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