The Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies program at the University of California, Riverside announces that the second annual SFTS book award has been won by David Wittenberg, Associate Professor of Cinematic Arts at The University of Iowa, for Time Travel: The Popular Philosophy of Narrative (Fordham UP, 2013). Repositioning our understanding of the relationship between time travel narratives and shifting conceptions of time in physics, the book argues that time travel fiction is a laboratory in which the most fundamental theoretical questions of narratology, history, and subjectivity are rehearsed. Discerning in its critical insights, disciplined in its case studies, and broadly inclusive across media in its examples, Time Travel shows Wittenberg to be one of the most astute among contemporary sf critics.
This SFTS prize honors an outstanding scholarly monograph that explores the intersections between popular culture, particularly science fiction, and the discourses and cultures of technoscience. The award is designed to recognize groundbreaking and exceptional contributions to the field. Books published in English between 1 January and 31 December 2013 were eligible for the award. The jury for the prize was Anindita Bannerjee (Cornell University), Pawel Frelik (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Poland), and Sherryl Vint (University of California, Riverside), who served as jury chair.
Honorable mentions were received by Joshua Raulerson, for Singularities: Technoculture, Transhumanism, and Science Fiction in the Twenty-First Century (Liverpool University Press), and by Kevin LaGrandeur, for Androids and Intelligent Networks in Early Modern Literature and Culture (Routledge).
The award, which consists of a cash prize, will be presented at the 2014 SFRA/WisCon Conference, which will be held May 22-25 in Madison, Wisconsin. Professor Wittenberg will be in attendance to accept his award.