In keeping with the location in the middle of the continental U.S., Mythcon 53’s theme builds on the idea of “middle-ness” in various ways. Possible subjects for papers and discussions would include:
- Middle-earth, Midgard, etc
- the English midlands, beloved by Tolkien
- Middle America: the heartland, folklore, tall tales, “Prairie Home Companion,” Field of Dreams
- Middle America in horror: Stranger Things, what’s buried in the cornfield
- Middle America in fantasy: Lois McMaster Bujold’s Sharing Knife series, Orson Scott Card’s Alvin Maker series, Stranger Things
- liminal spaces as settings for fantasy (train stations, Purgatory, Wood Between the Worlds)
- intertextuality — crossing genres, multiple media
- even conceptual middles, like middle thirds of trilogies
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