Carey F. Applegate, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, where she teaches courses in English education, composition, and (pop) cultural studies. She researches and writes about contemporary television, film, and music; twenty-first-century pedagogy; and digital grassroots advocacy. Her free time in the summer is spent LARPing with Charlie Bradbury and noshing on pie with Dean Winchester, while her winters usually involve the search for a portal to an alternative, non-snowy, Doctor Who/Supernatural-mashup reality. If you’d like to participate in her adventures, drop her a note on Twitter: @careyapplegate.
James Blackmon teaches philosophy at San Francisco State University. He’s not as cool as Sam or Dean, but some of his notebooks are almost as cool as John’s journal. Despite having accumulated a few personal episodes which would count as anecdotal evidence in favor of ghosts and demons, he still doesn’t believe in them. This skepticism, of course, surely pleases some ghosts and demons to no end.
Patricia Brace, Ph.D., is a Professor of Art at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota. Her research interests are in aesthetics and popular culture and she has written chapters for Dexter and Philosophy (2011), and The Philosophy of Joss Whedon (2011). She also studies and teaches a course on the history of jewelry and her creative artistic work is in jewelry design. In that capacity she was commissioned to fashion amulets and talismans for the reclusive owner of a junkyard in nearby Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Mr. Bobby Singer. She was saddened to hear about Mr. Singer’s recent death from his colleague, a rather odd little man who identified himself only as “Garth” and put in an order for Mandaic amulets, silver ampullae for holy water, and brandea pendants for Oil of Abramelin.
John Edgar Browning is an Arthur A. Schomburg Fellow and Ph.D. student in American studies at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) where he also teaches on the adjunct English Faculty. He has co-/edited and co-/written ten published and forthcoming books, including Draculas, Vampires, and Other Undead Forms: Essays on Gender, Race, and Culture (2009), Dracula in Visual Media: Film, Television, Comic Book and Electronic Game Appearances, 1921–2010 (2010), The Vampire, His Kith and Kin: A Critical Edition (2011), Speaking of Monsters: A Teratological Anthology (2012), and The Forgotten Writings of Bram Stoker (2012). He has also co-/written chapters for Asian Gothic: Essays on Literature, Film, and Anime (2008), The Encyclopedia of the Vampire: The Living Dead in Myth, Legend, and Popular Culture (2010), Nyx in the House of Night: Mythology, Folklore, and Religion in the PC and Kristin Cast Vampyre Series (2011), Fear and Learning: Essays on the Pedagogy of Horror (forthcoming 2013), Undead in the West 2: They Just Keep Coming (forthcoming 2013), The Encyclopedia of the Zombie: The Walking Dead in Popular Culture and Myth (forthcoming 2013), and A Companion to the Horror Film (Wiley-Blackwell, forthcoming 2014). When he isn’t writing about vampires, he’s studying them in the wilds of New Orleans and Buffalo. He also likes to far exceed his bio word count limit.
Jillian L. Canode received her Ph.D. in philosophy and literature from Purdue University in 2011. Her current research interests lie in exploring the ethical and political landscapes of identity and self-definition in and through social media. As a self-professed Dean-girl and long-time supporter of Team Free Will, Dr. Canode spends her free time brushing up on her Enochian so as not to bring upon herself the wrath of the nerd angels.
Danilo Chaib wrote his thesis on conductorless orchestras at the Equality Studies with the School of Social Justice at the University College Dublin. His career began in 1997 when he was saved by John Winchester from a demon-possessed conductor. Ever since, Danilo has confused demons and conductors, ferociously hunting them as John did. In his free time, he teaches chamber music, philosophy of music, and research in music education at the Escola de Música de Brasília, Brazil. He is currently working on his second doctoral research with the University of Granada, Spain. His mission to wipe conductors from the orchestral world continues (much to the chagrin of many successful orchestras).
Fredrick Curry, or at least his “on grid” identity, earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at Bowling Green State University Ohio and his BA in English from California State University Fullerton. He loves teaching, is an avid gamer, and enjoys computer programming as a hobby. He currently teaches at WVU, where he most definitely isn’t part of a secret society of Letters, or busy designing demon-trap laser pointers and rub-on angelic glyph tattoos.
Shannon B. Ford, MA, is a Research Associate and Doctoral Candidate with the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) and Adjunct Lecturer with the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security, Charles Sturt University. Before starting a full-time academic career, Shannon spent ten years in the Department of Defense as a Strategist and Intelligence Analyst. During that time, he never personally investigated any “mysterious” deaths characterized by significant amounts of blood splatter on the walls. But he does have a closet full of sharp suits and a notepad, just in case. His research interests include: police, military and intelligence ethics; the correlation between driving a ’67 Chevy Impala, listening to AC/DC and awesomeness; and TV shows involving monster-hunting mysteries, Timelords, or a spy who once fought the Evil Dead.
Galen A. Foresman, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Philosophy at North Carolina A&T State University. He spends half his time teaching, half his time researching, and half his time with family and friends. He recently won the title “Assessment Genius” from the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, which was later robbed from him by an “Assessment Ninja.” In preparation for editing this book he watched every episode of Supernatural in the space of three days, which really isn’t impossible if you think about it. His current claim to fame is editing this book, and he got loads of help from personal friends Dr. Badass and Mr. Fizzles.
Stacey Goguen studies philosophy at Boston University, where she works on implicit bias, philosophy of race, and feminist philosophy. She just happens to be one of the five things in all of creation that the Colt cannot kill.
Joseph L. Graves, Jr. is Associate Dean for Research & Professor of Biological Sciences, Joint School of Nanosciences and Nanoengineering. He received his Ph.D. in environmental, evolutionary and systematic biology from Wayne State University in 1988. In 1994 he was elected a Fellow of the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). His current research involves the genomics of adaptation, specifically relevant to aging, as well as the theory and methods of computational evolutionary phylogenetics and molecular evolution. His books on the biology of race are entitled: The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium (2001, 2005) and The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America (2004, 2005). His main hobbies include the dispatching of demons and monsters, particularly vampires who use Twilight hysteria to prey upon middle-aged housewives.
Daniel Haas, Ph.D., absolutely did not bury a lunch box at the crossroad a mile out of town. And that lunch box, which Dan never buried, absolutely did not contain a personal photo, dirt from the local graveyard, or a black cat bone. Why would you bury that stuff in a lunch box anyways? And he’s never seen a demon, let alone kissed one. Nope. Never ever. He earned all those degrees all on his own. Pure natural talent. That’s all it was. Did you hear that barking? Yeah, me neither. No barking or scratching at the door.
Dena Hurst, Ph.D., is an instructor and researcher at Florida State University. She has doctorate in philosophy, with a specialization in social and political philosophy, and a bachelor’s degree in economics. Her current research interests include the philosophy of race, class, and gender, models of power, radical philosophy, and popular culture. Her work includes working with government agencies on issues of governance, leadership, and ethics. For a short while, following the sudden death of Ash, the Winchesters relied on her master research skills, until they began to suspect that, like most radical philosophers, her sympathies were with the wrong side.
Devon Fitzgerald Ralston, Ph.D., is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she teaches composition, professional writing, and cultural studies courses. She focuses her research and writing efforts on social media and identity, as well as Frankenstein and early sci-fi texts. Her current project examines the ways in which digital craft blogs transform both the narrative of community as well as the particular craft itself. She collects robot kitsch and vintage film posters, often wondering if she is stuck in one of the trickster’s time loops before realizing that no, those are still the same stack of student papers as before. Or are they?
Nathan Stout is a Ph.D. candidate in the philosophy department at Tulane University. His LSAT score of 174 would have earned him a full ride at Stanford Law had it not been discovered that he falsified his application materials by applying under the pseudonym, “Mr. Jimmy Page.” He now spends his time studying moral philosophy with a focus on problems in responsibility, agency, and political violence. Despite his best efforts, and the fact that he lives in New Orleans, he has yet to find a single hoodoo priestess capable of laying even the slightest bit of mojo on him.
Francis Tobienne, Jr. is a Purdue Doctoral and Dali Research Fellow teaching classes on monsters, the occult tradition, and the Bible as occult literature at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg campus. He is the author of The Position of Magic in Selected Medieval Spanish Texts (2008). He is currently working on two monographs: “Dali’s Medievalism” and “Mandeville’s Travels.” Dr. Tobienne publishes widely in the fields of medieval studies, pop culture, intellectual history, and medical ethics. He is currently working tirelessly on how to get Castiel to grow a full-on beard for crying out loud! Why? Because God commanded it.