Lexi is a doctoral candidate studying 19th century British literature with a special interest in the Gothic and speculative fiction. She is drawn to these genres for the fantastical and often dark and creepy elements used to construct the texts as well as the ever-present concern with power—and, in turn, the abuse of power— often concerning gender, race, and class that frequently drive the plots. She adores learning about oddly specific and peculiar topics concerning the 19th century—such as pre-Dickensian Christmas cards, the language of flowers, burial techniques, consumption chic, etc.—but she is ultimately drawn to the Victorian era because it is a period defined by great change. The century sees industrial expansion, the end of slavery, the development of the middle class, the women’s suffrage movement, scientific advancements regarding medicine, archaeology, and evolution that establish a more secular way of understanding the world, and so much more. A century is not so long as one may believe and one that is so saturated in change produces tensions and power shifts to which the reactions, responses, receptions, and results to and of these changes get reflected into art, literature, law, societal practices, and material culture. Speculative fiction and the Gothic of the 19th century tie in particularly well with the concept of progress and change as elements of the Gothic become more and more concerned with the consequences of progress and the speculative nature of the future rather than being haunted by the past.