International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

Call For Papers

Delving Into Urban Myths: The Works Of Charles De Lint

With over seventy titles to his name and new ones in the making, Charles de Lint is
among the most prolific writers of Canadian speculative fiction and a key representative of
urban fantasy/mythic fiction. Given his vast literary output, several awards (including the
World Fantasy Award in 2000 and the Aurora Award in 2013 and again in 2015), and a large
gathering of devoted readers (if Facebook profiles such as “The Mythic Café, with Charles de
Lint & Company” are any indication), it is more than surprising that his fiction has yet to
become the subject of a full-length academic study. That is not to say, of course, that the
academia is unaware of de Lint’s presence. The writer is briefly discussed in David Ketterer’s
Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy (1992), and receives some attention in Douglas
Ivison’s Canadian Fantasy and Science-Fiction Writers (2002) as well as in Stefan Ekman’s
Here Be Dragons: Exploring Fantasy Maps and Settings (2013). There is also a number of
individual essays published in scholarly journals and edited collections, which focus on
various aspects of de Lint’s works, e.g., Laurence Steven’s “Welwyn Wilton Katz and Charles
de Lint: New Fantasy as a Canadian Post-colonial Genre” (Worlds of Wonder, 2004),
Christine Mains’ “Old World, New World, Otherworld: Celtic and Native American
Influences in Charles de Lint’s Moonheart and Forests of the Heart” (Extrapolation, 2005),
Terri Doughty’s “Dreaming into Being: Liminal Spaces in Charles de Lint’s Young Adult
Mythic Fiction” (Knowing Their Place? Identity and Space in Children’s Literature, 2011),
Brent A. Stypczynski’s “De Lint’s Canines” (The Modern Literary Werewolf, 2013),
Weronika Łaszkiewicz’ “From Stereotypes to Sovereignty: Indigenous Peoples in the Works
of Charles de Lint” (Studies in Canadian Literature, 2018), and Sylwia Borowska-Szerszun’s
“Remembering the Romance: Medievalist Romance in Fantasy Fiction by Guy Gavriel Kay
and Charles de Lint” (Medievalism in English Canadian Literature, 2020) to name a few.
However, the lack of a full-length study devoted to de Lint alone seems a glaring omission,
perhaps caused by the writer’s staggering literary output which might seem too daunting of a
task for a single scholar.

Thus, we invite scholars and readers of Charles de Lint’s fiction to submit their
contribution to what is intended as the first comprehensive (though surely not exhaustive)
book-length study of his works, published by a reputable academic publisher. Submissions
might focus on, but are not limited to, one of the following topics:

– Charles de Lint’s position within the field of Canadian speculative fiction and urban
fantasy fiction, as well as his contribution to their development;
– his perception of the city and its aliments as exemplified by the portrayal of Ottawa,
Newford, Santo del Vado Viejo, and other—both real and fantastic—urban spaces;
– his conflation of the real and the fantastic within the urban space, including his theory
of “consensus reality”;
– his approach to socio-political problems, including violence, abuse, and trauma, illegal
immigration as well as the fate of social outcasts and the underprivileged members of
the society;
– his depiction and understanding of female empowerment;
– his depiction of artists, artistic inspiration, and the meaning of art;
– his depiction of (fictional) Native American tribes and ethnic communities, including
the question of cultural appropriation;
– his depiction of animals and human-animal hybrid characters as vital members of the
modern society;
– his approach to religion and spirituality, including his criticism of institutional religion
and emphasis on the divine hidden in the natural world/wilderness;
– his inspirations, including the medieval and Gothic tradition as well as borrowings
from different mythologies (e.g., Welsh, Celtic, Native American, etc.) to develop an
original mythological system (the Otherworld and the Animal People);
– his advice for the contemporary world in the face of the anthropocentric crisis;
– a juxtaposition of his early and more recent works, including his children’s books;
– a juxtaposition of his work with that of other Canadian fantasists or prominent writers
of urban fantasy.

Contributors are welcome to focus on a single text or deliver a cross-sectional study of a
selection of de Lint’s works. We welcome contributions from scholars of all backgrounds,
disciplines, and career stages.

Submissions—abstract (max. 400 words) and a CV (1 page)—should be sent to
weronika.laszkiewicz@wp.pl and sbszerszun@gmail.com

The deadline for abstracts is 30 April 2021

The deadline for full articles (5000-8000 words, MLA style) is 30 November 2021

Weronika Łaszkiewicz, PhD
University of Białystok, Poland
Sylwia Borowska-Szerszun, PhD
University of Białystok, Poland

To learn about our previous publications, please find us on Academia.edu

Call for Chapters: Sex and Supernatural

*** Deadline extended! ***

As the long-running series Supernatural (2005-2020) comes to a close, fans and scholars can finally consider the text as a closed canon that offers new possibilities for analysis. While previous volumes from throughout its run have examined the series through the lenses of genre, theology, and philosophy, this collection will analyze the show through the thus-far underused lenses of fan, gender, sexuality, and porn studies. Supernatural’s use and interpretations of sexualities, queerness, consumption of pornography and human bodies (sometimes literally) speaks to both horror tropes and to cultural anxieties. The longevity of the show also allows it to act as a litmus test for changing mores in sex and gender representation. The goal of this edited volume will be to analyze these topics across the breadth of the show and its related texts, including licensed novels and comics and fan fiction and meta.

Possible topics include:

The portrayal of sex work on the show and in the show’s fanfiction

The depiction of porn and its consumption, including “Busty Asian Beauties” and “Casa Erotica”

The portrayal of STDs, including “Herpexia”

The sexual appetites of fangirls: Marie (“You can’t spell ‘subtext’ without s-e-x”) contrasted with Becky (“Can you stop touching me?” “No.”)

The usage (and sometimes subversion) of the “bury your gays” trope

Queerness and people of color (e.g. Cesar Cuevas, Max Banes)

Queerness as interpreted through different showrunners (Kripke, Gamble, Carver, Dabb)

Dean Winchester’s unconfirmed(?) bisexuality

Chuck/God’s confirmed bisexuality

Crowley (from his deal for “three inches” to his “summer of love” with Dean)

Queer couples and/vs. Heteronormativity

Toxic Masculinity (and John Winchester’s A+ Parenting)

“Benjamin is an angel. His vessel is a woman”: Angels’ queer/trans identities

Anyone who kisses Sam dies: heterosexual love as literal kiss of death?

“I’m full frontal in here, dude”: analyzing the differences in Dean and Sam sex scenes

Please send 500 word abstracts with 100 word biographical statements and a short (two page) CV to Cait Coker at cait.coker@gmail.com by March 1, 2021 Estimated timeline: First draft essays (5-6k words) should be completed by August 31, 2021 and final revisions by December 31, 2021.

Grist’s solutions lab, Fix, is excited to announce the launch of our first-ever, free-entry, climate-fiction short story contest — Imagine 2200: Climate fiction for future ancestors. We’re dipping a toe into the world of fiction, and we want you to join us.

Grist’s mission is to make the story of a better world so irresistible, you want it right now. Our award-winning journalism has done that for the past 20 years (if we do say so ourselves). And now, with this contest, we’re embracing the opportunity to look beyond the confines of the present moment and share visions of solutions that haven’t even been dreamt up yet. Imagine 2200 draws inspiration from Afrofuturism, as well as Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, disabled, feminist, and queer futures, and the genres of hopepunk and solarpunk. We especially want to see — and share — stories that center climate solutions from the most impacted communities and bring into focus what a truly just, regenerative future could look like.

Submissions are now open.

Find everything you need to submit a story in our Submissions portal.

We’re calling for 3,000- to 5,000-word stories that envision the next 180 years of climate progress — roughly seven generations. The winning writer will be awarded $3,000, with the second- and third-place finalists receiving $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. An additional nine finalists will each receive a $300 honorarium. Winners and finalists will be published in a stunning (trust us), immersive digital collection on Fix’s website and will be celebrated in a public-facing virtual event. Our board of expert literary judges includes authors Adrienne Maree Brown, Morgan Jerkins, and Kiese Laymon.

For more information, please visit https://grist.org/fix/climate-fiction-writing-contest-imagine-2200-prizes/.

HBO’s recent series Lovecraft Country takes up the monsters of H. P. Lovecraft’s universe, but flips the script to make the heroes an African-American cast battling various demons in the Jim Crow era. Arguably, the show aimed at a re-appropriation or détournement of the pulp legend’s troubling racism, but critics seem divided on the show’s success. In Dr. Kinitra Brooks’s writings on the series for The Root, she situated it as “a part of the contemporary arts movement that media professor John Jennings coined as ‘Racecraftian,’ inspired by Karen and Barbara Fields in their 2014 book, Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life.” Therein, racecraft is defined as a practice: racism produces the illusion of race, and Jennings adopted the term (thinking specifically of its homology with Lovecraft’s name) to signify horror narratives that engage with critical race studies for the purpose of dismantling constructions of race. As an adaptation of Lovecraft’s universe, the HBO series would seem to be speaking back to the pulp legend.

Studies in the Fantastic, a journal founded by Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi, seeks submissions for a special issue on any aspect of the show, but we are especially interested in essays that delve into this debate, the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Lovecraft Country, and the Racecraftian turn. Acknowledging that the series is new and that many conferences this year are cancelled due to the pandemic, we are accepting shorter essays (3500-6000 words) driven by scene analyses for this collection that seeks to gather together scholars’ “First Thoughts on Lovecraft Country.” Submissions for this special issue should be received by June 1, 2021. Send to the editor at fantastic@ut.edu

Studies in the Fantastic is a journal publishing refereed essays, informed by scholarly criticism and theory on both fantastic texts and their social function. Although grounded in literary studies, we are especially interested in articles examining genres and media that have been underrepresented in humanistic scholarship. Subjects may include, but are not limited to, weird fiction, science/speculative fiction, fantasy, videogames, science writing, futurism, and technocracy. Electronic access to Studies in the Fantastic is available via Project Muse.
Follow us on twitter: @study_fantastic

Studies in the Fantastic requests submissions for our biannually published peer-reviewed academic journal. As always, essays examining the fantastic from a variety of scholarly perspectives are welcome. Submission guidelines can be found on our website: https://utampapress.org/studies-in-the-fantastic

Special Issue to Appear in Transmotion: An Online Journal of Postmodern Indigenous Studies http://journals.kent.ac.uk/index.php/transmotion

Extended Deadline for Abstracts: December 1, 2020

Late in March of 2014, Oglala Sioux Tribal President Bryan Brewer declared war on the Keystone XL, a pipeline projected to snake through reservation land in the northern United States. In support of this effort, Indigenous activists from various communities (and their allies) coordinated a wave of protests against the development of oil-pipelines and the extraction of tar sands on Native lands, igniting what came to be known internationally as the #NODAPL movement. Sioux scholar Nick Estes has chronicled how this movement sparked a desire for the “tradition of Indigenous resistance that is a radical consciousness […] one that expresses the ultimate desire for freedom” (48). ed

The events at Standing Rock have been driven by global forces and thus resonate on a global level. This past year, Australia experienced severe drought and wildfires of unparalleled scope, both of which were fueled by deforestation and other destructive land use practices. In response to this eco-cataclysm, Aboriginal activists, such as Alexis Wright, have called on Australia’s leaders “to recognize the depth and value of Aboriginal knowledge and incorporate our skills in hazard management” (2020). Speaking on behalf of Marshall Islanders, Indigenous poet and activist, Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, has illustrated how rising sea-levels have resulted in flooding, drought, and the erosion of her ancestral homeland—epistemological as well as geological injuries. In response to this dilemma, Jetñil-Kijiner has also advocated for the importance of listening to communities who can draw on deep collective histories to envision strategies for navigating what Elizabeth DeLoughrey has called the “submarine futures of the Anthropocene.” These examples are just a few instances in a global pattern, where extreme resource extraction is linked to the persecution of frontline communities, those who experience the first and the worst of climatological collapse. Yet these instances also speak to the powerful ways that Indigenous communities across the globe are spearheading movements to redress and counteract the violence of anthropogenic climate change, along with it is driving forces of colonialism and capitalism. These movements help us critically reflect on how we define our relationship to the land, to other humans and non-humans, and to history and time, in order to push back against the genocidal wave of ecological violence. Inspired by the work of such activists and thinkers, Transmotion calls for submissions to contribute to a special issue on the topic of Global Indigenous Literature and Climate Change.

The central theme of this issue has inspired a significant amount of critical interest in recent years. In their influential essay “On the Importance of a Date, or Decolonizing the Anthropocene,” Heather Davis and Zoe Todd (Métis) examine the ways that climate change discourse might productively shift if we reconsider the Anthropocene’s origin point. Challenging the typical mid-20th century start-point, Davis and Todd propose linking the Anthropocene to the Columbian exchange (1610). Using a date that coincides with colonialism in the Americas, they explain, allows us to understand the current state of ecological crisis as inherently ascribed to a specific ideology that is animated by proto-capitalist logics based on extraction and accumulation through dispossession—“logics that continue to shape the world we live in and that have produced our current era” (764). It is precisely this long-standing intimacy with environmental disruption that attunes Indigenous communities to our contemporary climatic shifts. For Potawatomi philosopher, Kyle Powys Whyte, this sense of “colonial déjà vu” allows Indigenous communities to consider how their accumulated knowledges might productively disrupt and undo the universalizing and violent logics of the Anthropocene. His work is dedicated to crafting what he calls “Indigenous climate change studies”—a mode of praxis that “perform[s] futurities that Indigenous persons can build on in generations to come. [It is] guided by our reflection on our ancestors’ perspectives and on our desire to be good ancestors ourselves to future generations” (160). This vital work has been amplified by the critical energies of scholars like Candis Callison, Joni Adamson, Marisol de la Cadena, Elizabeth Povinelli, Leanne Simpson, and Jaskiran Dhillon, among others.

We invite work that explores this flourishing branch of Indigenous Studies, focusing on the significance of Anthropocene narratives in a global Indigenous arena. Bringing together scholars researching climate and environmental change in relation to diverse geographical and historical contexts, we hope to explore questions surrounding what an anti- and decolonial Anthropocene discourse might look like and what potential it holds for transnational solidarity and Indigenous sovereignty. What are some of the ways that Indigenous perspectives understand—and re-inscribe—climate change knowledge? How do Indigenous artists and activists reconcile the local exigencies of their environment with the global discourse on climate change? How do literary texts reflect and intervene in these contexts? And what is to be gained from studying disparate literatures and societies under the unifying frame of climate change? This special issue aims to explore these and other questions, featuring work that spans a plurality of forms, such as literature, art, film, or related modes of cultural production. We invite articles, creative pieces, or hybrid works that engage with these topics and which align aesthetically with the aforementioned editorial emphasis.

We particularly welcome submissions that engage with the following topics:

Reflections on the relationship between activism and aesthetics.
The genres of climate fiction.
The relationship between environmental humanities (EH), disability studies, and queer theory—as understood from Indigenous perspectives.
Indigenous studies and related EH fields, such as energy humanities, new materialisms, medical humanities, and oceanic studies.
The similarities and differences between postcolonial ecocriticism and Indigenous climate change studies.
Affect, Indigeneity, and the Anthropocene.
Examinations of temporality.
Questions of interdisciplinarity, particularly between the hard sciences and the humanities.
Questions of extraction, both material and informational.
The complicity of academic institutions in abetting climate violence (particularly those institutions built upon Indigenous lands).
Anti-colonial and Indigenous critiques of the settler-nation, neoliberalism, and globalization.
Transnational activism and decolonial movements around climate violence.

Any questions should be directed to Editor David Carlson, California State San Bernardino (dajcarls@csusb.edu), and to Guest Editor Martín Premoli, California State San Bernardino (marpremoli@gmail.com).

Timeline:

Abstracts (up to 300 words) and brief author CV to be sent to the Guest Editors by 1st December 2020.

Accepted pieces will be due by 1 March 2021 and should be submitted directly to the Transmotion website for peer review, in accordance with the journal guidelines. Projected publication in Fall 2021.

Download the CFP here: cfp-Global Indigenous Literature and Climate Change.

Climate Change as Reflected in Science Fiction, Film and World Literature

deadline for submissions:
September 30, 2020

full name / name of organization:
Northeast Modern Language Association

contact email:
amagid1763@gmail.com

Climate change is an important issue that has become a frequent topic in twentieth as well as twenty-first century literature and film. From science fiction of the past to the present-day speculative fiction, this roundtable presents an opportunity to provide and study examples both past and present regarding climate change issues in literature and film. Dystopias written by international writers reflect the world-wide concern regarding climate change. For example, novelists such as British-born Maggie Gee’s The Flood or French-born Pierre Boulle’s La Planète des singes[The Planet of the Apes] speculate on the possibility of climate changes causing devastating destruction. What do other writers, sci-fi, and fiction/fantasy predict for the future of our climate and environmental sustainability? How do doomsday writers compare to actual science writers in the present day? In the shadow of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, how do climate issues relate to the environmental and economic health of the world? Many other issues related directly and peripherally to environmental sustainability could be included in the discussion during this roundtable session.

Submit proposals to: https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/18551

In the shadow of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, how do climate issues relate to the environmental and economic health of the world? Many other issues related directly and peripherally to environmental sustainability could be included in the discussion during this roundtable session.

Please keep in mind that in consideration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Executive Director and the NeMLA Board are considering options for remote online sessions and/or hybrid sessions [possibly both in the Marriott and through some form of remote online participation].

Professor Annette M. Magid, Ph.D.

State University of New York: Erie Community College

Buffalo, NY

U.S.A.

amagid1763@gmail.com