International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

The Eighth Science Fiction Foundation Masterclass in Science Fiction Criticism will be held from Monday 11 August 2014 to Wednesday 13 August, immediately before Loncon3, the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention.

We are pleased to announce that the venue will be the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, founded by Charles II in 1675, and the home of the Prime Meridian. This is across the Thames from the Excel site where Loncon3 will take place.

Price: £200.

The tutors for 2014 will be:

Andy Duncan, Professor of English at Frostburg State University, Frostburg MD, winner of the Theodore Sturgeon Award and two World Fantasy Awards, and winner of the 2012 Nebula Award for Best Novelette.

Neil Easterbrook, Professor of English at the Texas Christian University, and a prolific reviewer and critic, whose monograph on China Miéville is due to be published in 2014.

K.V. Johansen, a Canadian writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children’s fiction, who has also published three books on the history of children’s fantasy. Her adult novel Blackdog was shortlisted for the Sunburst Award in 2012.

Please apply to farah.sf@gmail.com.

Send a short piece of critical writing, and a one page cv.

Deadline for Applications: February 28th 2014

9th and 10th August: Nine Worlds Geekfest at the Raddison Heathrow: https://nineworlds.co.uk/2014/tickets

11-13th August Science Fiction Foundation Masterclass.

14th-18th August Worldcon in London http://www.loncon3.org

20th August Bujold Conference, Anglia Ruskin Cambridge: http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/52317

21st August: Irradiating the Object: M. John Harrison Warwick University (UK)

22^nd-23^rd August: SF/F Now  (A.Rhys.Williams@warwick.ac.uk

22^nd-24^th August Shamrokon (the Eurocon): http://www.shamrokon.ie/

5^th-7^th September British Fantasy Con: http://www.fantasycon2014.org/

5^th & 6^th September Diana Wynne Jones conference, Newcastle: http://conferences.ncl.ac.uk/dwj/conferenceprogramme/

Odyssey is an internationally known workshop for fantasy, science fiction, and horror writers.  Held for six weeks each summer at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, Odyssey offers developing writers an intensive learning and writing experience combined with in-depth critiques of their manuscripts.  Fifty-eight percent of our graduates have gone on to professional publication.

Odyssey is the only program of its kind run by an editor.  Jeanne Cavelos, the director and primary instructor, is a best-selling author and former senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing, where she won the World Fantasy Award for her work.  She gives each student direct, useful, and personal attention in identifying the strengths and weaknesses in his writing.

The workshop also attracts top writers in the field to serve as guest lecturers.  Over the past eighteen years, authors such as Harlan Ellison, Terry Brooks, Ben Bova, Jane Yolen, George R. R. Martin, Patricia McKillip, Steve Rasnic Tem, Melanie Tem, Nancy Kress, and Dan Simmons have taught at the workshop and shared their insights into writing and the writing life.

Since Odyssey draws many university students, undergraduate credit is available for the workshop through Saint Anselm College.

Our early action deadline is January 31st and our regular admissions application deadline is April 8th.  More information about the 2014 session can be found in the press release below or at the workshop website: www.odysseyworkshop.org.

Dear Colleagues,

I’d like to draw your attention to this forthcoming Bram Stoker event in Whitby:

2ND BRAM STOKER BIRTHDAY LECTURE (PROF. SIR CHRISTOPHER FRAYLING) AND SYMPOSIUM, WHITBY MUSEUM, 8 NOVEMBER

The 2nd Bram Stoker Birthday Lecture and Symposium will take place at Whitby Museum on 8 November 2013 (11am – 5.45pm). PROF. SIR CHRISTOPHER FRAYLING will deliver the Bram Stoker Birthday Lecture, ‘Mr Stoker’s Holiday in Whitby’, at 4.30pm. The Lecture will be preceded by papers from 11am by David Pybus, Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society, on Stoker and Victorian Whitby; Dr Martin Arnold (University of Hull) on Celts, Goths and the Old North; Dr Catherine Wynne (University of Hull) on Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde and Egyptomania. Professor Martin Goodman (Professor of Creative Writing, University of Hull) will read from the manuscript of his new vampire novel. The True book of the Vampires reveals aspects of ancient vampire lore hitherto unknown to humans. A lunch-time walk to St Mary’s Churchyard will be included (optional).

Tickets (full day): £15 (half-day from 2.30pm): £10

To book a place, contact Dr Catherine Wynne (c.wynne@hull.ac.uk) by 4 November.

Organized by Dr Catherine Wynne, Department of English, University of Hull, UK

(NB.  this takes place a couple of days after the UK Worldcon: www.loncon3.org)

full name / name of organization: 

Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge

contact email: 

una.mccormack AT anglia.ac.uk

Keynote Speaker: Edward James

Potential contributors are invited to submit an abstract for a one-day conference to be held at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, on August 20th 2014. This inter-disciplinary conference will explore the works of Hugo and Nebula Award winning writer Lois McMaster Bujold, encompassing both her science fiction and her fantasy novels. Papers and pre-formed panels are invited on issues related to (but not limited to) any of the following themes related to the works of Lois McMaster Bujold:

space opera
fantasy
american fantasy
fantasy and environmentalism
feminist science fiction
science fiction and biotechnology
science fiction and gender
science fiction and sexuality
science fiction and race
utopias and dystopias

300 word abstracts should be submitted by 31st March 2014. Abstracts should be submitted to the conference organizer, Dr Una McCormack: una.mccormack AT anglia.ac.uk. Emails should be entitled Biology and Manners Conference: Abstract, and should contain the following information:

a) author(s) of paper/panel; b) affiliation; c) title of abstract; d) body of abstract

cfp categories: 

american

gender_studies_and_sexuality

popular_culture

science_and_culture

twentieth_century_and_beyond

The winners of the 2012 Shirley Jackson Awards have been posted.

The Association for the Recognition of Excellence in SF & F Translation ARESFFT) is delighted to announce the finalists for the 2013 Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Awards (for works published in 2012). There are two categories: Long Form and Short Form.

Long Form:

Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City by Kai-cheung Dung, translated from the Chinese by Anders Hansson, Bonnie S. McDougall, and the author (Columbia University Press).

Belka, Why Don’t You Bark? by Hideo Furukawa, translated from the Japanese by Michael Emmerich (Haikasoru).

Kaytek the Wizard by Janusz Korczak, translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Penlight).

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, translated from the Russian by Olena Bormashenko (Chicago Review Press).

Seven Terrors by Selvedin Avdić, translated from the Bosnian by Coral Petkovich (Istro Books).

Three Science Fiction Novellas by J.-H. Rosny aîné, translated from the French by Danièle Chatelain & George Slusser (Wesleyan University Press).

The Whispering Muse by Sjón, translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb (Telegram).

Note: The version of Roadside Picnic in question is a brand new translation of this well-loved work, and therefore eligible for the award despite the existence of a previous English language version.

Short Form:

“Augusta Prime” by Karin Tidbeck translated from the Swedish by the author (Jagannath: Stories, Cheeky Frawg).

“Autogenic Dreaming: Interview with the Columns of Cloud” by Tobi Hirokata, translated from the Japanese by Jim Hubbert (The Future Is Japanese, Nick Mamatas and Masumi Washington, eds., Haikasoru).

“Every Time We Say Goodbye” by Zoran Vlahović, translated from the Croatian by Tatjana Jambrišak, Goran Konvićni, and the author (Kontakt: An Anthology of Croatian SF, Darko Macan and Tatjana Jambrišak, eds., SFera).

“The Flower of Shazui” by Chen Qiufan, translated from the Chinese by Ken Liu (Interzone #243).

“A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight” by Xia Jia, translated from the Chinese by Ken Liu (Clarkesworld #65).

“A Single Year” by Csilla Kleinheincz, translated from the Hungarian by the author (The Apex Book of World SF #2, Lavie Tidhar, ed., Apex Book Company).

The nominees were announced at Finncon 2013 <http://2013.finncon.org/> in Helsinki, over the weekend of July 6-7 during a discussion about international science fiction. ARESFFT Board member Cheryl Morgan and jury member Stefan Ekman, who was a Guest of Honor at Finncon, were present, as was Short Form nominee Karin Tidbeck. Other countries represented at Finncon this year include Latvia, Estonia, Russia, China, France, Canada, the UK, and the USA.

The winning works will be announced in August. Each winning author and translator will receive a cash prize of US$350.

ARESFFT President Professor Gary K. Wolfe said: “The number of fine works that our jury has to consider is increasing each year. We are delighted to be able to bring such fine fiction from a wide range of different cultures to the attention of the English-speaking world.”

The money for the prize fund was obtained primarily through a generous donation by the Society for the Furtherance & Study of Fantasy & Science Fiction (SF3) <http://sf3.org/>. SF3 is the parent non-profit corporation of Wiscon <http://wiscon.info/>, the feminist science fiction convention.

The jury for the awards was James & Kathryn Morrow (Chairs); Felice Beneduce, Alexis Brooks de Vita, Stefan Ekman, Martha Hubbard, Ekaterina Sedia, Kari Sperring, and Aishwarya Subramanian.

ARESFFT is a California Non-Profit Corporation funded entirely by donations.

The 2013 Locus Award winners have been announced.