Gods & Monsters 2 (March 26-28, 2026)

Gods & Monsters is an academic conference held at Texas State University in San Marcos and hosted by religious studies scholars Joseph Laycock and Natasha Mikles. The first Gods & Monster was held in April 2019 and was hands down the single best academic conference I've ever attended. As a result I'm thrilled about the prospect of returning for the second ever Gods & Monster next year.

I'll be co-presenting the paper "'Never, I know, but half your child!': Morality, Myth, and the Monsterization of Autism and Autistic People" with my sister Christa Mullis (M.Ed, Special Needs and Inclusive Education, Hiroshima University, Japan) which considers the complicated relationship between fairy changeling folklore and autism. This is a long term project of Christa's, for which I was enthusiastically recruited given my interest in fairy lore.

I'll also be participating in a roundtable discussion titled "Pelts or Portals: Cryptid Identity in the 21st Century" with Miami University archeologist and anthropologist Jeb Card and Blake Smith; host of the Parsec Award-Winning podcast MonsterTalk. Jeb and Blake co-host another podcast, In ReSearch Of..., and I've been told that Blake intends to record our discussion and make it available online.

Finally I'll be moderating the panel on cryptozoology which will feature papers from Jeb and Blake, as well as Daniel Alan Jones (founder of the Texas Cryptozoology Network) and Miami University grad student Sydney Davidson; who will be discussing her ethnographical investigation into the Loveland Frog.

Gods & Monsters is not limited to only academics. Guests are welcomed, though you'll need to pay a registration fee, especially if you plan to participate in any extra-circular activities like lunch or dinner. More information can be found by following the link below.