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Author Archives: Stacie Hanes

SFWA Announces Honorees of the 2012 Solstice Awards

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America are pleased to announce Octavia Butler and John Clute as the recipients of the Solstice Awards for 2012. The Solstice Awards are granted to up to three persons, living or dead, who have consistently had a positive, transformative influence on the genre of science fiction and fantasy.

Octavia Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006 ) was a giant in the field of science fiction and fantasy; her work was awarded Nebula and Hugo awards, and she was the first science fiction writer to be granted the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant. Butler’s fiction delved into sociological, political and religious issues, explored gender, sexuality and cultural identity. She looked for the problems in the world, and tried to find answers and solutions. Butler’s works include the Nebula Award winning novel Parable of the Talents, Fledgling, Kindred, the Patternist series, the Lilith’s Brood series and numerous short stories.

Butler passed away in 2006. SFWA is proud to posthumously award her the Solstice Award for her influence in science fiction and fantasy.

John Clute (born 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic. Clute’s most notable contribution to the field consists of his work on a trio of reference works: the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, the Encyclopedia of Fantasy, and the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, all of which won Hugo Awards in the category of Best Related Work. Clute is also the author of several collections of criticism and critical essays on the genre, as well as the 2001 space opera, Appleseed, which was listed by the New York Times as a Notable Book for the year.

The Solstice Awards were created to acknowledge members who have had a significant impact on the science fiction and fantasy landscape. It is especially meant for those who have made a consistent, positive, major difference in the genre.

The award is given at the discretion of the president, with the majority approval of the SFWA Board of Directors. Up to three awards may be presented each year, awarded to any person, living or deceased, with the exception of recipients of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award, or those who have been named Author Emeritus. Both members and non-members are eligible.

The Solstice Awards have previously been awarded to Alice B. Sheldon/James Tiptree Jr, Michael Whelan, Kate Wilhelm, Tom Doherty, Terri Windling and Donald A. Wolheim

The 47th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend

The awards will be presented at SFWA’s 47th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend, to be held Thursday through Sunday, May 17 to May 20, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia, near Reagan National Airport. As announced earlier this year, Connie Willis will be the recipient of the 2011 Damon Knight Grand Master Award for her lifetime contributions and achievements in the field. Walter Jon Williams will preside as toastmaster, with Astronaut Michael Fincke as keynote speaker.

Founded in 1965 by the late Damon Knight, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America brings together the most successful and daring writers of speculative fiction throughout the world.

Since its inception, SFWA® has grown in numbers and influence until it is now widely recognized as one of the most effective non-profit writers’ organizations in existence, boasting a membership of approximately 1,800 science fiction and fantasy writers as well as artists, editors and allied professionals.  Each year the organization presents the prestigious Nebula Awards® for the year’s best literary and dramatic works of speculative fiction.

Connie Willis interviewed in SFWA

SFWA did an interview of last year’s ICFA guest of honor and this year’s Nebula Award winner! Take a look at the SFWA website.

Zumba comes to ICFA

Karen HelleksonKaren Hellekson will be teaching zumba in Capri at 6:30a on Thu Mar 22, Fri Mar 23, and Sat Mar 24 in Capri at 6:30a. The class meets for an hour. Conference panel sessions begin at 8:30a.

Pack your workout shoes and water bottle! There’s a risk and release form in your registration packet to sign and bring to class (Karen will have more with her). If you own Zumba clothing, please wear it.

For those not in the know, Zumba is a Latin-inspired world dance class, and it’s super easy and super fun. All levels of experience are welcome. You can learn more at Zumba.com.

More info, tentative playlist, and like that are on Karen’s aerobics blog:

http://stepkaren.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/zumba-at-icfa/

CFP: American Telefantasy

NETWORKING KNOWLEDGE
CALL FOR PAPERS: AMERICAN TELEFANTASY

Television schedules are currently rife with Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror programmes. Whereas the re-launched Doctor Who continues to lead the charge of contemporary British telefantasy (Merlin, Being Human, Misfits et al), US shows attract large audiences, extensive media coverage and – since Peter Dinklage’s Emmy win for Game of Thrones – mainstream awards.

Established programmes such as True Blood, Fringe and Sanctuary offer a continued presence on primetime schedules; while cable shows such as The Walking Dead and Falling Skies have had demonstrable ratings success. However, is the demise of previously dominant franchises such as Star Trek, Stargate and Battlestar Galactica representative of an uncertain future?  Or will the genre continue to thrive thanks to high-profile newcomers with celebrity showrunners like JJ Abrams’ Alcatraz, Steven Spielberg’s Terra Nova and Kevin Williamson’s The Secret Circle?

The prevalence of contemporary anxieties centered upon (and within) television Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror appear to indicate an opportune time to consider how US telefantasy might be understood, examined and contextualised.

Papers of between 6,000 and 8,000 words are invited from postgraduate students and early career researchers across the humanities and social sciences for this special edition of Networking Knowledge: Journal of the MeCCSA-PGN.  Possible topics might include, but are not limited to:

  • Historical case studies
  • Franchises and/or Authorship
  • The role of technology in science fiction television
  • Representing (in)human subjectivities and/or identities
  • The aesthetics of Fantasy television
  • Constructions of utopia/dystopia
  • Genre and/or narrative theory
  • Marketing television Horror
  • Performance and/or Stardom
  • Issues of reception
  • Telefantasy and realism

Proposals of approx. 250 words should be directed to the issue’s guest editors Rhys Thomas at rothomas@gmail.com or Sophie Halliday at smhalliday@gmail.com by 6th April 2012.  If accepted, completed articles need to be submitted by 1st June 2012.  For any further information, please contact Rhys, Sophie or NK general editor Tom Phillips at knowledge.networking257@gmail.com.

Heinlein Society Announces Two Undergraduate Scholarships for 2012

The Heinlein Society is pleased to announce that for the 2012-2013 academic year we will be offering the first of many scholarships. There will be two $500 scholarships awarded to undergraduate students of accredited 4-year colleges and universities majoring in engineering, math, or physical sciences (e.g. physics, chemistry), or in Science Fiction as Literature. Applicants will need to submit a 500-1,000 word essay on one of several available topics.

To apply, fill out the form below and print or email. Deadline is May 15, 2012.

Heinlein Society 2012 Scholarship Application

(If your browser has compatibility issues, right-click and download the form)
  1. Deadline for scholarship applications is May 15, 2012.
  2. Refer to criteria below for eligibility requirements.
  3. Refer to application process below for a list of the supporting documents needed (i.e., reference forms, essay, etc.
  4. Please type or print legibly.
  5. If you have any questions about the application, please email scholarships@heinleinsociety.org.

Purpose: To provide scholarship to 2 deserving full time students attending a four-year college.

Award Components: Two (2) $500 scholarships awarded to students selected by the Heinlein Society Scholarship Committee.

Eligibility Requirements

  1. Applicant must be a full time undergraduate student enrolled in an accredited college that awards Bachelor of Science or Arts degrees.
  2. Major must be Science Fiction as Literature or Engineering, Math or Physical Sciences (e.g. Physics, Chemistry).
  3. Open to residents of any country.

Application Process

Applicant must submit the following items:

  1. Completed application form (if handwritten, please print legibly)
  2. A brief explanation of career goals and biographical (background) information.
  3. A 500 – 1,000 word essay on one of the following subjects:
    1. How Robert Heinlein affected my career choice.
    2. My favorite Robert Heinlein story and why.
    3. The importance of space exploration to the future of the human race.

Deadline for the application is May 15, 2012. Applications postmarked or emailed after this date will not be considered.

Please mail completed application to:
The Heinlein Society
3553 Atlantic Ave. #341
Long Beach, CA 90807-5606

or email to: scholarships@heinleinsociety.org

Heinlein Society 2012 Scholarship Application

Green Man/Wild Man and Children’s Culture CfP

This two-day multidisciplinary conference which takes place in Trinity College Dublin 20-21 July 2012, will explore the role of green man and wild man motifs in twentieth and twenty-first century children’s culture. From Puck to Captain Planet, the green man motif may help to kindle ecological awareness and excite the environmental imagination. The green man offers education and guidance and a release from the pressures and responsibilities of the civic space. Yet the spaces the green man inhabits – forests and wildernesses – are also sites of wild abandon, savagery and panic where human characters become wild men and slip away from their civilised identities altogether. From Craighead George’s My Side of the Mountain, to Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, to Linda Newbery Lob, to Almond’s The Savage, to Siobhan Dowd and Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls, the motif of the wild child and the wild man pervades twentieth and twenty-first century children’s culture. This conference will celebrate all aspects of the green man and the wild man in children’s culture. Keynote speakers include Roni Natov and Jim Kay.

Papers on literature, art, comics/graphic novels, video games, film and music are welcome. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Superheroes and Supervillains
  • Green Women
  • Hermits
  • Puck/Pan/Pantheism
  • Wildness and Savagery
  • Ecopedagogy
  • Independence
  • Wild Holidays
  • Exile
  • Forest Dwellers
  • Feral Children
  • Flower Fairies and Forest Spirits
  • Green Rhetoric
  • Ecocritical responses to the Green man

Abstracts of 200 words for 20 minute papers should be sent to greenchildrenslit@gmail.com before 5pm on Friday March 30th 2012.

SFF Masterclass 2012 (application deadline 28th February)

The Science Fiction Foundation (SFF) will be holding the sixth annual Masterclass in sf criticism in 2012.
Dates: June 22nd, 23rd, 24th 2012.
Location: Middlesex University, London (the Hendon Campus, nearest underground, Hendon).
Delegate costs will be £190 per person, excluding accommodation.
Accommodation: students are asked to find their own accommodation, but help is available from the administrator (farah.sf@gmail.com).

Applicants should write to Farah Mendlesohn at farah.sf@gmail.com. Applicants are asked to provide a CV and a writing sample; these will be assessed by an Applications Committee consisting of Farah Mendlesohn, Graham Sleight and Andy Sawyer. Completed applications must be received by 28th February 2012.

Head of Film and Television Division

After three years of much-appreciated service as FTV Division Head, Jeffrey Weinstock is stepping aside to allow someone else the opportunity. The IAFA board, on behalf of the entire IAFA community, thanks Jeffrey for the hard work that he has done in making the FTV Division one of the strongest at ICFA.

The IAFA is now accepting applications for the position of Head of the Film and Television Division, effective immediately.

The Division Head is the person who sends out paper calls for his/her Division, collects and accepts paper proposals, creates paper sessions, helps to create panels, selects and moderates roundtable readings, and passes the work s/he’s done on to the 1st Vice President for scheduling. This Division is responsible for scholarship on all film and television texts in the fantastic genres.

Qualifications include current membership with IAFA (at least a couple of years’ experience with the organization so you have some understanding of how things work at the conference), easy and dependable internet access and comfort level with computers, organizational skills, the ability to work as part of a group working together on the ‘big picture,’ a willingness to work through the transition with the previous Head beginning this fall, the ability to attend March conferences while you hold the position and to attend the Division Heads’ meeting run by the 1st VP at the conference, plus, of course, the time to do the work involved. Knowledge of the fields of film and television is required.

Division Heads hold office for a term of 3 years (with a probationary first year) with the possibility of renewal for a second 3-year term.

If you’re interested in taking on the work of IF Division Head, please contact both Sherryl Vint, 1st Vice President (sherryl.vint@gmail.com), and Jeffrey Weinstock outgoing FTV Division Head (weins1ja@cmich.edu), with a cover letter about your interest in and qualifications for the job. Applications for the position should include a CV. The IAFA Board of Directors will consider all applications for the position.

The deadline for applications is May 1, 2012; a decision will be made by June 2012.

Call for Papers for Preternature 2.2. Monstrophy: The Academic Study of Monsters

Monstrophy: The Academic Study of Monsters

”Monstrophy” is a term referring to the academic study of monsters as representational and conceptual categories, which has gained recent currency in several related fields of study (literary and cultural history, sociological theories of identity and difference, et al.), as well as in a number of recent books and articles about monsters as subjects of theoretical interpretation. Etymologically derived from Latin ”mōnstrum” (meaning prodigy, ominous sign, monstrous creature or person, abomination) and Greek ”sophia” (σοφία, wisdom), hybrid compounding of monstrophy is not uncommon in disciplinary names, e.g. [[sociology]], another Greek and Latin compound.) Monstrophy literally means “wisdom about monsters,” and in academic usage refers to the broader study of monsters in society and history.

Monsters have been widely catalogued in their historical and ethnographic contexts, and have been commonly included in cultural products such as epic, folktale, fiction, and film, but have only begun to be studied seriously as semiological markers indicating the seams of internal cultural tension. Interpreters commonly note the “monstrous” as occupying space at the borders of a society’s conceptual categories, such as those relating to sexual and behavioral transgression, or to inherent prejudice and internal conflict (for instance, in race, gender, politics, and religion). Monsters are rarely fully distinct from the “human,” but are often comprised of hybrid features of the human and non-human. This issue of Preternature invites contributions that explore how the category of “monster” is used to define and articulate what a certain group of people articulates to itself to be properly human.

Contributions are welcome from any discipline, time period, or geographic provenance, so long as the discussion highlights the cultural, literary, religious, or historical significance of the topic.

Contributions should be roughly 8,000 – 12,000 words (with the possibility of longer submissions in exceptional cases), including all documentation and critical apparatus. If accepted for publication, manuscripts will be required to adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (style 1, employing endnotes).

Preternature also welcomes original editions or translations of texts related to the topic that have not otherwise been made available in recent editions or in English. Submissions are made online at: <www.preternature.org>.

Final Papers are due April 15, 2012.

Queries about submissions, queries concerning books to be reviewed, or requests to review individual titles may be made to the Editor: Kirsten C. Uszkalo: kirsten@uszkalo.com

Inquiries about book reviews should be sent to the Book Review Editor: Richard Raiswell: rraiswell@upei.ca.

For more on the journal, please consult <www.preternature.org>.

CfP: Science Fiction Across Media (located in Sweden)

Science Fiction Across Media: Alternative Histories, Alien Futures
Umeå University, Sweden
April 23-24, 2012

Science fiction is becoming a mainstream and increasingly popular genre in fiction and film, as demonstrated by recent novels by Kazuo Ishiguro, Michel Houellebecq, Junot Diaz and William Gibson as well as the global success of James Cameron’s Avatar. Yet science fiction is more than simple entertainment. This workshop considers science fiction as multi-medial explorations of alternative histories and alternative futures and invites scholars across the humanities to present their ongoing work on science fiction either in the form of full-length 20-minute papers, or as shorter papers on work in progress or mini-presentations on crucial concepts or ideas (8 minutes).

We are particularly interested in papers that explore science fiction in and across its varied media — novels, short stories, films, animation, comic books, computer games — and/or that focus on some aspect of the complex representation of natural and technological ecologies in the genre:

– alternative social and environmental histories
– new approaches to the representation of crisis and disaster
– alien ecologies and their relation to terrestrial crises
– alternative visions of humans’/nonhumans’ relationship to place
– wild, rural and urban environments of the future or on other planets
– contrast or convergence of organic, mechanical and virtual environments
– mapping and the (technological) representation of territories and geographies
– futurist forms of energy, transportation, food provision and resource extraction
– synthetic forms of nature, including synthetically generated or modified bodies
– environmental utopias and dystopias
– new directions in the representation of gender, race and species in science fiction
– ecological scarcity and abundance
– physical and systemic violence in relationships within and between species
– thematic, stylistic and media changes in science fiction as a genre
– changing audiences of science fiction

The workshop will take place in HUMlab, Umeå University’s digital humanities laboratory, and will emphasize informal, yet critical discussion of papers and presentations.

The workshop is arranged by Finn Arne Jørgensen (Umeå University) and Ursula K. Heise (Stanford University) on behalf of Umeå Studies in Science, Technology, and Environment (USSTE), the Nordic Environmental History Network (NEHN), and the Nordic Network for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies (NIES).

Please submit a 200-word abstract and a 1-page CV to scifi@nehn-nordic.org by Saturday, March 10. Indicate whether you wish to present a full-length 20-minute paper, a shorter paper on work in progress, or a mini-presentation on crucial concepts or ideas (8 minutes).

We will cover accommodation and meals for all participants, and will seek to provide travel fellowships for participants from the Nordic countries.

For more information, please contact:
Finn Arne Jørgensen
Associate Senior Lecturer, History of Technology and Environment
Department of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies
Umeå University
901 87 Umeå
finn.jorgensen@idehist.umu.se