{"id":4121,"date":"2012-09-27T16:50:43","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T21:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=4121"},"modified":"2015-11-12T08:21:47","modified_gmt":"2015-11-12T14:21:47","slug":"juggling-dr-death-and-social-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/juggling-dr-death-and-social-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Juggling Dr. Death and social change"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"After<\/a>
After being published in a science fiction magazine, Schutz’s novelette was turned into a graphic novel.Not too many professors see words like \u201cthrills, horror, chills\u201d on the cover of their publications.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Aaron Schutz, professor in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Department of Educational Policy & Community Studies, combines his education scholarship and teaching with a sideline as a successful science-fiction writer.<\/p>\n

An anthology of his science-fiction writing, \u201cThe League of Almost Super Heroes\u201d came out this year, around the same time that his more academic \u201cCollective Action for Social Change\u201d was released in paperback. (Marie Sandy, an assistant professor in the same department is co-author of this textbook on community organizing.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a completely different type of writing than I usually do these days,\u201d Schutz says of his exploration of science fiction and fantasy. \u201cI actually started out as a fiction writer, and then became an academic. It\u2019s great training, because fiction writers are always sending stuff out to publishers, getting rejections all the time. The first time I got a set of grumpy reviews about an article,\u00a0 I thought it was great\u00a0 because you usually just get a printed rejection slip for fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schutz has loved science fiction since he was a child. He always wanted to be a writer, but got serious when he won a story-writing contest in high school, and was invited to join a monthly workshop in his hometown with award-winning writers Kate Wilhelm and Damon Knight. He eventually earned a master\u2019s degree in creative writing from New York University before changing career directions and earning his doctorate in education.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Aaron Schutz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Through the years, he\u2019s written numerous academic articles and books on community organizing, social change and progressive visions of democratic education. In his off-campus life, he\u2019s also actively engaged in the community, most recently with a group of churches working to increase their spending on minority businesses.<\/p>\n

He had mostly stopped writing fiction. Then a few years ago, right before he and his wife adopted daughters Hiwot and Sheta, a three-day novel-writing contest inspired him to take a short break from regular responsibilities and do some serious creative writing. The result was a novelette, \u201cDr. Death vs. the Vampire,\u201d which was published in the magazine Fantasy and Science Fiction<\/em>, and then turned into a graphic novel by A. Kaviraj at Champion Comics, an online publisher.<\/p>\n

Schutz describes \u201cDr. Death vs. the Vampire\u201d as the story of Dr. Death, an anti-hero and sometime member of the League of Almost Superheroes. His super-power is the ability to feel the emotions of people around him. Ironically, Dr. Death isn\u2019t really that empathetic, and he has decided it\u2019s his calling to euthanize people whom he believes would be happier dead. On the run from the law on a Greyhound Bus, he runs into a \u201cvampire\u201d of sorts and a conflict begins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is weird stuff,\u201d says Schutz happily. Champion Comics published another story, \u201cDr. Death vs. the Zombie,\u201d based on Schutz\u2019s character, and is working on continuing the series. Schutz advises them at times, but says he\u2019s done with the characters himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of dark, but it\u2019s just this fun other piece of my life,\u201d says Schutz of his science-fiction and fantasy writing. \u201cYou get to play out all sorts of interesting things.\u201d<\/p>\n

When \u201cDr. Death\u201d came out in 2010, Schutz announced it briefly on his education blog:<\/p>\n

\u201cJust so people know that us academics are not completely pedantic, my novelette, \u2018Dr Death vs. the Vampire\u2019 has just been published in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction<\/a>. He added: \u201cMy wife got very nervous when I had a bunch of books on how to poison people lying around the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schutz says he\u2019d like to do more fiction writing, but the rest of his busy life means that probably won\u2019t be happening much in the near future. He\u2019s busy with his UWM research and teaching, writing academic articles and books, engaging in community work and raising his daughters \u2013 whose tastes run to much lighter fantasies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need another three-day Memorial Day weekend novel-writing challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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