Research Fellow at io9

So, the announcement just went live on io9 just a little while ago. Back in November, the website, which features all sorts of science fiction and related genre news, tidbits and articles, began to look for a new crop of interns. I interviewed for the position, and was offered a chance to become the site's first research fellow.

The announcement linked in this blog, as well as my 501st one (which I need to update a bit more often.) I don't know if I'll see more traffic through here or not, but to briefly introduce myself, beyond what I wrote up for the website, I'm a grad student studying military history, and I've been a geek for a while now, and more than just Star Wars, despite being a 501st member.

During my time at this post, I'm going to be pursuing a couple of research projects, articles and book reviews. I've already begun the process of outlining my latest project, which will be examining the impact of the Cold War upon the Science Fiction genre in American history. That's somewhat tentative, while I do research, and that could very well change over time. I've got several other ideas coming up that I'm quite excited about.

Midway through college, experienced a change in direction. I entered Norwich University with a degree in history, mainly because that was familiar, somewhat interesting. I liked World War II history, and felt that Norwich, as a military academy, would be a good choice. During one summer, probably between my 2nd and 3rd years, I came across a fantastic book called The Men Of Tomorrow: Geeks Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book, which showed me just how facinating and interesting the history behind the genre was. Since then, I've become far more interested in not only how the genre has evolved over time, but looking at the social status of the so-called geek/nerd cultures that have sprung up in the 20th century.

Understanding one's roots is facinating ground to cover, and it is certainly something that I'm going to continue looking at. Not only that, but elements of history that have had a profound impact on the genre - currently the history of space travel and exploration. My thesis for my masters, coming up in June (hopefully), will focus on the Comic Book industry and the effects that the Second World War and later conflicts had upon the writers and stories. Thus, this position seems to be an extremely good fit to give me some purpose when it comes to doing research, which will hopefully be interesting to readers. Time should tell, I guess.

So, we'll see what happens over the next six months. I'm very excited.