Q&A: Megan Bontrager, Author of 'The Sea Hides Its Dead' | The Nerd Daily

Theory Briefing

• Megan Bontrager is mid-PhD on Lady Macbeth and fan theory, a research thread she says she will eventually finish.
• Her debut novel 'The Sea Hides Its Dead' emerges from the same obsessive, interpretive energy that drives fan communities to rewrite canonical stories.
• Fan theory as an academic subject treats audience reinterpretation as a legitimate meaning-making act, not just trivia — Bontrager's work sits at that crossroads.
• The 'liminal space' framing she uses for her PhD mirrors the threshold themes common in both Gothic fiction and fan reimaginings of classic texts.