Timothy S. Miller
Timothy S. Miller works primarily on contemporary science fiction and fantasy literature, although he was originally trained as a medievalist with a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. His current major project explores representations of plants in speculative fiction, and most recently he has published a critical introduction to Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic fantasy novel A Wizard of Earthsea. His other published articles address authors as different as Le Guin, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, China Miéville, H. P. Lovecraft, Junot Díaz, and others, as well as science fiction and fantasy film. In 2022 he was also a guest on the podcast The Left Hand of Le Guin to discuss Le Guin’s novel The Beginning Place.
Recent Courses Taught at FAU:
- LIT 6934: Theorizing the Fantastic
- LIT 6932: Artificial Intelligence in Literature and Film
- LIT 3312: Fantasy Literature
- LIT 3333: Literature of Adolescence
- LIT 2931: Science and Fiction
Other Courses Taught Previously:
- Medieval Science and Medieval Fiction
- J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Medievalism
- Women and Science Fiction
MA Theses Chaired:
- “Reading Transness in AI Narratives: How Artificiality Constructs Transgender Identity”
- “The Harm in Knowing: The Importance of Perspective and the Dangers of Knowledge in H. P. Lovecraft”
- “‘This Land is In My Bones’”: Witchcraft, Magic, and Ecology in Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching Series”
- “The Reintegration of Women and Class Conflict into Epic/Grimdark Fantasy”
- “Social Ghosts of the Domestic Sphere: The Haunting Presence of the Monstrous Mother in Contemporary Fiction”
- “The Voice Not from Rivia: Silence, Ecofeminism, and Their Limits in The Witcher Series”
Other Graduate Theses Advised:
- “Analyzing BIPOC Representation in Young Adult Fiction”
- “‘The Trouble Began Long Before’: The Post-Apocalyptic Present of Octavia Butler’s Kindred”
- “Virtual Dungeons: Performance and Performative Play in Role-playing Games” (for the MFA in Media, Technology, and Entertainment)
- “Fessenden’s Worlds: Biosys, a Short Film Inspired by Edmond Hamilton’s ‘Fessenden’s Worlds’” (for the MFA in Media, Technology, and Entertainment)
Selected Publications:
Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea: A Critical Companion. Palgrave SFF: A New Canon. Ed. Keren Omry and Sean Guynes. Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.
“Tolkien and Rape: Sexual Terror, Sexual Violence, and the Woman’s Body in Middle-earth,” co-authored with Elizabeth Miller. Extrapolation 62.2 (2021): 133-155.
“Vegetable Love: Desire, Feeling, and Sexuality in Botanical Fiction.” Plants in Science Fiction: Speculative Vegetation. Ed. Katherine Bishop, Jerry Määttä, and David Higgins. Cardiff: The University of Wales Press, 2020. 105-126.
“Bidding with Beowulf, Dicing with Chaucer, and Playing Poker with King Arthur: Medievalism in Modern Board Gaming Culture.” Studies in Medievalism XXVIII: Medievalism and Discrimination (2019): 149-175.
“Precarity, Parenthood, and Play in Jennifer Phang’s Advantageous.” Science Fiction Film & Television 11.2 (2018): 177-201 [special issue on Women & Science Fiction Media].
“Flying Chaucers, Insectile Ecclesiasts, and Pilgrims Through Space and Time: The Science Fiction Chaucer.” The Chaucer Review 48.2 (2013): 129-165.
“Lives of the Monster Plants: The Revenge of the Vegetable in the Age of Animal Studies.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 23.3 (2012): 460-479.
“Preternatural Narration and the Lens of Genre Fiction in Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” Science Fiction Studies 38.1 (2011): 92-114.
“The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths: Escaping Escapism in Henson’s Labyrinth and Del Toro’s Laberinto.” Extrapolation 52.1: 26-50 (2011).
“From Bodily Fear to Cosmic Horror (and Back Again): The Tentacle Monster from Primordial Chaos to Hello Cthulhu.” Lovecraft Annual 5 (2011): 121-154.
“The Pearl Maiden’s Psyche: The Middle English Pearl and the Allegorical-Visionary “The Motley & the Motley: Conflicting and Conflicted Models of Generic Hybridity in China Miéville’s Bas-Lag.” Foundation 108 (2010): 39-65.
“Myth-Remaking in the Shadow of Vergil: The Captive(-ated) Voice of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Lavinia.” Mythlore 29.1/2 (2010): 29-50.
“‘I tell it as I best know how’: Fable, Fantasy, and Storytelling in Joanna Newsom’s ‘Colleen.’” Visions of Joanna Newsom. Ed. Bradley Buchanan. Sacramento: Roan Press, 2010. 57- 72.
“Frankenstein Without Frankenstein: The Iron Giant and the Absent Creator.” The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 20.3 (2009): 385-405.
