Writing in
The Washington Post, critic
Michael Dirda called Kelleghan "an expert on humor in genre fiction," and she was listed on the University of Miami's website as its official expert on "Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror." She is also interested in film both inside and outside the science-fiction genre, and is an amateur
ethologist. She has identified a secular, satiric literary movement within the science fiction genre that she calls "Savage Humanism." Her critical anthology
The Savage Humanists (Robert J. Sawyer Books, 2008) begins with a 17,000-word essay by her describing the movement and its practitioners, and collects stories by
Gregory Frost,
James Patrick Kelly,
John Kessel,
Jonathan Lethem,
James Morrow,
Kim Stanley Robinson,
Robert J. Sawyer,
Tim Sullivan, and
Connie Willis, with introductions to each by Kelleghan. That essay, "A Definition of Savage Humanism, with Autobiographical Anecdotes," is reprinted as the cover story in the November 2008 edition of
The New York Review of Science Fiction, and takes up most of that issue of the magazine. Kelleghan's other books include
Mike Resnick: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide to His Work (Farthest Star, 2000), and, as editor,
100 Masters of Mystery and Detective Fiction (Salem Press, 2001, 2 volumes) and ''Magill's Choice: Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature'' (Salem Press, 2002). Her scholarly work has appeared in
Extrapolation,
Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts,
The New York Review of Science Fiction,
Nova Express,
ParaDoxa: Studies in World Literary Genres,
Science Fiction Studies, and
SFRA Review (a publication of the
Science Fiction Research Association, of which she is a member). She has contributed to the reference books
American Women Writers;
Contemporary Novelists [7th Edition] (for which she is the authority on
Ray Bradbury,
Jonathan Lethem, and
Connie Willis, among others);
St. James Guide to Crime & Mystery Writers;
St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers;
Supernatural Fiction Writers: Contemporary Fantasy and Horror; and
Twentieth-Century Literary Movements Dictionary; Kelleghan was a book-review editor for the
Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts (since 1999) and an editorial consultant to
Science Fiction Studies (since 1994). She was on the advisory board for and a contributor to
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders (edited by Gary Westfahl, Greenwood Press, 2005), at the 29th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. In March 2009, she presented a paper entitled "Time and the Fiction of
Robert J. Sawyer: Flash Forward to the End of an Era" at the 30th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. In the 1990s, she had given talks at the same venue on the feeding of cats in science fiction and fantasy and on camouflage in books and films such as
Toys and
Predator. Her works in progress include
Alfred Bester, Grand Master: An Annotated Bibliography and further research on Savage Humanism. Kelleghan was an Associate Professor at the University of Miami. She was on the faculty there from 1989 to 2011, and earned an Honorable Mention from editor
Gardner Dozois in ''The Year's Best Science Fiction: 16th Annual Collection'' (1999). ==References==