Dr Adam Dalton-West has previously taught English Literature, Creative Writing, and English Language at Falmouth University, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the University of Manchester. His specialisms include genre fiction, language analysis, English Literature, English Language Teaching (ELT), Creative Writing and Media Management.
Under author name A J Dalton, Adam has published thirteen books and novels, including science fiction, fantasy, literary fiction, horror and crime. His main trilogy (Empire of the Saviours) with the publisher Gollancz Orion was listed for the World Fantasy Prize. He has also published best-selling titles such as The Book of the Dead with Grimbold Books. If you would like to know more, his website is www.ajdalton.eu, where there is advice for aspiring writers and plenty to interest fans of SFF.
A J Dalton has also published academically on science fiction, fantasy and horror. His main book title is The Satanic in Science Fiction and Fantasy, and he recently published an article on Tolkien and the literary tradition of the dragon, in Not the Fellowship: Dragons Welcome. In terms of prizes, he won the BSFA award for Gender Identity and Sexuality in Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Lastly, Adam is a PhD supervisor and examiner. He is currently supervising six PhDs researchers, in both English Literature and Creative Writing, those researchers studying fantasy literature, the historical fantasy sub-genre, detective fiction, women's experimental sci-fi, YA fantasy/dark romance, and speculative fiction/eco-thriller/cli-fi. If you are interested in undertaking a PhD English or PhD Creative Writing at Middlesex, do check out the video information on our Creative Writing HQ site (www.creativewritinghq.com), sign up for the monthly e-newsletter and drop Adam a line.
English, French, Czech, Polish, Thai, Arabic
Genre writing, science fiction, fantasy, 'cli-fi', crime, romance, horror, literary fiction, English Language Teaching (ELT), English Literature, Creative Writing, Media Management
I'm currently working on the following areas of research, journal articles soon to be published:
1. 'Going in circles: How and why are particular theoretical, literary and film-based attempts to resist, subvert or unravel the Hero’s Journey still problematic, problematised or only partial in their success?'
2. 'Measuring and understanding genre plot-shape in commercial advertising as a predictor of virality' (with fellow researchers Christa Sathish and Stephen King)
3. 'Geo-political vampirism: How and why has Western literary scholarship appropriated and then re-mythologised the socio-historical origins of the vampire?'
4. 'Measuring and understanding the digital disengagement of UK academics during the covid lockdown compared to post-lockdown' (with fellow researcher Christa Sathish)
A representative (rather than exhaustive) list of my publications can be seen below.
Dalton, Adam James (2023) The unreliable socio-visual performance and identity of a novelist. BlueHouse Journal (6). (Accepted/In press)
Beeson, Matt and Dalton, Adam James , eds. (2022) The Last Horizon. Kristell Ink, Hempton. ISBN 978-1913562397
Dalton, Adam James , ed. (2022) The book of the dead. Kristell Ink, Hempton. ISBN 9781913562359
Dalton, Adam James (2022) What is so fabulous about Smaug? In: Not the Fellowship. Dragons Welcome! Barbini, Francesca T. , ed. Luna Press Publishing. ISBN 1913387984
Dalton, Adam James (2021) The book of demons. Kristell Ink, Hempton. ISBN 9781913562236
Community Engagement
On behalf of Middlesex University, I maintain the online storytelling community known as Creative Writing HQ (www.creativewritinghq.com). It offers free learning resources, learning events, a fun diagnostic quiz to find our what sort of creative you are, articles, and a monthly e-newsletter (sign up for the latter). The site is open to everyone: students, alumni, staff, publishers, partners and authors (of all types of experience). There is also a Creative Calendar of UK writing competitions available.
School Partnerships
I am keen to forge partnerships and community engagement programmes between Middlesex and schools and colleges. Middlesex English students mentored students from Haringey College and together they coproduced the 2018 volume of the magazine and blog 'Haringey Unchained', which bring out the critical and creative consciousness of a vibrant college and diverse university. Email me for a copy of the magazine.
Membership of Learned Societies
- Northern Association of Writers in Education
- Senior Fellow of HEA
- British Fantasy Society
- British Science Fiction Society
- Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA)
Public Talks and Refereed Conference Presentations
June 2022, 'Going in circles: How and why are particular theoretical, literary and film-based attempts to resist, subvert or unravel the Hero’s Journey still problematic, problematised or only partial in their success?' Presentation at the 'Evolution of Story II: Unravelling the Hero's Journey' symosium, Solent University.
May 2022, 'Geo-political vampirism: How and why has Western literary scholarship appropriated and then re-mythologised the socio-historical origins of the vampire?' Presentation at the Sixth International Vampire Academic Conference, University of South Wales.
Beyond academic conferences, I have given a range of industry-related talks, my most requested lecture being 'How to get a mainstream publishing deal', closely followed by 'The sub-genres of fantasy literature'.
