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Danel Olson

デイネル・オルソン

Danel Olson

Profile

Gender
Male
Nationality
American
Languages
English

Career

Occupations
Editor, Fiction anthologist, Video game analyst, Historian of comics and genre films/studios, Scholar of Gothic and terrorism literature, College Professor, Professor of English and Film
Active Years
1993-2025
Affiliations
Lone Star College
Influenced
Patrick McGrath, Guillermo del Toro
Nominations
Bram Stoker Award Finalist (thrice, including 9/11 Gothic 2022)

Education

St. Olaf College
English and Religion
Degree: B.A., English and Religion
Country: United States
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
English
Degree: M.A., English
Country: United States
University of Stirling
English Studies
Degree: PhD, English Studies
Year of Graduation: 2017
Country: United Kingdom
Dissertation: 9/11 Gothic: Trauma, Mourning and Spectrality in Novels from Don DeLillo, Jonathan Safran Foer, Lynne Sharon Schwartz, and Jess Walter

Awards

World Fantasy Award
2012
Work: Exotic Gothic 4
Category: Best Anthology
Organization: World Fantasy Convention
Result: Winner
World Fantasy Award
2018
Work: Writing Madness
Category: Professional
Organization: World Fantasy Convention
Result: Winner
Shirley Jackson Award
2012
Work: Exotic Gothic series
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Exotic Gothic 4

2012 Gothic Anthology

Anthology of new Gothic tales from emerging and established international authors, rejecting traditional tropes for dark, disturbing stories.

New GothicTabooExotic Gothic

Writing Madness: The Collected Short Fiction of Patrick McGrath

2017 Short Story Collection

Edited collection of Patrick McGrath's New Gothic short stories, with introduction by Joyce Carol Oates.

MadnessGothicSupernatural

21st-Century Gothic: Great Gothic Novels Since 2000

2010 Critical Anthology

53 original essays establishing a neo-Gothic canon of major works since 2000.

Neo-Gothic21st Century Gothic

9/11 Gothic: Decrypting Ghosts and Trauma in New York City's Terrorism Novels

2021 Critical Study

Analysis of trauma and spectrality in post-9/11 terrorism novels.

9/11TraumagothicTerrorism

The Exorcist: Studies in the Horror Film

2011 Film Studies Anthology

Comprehensive studies and interviews on The Exorcist films.

Horror FilmExorcismTrauma

Bibliography

  • Exotic Gothic: Forbidden Tales from Our Gothic World
  • Exotic Gothic 2: New Tales of Taboo
  • Exotic Gothic 3: Strange Visitations
  • Exotic Gothic 4: Postscripts #28/29
  • Exotic Gothic 5, Volume I
  • Exotic Gothic 5, Volume II
  • Writing Madness: The Collected Short Fiction of Patrick McGrath
  • 21st-Century Gothic: Great Gothic Novels Since 2000
  • The Exorcist: Studies in the Horror Film
  • Stanley Kubrick's The Shining: Studies in the Horror Film
  • Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth: Studies in the Horror Film
  • 9/11 Gothic: Decrypting Ghosts and Trauma in New York City's Terrorism Novels
  • Gothic War on Terror: Killing, Haunting, and PTSD in American Film, Fiction, and Video Games

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Interview-drivenComprehensive film and literary analysisInside-out investigation style
Recurring Motifs
Gothic traumaMonsters, ghosts, demons, zombiesPost-9/11 terrorismPTSD

Legacy

Renowned editor of Gothic anthologies and scholar of horror films and post-9/11 Gothic literature. Books praised by Washington Post as major contributions to film studies; multiple award winner including World Fantasy Awards.

Museums

  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Art Gallery of Ontario, Minneapolis Institute of Art USA

Archives

  • University of Stirling (Patrick McGrath Archive)

Trivia

  • Minnesota native
  • Thirteen books were Bram Stoker Award finalists
  • Many Exotic Gothic stories adapted into films