Benjamin Blattberg
2901 Sunset Drive Apt #36H San Angelo, TX 76904
email: benjamin.blattberg@gmail.com
twitter: @inCatastrophe
EDUCATION
The Second City, Chicago, IL
Programs in Improvisation and Comedy Writing, 2012
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Ph.D. Program in English Language and Literature, 2003-2010 (ABD, left in good standing)
M.A. in English Language and Literature, 2007
• Honors: Century Scholarship
• GPA: 3.8
Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
B.A. in Literature, 2001
• Honors: 2001 Lockwood Prize for Fiction; 2001 Bishop-Jervis Prize for Excellence in Literature
• GPA: 3.86
WORK and VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
Lightspeed, Online
Reader, 2012-Present
• Review submissions for publication.
• Assist anthologies with occasional fact-checking, writing author interview questions, etc.
Kirkus Media, LLC., Austin, TX
Book Reviewer, January 2012-Present
• Write book reviews following Kirkus house style.
Shmoop University, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA
Literature Content Writer, 2010-2013
• Wrote accessible, humorous study guides for high school and college audiences.
Chicago Review, Chicago, IL
Literary Board Member, 2007-2010
• Reviewed submissions for possible publication.
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Composition and Rhetoric Instructor, 2005-2010
Lecturer, “Science Fiction in the Nineteenth Century,” 2009
Regenstein Library, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Digital Imaging Technician, 2004-2009
• Scanned archival materials for long-term projects and on-demand requests.
Look Ahead Housing and Care Ltd., London, England
Administrative Assistant / Receptionist, 2001-2002
Defying Gravity Educational Outreach, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City, NY
Photographer / Editorial Assistant, Summer Program 2001
• Reviewed and edited articles for correctness and clarity.
The Pederson-Krag Behavioral Health Care Center, Huntington, New York
Administrative Assistant, Summers / Winters 1996-2001
Cyberian Outpost, Inc., Kent, CT.
Gaming Guru, 1999-2000
• Wrote game reviews for online publication.
PUBLICATIONS and PRESENTATIONS
• Review of "Truth and Fear, by Peter Higgins" in SF Signal, June 2014.
• "Five Lit Crit & Theory Books for Everyone" in Pornokitsch, May 2014.
• Review of "Wolfhound Century, by Peter Higgins" in SF Signal, May 2014.
• "Author Spotlight: Rajan Khanna" in Lightspeed Magazine, May 2014.
• Review of "The Half-Made World, by Felix Gilman" in SF Signal, April 2014.• "Five Best Non-Fantasy Tabletop Roleplaying Games from the 90s" in Pornokitsch, February 2014.
• “Five Works of Early Speculative Fiction by African-American Authors” in Pornokitsch, February 2014.
• Review of “Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales, edited by Paula Guran” in SF Signal, January 2014.
• "Voyages, Chapter One: Beyond the Edge of the World," illustrated by Chris Van Dyke, script by Benjamin Blattberg, in Voyager Comics Online, October 2012-May 2013.
• "Year of the Dragon," story by Chris Van Dyke and Benjamin Blattberg, illustrated by Chris Van Dyke, script by Benjamin Blattberg, in Voyager Comics Online, August 2012.
• Review of "Robert Heinlein’s Time for the Stars" in the New York Review of Science Fiction (21, no. 2), October 2008.
• “The Style of the So-Called Inanimate: Commodity Style in Sister Carrie and Pattern Recognition” at the Elements of Style Conference (English Department Conference at the University of Chicago), October 2007.• “‘We’re all in this together’: Sturgeon’s Gestalt and Bester’s Jaunting as Forms of Community” in the New York Review of Science Fiction (20, no. 2), October 2007.
• “Strange Bedfellows: Burroughs’s Egg-laying Princess and Le Guin’s Pregnant King” at the Science Fiction Research Association Annual Conference, July 2007.
AFFILIATIONS
• Member of the Science Fiction Research Association, 2007-Present.
• Founding member of Graduate Students United at the University of Chicago, 2007-2010.