Ron Riekki

After its publication in 1986, Stephen King's novel It sparked sequels, remakes, parodies and solidified an entire genre: clown horror. Decades later, director Andy Muschietti revitalized King's popular novel, smashing all box office expectations with the release of his 2017 film It. At the time of its release, the movie set the record for the world's highest-grossing horror film. Examining the legacy of the controversial cult novel, the 2017 box office sensation and other incarnations of the demonic clown Pennywise, this collection of never-before-published essays covers the franchise from a variety of perspectives. Topics include examinations of the carnivalesque in both the novel and films, depictions of sexuality and theology in the book, and manifestations of patriarchy and the franchise, among other diverse subjects.

Essays on the Stephen King Horror Franchise

The Many Lives of It

Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr.

More than sixty years after the The Twilight Zone debuted on television, the show remains a cultural phenomenon, including a feature film, three television reboots, a comic book series, a magazine and a theatrical production. This collection of new essays offers a roadmap through a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. Scholars, writers, artists and contributors to the 1980s series investigate the many incarnations of Rod Serling's influential vision through close readings of episodes, explorations of major themes and first-person accounts of working on the show.

Essays on the Television and Film Franchise

The Many Lives of The Twilight Zone

Ben Fama

Niina Pollari

Josh Gardner

Elizabeth Mikesch

Moonshot No. 3: Secret will be devoting a section to a special theme. James Merrill wrote entire poetry collections based on his seances with the spirit Ephraim. Sylvia Plath references her Taroc (Tarot) pack in the infamous "Daddy," and when she asks the Ouija board about fame in Hughes' Birthdays Letters, it responds with "You will have paid for it with your happiness, / Your husband and your life..." The creative arts have always had a relationship with the mysteries of the world, inspired by those things just outside the range of our senses. For our fall issue, we want to hear secrets, to take a glimpse into the unknowable: childhood's language of fairy tales and fables, the secret movement of the stars, incantations, spirits, the mysteries surrounding death. We seek the uncanny, the hidden, the immeasurable.

Secret

Moonshot No. 3

Michigan's Upper Peninsula is distinct from the rest of the state in geography, climate, and culture, including a unique and thriving creative writing community. In The Way North: Collected Upper Peninsula New Works, editor Ron Riekki presents poetry, fiction, and non-fiction from memorable, varied voices that are writing from and about Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In all, this unique anthology features new works from forty-two writers, including rising star Ellen Airgood, Edgar Award-winner Steve Hamilton, Rona Jaffe Award-winner Catie Rosemurgy, Jonathan Johnson of Best American Poetry, Michigan Notable Book Award-winner Keith Taylor, and Michigan Author Award-winner John Smolens. In 49 poems and 20 stories-diverse in form, length, and content-readers are introduced to the unmistakable terrain and characters of the U.P. The book not only showcases the snow, small towns, and idiosyncratic characters that readers might expect but also introduces unexpected regions and voices. From the powerful powwow in Baraga of April Lindala's "For the Healing of All Women" to the sex-charged basement in Stambaugh of Chad Faries's "Hotel Stambaugh: Michigan, 1977" to the splendor found between Newberry and Paradise in Joseph D. Haske's "Tahquamenon," readers will delight in discovering the work of both new and established authors. The contributors range widely in age, gender, and background, as The Way North highlights the work of established writers, teachers, students, laborers, fishermen, housewives, and many others. The Way North brings the U.P.'s literary tradition to the awareness of more readers and showcases some of the most compelling work connected to the area. It will be welcomed by readers interested in new fiction and poetry and instructors of courses on Michigan writing.

Collected Upper Peninsula New Works

The Way North

Literary Nonfiction. Ron Riekki's POSTTRAUMATIC is at turns heartbreaking and hysterically funny, profound and absurd, filled with acerbic wit and a sense of childlike innocence. Drawing on Riekki's experience in the military, as an EMT, as an actor, his time at a marketing firm in China, and much, much more, the essays contained in POSTTRAUMATIC are at times hard to believe, but are never short of brutally honest.

A Memoir

Posttraumatic

Poems

Blood / Not Blood Then the Gates

Jeffrey A. Sartain

One of the top-grossing independent films of all time, The Evil Dead (1981) sparked a worldwide cult following, resulting in sequels, remakes, musicals, comic books, conventions, video games and a television series. Examining the legacy of one of the all-time great horror films, this collection of new essays covers the franchise from a range of perspectives. Topics include The Evil Dead as punk rock cinema, the Deadites' (demon-possessed undead) place in the American zombie tradition, the powers and limitations of Deadites, evil as affect, and the films' satire of neoliberal individualism.

Ron Riekki

Books

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