User:Russell Letson

The account of this former contributor was not re-activated after the server upgrade of March 2022.

For the last twenty years I've been a freelance writer, covering computer and business-technology, science fiction, and guitar-related topics. Before that, I taught college English (writing, research, general and popular literature).

In graduate school, I studied medieval language and literature, Renaissance drama, and science fiction and fantasy. I took a Ph.D. (English, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, 1970) with a dissertation on British supernatural fantasy (Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen) written under Mark Hillegas.

I started writing seriously in the mid-1970s, first academic essays about science fiction for the journals (Extrapolation, Science-Fiction Studies, and Foundation), as well as articles for research volumes. I also produced reviews of science fiction for various venues, and since 1990 I have had a regular review column in Locus magazine. In 1992, I wrote the first of a number of features, profiles, and reviews for Acoustic Guitar magazine. My latest project is a book-length history of Hawaiian slack key guitar (completion date constantly receding, but maybe next year).