Skip navigation

Author Archives: Skye Cervone

CfP: Penny Dreadful, Gothic Reimagining and Neo-Victorianism in Modern Television

Penny Dreadful, Gothic Reimagining and Neo-Victorianism in Modern Television

It’s been less than a year since Penny Dreadful ended dramatically in its third season, but this week brings the announcement of a collection of academic essays dedicated to the show. Edited by Manchester Metropolitan University‘s Jon Greenaway and Stephanie Reid, the collection looks to explore the show’s Gothic and Victorian heritage, as well as its contemporary contexts.

If you’re working on Penny Dreadful, do consider submitting an abstract to Penny Dreadful: Gothic Reimagining and Neo-Victorianism in Modern Television. The deadline is 15 May.

Penny Dreadful (2014-2016) has become one of the most critically well-regarded shows of the post-millennial Gothic television revival, drawing explicitly on classic tropes, texts and characters throughout its three-season run. However, despite the show’s critical success and cult following, a substantive academic examination of the show has yet to be undertaken.

This edited collection seeks to address the current lack within Gothic studies scholarship, and situate Penny Dreadful as a key contemporary Gothic television text. This collection will seek to trace the link between the continued expansion of Gothic television, alongside the popular engagement with Neo-Victorianism. In addition, the collection seeks to examine notions around the aesthetic importance of contemporary Gothic that become particularly prominent against the narrative re-imaginings that occur within Penny Dreadful. This collection explores exactly where Gothic resides within this reflexive, hybridized and intertextual work; in the bodies, the stories, the history, the styling, or somewhere else entirely?
Possible contributions could include, but are no means limited to the following:

Gothic adaptation and/or appropriation?
Pastiche and parody and Gothic aesthetics
‘Global Gothic’ in the sense of its commercialisation
Neo-Victorianism (styling, politics, economics); as well as explorations of the impact of ‘historicizing’ Gothic
Representation of gender within the text, specifically female monstrosity
The Post/Colonial context, as well racialized characterisation and presentation
The reworking/restyling of monsters in contemporary Gothic
Consideration of a ‘Romance’ aesthetic and how this alters conceptions of ‘Gothic’ texts and the influence of ‘romantic’ themes/styles in contemporary Gothic

What the proposal should include:

An extended abstract of 500 words (for a 6,000-word chapter) including a proposed chapter title, a clear theoretical approach and reference to some relevant sources.

Please also provide your contact information, institutional affiliation, and a short biography.

Abstracts should be sent as a word document attachment to j.greenaway@mmu.ac.uk or stephanie.m.reid@stu.mmu.ac.uk by no later than May 15th 2017 with the subject line, “Penny Dreadful Abstract Submission.”

Please click here for more information.

CfP: Journal of Dracula Studies

Journal of Dracula Studies

deadline for submissions:
May 1, 2017

full name / name of organization:
Anne DeLong/Transylvanian Society of Dracula

contact email:
journalofdraculastudies@kutztown.edu

We invite manuscripts of scholarly articles (4000-6000 words) on any of the following: Bram Stoker, the novel Dracula, the historical Dracula, the vampire in folklore, fiction, film, popular culture, and related topics.

Submissions should be sent electronically (as an e-mail attachment in .doc or .rtf). Please indicate the title of your submission in the subject line of your e-mail. Send electronic submissions to journalofdraculastudies@kutztown.edu.

Please follow MLA style. Contributors are responsible for obtaining any necessary permissions and ensuring observance of copyright. Manuscripts will be peer-reviewed independently by at least two scholars in the field. Copyright for published articles remains with the author.

Submissions must be received no later than May 1 in order to be considered for that year’s issue.

CfP: Generation BioWare conference (December 2017), Wroclaw

Conference website: https://generationbioware.wordpress.com/2017/03/10/generation-bioware-international-academic-conference-wroclaw/

American Literature and Culture Section (Department of English Studies, University of Wrocław) and New Media and Popular Literature Section (Department of Polish Studies, University of Wrocław) invite paper abstracts for “Generation BioWare,” a conference focused exclusively on the Canadian developer and their games.

Founded in 1995, BioWare have been responsible for some of the most acclaimed titles in the history of the industry. The studio’s games are famous for multi-layered narratives and complex characters, both of which originated in titles set in the well-established worlds: Faerûn from the Dungeon and Dragons pen-and-paper RPG system and the Star Wars universe. Since their release, Baldur’s Gate (1998), Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000), and Knights of the Old Republic (2003) have enjoyed critical and commercial success and the two franchises have enabled the studio to create its own proprietary worlds in Jade Empire (2005), Mass Effect (2007), and Dragon Age: Origins (2009) as well as to further refine story-telling structures, character writing, karmic mechanics, and worldbuilding techniques.

The positive reception of BioWare titles has been accompanied by the development of a dedicated fanbase, whose general video game literacy was centrally shaped by BioWare’s design decisions and techniques. As a result, BioWare games have come to be regarded as templates for many western RPGs: the recent Kickstarter success of Divinity Original Sin (2014), Pillars of Eternity (2015), and Tyranny (2016) can be partly ascribed to the impact the Baldur’s Gate series had on these titles.

Consequently, BioWare’s impact on the medium as well as the industry can be perceived as nothing short of critical. To address this influence, we would like to create a platform for academic exchange and invite submissions from scholars and researchers across disciplines, including game studies, literary studies, linguistics, fan studies, media studies, sociology, and cultural studies.

Suggested areas of research include but are not limited to: • narratology and character research, • literary and ludological dimensions, • sociology of BioWare games and their fan communities, • BioWare games and classic RPGs, • worldbuilding techniques, • narrative techniques, • gameplay design, • poetics of BioWare games, • ethical and moral issues in BioWare games, • localization and adaptation, • paratextuality and transmediality, • video game market and the evolution of BioWare as a studio, • Interplay, BlackIsle, Troika, and Obsidian as competitors and creators of alternative worldbuilding and narrative techniques, • narrative and character design methods, • visuality and sound in BioWare games.

CfP: Fafnir 3/2017

Call for Papers: Fafnir 3/2017

Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research invites authors to submit papers for the upcoming edition 3/2017. Theme for the edition is ‘reception, audience/s and fandom studies’ (e.g. The World Hobbit Project). The theme issue has been moved from issue 2/2017 to issue 3/2017. We invite papers that focus on all aspects of the study of ‘audiences’ for cultural and media products and practices that are connected to speculative fiction. As Finland is hosting the 75th Worldcon in 2017, for this edition we would also be interested in studies of fan societies, conventions, and their history in Nordic countries and beyond. ‘Audience’ is here understood broadly without any specific theoretical orientations.

Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research is a peer-reviewed academic journal which is published in electronic format four times a year. Fafnir is published by The Finnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research (FINFAR) from 2013 onwards. Fafnir publishes various texts ranging from peer-reviewed research articles to short overviews and book reviews in the field of science fiction and fantasy research.

The submissions must be original work, and written in English (or in Finnish or Scandinavian languages). Manuscripts of research articles should be between 20,000 and 40,000 characters in length. The journal uses the most recent edition of the MLA Style Manual. The manuscripts of research articles will be peer-reviewed. Please note that as Fafnir is designed to be of interest to readers with varying backgrounds, essays and other texts should be as accessibly written as possible. Also, if English is not your first language, please have your article proof-read by an English language editor. Please pay attention to our journal’s submission guidelines available in: http://journal.finfar.org/for-authors/submission-guidelines/

The deadline for submissions is 15th June 2017.

In addition to research articles, Fafnir constantly welcomes text proposals such as essays, interviews, overviews and book reviews on any subject suited for the journal.

Please send your electronic submission (saved as RTF-file) to the following address: submissions(at)finfar.org. For further information, please contact the editors: jyrki.korpua(at)oulu.fi, aino-kaisa.koistinen@jyu.fi, bodhisattva.chattopadhyay@ikos.uio.no. More detailed information about our journal is available at our webpage: journal.finfar.org.

This edition is scheduled for the end of September 2017.

Best regards,
Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Aino-Kaisa Koistinen & Jyrki Korpua
Editors, Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research

Michael Levy

We are deeply saddened to learn of Michael Levy’s passing. Mike was a respected and loved scholar, colleague, mentor, past IAFA President, and above all, friend. Please join us in offering our deepest condolences to Mike’s family and friends during this difficult time.

Call for Applications: R.D. Mullen Fellowships

Call for Applications: R.D. Mullen Fellowships

Named for the founder of our journal, Richard “Dale” Mullen (1915-1998), the Mullen fellowships are awarded by Science Fiction Studies to support for archival research in science fiction. Starting with the 2017 competition, we have four categories of awards:
1. Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

Amount: Up to $3000
Number: 1 award is available each year
Qualifications: Candidates must have received their PhD degree 2 years or less from the date of applying. Also eligible are those who have essentially completed but not yet defended the dissertation. Applicants who hold (or are contracted to begin) a tenure-track position are not eligible. The relation between the new research and the topic of the dissertation should be clarified in the proposal. The Committee understands that the two are likely to be related, but the additional research needed for the post-doctoral project should be explained.
2. PhD Research Fellowship

Amount: Up to $1500
Number: 2 awards are available each year
Qualifications: Research must be in support of a dissertation topic that requires archival research. The proposal should make it clear that applicants have familiarized themselves in some detail with the resources available at the library or archive they propose to use. Projects with an overall sf emphasis, other things being equal, will receive priority over projects with a more tangential relationship to the field.
3. MA Thesis Research Fellowship

Amount: Up to $1000
Number: 2 awards are available each year
Qualifications: For students in an MA program in a humanities department that does not award the PhD, in support of MA thesis research. (Non-thesis-track MA students are not eligible.) The award is for travel in support of archival research on the MA thesis topic; the proposal should specify which materials are unique to the archive and/or essential to the project. This is not an award in support of conference travel. Among the two letters of recommendation, one must be from the MA thesis adviser, confirming that the thesis proposal has been accepted and the committee formed.
4. Collaborative Undergraduate Research Award

Amount: Up to $250
Number: 2 awards are available each year
Qualifications: For upper-division students (most likely senior majors in English or related humanities fields) to conduct archival research and write a term paper. This award can cover local travel to archives as well as funding for such expenses as copying. A faculty mentor (who will co-sign the proposal) will guide the student through the proposal process, the research process, and evaluate the subsequent paper. The work could be done as additional to regular upper-division class or in the context of a tutorial, Directed Independent Study, or BA thesis. The final report would be dual, chiefly written by the student but with a brief final statement by the faculty mentor describing the outcome.

Application Process
All projects must centrally investigate science fiction, of any nation, culture, medium or era. Applications may propose research in—but need not limit themselves to—specialized sf archives such as the Eaton Collection at UC Riverside, the Maison d’Ailleurs in Switzerland, the Judith Merril Collection in Toronto, or the SF Foundation Collection in Liverpool. Proposals for work in general archives with relevant sf holdings—authors’ papers, for example—are also welcome. For possible research locations, applicants may wish to consult the partial list of sf archives compiled in SFS 37.2 (July 2010): 161-90. This list is also available online at: .

Applications should be written in English and should describe the proposed research and clarify the centrality of science fiction to the project’s overall design. They should show knowledge of the specific holdings and strengths of the archive in which the proposed research will be conducted and provide a work plan and budget. Candidates should explain why research in this particular archive is crucial to the proposed project. Students who receive awards must acknowledge the support provided by SFS’s Mullen Fellowship program in any completed theses, dissertations or published work that makes use of research supported by this fellowship. After the research is conducted, each awardee shall provide SFS with a 500-word report on the results.

A complete application consists of
· a cover letter clearly identifying which fellowship or award is sought,

· a project description (approximately 500 words) with a specific plan of work,

· an updated curriculum vitae,

· an itemized budget, and

· two letters of reference, including one from the faculty supervisor (a letter of collaborative support from a faculty member is required for the undergraduate awards).

Successful candidates will be reimbursed for expenses incurred conducting research, up to the amount of the award, once they complete the research and submit relevant receipts.

Applications should be submitted electronically to the chair of the evaluation committee, Sherryl Vint, at sherryl.vint@gmail.com. Applications are due April 3, 2017 and awards will be announced in early May. The selection committee for 2017-2018 consists of John Reider and Lisa Yaszek (SFS Advisory Board members) and Carol McGuirk and Sherryl Vint, SFS editors.

CfP: R. A. Lafferty in FEAST OF LAUGHTER, vol. 5

From: Gregorio Montejo
Date: 16 March 2017 at 17:47:44 GMT-7

Call for Submissions:

Feast of Laughter is a journal dedicated to the American writer R.A. Lafferty, the creator of a modern literary mythos informed by Western, Irish, Native American, Catholic and other literary traditions. Even though Lafferty ostensibly wrote fiction from within the SF genre, his work routinely transcends generic boundaries and subverts conventional science fictional tropes and topics.

We are in the process of planning our fifth volume, and are actively looking for scholarly articles about Lafferty, his work, its reception, and his influence. All disciplinary and theoretical perspectives and diverse research methods are welcome. Authors who are interested in submitting a paper for this volume should send a short abstract-length proposal to Gregorio Montejo (montejo@bc.edu). Any general enquiries can also be directed to this address.

The deadline for proposals is June 1, 2017. The deadline for submissions is September 1, 2017.

ICFA 38 Final Reminders

Hello Everyone!

The Thirty-Eighth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts is upon us, and the weather forecast for the week is absolutely beautiful, so it will be a welcome break for those of you coming from the north!  In addition to wishing you all safe travels, I wanted to send a few final reminders before the conference!

I will be on-site preparing for your arrival starting Monday, March 20, and I will open the registration desk early on Wednesday, so stop by and say hello and pick up your packet.

We need to finalize our guarantees to the hotel for the meals, so if you signed up to attend the Friday luncheon, but have changed your mind, or won’t be arriving in time, let me know as soon as possible, and I can make the adjustment in numbers.

If you are flying in,keep in mind that there is a free hotel shuttle that will bring you to the hotel if you need it.  Call 407-851-9000 and tell them which terminal you are at (Terminal A or Terminal B or tell them your airline).  They will instruct you to go to the shuttle pickup point, and they will send the shuttle for you.  There is normally about a ten-minute wait, however we have a very large group this year, so the wait may be a bit longer this year, but not by much.

If you arrive early on Monday or Tuesday, the book room can always use help unpacking, arranging, and pricing books. The wonderful, amazing book room staff will be working in Augusta A/B most of the day Monday and Tuesday, so if you simply cannot resist being away from books, this is the perfect way to spend a bit of time until the conference starts.

We still need some volunteers to work during the conference, so if you haven’t already signed up,and you would like to, you can find the volunteer survey here.

On Wednesday, March 22,2017, we have a few events that you might enjoy before and after the opening panels:

  • ·         2:30 pm – 3:15 pm – Pre-Opening Refreshments in the Ballroom Foyer.
  • ·         3:30 pm – 4:15 pm – Opening Ceremony in the Ballroom
  • ·         8:00 pm – 8:30 pm. – Newcomer Meet-Up in Captiva A/B.
  • ·         8:30 pm – 11:00 pm – Opening Reception in Capri.

If you are staying in town beyond the conference and are interested in visiting additional Orlando attractions, rental vehicles are available in the hotel lobby or at multiple locations near the airport.

ICFA is committed to being an accessible conference that supports the varied needs of our members. We understand how important it is for our attendees and panelists to feel comfortable and welcome.  The conference is held at the Orlando Marriott Lakeside Hotel. Members and attendees can find our accessibility policy here.

If you have any questions, please email me at iafareg AT gmail.com.

I will see you all in few days!

Regards,

Valorie

“The lesson of history is that no one learns.”

― Steven Erikson, Deadhouse Gates

“We humans do not understand compassion. In each moment of our lives, we betray it. Aye, we know of its worth, yet in knowing we then attach to it a value, we guard the giving of it, believing it must be earned, T’lan Imass. Compassion is priceless in the truest sense of the word. It must be given freely. In abundance.”

― Steven Erikson, Memories of Ice

“It is blasphemy to separate oneself from the earth and look down on it like a god. It is more than blasphemy; it is dangerous. We can never be gods, after all – but we can become something less than human with frightening ease.”

― N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

“Tell them they can be great someday, like us. Tell them they belong among us, no matter how we treat them. Tell them they must earn the respect which everyone else receives by default. Them there is a standard for acceptance; that standard is simply perfection. Kill those who scoff at those contradictions, and tell the rest that the dead deserved annihilation for their weakness and doubt. Then they’ll break themselves trying for what they’ll never achieve”

― N.K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season

“What better way to destroy a civilization, society or a race than to set people into the wild oscillations which follow their turning over their judgment and decision-making faculties to a superhero?”

― Edward James, The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction

SCIAFA Events at ICFA 38

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to take a moment to remind you of a few events sponsored by the Student Caucus that will take place during the conference next week. Please keep in mind that you do not have to be a member of the Student Caucus to attend these events. Everyone is welcome to both the Newcomer Meet-Up and Kathryn Hume’s job search panels. And any current student who is interested in being more actively involved with the Student Caucus is welcome to the meeting on Friday.

The Newcomer Meet-Up is on Wednesday, March 22nd from 8-8:30pm just before the Opening Reception.

The Student Caucus Meeting on Friday, March 24th at 6pm.

And the SCIAFA sponsored panels are ““Coping in Today’s Job Market: How to Find a Job” by Kathryn Hume. Part 1 is on Saturday, March 25th at 10:30am (before lunch) and Part 2 is on Saturday, March 25th at 2pm (after lunch).

Kathryn Hume recommends attending BOTH panels as they will cover different aspects of job search process and the documents needed in the application process. Kathryn Hume puts a lot of time and effort into these panels, and people who attended last year swear by it as being very helpful and informative. So please try your best to attend. Even if you can’t attend both try to attend one of them.

I look forward to meeting you all at the conference. See you then!

Sincerely,

Amanda

Update regarding ICFA 38 – Fantastic Epics

Dear ICFA attendees,

We regretfully announce that N.K. Jemisin will be unable to join us at the conference in two weeks due to the death of her mother​. Nonetheless, we intend to honor and celebrate her work as planned, in addition to the fine work of our other guests, Steven Erikson and Edward James. We will feature seven panels that include papers discussing Jemisin’s work, including two focused exclusively on it. Her presence will thus be felt at the conference, although she is unable to come in person.

The conference will cancel only one event out of more than 150 total sessions, so while we will miss the opportunity to meet with and hear from N.K. Jemisin, we trust your conference experience will be an excellent one. I’m sure that you join us in sending our condolences to her during this difficult time.

Best wishes,

Sherryl Vint

President, IAFA Board of Directors