International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

Call for Chapter Proposals

(Essay Collection – Abstracts due Aug. 31)

With its debut in 1923, Weird Tales became the first pulp magazine

with content composed entirely of supernatural and fantastic fiction.

Over its three-decade run, the magazine featured works by some of the

most important and influential writers of speculative fiction in the

first half of the twentieth century, including H.P. Lovecraft, Robert

E. Howard, Ray Bradbury, C.L. Moore, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Bloch,

August Derleth, Henry Kuttner, Edward Hamilton, Manly Wade Wellman,

Seabury Quinn, Frank Belknap Long, and many others. Within its pages

the modern genres of horror, fantasy, and science fiction began to

develop and take shape, evolving their own tropes and conventions and

creating the foundation upon which much of modern speculative fiction

rests. Gary Hoppenstand has recently suggested that “no other pulp

magazine was more important to the history of pulp fiction, or to the

temperament of contemporary science fiction and fantasy, than Weird

Tales.”

This volume will collect critical essays that seek to provide a

broader understanding of the magazine Weird Tales and its authors,

artists, readers, and editorial practices, as well as the larger

impact that the periodical had on popular culture and genre fiction.

Possible topics may include:

• Discussions of the major works of the primary WT authors.

• The origin of WT as a genre pulp and its competitors and

successors

• The “Lovecraft Circle” and its influence

• The development of weird fiction fandom as expressed in letters

and fanzines

• Depictions of race and ethnicity in WT.

• Sexuality and gender as expressed in text and art

• The development of new genres like “cosmic horror” and

“sword-and-sorcery”

• The influence of WT and its authors on popular culture

• Philosophy and ideology in the works of WT writers

• Rhetorical approaches in WT

These are only suggestions and other related topics are welcome.

Please submit proposal abstracts of approximately 300 words along with

C.V. or brief bio to both co-editors:

Justin Everett

University of the Sciences

Email: j.everet AT usciences.edu

Jeffrey Shanks

Southeast Archeological Center

Email: jeffrey_shanks AT nps.gov

Chapter proposals due: August 31, 2013

Initial draft due: February 28, 2014

Science-Fiction Studies* is gathering scholarly essays for a special issue on Italian Science Fiction.  The projected publication date is 2015.  Articles on this topic that would be of interest include the following themes or approaches:

–       analysis and discussion of important works of Italian SF (novels, short stories, film, comics, magazines, t.v. series, on-line journals, in the academy, etc.)

–       profiles of important Italian SF writers

–       works of SF written by authors who are considered part of the literary mainstream (e.g. Buzzati, Landolfi, Levi, Morselli, etc.)

–       the critical debate around SF in Italian culture and the academy

–       the socio-cultural impact of science fiction’s visions in Italy

Articles should be written in English, should be between 8,000 and 13,000 words (including endnotes and bibliography), and include a comprehensive bibliography.  Authors should follow Science-Fiction Studies’s formatting guidelines (see below **).

Abstracts (max. 500 words) are due on or by September 30, 2013.  They should be sent via email as an MS Word attachment, or included within the body of the email to Arielle Saiber (asaiber AT bowdoin.edu) and Umberto Rossi (teacher AT fastwebnet.it).

If your proposal is accepted, you will receive a message no later than October 20.  We will then need the complete article by May 31, 2014.  All submitted articles will be sent for peer-review; final acceptance will be based on reviewer reports and those of the special issue’s editors.

* For information about Science Fiction Studies see http://www.jstor.org/page/journal/sciefictstud/about.html  and http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/

** Guidelines for formatting the article: http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/masthead.htm?47,34

Call For Papers
“Science Fiction: The Interdisciplinary Genre”
Featuring Robert J. Sawyer
McMaster University
September 13-15, 2013

On the occasion of Robert J. Sawyer’s donation of his archive to Mills Memorial Library, the Faculty of Humanities at McMaster University is hosting an international conference entitled “Science Fiction: The Interdisciplinary Genre,” a meeting of academics, writers, professionals, amateurs and fans, focusing on Canadian Science Fiction in general and Sawyer’s work in particular.

While the core of the event will be academic papers, we will also feature authors, editors, booksellers, librarians, commentators, and, of course, readers. Special guests are Robert J. Sawyer (author), John Robert Colombo (specialist of Canadian literature), Julie E. Czerneda (author), David G. Hartwell (editor, Tor), Elisabeth Vonarburg (author), Robert Charles Wilson (author), and Chris Szego of Bakka Phoenix Books.

The multimodal or interdisciplinary approach to the creation, reception and study of the SF genre has been a salient characteristic from Hugo Gernsback’s initial conceiving of the term “scientifiction” in 1926. Later, literary theorists such as Darko Suvin insisted on the particular knowledge, competency and frame of mind required in order to decipher the genre’s figurative meaning: SF, according to Suvin, “is an educational literature, […] irreversibly shaped by the pathos of preaching the good word of human curiosity, fear, and hope. […] It demands from the author and reader, teacher and critic, not merely specialized, quantified positivistic knowledge (scientia) but a social imagination whose quality of wisdom (sapienta) testifies to the maturity of his critical and creative thought.” [Darko Suvin, Metamorphoses of Science Fiction (New Haven: Yale UP, 1979): 40.]

Indeed, Sawyer’s work has garnered the attention of both the literary and scientific communities for its technical accuracy presented through speculative imagination, appealing to both the rational imperative and the sense of wonder inherent in the union of science and fiction. While Sawyer’s stated mandate is foremost to “intrigue,” and not strictly to “educate,” he insists that “[r]esearch is the heart and soul of modern SF writing; scientists are handing us gigantic ideas and mind-boggling stuff” on which to base stories. Through rigorous research initiatives, Sawyer has cultivated and contributed valuably to knowledge in various fields and his expertise is highly sought-after in both popular culture and official circles: for example, he explains that when he was writing “Frameshift, I thought I didn’t know enough genetics, so I dived in to learn all about it … and ended up on Rivera Live on CNBC talking about the Human Genome Project and advising  Canada’s Federal Department of Justice about it.” Sawyer’s work and that of other thinkers and writers, past, present and future, have the power, “with words, [to] reach across time, even after death, to influence people.” Human knowledge thus becomes increasingly accessible thanks to the various media through which it is approached and transmitted. Diverse perspectives on knowledge serve to shed new light on traditional thinking and sf clearly represents radically different perspectives:

“Multidisciplinary studies are the future: one of the reasons I write so much about the burgeoning science of consciousness […] is that it is so multidisciplinary: neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, AI researchers, anesthesiologists, quantum physicists, philosophers, and even some of us lowly science-fiction writers have made important contributions.”

It is in the spirit of an interdisciplinarity approach to science, fiction and science fiction that we invite thinkers of varying descriptions to propose talks aimed at enriching the discussion. While the conference is focused on Canadian SF and especially the literary work of Robert J. Sawyer, papers may address the broader issues at stake, notably the scientific and ethical ramifications at the core of the fictional intrigues: machines matching human capabilities (or the singularity), synthetic biology, etc. We would also welcome panel proposals should you feel inclined to organize your talk and those of willing collaborators under a single topic.

The principle language of the event will be English, though we would like to explore the possibility of running certain panels in French, according to the needs of presenters and interest of other participants. Please indicate if you are a native speaker of French or sufficiently fluent and whether or not you would prefer to give your talk in French or if you are in a position to attend talks and panel discussions in French.

Please send proposals (of 300 words max.) by March 31st, 2013 to both

C. Annette Gris <grisec@mcmaster.ca> and Nicholas Serruys <serruys@mcmaster.ca>

We will also endeavor to publish a volume of selected articles, ideally within the year following the event.

[Sawyer quotes taken from an interview conducted by Roger Deforest and posted April 3rd, 2007 on the website Hard SF: “Robert J. Sawyer Confronts Our Damn Life Clocks in Rollback.” <http://www.hardsciencefiction.rogerdeforest.com/?mode=8&id=6>]

EDITORS
D. Harlan Wilson
Bill Ectric

CONTACT EMAIL
billectric@aol.com

A fanatical satirist and provocateur, British author Steve Aylett writes in multiple genres, usually simultaneously, combining elements of science fiction and fantasy with comedy and a high literary aesthetic. As a result of his unique method of narrative hybridization, Aylett has not garnered much of a readership beyond devotees in underground circles who tend to worship him like a bogie in the sky. He is simply too clever and grandiloquent for genre readers, and he’s too genre for literary readers, infusing his meta-pulp fictions with intricate networks of hi-tech and/or bizarre novums. Like J. G. Ballard, Aylett belies, if not capsizes, formulaic methods and ultimately constitutes a genre in and of himself. A comprehensive study of his singular body of work is long overdue.

Anti-Oedipus Press will publish To Unearth the Bruises Underground, the first collection of critical essays on Aylett. We seek articles between 2000-5000 words on one or more of the following works:

THE BEERLIGHT SERIES
The Crime Studio
Slaughtermatic
Atom
Novahead

THE ACCOMPLICE SERIES (collected as The Complete Accomplice):
Only an Alligator
The Velocity Gospel
Dummyland
Karloff’s Circus

NOVELS
Bigot Hall
The Inflatable Volunteer
Shamanspace
Lint
Fain the Sorcerer
Rebel at the End of Time

COLLECTIONS
Toxicology
Smithereens
And Your Point Is?
Tao Te Jinx

COMICS
The Caterer
Get that Thing Away from Me

FILMS
LINT: The Movie

Format submissions according to MLA style and send them to Bill Ectric at billectric@aol.com. The target publication date is June 2014. Submissions will be accepted until October 2013.

Call for Applications for:

Science Fiction Foundation SF Criticism Masterclass 2013 2^nd thru 4^th July 2013.

The Science Fiction Foundation (SFF) will be holding the seventh annual Masterclass in SF Criticism in 2013.

Location: The University of Liverpool

Class leaders: Nick Lowe (author of the long-running Mutant Popcorn); Graham Sleight (Editor of Foundation, and managing editor for the Hugo Award Winning Encyclopedia of Science Fiction); and Catherynne M. Valente, author of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, and participant in the Hugo-Award-winning Squeecast.

Cost: £200.

Accommodation: this is not provided but Andy Sawyer (A.P.Sawyer@liverpool.ac.uk is able to assist, and if you have attended the conference, 29 June – 1 July ( http://www.sf-foundation.org/conference ) you may wish to stay on.

To apply, please send: a piece of critical writing (between one and five thousand words), and a short cv and bio to Farah Mendlesohn at farah.sf@gmail.com

Deadline: 31st January 2013

I wanted to wish you all a merry x-mas and a happy new year 2013. And in order to have a full and fantastic 2013, you should note down the 4th GFF conference taking place in Giessen, Germany in September. It is well worth the travel, so take a look … we have some pretty amazing keynotes lined-up as well, filled with some of our best and brightest from SFRA and IAFA, so do come … more info to follow.

Call for Papers
Writing Worlds

Models of World and Space in the Fantastic Fourth annual conference of the Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung e.V.[Association forResearch in the Fantastic] at the Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen 26th-29th of September, 2013

Writing Worlds and Writing Worlds – one of the main characteristics of the Fantastic is its ability to create multiple possible worlds in its divers medial expressions such as literature, film, games or the visual arts. In these worlds, the representation of space serves as much as genre indicator as does the set of characters. The fourth annual conference of the Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung e.V. [Association for Research in the Fantastic] will be focused on world/space constructions and their relevance for the Fantastic. This implicates dealing with the whole spectrum of theory and analysis of fantastic world models and the relation and semantics of fantastic spaces.

Beside genre definitions like Tzvetan Todorov’s ‘uncertainty’, Roger Caillois’ ‘infraction of natural laws’ or Uwe Durst’s ‘conflicting textual systems of reality’, it seems that fantastic world constructions are likewise suitable to categorize the steadily growing and developing amount of fantastic texts: Medieval worlds, alien planets with their own natural laws or fantastic spaces hidden underneath, behind or within the present show in how many ways the Fantastic may conceptualize ‘space’ and ‘world’ and how difficult it is to make global statements about ‘the Fantastic’ as such. In imitation of Nietzsche, one might ask in view of the ‘Possible-Worlds Theory’, ‘So many worlds, and how many new ones are still possible!’

Apart from the representations of fictional worlds as a potential basis for genre definitions, there will be room to discuss the cultural implications of space which, in the Fantastic, is often linked to the topos of the hero’s journey. Beside Niels Werber’s geopolitical approach and Yuri Lotman’s considerations of the border as topological cultural model, the Fantastic supplies literary research with a testing ground for terms like globalization, transnationality, or multiculturalism.

In addition, some fantastic world constructions are characterized by their specific references to reality and have a considerable potential for social criticism. Especially by using the semantics of world and space, Utopias and Dystopias may initiate or contribute to discussions about current issues. Even gender studies cannot ignore the impact of gendered spaces in the Fantastic for the construction of gender roles. Another aspect of the conference might be the changing relationship between the underworld and the world above, when the dead or the undead attend ordinary high schools, work in ordinary jobs and are to be met at the local pub in their spare time. Thus, the question remains open whether death still has or even needs a space beyond a ‘final frontier’ that is reserved especially for this taboo topic.

The approaches proposed here are only a fraction of the questions that may be discussed at the conference, or even starting points for new theories – again imitating Nietzsche, ‘And how many new questions are still possible!” Additionally, there will be the possibilty to discuss other topics of the fantastic in an open track.

The GfF offers two travel grants of 250€ each for postgraduate or undergraduate students who hand in an outstanding abstract and are not entitled to funding from any other source. If you would like to apply for such a grant, please notify us in your biographical information.

If we have raised your interest, please feel welcome to send us a 350-words abstract of your projected 20-minute paper in German or English, including your contact details and some short biographical information via E-Mail (gff2013@ggk.uni-giessen.de) by December 31st, 2012.

Organization of the conference:
Annette Simonis, Laura Muth, Pascal Klenke, Klaudia Seibel, in cooperation with the Section 10 – Phantastische Welten of the Gießener Graduiertenzentrum Kulturwissenschaften and the Phantastische Bibliothek Wetzlar.

Contact:
Pascal Klenke, Laura Muth, Klaudia Seibel Speakers of Sektion 10 – Phantastische Welten Gießener Graduiertenzentrum Kulturwissenschaften Alter Steinbacher Weg 38, D-35394 Gießen

In response to a number of requests, and taking into consideration this busy time of year, the Popular Culture Association of Canada will be accepting proposals for our third annual conference into the New Year. The revised and final deadline for submissions is January 11, 2013.

LoneStarCon 3 – Call for Papers
71st World Science Fiction Convention
August 29 ‐ September 2, 2013
San Antonio, Texas
http://lonestarcon3.org/

Guests of Honor:
Ellen Datlow
James Gunn
Willie Siros
Norman Spinrad
Darrell K. Sweet
Leslie Fish
Joe R. Lansdale

The academic track of the 2013 WorldCon is soliciting papers on all topics related to the science fiction and fantasy genres. We especially encourage papers related to the work of the guests of honor (listed above). Work on Steampunk, Old West/frontier themes, and Spanish language sf is also appreciated. Science fiction has long benefitted from works of criticism and scholarship from those outside the academy, a tradition that GoH Dr. James Gunn helped encourage. Paper proposals from both academics and non‐academics (fans) are welcome.

Paper proposals must include a 300-500 word abstract and appropriate bibliography. Proposals are due by December 31 2012, and participants will be notified by February 1, 2013 if their paper is accepted. All participants must be members of the convention. They will deliver a 15 minute reading of their paper as part of a panel, followed by a Q&A. Attendees may present only one paper at WorldCon, so please, no multiple submissions. All submissions (and any questions) should be sent to the head of the academic track:

Karen Burnham (academic@texas.lonestarcon3.org)

Please see below the CFP for the Pulp Studies area of the PCA/ACA.  As many of our sessions tend to focus on pulps in the fantastic, I hope that members of the IAFA and SFRA will submit proposals.  Please note that the deadline was moved back this year from December 15 to November 30.

If you are so inclined, please also join the Pulp Studies listserv.  You may email me directly to request that I add you to the list or may submit a request via the Pulp Studies site listed in the call below.  I am continuing to add to the bibliography as quickly as I can review submissions, so please let me know about any works you think should be included.  I also welcome CFPs to post in pulp-related areas.

Call for Proposals
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Pulp Studies Area
Popular Culture/American Culture Association National Conference
Washington, DC
March 27-30 2013

Pulp magazines were a series of mostly English-language, predominantly American, magazines printed on rough pulp paper.  They were often illustrated with highly stylized, full-page cover art and numerous line art illustrations of the fictional content.  They were sold for modest sums, and were targeted at (sometimes specialized) readerships of popular literature, such as western and adventure, detective, fantastic (including the evolving genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror), romance and sports fiction. The first pulp Argosy, began life as the children’s magazine The Golden Argosy, dated Dec 2, 1882 and the last of the “original” pulps was Ranch Romances and Adventures, Nov. 1971.

The Pulp Studies area exists to support the academic study of pulp writers, editors, readers, and culture.  It seeks to invigorate research by bringing together scholars from diverse areas including romance, western, science fiction, fantasy, horror, adventure, detective, and more.  Finally, the Pulp Studies area seeks to promote the preservation of the pulps through communication with libraries, museums, and collectors.

With this in mind, we are calling for papers and panels that discuss the pulps and their legacy.  Suggested authors and topics:

• Magazines:  Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, Wonder Stories, Fight Stories, All-Story, Argosy, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Spicy Detective, Ranch Romances and Adventures, Oriental Stories/Magic Carpet Magazine, Love Story, Flying Aces, Black Mask, and Unknown, to name a few.
• Editors and Owners:  Street and Smith (Argosy), Farnsworth Wright (Weird Tales), Hugo Gernsback (Amazing Stories), Mencken and Nathan (Black Mask), John Campbell (Astounding).
• Influential Writers:  H.P. Lovecraft, A. E. Merritt, Robert E. Howard, C. L. Moore, Fritz Leiber, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Donald Wandrei, Clark Ashton Smith, and Henry Kuttner.  Proposals about contemporary writers in the pulp tradition, such as Joe Lansdale and Michael Chabon are also encouraged.  New Weird writers and others, such as China Mieville, whose work is influenced by the pulps, are also of interest.
• Influences on Pulp Writers:  Robert Bloch, H. Rider Haggard, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jack London, and Edgar Rice Burroughs were all influences, along with literary and philosophical figures such as Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Friedrich Nietzsche, Edgar Allen Poe, and Herbert Spencer.
• Popular Characters:  Conan of Cimmeria; Doc Savage; Solomon Kane; Buck Rogers; Northwest Smith; The Domino Lady; Jiril of Jiory; Zorro; Kull of Atlantis; El Borak; The Shadow; The Spider; Bran Mak Morn; Nick Carter; The Avenger; and Captain Future, among others.  Also character types: the femme fatale, the he-man, the trickster, racism and villainy (such as Charles Middleton’s Ming the Merciless), and more.
• Artists:  Popular cover artists including Margaret Brundage (Weird Tales), Frank R. Paul (Amazing Stories), Virgil Finlay (Weird Tales), and Edd Cartier (The Shadow, Astounding).
• Periods:  The dime novels; Argosy and the ancestral pulps; Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, and the heyday of the pulps; the decline of the pulps in the 50s and 60s; pulps in the age of the Internet.
• Theme and Styles:  Masculinity, femininity, and sex as related to the heroic in the pulps; the savage as hero, the woman as hero, the trickster as hero, etc.
• Film, Television and Graphic Arts:  Pulps in film, television, comics, graphic novels and other forms are especially encouraged.  Possible topics could include film interpretations such as Conan the Barbarian, comic book incarnations of pulp magazines and series; “new weird” reinventions of the pulps such as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and The Watchmen; fan films; and newer productions, including the recently released Solomon Kane and Conan.
• Cyberculture:  Cyberpulps such as Beneath Ceaseless Skies and pulp-influenced games such as the Age of Conan MMORPG or the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game.

These are but suggestions for potential panels and presentations.  Proposals on other topics are welcome.

For general information on the Pulp Studies area, please visit our website:  http://pulpstudies.weebly.com/

Final Submission Deadline: November 30, 2012

• When submitting your paper, abstract, proposal, or panel please include your name, affiliation, and email address. For those submitting a panel, include the name, affiliation, and email address for each participant and note who will be the principle contact and panel chair.
• Abstracts should be approximately 250 words in length.
• Indicate if presentation media is required.  Projectors will be present in most locations, but presenters must supply their own computers.
• A preliminary version of the schedule will usually be posted on our website in January.  Due to the number of panels and participants, we are unable to accommodate individual scheduling requests.  We encourage participants to come for the entire conference.  The final version of the schedule will be distributed in hard copy at the conference with addendums if needed. For privacy reasons we do not publish email addresses in the online version of the program.
• Only one paper is accepted from the same presenting author. All presenters, including invited panel speakers and session chairs, must register and pay the conference registration fee. If you need an early confirmation for visa or budgetary reasons, please indicate this in your submission.

How to Submit Proposals:  Submit proposals by December 15 through the following website:  http://ncp.pcaaca.org/

Note:  Only papers submitted through the website will appear in the conference program.  If you have any questions, please contact the Pulp Studies area coordinator:

Justin Everett
University of the Sciences
j.everet@usciences.edu