Nicholas Laudadio

Nicholas C. Laudadio is an associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina Wilmington where he teaches classes in critical and literary theory, science fiction and film, and pop music/cultural studies. He has published widely in journals such as Science Fiction Studies and The Journal of Popular Music Studies. He currently runs a YouTube original ambient music channel with over 270,000 subscribers and over 2 million views a month. He was born in Corpus Christi, TX and lives in Wilmington, NC.

Education

Ph.D. in English, SUNY Buffalo.
M.A. in English, SUNY Buffalo.
B.A. in English, Boston University.
B.S. in Mass Communications, Boston University.

Specialization in Teaching

Literary and cultural analysis, pop music studies, critical and cultural theory, food studies, religion and popular culture, religion and literature, science fiction and fantasy, horror and popular media, and contemporary popular fiction and experimental new media.

Research Interests

Postwar 20th century American literature and poetry, popular music and culture, music and technology, electronic music and musical instruments, and science fiction and film.

Publications:
Books
• Disaster Pedagogy for Higher Education: Research, Criticism, and Reflection. Co-edited with Victor Malo-Juvera. London: Rowman and Littlefield, 2022.

Articles
• “Way Out Music for Way Out Kids: Bruce Haack and Esther Nelson’s Experimental Electronic Music Collaborations.” with Meghan M. Sweeney. Journal of Popular Music Studies 32.4 (2020): 60-74.
• “Who Made Who(m)?: Listening to Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive (1986).” Science Fiction Film and Television 10:2 (2017): 215-229.
• “Harmony Endowed with Gifts from the Stars: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Memory of Whiteness (1986) and the Orchestrionic Instrument.” Foundation: An International Journal of Science Fiction 126 (2017): 61-73.
• “‘All Manner of Revolving Things’: Musical Technology, Domestic Anxiety, and The Twilight Zone’s ‘A Piano in the House’” (1962). Journal of Science Fiction Film and Television 5.2 (2012): 159-177.
• “‘Sounds Like a Human Performance’: The Electronic Music Synthesizer in Mid-Twentieth Century Science Fiction.” Science Fiction Studies 114 (2011): 304-320.
• "Just Like So But Isn’t: Musical Consciousness and Richard Powers’s Galatea 2.2." Extrapolation 49 (2009): 410-31.
• “What Dreams Sound Like: Forbidden Planet and the Electronic Musical Instrument.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 17 (2008): 334-49.

Professional Service

Member, IAFA (International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts)
Member, IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music)
Member, SFRA (Science Fiction Research Association)
Reviewer, Science Fiction Film and Television
Reviewer, Journal of Popular Music Studies

Community Engagement

Lecture on the Cultural and Literary History of the Devil for students and the public for the Bellamy Mansion lecture series.
Lecture on Witchcraft and Demonology in Popular Culture for public audience at Gravity Records in Wilmington, NC.
Lecture on Witchcraft and Pop Culture at the Raleigh Museum of Natural History.

Honors & Awards

YouTube Silver Play award for surpassing 100,000 subscribers, Spring 2025.
UNCW College of Arts and Sciences, Professional Development Grant, Summer 2022.
UNCW Center for Teaching Excellence, New Course Development Grant, Summer 2018.