Robin Blyn received her Masters in fiction in 1991. Her thesis was titled Sacrifice. In 1996 she completed a PhD in English at the University of Washington. She is now an Associate Professor of English at the University of West Florida. She has published widely in her area of specialization, American literature and culture, in journals such as Arizona Quarterly, Narrative, Twentieth Century Literature, South Atlantic Quarterly, and Literature/Film Quarterly. Her current book project is entitled Merchants of Astonishment: Freak Shows of the American Avant-garde, an interdisciplinary study of the role of spectacle culture in the generation of avant-garde aesthetics in the U.S. She teaches a variety of courses in American literature and culture, critical theory, and creative writing.