Ball's Saturday Breakfast Show, BBC Radio Merseyside.
(2009-2011) Weekly Book Review slot, Andy Ball's Saturday Breakfast Show, BBC Radio Merseyside.
