Star Trek Discovery and the Female Gothic

"In Tell Fear No: Star Trek Discovery and the Female Gothic, Carey Milsap-Spears persuasively delineates the Gothic roots of the Star Trek franchise, and convincingly argues that Star Trek: Discovery - female led and orientated - can be further characterised as part of a tradition of ""Female Gothic"" dating back to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and Charlotte Brontë. With rich and satisfying analyses of both the Gothic and Star Trek, this a welcome addition to the burgeoning scholarship on the most recent entries in a franchise that marries both science and emotion. --Una McCormack, associate fellow of Homerton College, Cambridge, and NYT bestselling science fiction author If you've never thought that Star Trek Discovery and the female Gothic belong together, then let this entertaining and informative book show you where you must boldly go. By linking risk-taking heroines of centuries past to cutting-edge science fiction on television, Carey Millsap-Spears makes an original and compelling contribution. --Devoney Looser, Professor of English, University of Missouri Star Trek, along with much of American science fiction, has long been seen as a masculine genre, made for men, by men, about men. In Star Trek Discovery and the Female Gothic, however, Carey Millsap-Spears boldly re-situates the franchise in the rich, complex history of the female gothic narrative. By tracing a direct line between classic female gothic authors Ann Radcliffe and Mary Shelley, Millsap-Spears offers a much-needed re-examination of a beloved science fiction universe through an historical and critical lens. --Liz Faber, Dean College Star Trek: Discovery and the Female Gothic offers a deep dive into the history of the female gothic and scholarly responses to it, as well as into the unique position of Star Trek: Discovery in the wider Star Trek canon. It provides a fascinating glimpse into the ways in which a series grounded in science fiction and adventure narratives makes use of apparently incongruous gothic tropes and narrative forms. The Discovery series emerges here as a critically reflexive addition to the Star Trek universe, one that, like the gothic heroine herself, dares to highlight the casually colonialist, heteronormative, misogynist, and blithely optimistic discourses that underpin it. Star Trek: Discovery and the Female Gothic is a valuable resource for scholars and fans alike, boldly going into territories old and new. --Dara Downey, Trinity College Dublin"