Presentations by AHS

INDIVIDUAL PRESENTATIONS BY AHS

2024

• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Why You Should Read Frankenstein,'” The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, October 29
• “Missing Students and Their Fictional Afterlives: True Crime, Crime Fiction, and Dark Academia,” Guilty Pleasures: Examining Crime in Popular Culture Conference, The Popular Culture Research Network, online, May 3
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “‘A Fortnight in the Wilderness’ with Alexis de Tocqueville,” Teacher Scholars Program with The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, May 1
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Tocqueville’s America — and Ours: ‘A Fortnight in the Wilderness,'” The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, April 30
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Five Reasons to Read Mary Shelley Right Now,” The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, February 26

2023

• “Consumed by the Campus: Dark Academia, the Gothic Imagination, and the Missing Student,” Consuming the Gothic Conference, Sheffield Gothic, Sheffield, UK, November 28
• “A Vanished Student Leaves a Haunted Space: An Unsolved Mystery and the Gothic Imagination on the Dark Academia Campus,” Perilous Realms and Haunted Spaces: New England Moot 2023, Derry, New Hampshire, October 21
• “‘They Walked without Speaking’: Guardians of the Whills, Andor, and Local Resistance,” Realizing Resistance Episode III: The Expanding Universe Conference, Digital Culture Studies Cooperative, online, May 5

2022

• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Whitechapel ‘What Ifs’: Evolving Perspectives on the Autumn of Terror in Science Fiction,” Casebook: Jack the Ripper Conference 2022, online, October 9
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Finding History in Star Wars,” Virtual Lecture Series, Morse Institute Library, Natick, Massachusetts, May 12

2021

• “Dark Arts, Spells, and Secret Histories: Dark Academia 101,” Harry Potter Academic Conference X, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 15
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “How Star Trek Changed the World and Why It Still Matters,” Virtual Lecture Series, Taylorsville Library, Salt Lake County Library System, Utah, September 28
• Keynote Speaker by invitation, “The Patterns and Promise of Fandom Communities: Re-Enchantment in 2021,” Prancing Pony Podcast Virtual Moot, online, May 15

2020

• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Reading The Machine Stops in 2020,” The Mecosta Circle Book Club, Louisville, Kentucky, October 8
• Keynote Speaker by invitation, “Speculative Fiction as ‘Reflecting Shield’: Defying and Defining the Darkness,” Mythmoot VII: An Annual Speculative Literature Conference, Leesburg, Virginia, August 8
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Indigenous Futurism: The New Native American Literature of Hope,” The Arts and Lecture series at Tusculum University, Greeneville, Tennessee, July 29
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Why Read Fahrenheit 451 in 2020?,” The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, June 30
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Indigenous Futurism: Native American Women and the New Literature of Hope,” The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, March 24
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Reason, Responsibility, and Frankenstein‘s Three Mothers,” The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, February 16

2019

• Guest Speaker, “Jedi, Wizards, and Indigenous Futurism: Popular Culture in Research-Based/Multidisciplinary Seminars,” Appalachian College Association 2019 Summit, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, September 21

2018

• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Indigenous Futurism: New Native American Literatures of Hope,” Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio, November 15
• Keynote Speaker by invitation, “Why We Need New Magic: Tolkien, Rowling, and Post-Potter Fantasy Literature,” Generic Magic Festival, Roanoke, Virginia, October 6
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Indigenous Futurism and History: Discovering Yesterday and Imagining Tomorrow,” Annual Meeting of the Kentucky Association of Teachers of History, Louisville, Kentucky, September 15
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Tecumseh and His Legacy,” Strength of Tradition Project sponsored by Absentee Shawnee Tribe Behavioral Health Services, Norman, Oklahoma, June 21
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Why We Still Want — and Need — Sherlock Holmes,” The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, February 18
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Frankenstein at 200 (and the Women Who Made Him),” The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, January 21

2017

• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Why You Need Fairy-Stories: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Defense of Fantasy,” The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, November 12
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Why Harry Potter Is A Hobbit,” “The Jedi of Middle-earth?,” and “Writing Workshop: What Makes Good Fan Fiction,” A Long-Expected Party 4 in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, September 28-30
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “The Hunger Games, Ready Player One, and YA Heroes from Dystopian Futures,” Western Wyoming Community College, Rock Springs, Wyoming, April 12

2016

• Guest Speaker by invitation, “‘This Is How Liberty Dies’: Republics, Empires, Star Wars, and the Question of Democracy,” at the “Liberty and Justice: Foundations for a Free Society” Conference at Cato Institute, Washington, D.C., November 4
• “His Fordship in the Capitol and Big Brother in the Districts: How The Hunger Games’ World of Tomorrow Builds on SF’s Classic Past”,” MidAmeriCon II/The 74th World Science Fiction Convention Academic Track/Campbell Academic Conference, Kansas City, Missouri, August 18
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Sherlock Holmes and Science Fiction,” RavenCon, Williamsburg, Virginia, April 29

2015

• Guest Speaker by invitation, “The Jedi, the Cowboy, and… Thomas Edison? Pulp Science Fiction and Star Wars,” Mythgard Institute’s Guest Lecture Series sponsored by Signum University, online event, August 15
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Sherlock Holmes and Science Fiction,” SofaCON 2: An International, Online Science Fiction Convention sponsored by StarShipSofa, online event, March 15
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Why We Can’t Get Enough of Sherlock Holmes” and “Rights and Responsibilities in the Writings of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley,” The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, February 14 and 15

2014

• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Science Fiction and Liberty,” Students for Liberty Regional Conference at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 15
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Tolkieniana: A Fan Fiction Case Study,” “The Magic Ring meets The Lord of the Rings,” and “Your Dwarves Don’t Dance and Your Elves Don’t Rock-n-Roll: A Tour of Tolkien-Inspired World Music,” A Long-Expected Party 3 in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, September 25-27
• “Millennials and Worlds Gone Wrong: These Aren’t Your Parents’ YA Dystopias,” Loncon 3/The 72nd World Science Fiction Convention Young Adult Track, London, England, August 17
• “Sherlock Holmes and Science Fiction,” Loncon 3/The 72nd World Science Fiction Convention Scholarly Track, London, England, August 15
• Guest Lecturer by invitation, “Everything I Needed to Know About Property Rights, I Learned from The Hunger Games,” “‘I Aim to Misbehave: What a Space Cowboy Teaches Us About Liberty,” and “Why Are Worlds Gone Wrong So Hot?: The Explosion of Young Adult Dystopias and the Next Generation” for “Life Is Improv: How Art, Culture, and the Free Market Make the World Beautiful,” sponsored by the Foundation for Economic Education, at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, June 24 and 25

2013

• Keynote Speaker by invitation, “The Hunger Games and the Dystopian Tradition,” a live “Tyrants and Tributes: Real World Lessons from The Hunger Games” Webinar, for Learn Liberty Academy, sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies, online, December 22
• Guest speaker by invitation, “Remembering Tecumseh: A Great Native American Leader,” Native American History Month event at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina, November 15
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Science Fiction and Liberty,” Students for Liberty Regional Conference hosted by Young Americans for Liberty at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, October 26
• “The Birth of Science Fiction Conventions,” SofaCON: An International, Online Science Fiction Convention sponsored by StarShipSofa online event, July 28
• “‘Crowded in My Sky’: Frontier Narratives and Freedom in Firefly and Serenity,” Joss in June: A Conference on the Works of Joss Whedon at Cleveland Community College in Shelby, North Carolina, June 29
• “Why Kendra Dumbledore? Harry Potter in His Native American Context,” The PotterWatch 2013 Scholarly Conference on Harry Potter, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, April 6

2012

• Guest Speaker by invitation, “‘I Take My Life in My Hand’: A Tale of Two Cherokees and the Trail of Tears,” Catawba County Executives Club, Hickory, North Carolina, November 1
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Finding Dumbledore’s Mother: Harry Potter’s (Native) American Context,” Harry Pottefest 2012 at Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, North Carolina, October 29
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Rethinking the Trail of Tears,” The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, October 25
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “The Trail of Tears: They Knew It Was Wrong and The Soviet Story,” 2012 Free Minds Film Festival at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, Colorado, September 30
• Keynote Speaker by invitation, “The Hunger Games and the Science Fiction Tradition,” a live “Looking Back on Genre History” Webinar, sponsored by StarShipSofa, online, September 1
• Speaker by invitation, “Property Rights, American Indians and Reservation Socialism,” Cato University, sponsored by The Cato Institute, Washington, D.C., August 2
• Keynote Speaker by invitation, “’Tomorrow Isn’t What It Used to Be’: Reflections on the Current Explosion of Young Adult Dystopian Novels,” Dystopia and the Problem of Technology” Conference sponsored by The Working Group on Political Theory at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, April 19
• Speaker by invitation, “The Literary Science Fiction Ancestors of Fringe,” SONAR: The Symposium On Nerdy Academic Research, sponsored by The Science Fiction Fantasy Federation of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, High Point, North Carolina, March 3
• Keynote Speaker by invitation, “Sherlock Holmes and Science Fiction,” a live “Looking Back on Genre History” Webinar, sponsored by StarShipSofa, online, February 18

2011

• Keynote Speaker by invitation, “On Fairy-Stories, Readers, and the Potterverse,” The PotterWatch 2011 Scholarly Conference on Harry Potter, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina, October 1
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Must Read Time Travel Works,” The Time Travel Holodeck Webinar, sponsored by StarShipSofa, online, July 23
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Lasting Lessons from The Trail of Tears,” The Unitarian Universalist Church of Catawba County, Hickory, North Carolina, February 27

2010

• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Who’s Afraid of J.K. Rowling?: In Search of Harry Potter’s ‘Appropriate’ Readership,” Potterfest at Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, North Carolina, October 25
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Young Adult Dystopias: What Do They Mean for Science Fiction?,” ReConStruction: The 10th Occasional North American Science Fiction Convention, Raleigh, North Carolina, August 7
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “The Rise of Young Adult Dystopias,” RavenCon, Richmond, Virginia, April 9
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “What We Can Learn From Young Adult Dystopias,” The Unitarian Universalist Church of Catawba County, Hickory, North Carolina, March 21
• Keynote Speaker by invitation, “‘I Take My Life in My Hand’: A Tale of Two Cherokees and the Trail of Tears,” A Night with the Friends of Rudisill Library, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, North Carolina, March 12
• Guest Presenter by invitation, “You Say Shoggoth, I Say Hobbit: The Lovecraft-Tolkien Connection,” MarsCon, Williamsburg, Virginia, January 16

2009

• Keynote Speaker by invitation, “Contemporary Young Adult Dystopian Novels and What They Can Teach Us,” McConnell Center Lecture Series, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, September 11
• “Anticipating Worlds Gone Wrong: Contemporary Young Adult Dystopias,” Anticipation/The 67th World Science Fiction Convention Scholarly Track, Montreal, Canada, August 9
• Visiting Expert by invitation, “The Tolkien Shadow over Hogwarts and Contemporary Fantasy,” “J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: The Real and Imagined Middle Ages” National Endowment for the Humanities Institute at Texas A&M University – Commerce, Commerce, Texas, July 28
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Remembering the Trail of Tears,” Oakwood Elementary School, Hickory Public Schools, Hickory, North Carolina, April 30
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “When Harry Met Faerie: The Tolkien Solution to the Rowling Problem,” RavenCon, Richmond, Virginia, April 25
• Keynote Speaker by invitation, “Pushing the Boundaries in English Studies: From Middle-Earth to Hogwarts,” Third Annual Symposium on English Studies, Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, Tennessee, March 21

2008

• Conference Director and Discussion Leader for “Liberty, Property, and Native America” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Indianapolis, IN, April 10-13
• “The H.P. Lovecraft-J.R.R. Tolkien Connection,” The Association for Private Enterprise Education 2008 International Convention, Las Vegas, Nevada, April 8
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “The Legacy of the Trail of Tears and Indian Removal,” First American: Voices Film Series, Sponsored by Lenoir-Rhyne College and The Women’s Resource Center of Hickory, Hickory, North Carolina, February 28

2007

• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Teaching Archetypes through Science Fiction and Fantasy,” Teacher Continuing Education Program, Broken Arrow Public Schools, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, January 31
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Science Fiction, Fantasy, and ‘Archetype Soup'” and “Lovecraft, Tolkien, and the Problem of Modernity,” Broken Arrow High School, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, January 30 and 31
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Harry Potter is a Hobbit? The Tolkien Solution to the Rowling Problem,” Broken Arrow Senior High School “Evening With An Author” Series, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, January 30

2006

• “Quest for The Magic Ring: A Rediscovered Fairy Tale,” Fifth Annual Fall Humanities Symposium, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, October 26
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Rights Under Attack: The Captain Power Story,” PhreakNIC 10: Technology and Culture Exposition, Nashville, Tennessee, October 20
• Scholar Guest of Honor Keynote Address, “Native America and Fantasy: Challenges for Scholars and Readers,” MythCon 37, Norman, Oklahoma, August 5
• Guest Faculty presentations, “Property Rights Among Native Americans” and “Property and the Human Imagination,” Cato University, St. Pete’s Beach, Florida, July 28
• Scholarly Guest presentations, “The Magic Ring meets The Lord of the Rings” and “Your Dwarves Don’t Dance and Your Elves Don’t Rock-n-Roll: A Tour of Tolkien-Inspired World Music,” The Gathering of the Fellowship 2006, Toronto, Canada, July 2 and 3
• Special Guest presentations, “You Say Hobbit, I Say Shoggoth: The J.R.R. Tolkien-H.P. Lovecraft Connection” and “‘A Loon Is He That Will Not Sing’: Tolkienian Music Across the World,” HyperiCon II, Nashville, Tennessee, June 24
• “The Fouqué Influence: From The Magic Ring to The Lord of the Rings,” Lómelindi Smial of The Tolkien Society, Nashville, TN, June 21
• “Government Failure as Obstacle to Native American Market Success,” The Association of Private Enterprise Education 2006 International Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, April 3
• Special Guest presentation, “The Middle-Earth – Hogwarts Connection: How J.R.R. Tolkien Answers the Harry Potter Question,” ORC: The One Ring Celebration, Pasadena, California, January 21

2005

• Conference Manager, “Past Watchful Dragons: Fantasy and Faith in the World of C.S. Lewis,” Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, November 3-5
• “The Lost State of Franklin,” Fourth Annual Fall Humanities Symposium, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, October 27
• Special Guest presentation, “Still Big Brother After All These Years: Totalitarianism in Science Fiction,” PhreakNIC: Technology and Culture Exposition, Nashville, Tennessee, October 22
• “On ‘Past Watchful Dragons’: Fantasy and Faith in the World of C.S. Lewis,” New Student Family Day, Belmont University, Nashville, TN, September 17
• Special Guest presentations, “When Harry Met Faerie: Harry Potter as J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fairy-Story” and “Sexy Nerds: The Evolution of the Cerebral Hero in Television Drama,” HyperiCon, Nashville, Tennessee, June 17 and 18
• Special Guest presentations, “J.K. Rowling’s Problem, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Solution” and “Middle-Earth Writings: Tolkien Fan Fiction as a Case Study,” Xanadu 8/DeepSouthCon 43, Nashville, Tennessee, April 9
• Special Guest presentation, “Computers and ‘Sexy Nerds’: How Technology Changed the Cerebral Hero in SF/F Television,” MidSouthCon 23, Memphis, Tennessee, April 2
• “Reimagining Rosie: Portrayals of Tolkien’s Rosie Cotton in 21st-Century Fan Fiction,” Academic Lecture Convocation Program, Students for the Advancement of Gender Equality, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, March 30
• “The Problem of Native America” and “Cultural Optimism,” “Free Your Mind” Seminar, Duke University with the Institute for Humane Studies, Durham, North Carolina, February 4 and 5

2004

• Guest Speaker by invitation, “The BIA: An Institutional Overview,” Focus Honor Series, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, November 11
• Special Guest presentations, “The King of SF’s Golden Age: How Robert A. Heinlein Earned the Crown” and “Sexy Nerds: Computers and the Development of the Cerebral Hero in Television Drama,” PhreakNIC 8: Technology and Culture Exposition, Nashville, Tennessee, October 22 and 23
• “The Problem of Native America,” “Free Your Mind” Seminar, The Political Theory Project at Brown University with the Institute for Humane Studies, Providence, Rhode Island, October 16
• “For Whom Does the Hogwarts Bell Toll?: Rowling’s Problem, Tolkien’s Solution,” MythCon 35, The Mythopoeic Society, Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 30
• Special Guest presentation, “Middle-earth in Music: Forty Years of World Sounds” at Xanadu 7, Nashville, Tennessee, May 8
• Special Guest presentations, “Your Dwarves Don’t Dance and Your Elves Don’t Rock-n-Roll: Middle-earth in Music” and “Harry Potter is a Hobbit: How J.R.R. Tolkien Put the Adult in Children’s Literature” at MidSouthCon 22/DeepSouthCon 42, Memphis, Tennessee, March 26 and 28
• Participant by invitation in “The Lord of the Rings as Christian Literature,” Faith Development Convocation Event, Belmont Honors Council, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, March 1
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “Why Read J.R.R. Tolkien?” Croft Library Series, Croft Middle School, Nashville Metro Public Schools, Nashville, Tennessee, January 28

AHS signing at her 2006 book launch event in Toronto, Ontario. Photo by Ryan Cagle.

2003

• Guest of Honor keynote speech, “Harry Potter is a Hobbit: How J.R.R. Tolkien Put the Adult in Children’s Literature,” The Gathering of the Fellowship International “Bag End” Scholarly Program, Toronto, Ontario, December 16
• “J.R.R. Tolkien’s Fairy-Stories: ‘A Higher Form of Art'” Premiere Presentation of The University College Lecture Series, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, December 11
• “Harry Potter is a Hobbit: J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling,” Academic Lecture Convocation Presentation, Belmont English Club, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, November 7
• Guest Speaker by invitation, “The History of Science Fiction,” PhreakNIC 7: Technology and Culture Exposition, Nashville, Tennessee, October 25
• “Reimagining Rose: Portrayals of Tolkien’s Rosie Cotton in Twenty-First Century Fan Fiction,” MythCon 34, The Mythopoeic Society, Nashville, Tennessee, July 25

2002

• Keynote speech, “Women in Power in Native America,” Women’s History Month Program, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, March 13

2001

• “Retaining Amerindian Traditions in the Arena of Modern Education,” current research presentation, “Scholarship and the Free Society” Seminar, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, June 10

1998

• “‘Fly For Your Lives’: The Contested Cherokee Press in the Era of Removal,” American Society for Ethnohistory, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 14
• “The Sword in the Starship: The Arthuriana of Star Trek,” 13th Internationa Conference on Medievalism, Rochester, New York, October 8
• “The Phaser As Excalibur: Star Trek, Federation Guns, and Arthurian Myth,” “Bang Bang, Shoot Shoot! Film, Television, Guns” Conference, Media Studies Working Group, Toronto, Ontario, May 16
• “The ‘Middle Ground’ of Homicide: Eighteenth Century Colonial Carolina and Cherokee Clan Law,” Organization of American Historians, Indianapolis, Indiana, April 4

1997

• “The 1820s Reinvention of the Cherokee Language: The New Nationalism,” “Languages and Voices in the Americas” International Conference, University of Versailles at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, October 17

1996

• “James Adair’s Tradition of Ethnography: Millenarians, Rabbis, and the Jewish Indian Theory,” Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, Nashville, Tennessee, July 20
• “The Rise, Decline, and Reemergence of Classical Liberalism,” Second Annual Probasco Chair Secondary Education Conference on Classical Liberalism, The University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, Tennessee, June 12
• “‘Charged With Republican Notions’: Early Politics and Compacts in Tennessee Country,” The Tennessee Historical Society Bicentennial Lecture Series “Eden of the West,” Nashville, Tennessee, May 7
• “Classifying the ‘Other’ In the New World: Native American Culture and the Jewish Indian Theory,” Tennessee-Kentucky Chapter, American Studies Association, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, April 20

1995

• “Essex and the People: Chivalry, Patriotism, and the Image of the Rebel Earl,” Carolinas Symposium on British Studies, Boone, North Carolina, October 7
• “The Rise, Decline, and Reemergence of Classical Liberalism,” First Annual Probasco Chair Secondary Education Conference on Classical Liberalism, The University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, Tennessee, June 14
• “Transylvania, Franklin, Tennessee: The Procedural and Substantive Innovations of the Three Tennessee Constitutions,” Tennessee Political Science Association, Dickson, Tennessee, April 7
• “The Transylvania Colony and the State of Frankland: The National Impacts of Two Bids For Independence,” Tennessee-Kentucky Chapter, American Studies Association, Harrodsburg, Kentucky, March 31

PANEL PRESENTATIONS AND SCHOLARLY ROUNDTABLES INCLUDING AHS

2021

• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Dune,” Mythgard Movie Club, online, December 10
• Discussion participant by invitation in “The Villa and the Vortex: A Conversation with Melissa Edmundson,” Handheld Press Book Club, online, September 14
• Discussion participant by invitation in “Women’s Weird: A Conversation with Melissa Edmundson,” Handheld Press Book Club, online, April 13
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Liberty and the Great Plains: Willa Cather and Laura Ingalls Wilder” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, March 11-12

2019

• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Liberty, Creativity, and Individualism in the Work of Ray Bradbury” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, March 28-31

2017

• “Writing in Multiple Tie-In Universes,” “Writing Sherlock Holmes and Other Icons,” “Mixing Historical Research with Genre Fiction,” and “Writing from Different Perspectives” at ConGregate 4/DeepSouthCon 55, High Point, North Carolina, July 14-15

2016

• “Queer Star Wars Literature: New Canon and Legends,” “Alienation and Science Fiction,” “Inspiring the Creativity,” “Magazine Group Reading: Escape Artists, Inc.,” and “Criticism in Speculative Fiction” at MidAmeriCon II/The 74th World Science Fiction Convention Academic Track/Campbell Academic Conference, Kansas City, Missouri, August 19-21
• “Star Wars Literature: New Canon and Legends,” “Star Trek and Diversity,” “Fifty Years of Star Trek,” “Where’s Rey?,” “We Are Sherlock-ed,” and “Disney-Era Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One” at ConCarolinas, Concord, North Carolina, June 3-5
• “Star Wars Literature: New Canon and Legends,” “Going Where No Man Has Gone Before: Roddenberry’s Star Trek vs. Abrams’ Star Trek,” and “Podcasting,” at RavenCon, Williamsburg, Virginia, April 30

2015

• Discussion leader for “Liberty, Compact, and Covenant: the Iroquois League” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Williamsburg, Virginia, September 17-20
• Q&A with Guest of Honor David Brin for SofaCON 2: An International, Online Science Fiction Convention sponsored by StarShipSofa online event, March 15

2014

• “The J.R.R. Tolkien-H.P. Lovecraft Connection” and “The Making of The Magic Ring: The Illustrated Edition,” A Long-Expected Party 4: Ever On in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, September 25-27
• “Commercializing Fans,” “Young Adult SF on the Big Screen,” and “Young Adult and Middle-Grade SF” at Loncon 3/The 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, London, England, August 16
• “Breakfast and Books,” “I Am SHERlocked,” “The Hobbit (The Films),” and “The Hunger Games” at ConCarolinas, Charlotte, North Carolina, May 30 1-June 1
• Q&A with Author Sherman Alexie for the Visiting Writers Series at Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, North Carolina, March 28

2013

• Q&A with Make-Up Artist Jennifer McCollom and Costume Designer Cheralyn Lambeth for Young Adult Literature and Film: The Hunger Games event at Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, North Carolina, November 1
• Q&A with Guest of Honor Lois McMaster Bujold for SofaCON: An International, Online Science Fiction Convention sponsored by StarShipSofa online event, July 28
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Limiting Majoritarianism in Republican Constitutional Theory” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, May 9-12
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Liberty, Knowledge, and the Economic Process” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Santa Fe, New Mexico, March 7-10

2012

• “The Legacy of Harry Potter,” “The Hunger Games,” “Elementary, My Dear Watson,” “Young Adult Lit: From Twilight to The Hunger Games,” “The Hobbit (The Book),” and “The Hobbit (The Films)” at ConCarolinas, Charlotte, North Carolina, June 1-3
• Discussion leader for “The Bourgeois Virtue in Film and Fiction” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Washington, DC, May 11-13
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Liberty and Responsibility in the American Anti-slavery Movement” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, March 8-11
• “Origins of Modern Fantasy,” “Research for the Writer,” and “The Hunger Games” at StellarCon 36, High Point, North Carolina, March 2-4

2011

• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Liberty and the Greek and Persian Wars,” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Portland, Maine, October 6-9
• “The Hobbit Film,” “Star Trek Memories,” “Sherlock and Sherlock Holmes,” “Harry Potter: Books vs. Film ” and “The 11th Doctor Who” at ConCarolinas, Charlotte, North Carolina, June 3-5
• “Podcasts: Finally Getting Respect?,” “Ten Rules About Writing,” “Thirteen Dooms,” “Tony Ruggiero’s Quick Write!” and “Harry Potter Retrospective” at StellarCon 25, High Point, North Carolina, March 4-6
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Journalistic Bias in a Free Society” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Washington, DC, January 13-15

2010

• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Liberty and Responsibility in Isabel Paterson’s The God of the Machine” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Tucson, Arizona, September 9-12
• “Harry Potter Retrospective,” “Young Adult Fiction Is a Good Thing, Isn’t It?,” “Reviving Fandom’s Relevance in the 21st Century,” “Regional Fandom,” and “Time Travel and Star Trek” at ReConStruction: The 10th Occasional North American Science Fiction Convention, Raleigh, North Carolina, August 5-7
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Four Ways to Freedom: Cultural Traditions of Liberty in America” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Tucson, Arizona, May 13-15
• “Lost and Found,” “Podcasting: The Future of SF Magazines,” “Putting the Adult in Young Adult Stories,” “Chuck,” and “Stephenie Meyer vs. J.K. Rowling: The Art of Magic vs. Pretty Vampires” at RavenCon, Richmond, Virginia, April 9-11
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “The Clash of Economic Ideas” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Tucson, Arizona, May 20-22
• “Young Adult Science Fiction: Classic Traditions and New Trends” and “Podcasting: What’s Hot, What’s Next!” at MarsCon, Williamsburg, Virginia, January 15-17

2009

• “Hard SF: Is it What You Do, or How You Do It?” at Anticipation/The 67th World Science Fiction Convention Literature Track, Montreal, Canada, August 10
• “It’s a Disaster” and “The Revival of Audio SF” at Anticipation/The 67th World Science Fiction Convention Media Track, Montreal, Canada, August 8-9
• Guest Author panelist by invitation, “Are you Lost Yet?,” “Sci-Fi vs. Fantasy,” “There and Back Again: A Hobbit Discussion,” and “Boldy Go!” at ConCarolinas, Charlotte, North Carolina, May 29-31
• Guest Author panelist by invitation, “The Adult in ‘Young Adult,'” “Ten Books You’d Save for Your Child,” and “Beyond Harry Potter” at RavenCon, Richmond, Virginia, April 24-26
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Liberty and the Social Gospel Movement” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Tucson, Arizona, February 12-15

2008

• Co-Discussion Leader by invitation in “Liberty and Responsibility in Adam Smith” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Holland, Michigan, August 1-7
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Externalities, Public Goods, and Common Property” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, June 19-22
• Guest Author panelist, “The Best Books You’ve Never Heard Of,” “The Hobbit: The Motion Picture,” “Harry Potter: The Aftermath,” “Where No One Has Gone Before?,” “The Rise of Goth,” and “Where’s My Personal Jetpack?” at ConCarolinas 2008, Charlotte, North Carolina, May 30-June 1
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Natural Law, Liberty, and Order in Jacques Maritain and Christopher Dawson” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, April 24-27

2007

• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Socratic Leadership Seminar I” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, October 5-7
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Benjamin Constant’s Principles of Politics” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Montreal, Canada, September 20-23
• Discussion Leader by invitation in “Liberty and Responsibility in the Literature of Frontiers: Westerns and Sagas” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Tucson, Arizona, May 3-6
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Secession, Local Autonomy, and Liberty” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., New Castle Island, New Hampshire, April 3-6
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Liberty, Constitutionalism, and Economic Development” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Tucson, Arizona, February 15-18
• Co-Discussion Leader by invitation in “Literature and Politics” Colloquium, Institution for Humane Studies and Liberty Fund, Inc., Los Angeles, California, December 8-10
• Panelist by invitation, “Tolkien Fan Fiction” and “Why Tolkien?,” The Gathering of the Fellowship 2006, Toronto, Canada, July 2 and 3
• Panelist by invitation, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Books vs. Movies,” “Saturday Morning Flashback,” “The C.S. Lewis-J.R.R. Tolkien Connection,” “J.R.R.Tolkien Literary Panel,” and “Space: New Frontier Themes in Science Fiction,” MidSouthCon 24, Memphis, Tennessee, March 24-26

2006

• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Liberty and the American West in the Films of John Ford” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., San Francisco, California, March 9-12
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Understanding Liberty and Responsibility on the Frontier: Economics, History, and Literature” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., La Jolla, California, February 2-5
• Panelist by invitation, “The Stewardship of the Valar,” “The ‘Gift of Men’: A Blessing or Curse? How the Various People of Middle-Earth View and Handle Death,” and “Tolkien and the Fates: A Discussion of Free Will and Predestination in The Lord of the Rings,” ORC: The One Ring Celebration, Pasadena, California, January 21-22

2005

• Panelist by invitation, “Cult TV,” HyperiCon, Nashville, Tennessee, June 18
• Panelist by invitation, “Roddenberry, Lucas, Straczynski, Carter, and Whedon: Whose Mythology Best Defines the Late 20th Century?,” “Freedom and Subjugation in SF,” “Tolkien in the Humanities Classroom,” “The Science of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth,” and “Tolkien Literary Panel,” MidSouthCon 23, Memphis, Tennessee, April 1-3
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Liberty and Authority in the Thought of George Orwell” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., La Jolla, California, March 17-20

2004

• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Mars As The New Utopia” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., La Jolla, California, November 4-7
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Property Rights and Liberty” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Bozeman, Montana, October 7-9
• Panelist by invitation, “Between Youth and Wisdom,” MythCon 35, The Mythopoeic Society, Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 31
• Panelist, “The Hero’s Journey and Genre Fiction” and “Women in Middle-Earth” at Xanadu 7, Nashville, Tennessee, May 8
• Panelist by invitation, “Is Media SF Hurting Education?,” “Tolkien Literary Panel,” “Going to School in an SF Environment,” and “Women in Middle-Earth” at MidSouthCOn 22/DeepSouthCon 42, Memphis, Tennessee, March 27 and 28
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Liberty and Responsibility in the Literature of Frontiers: Sagas and Westerns” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Tucson, Arizona, February 26-29

2003

• Guest of Honor panelist by invitation, “Teaching Tolkien at the University Level,” “The Women in Middle-Earth,” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Books vs. the Films,” The Gathering of the Fellowship International “Bag End” Scholarly Program, Toronto, Ontario, December 15-17
• Panelist by invitation, “Teaching Tolkien: A Panel Discussion,” MythCon 34, The Mythopoeic Society, Nashville, Tennessee, July 26
• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Fantasies of Freedom: Liberty and Utopianism in Swift and Butler” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Key West, Florida, June 5-8

2002

• Roundtable participant by invitation in “The Writings of Robert A. Heinlein” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Tucson, Arizona, December 5-8
• Panelist by invitation representing Native American Issues, U.S. Department of State International Visitor Program Roundtable on Grassroots Democracy, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, November 1

2000

• Co-presenter with Beth Hewett and Christa Ehmann. “Taking Wing: Distance Training for OWL Tutors,” National Writing Centers Association Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, November 2

1998

• Roundtable participant by invitation in “Nationalism: A Threat to Liberty?” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Warrenton, Virginia, October 22-25

1994

• Roundtable participant by invitation in “The Moral Foundations of a Free Society” Colloquium, Liberty Fund, Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, April 29-May 1