International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

BFS Journal 17

deadline for submissions:
December 31, 2016

full name / name of organization:
The British Fantasy Society

contact email:
bfsjournal@britishfantasysociety.org

BFS Journal 17 is due out in January/Feburary.

The journal is a mix of articles and is keen to accept submissions from people who want to write about fantasy, horror and science fiction. Our focus is primarily the former, but our readers have interests across all three genres.

Academic articles for the BFS Journal should be between 2500 and 6000 words. We prefer nearer the former, as this is about the size of a conference paper. References in the text should be (Author, Date of Edition: Page Number) with a full publication listing for the bibliography given for each article at the end. Please don’t use footnotes in your submissions.

The journal is peer reviewed and we are currently developing a open access database for articles to comply with the guidance for REF 2020.

The deadline for submissions on this edition is 31st of December.

Please feel free to email me with any ideas for pieces you would like to include or any other questions.

CFP: BUFFY AT 20
April 1, 2017
Marquette University
Milwaukee, WI

CFP DEADLINE: DECEMBER 19, 2016
Please submit 250-500 word abstracts to gerry.canavan@marquette.edu and james.south@marquette.edu.
Participants will be notified by January 15, 2017.

Keynote Speaker: Sherryl Vint, University of California, Riverside

This one-day conference invites scholars working on film and television, literature, philosophy, history, folklore studies, religion, and related academic disciplines to explore the ongoing legacy of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer as it turns twenty years old this year. Undoubtedly one of the best-loved (and best-studied) television programs of all time, Buffy has left an indelible mark on contemporary genre fiction and contemporary fandom both. But where do we go from here? What is the place of Buffy today, in a media ecology that in many ways has moved beyond the stale genre conventions and offensive sexist assumptions that made it feel so revolutionary in its moment? Does Buffy really still matter, all these years later? We submit it does, and invite papers that advance novel and innovative interventions in Buffy studies that point the way towards another twenty years (at least)

Possible topics might include:
* Buffy/Angel spinoff media, including the video games, Fray, and the seasons 8-10 comics
* Where are they now? Post-Buffy careers
* Buffy/Angel fan commentary and fan fictions
* Bingewatching Buffy
* Re-(re-(re-))watching Buffy
* Buffy and philosophy
* Buffy and history
* Buffy and religion
* Buffy and contemporary identity politics
* Buffy/Angel and the wider Mutant Enemy culture industry (Firefly, Dollhouse, Doctor Horrible, The Cabin in the Woods, Much Ado about Nothing, the Marvel Cinematic Universe)
* Buffy and nostalgia
* Buffy and mythopoesis
* classic episodes / classically bad episodes
* the rise of Whedon Studies / Buffy in the academy / Buffy in the classroom
* Buffy in the Anthropocene
* Buffy in the Age of Trump
* Buffy’s impact, legacy, ongoing relevance, and future

Conference organizers:
Gerry Canavan (gerry.canavan@marquette.edu)
James South (james.south@marquette.edu)

CFP: BUFFY at 20

Collection of Essays on Transgressive Women in Global Speculative Fiction, Film, and Digital Media

deadline for submissions:
December 30, 2016

full name / name of organization:
Valerie Guyant/ Montana State University & Kate Aho/ University of Wisconsin

contact email:
valerie.guyant@msun.edu

The interconnection of speculative fiction, transgressions against social norms, gender studies, and global perspectives is compelling because speculative fiction allows for a unique approach to social critiques. The worlds that are created in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and dystopian futures allow the genre to explore new or imaginative societies, detached from existing or historical social structures. Such an environment of speculation has led many authors to utilize the genre to comment on women’s concerns. Many of these works have, understandably been extensively critically examined.

Exploring the conversation further, the editors solicit critical approaches for our anthology that examine female characters in contemporary writers of speculative fiction, film, or digital media who are underrepresented in present scholarship, emphasizing the global reach of speculative fiction. We specifically request essays that examine female characters who operate outside social norms [either real world norms or those of their created cultures] and whose transgressive behavior is transformative and critically interesting. We are especially interested in global perspectives, global representations of authors, including Hiromi Goto, Marcela Sola, Irmtraud Morgner, Vandana Singh, Nalo Hopkinson, Zoran Drvenkar, Rinsai Rossetti, Karen Lord, Malinda Lo, Serenity Alyanna Edward, and Alex Garland, as well as subgenres such as anime [including ONA], manga, horror, steampunk, and slipstream works.

In no way should this be considered an exhaustive list. Particularly engaging ideas about underrepresented creators in fiction, film, and all digital media from any locale are encouraged.

We are NOT accepting critical explorations of well-known authors or film makers who have already been the focus of significant critical work.

Facets of transgression may include gender performance and breaking bounds of gender normativity; issues regarding motherhood, reproduction, and other-mothers; enacted or experienced violence; non-heteronormative, non-monogamous sexuality; the questioning or embracing of religion; and any behavior which breaks, bends, or questions other social paradigms. Our intent is that this anthology will contribute to an understanding of global uses of speculative fiction as a prism for examining the intersectionalities and problematization of race, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, concentrating on characters who engage women’s concern and female-identified characters including transgender women, androgynes, queered, or transgressive gender.

The anthology will be divided into overarching themes of gender performance and sexuality; violence and peace; identity formation and othering; and mothering, reproduction, and other-mothering. While essays that engage any of these topics are solicited, other considerations of transgressive female characters in speculative fiction are welcome, as are email inquiries to the editors.

Having received strong interest in the collection from Gylphi Press, we invite abstracts of 400-500 words [excluding sources cited], along with a CV and tentative list of sources, to both valerie.guyant@msun.edu and ahokg@uwec.edu.edu by December 31, 2016.

Please note: Graduate students and independent scholars are strongly encouraged to submit.

If accepted, contributors will be invited to submit completed essays of approximately 6000 words.

CFP: All topics relating to Harry Potter Novels and/or Fan Community

deadline for submissions:
November 30, 2016

full name / name of organization:
MISTI-Con

contact email:
programming@misti-con.org

Call for Proposals, MISTI-Con 2017

Deadline for submissions: 11/30/2016

Date by which proposers shall be notified: 12/31/2016

Convention dates: 5/18-5/22/2017

Proposals should include a title, 300-500 word abstract, a 50-100 word summary, and a biography of 100 words or fewer, contact information, and the proposer’s academic or other affiliation, if any; the submission form contains requests for needs such as audio-visual equipment. Further details and more information on programming at http://www.misti-con.org/prog2017.html

MISTI-Con 2017 is a small, immersive Harry Potter fan convention with a serious academic component sponsored by The Group That Shall Not Be Named (HP-NYC) in Laconia, New Hampshire. MISTI-Con 2017 is the third of these conventions: the first was held in 2013 and the second in 2015.

MISTI-Con is designed to be a completely immersive experience. The convention has exclusive use of all the hotel rooms and conference facilities. This allows us to create a complete wizarding environment that our guests can participate and indulge in as much or as little as they wish. MISTI-Con fundamentally believes that the Harry Potter fandom’s greatest strength is its creativity and participatory nature.

As a part of the immersive experience, each MISTI-Con is organized around a specific theme. MISTI-Con 2017 is Coming Home, in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone.

Programming includes the academic, fan-based, and educational elements of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books and related media. Academic approaches to Harry Potter are welcomed: the conference particularly encourages the “aca-fan,” or participant-observer, approach to Harry Potter studies. Programming formats may range from academic paper presentations or demonstrations to informal roundtables. While we hope you will be inspired by our theme celebrating the beginning of the Harry Potter series, proposals on all aspects of the Potterverse are welcome.

Proposals are sought for presentations, papers, panels, roundtables, and workshops on any topic
relating to the Harry Potter novels, films, and/or the fan
community.

Academic specialties might include, but are not limited to:

Literary and Media Studies—analysis of the books or films

Performance Studies—performances, fandom, and cosplay

Biological sciences, such as botany and zoology—bestiaries, fantastic beasts, and herbology

Physical sciences, such as chemistry, physics, and astronomy

Global studies and linguistics—global reception, the Potter books in translation

Sociology, psychology, philosophy, religion, spirituality, social justice, gender and LGBTQ studies—Harry Potter as it relates to any of these, or the Potter books and films as viewed through one of these or any other academic discipline

Education, pedagogy, literacy, and Harry Potter in the classroom

For further information and to access the submission form, go to http://www.misti-con.org/prog2017.html

Call For Papers: International Vampire Film and Arts Festival – 25-28 May 2017

The second annual International Vampire Film and Arts Festival will take place in Sighisoara in Transylvania, Romania, on May 25th – 28th, 2017.

Conference Theme: CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT: The Vampire Across Popular Culture
Sponsor: Seton Hill University

This call for papers is for scholars interested in presenting their work in the academic symposium that runs alongside the Festival (in association with Seton Hill University).
From horrific monsters to romantic heroes, on cereal boxes and in video games, the vampire is a figure that appears everywhere in popular culture today. What makes the vampire so appealing across so many media, and so many genres? How are creative writers and filmmakers employing the figure within popular genres, and how does it effect our conception of those genres? What accounts for this Gothic character’s undying popular appeal, even in today’s postmodern, digital, commercialized world? How does vampirism circulate within and comment upon mass culture?

This session invites papers in genre theory, transmedia, adaptation, folklore, the transformative arts and other areas of film, literary and cultural studies in order to explore the various appearances of vampires in pop culture, and to unfold the significance of this eternally vibrant character in diverse texts worldwide. Papers would be selected to broadly represent different examples, emphasizing the cultural significance of the vampire.
Proposals for single 20-minute papers or pre-constituted panels (of 3 x 20-minute papers) on the conference theme are now welcomed from scholars. Possible topics may include (but are not limited to) the following:

+ Remakes and Remixes of Stoker’s Dracula or other conventional vampire texts
+ The Impact of Popular Culture or Non-Gothic Genres on Dracula, Varney, Carmilla and Other Classic Vampire Texts
+ Vampire Fiction as Subgenre
+ The Vampire Outside of Gothic/Horror Film and Literature
Vampire Comedies
Vampire Romances
Urban Fantasy or other Genre Hybrids
The Vampire in Young Adult literature
+ The Vampire’s Role in Genre Evolution
+ The Vampire as Metaphor in Journalism and New Media
+ The Lessons of Failed Vampire Films/Books
+ Unconventional Vampires as Signs of Cultural Change
+ The Popular Vampire in the Literary Mainstream
+ The Evolution of Sex and Religion in Vampire Literature
+ The Influence of Cinema on Literary Vampires (and vice-versa)
+ Vampiric Tropes in Social Networking, Internet Memes and New Media Culture
+ Popular Vampire Fiction/Film in the Non-Western World
+ Pedagogical Applications of Popular Vampire Texts
+ Vampire Literature and Film for Young Readers vs. Adults
+ Gender and the vampire and/or the vampire hunter
+ Vampires and the depiction of alternative sexualities
+ Women and the Vamp
+ Other Cultural Studies Applications of the Vampire Icon

This conference theme is curated by Dr. Michael Arnzen and Dr. Nicole Peeler, sponsored by the MFA in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University. http://fiction.setonhill.edu/

Submit abstracts (500 words maximum) via email only to arnzen@setonhill.edu no later than February 1st, 2016. Full panel proposals should include all three proposals included with a summary (50 words maximum) of the panel’s central topic, submitted by the moderator. Accepted submitters must confirm commitment to attend and present their own original work at the conference in Transylvania.

For information on conference registration and location, visit www.ivfaf.com.

CFP ASLE 2017: Comics, Graphic Novels, and the Environment (June 20-24 2017, Detroit)

deadline for submissions:
November 25, 2016

full name / name of organization:
Juan Meneses, UNC Charlotte

contact email:
juan.meneses@uncc.edu

This panel for the next ASLE conference seeks to offer a range of explorations of environmental and ecological themes in comics and graphic novels. Whereas the conference’s “Rust/Resistance” special topic (http://www.asle.org/wp-content/uploads/ASLE-2017-CFP.pdf) should provide cohesion to the panel, papers that expand the study of comics and graphic novels from any environmental lens are also welcome. Among others, the panel will be concerned with several questions, such as: What particular forms of visualization do comics and graphic novels offer us as conduits to imagine the environment? What specific narrative forms in the medium such as the sequence, the gutter, or the panel must be explored in considering the ways in which we can tackle environmental issues? In what specific ways can the “worlding” capacities of comics and graphic novels be understood in environmental terms? What approaches to comics might be most relevant to environmental studies and, conversely, what environmental approaches might be most productive for the study of comics? How are agendas of environmental resistance specifically articulated in the medium of comics and graphic novels?

Papers that explore these and related questions while focusing on particular works will be given priority.

Submissions are invited to explore a range of topics including, though not limited to, the following:

Environmental justice and social movements
Industrialization and modernity
Comparative and planetary reflections
Environmental and natural disasters
Climate change
Inhabitance
Energy
Material culture
Pollution
Modernity and technological advancements
The Anthropocene
Bioregionalism
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic narratives
Animal studies
Food
The weather
Graphic journalism
Science fiction
Eco-terrorism
Poverty
Agriculture
Landscapes
Water studies
Resources and infrastructures
Biopolitics
Geographical developments
Post-humanism
New media

Please send a 300-word abstract and short bio to juan.meneses@uncc.edu by November 25, 2016.

The World of Harry Potter (Popular Culture and the Deep Past 2017)

deadline for submissions:
November 15, 2016

full name / name of organization:
The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at The Ohio State University

contact email:
cmrs_gaa@osu.edu

The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies invites you to join us on February 24-25, 2017, for our fourth ‘Popular Culture and the Deep Past’ extravaganza at The Ohio State University, devoted this year to the theme of Harry Potter on the 20th anniversary of the publication of J.K. Rowling’s first Potter novel.

As in past years, this event will feature a scholarly conference (featuring papers, round tables, and other academic events) nested within a Renaissance-faire-like carnival (featuring exhibits, gaming, contests, and activities of all kinds). We invite presentations on any topic related to the Potter phenomenon, ranging from literary and cinematic analyses to historical and cultural investigations, and including explorations of fantasy, magic, witchcraft, gaming, and other popular, artistic, or sociological dimensions of that phenomenon. In keeping with the CMRS mandate, we shall aim to explore historical and cultural strands that tie the Potter world to its medieval and early-modern antecedents; at the same time, we are interested in exploring the interface between the past and the present, and in paying attention to 21st-century manifestations in their own right. While the Potter world is the main focus, presentations may involve other topics that relate strongly to its literary or cultural themes. Conference presentations will generally be limited to 20 minutes’ duration, followed by 10 minutes of discussion; they will be organized thematically into sessions of three or four papers each. Other presentations, including music, dance, art, gaming, readings, and other activities or displays, will be accommodated more freely according to our resources of space and scheduling.

Please send your presentation ideas to cmrs_gaa@osu.edu, including a title, abstract (i.e., description), and contact information. Abstracts should be no more than 300 words and attached as either a Word document or PDF. We shall begin evaluating proposals after November 15, 2016; submissions after that date will be happily received up til the time of the event, but their inclusion will depend on remaining openings in the schedule.

Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies is looking for submissions for a theme issue dedicated to the study of Polish science fiction and fantasy literature.

While science fiction and fantasy are inarguably international genres, they have not developed in a uniform manner across the globe. The literary output of any nation is always shaped by many factors, including the country’s history, politics, and culture. This is certainly true as far as Polish science fiction and fantasy literature are concerned, since their present condition—though, undoubtedly, determined also by the achievements of foreign writers (but to what extent?)—has been affected by the nation’s difficult yet rich past, which has been reflected in the writers’ attempts at re-creating the country’s history, in the multiple references to its socio-political reality, and in the return to Slavic mythology and traditions. However, beyond the borders of Poland few of the country’s science fiction and fantasy writers have gained literary and scholarly recognition (which is, of course, due to the number of available translations). While foreign readers might be acquainted with the works of Stanisław Lem and Andrzej Sapkowski, they might know little about other noteworthy Polish writers. Which is not surprising, since not many critical publications on Polish sf and fantasy are available in English. Our work will, hopefully, satisfy that demand.

While papers dealing with the works of Lem and Sapkowski are welcome, we strongly encourage scholars to submit works related to any of the following topics:

historical development of sf and fantasy in Poland,
critical assessment of the present condition of Polish sf and fantasy,
past and present trends in Polish sf and fantasy,
success and failure of Polish sf and fantasy,
the role of fandom and popular magazines in the development of Polish sf and fantasy,
Polish sf and fantasy in translation,
comparative analysis of Polish and American/English sf and fantasy,
reception of American/English sf and fantasy in Poland,
reception of American/English literary criticism on sf and fantasy in Poland,
religious, gender, racial, social, political, etc. dimensions of Polish sf and fantasy,
critical analysis of the works of Jacek Dukaj, Elżbieta Cherezińska, Janusz A. Zajdel, Jerzy Żuławski, Marek Oramus, Marek S. Huberath, Maja Lidia Kossakowska, Andrzej Pilipiuk, Jacek Piekara, Robert M. Wegner, Anna Kańtoch, Anna Brzezińska, and other Polish writers of sf and fantasy.
Schedule

January 15, 2017 – deadline for submitting abstracts (200-300 words)
January 30, 2017 – notice of acceptance
April 30, 2017 – deadline for submitting full papers (guidelines for authors will be provided)

After the papers receive a positive review, we will proceed with editing, proofreading, and publishing.

Please send your questions and submission to:

crossroads.sfandfantasy@gmail.com

The theme issue will be guest-edited by Weronika Łaszkiewicz, Mariusz M. Leś, and Sylwia Borowska-Szerszun who are part of the research team “Wymiary Fantastyki” established at the University of Białystok. You can visit them at: http://fantastyka.uwb.edu.pl/

Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies is a peer-reviewed electronic quarterly published by the Department of English at the University of Białystok. The journal welcomes contributions on all aspects of literary and cultural studies (including recent developments in cyberculture), linguistics (both theoretical and applied), and intercultural communication. The aim of the journal is to provide a forum for interdisciplinary research, inquiry and debate within the area of English studies through the exchange, crisscrossing and intersecting of opinions and diverse views. The electronic version of Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies is its primary (referential) version. The journal has received 6 points in the listing of scholarly journals issued by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

For more information, please visit http://www.crossroads.uwb.edu.pl/call-for-papers-a-theme-issue-on-polish-science-fiction-and-fantasy-literature/.