Dear IAFA Members,
The Board would like to remind everyone that the hotel block is often booked well in advance of the conference, and if you haven’t secured a reservation you should do so as soon as possible.
Here’s a link to the website to help with that: http://fantastic-arts.org/annual-conference/the-hotel/ See you in March!
Stacie
Fifth annual conference of the Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung e.V.
[Association for Research in the Fantastic]
at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt
September 11 – 14, 2014
In Homo Ludens (1938), his essential and seminal study that is frequently seen as the beginning of Game Studies as we understand them today, Johan Huizinga claimed an ontological connection between culture, as the quintessentially human endeavour, and play. Refuting the constantly raised accusations that play is a futile and escapist activity, Huizinga in contrast attributed it a significant function, both in its metaphorical (i.e. “it is important”), as well as its literal (i.e. “it signifies”) meaning (1971: 1). By its very nature, play opens up spaces and worlds beyond primary, everyday reality, new frameworks of meaning that are, however, not devoid of meaningful interactions with it. Culture, Huizinga argues, needs the free space of play to come into existence in the first place, to change and to adapt.
This intricate and complex web of interconnections between ludic otherworlds and the everyday life of individuals and groups is the core interest of the fifth annual conference of the Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung e.V. [Association for Research in the Fantastic]. We have deliberately chosen the very open and inclusive phrasing “ludic imaginary spaces” for the objects of the papers, so that the range of media fitting the description is as wide as it can be: hypertext and other ludic forms of text, board- and card games, pen&paper role-playing games, live-action role-playing games (LARPs), video and computer games, alternate reality games, and gamified activities of all kinds are possible, but this list must in no way be seen as exhaustive. No matter the medium chosen, what is essential is that there is this “free space of movement within a more rigid structure” that exists “because of and also despite the more rigid structures of a system ” that Eric Zimmerman has identified as essential to any definition of play (2004: 159). The organisers of this conference also would like to send a strong message that the conflicts over interpretive authority between Ludologists and Narratologists in playable media that have hindered Game Studies since the late 1990s are a thing of the past, so papers suggesting ways to bridge this gap will be especially welcome.
As the second focus of the conference, according to its title, is on the social and cultural exchanges between the secondary, or even tertiary realities created and the primary reality in which they are in turn created, played, and observed, possible approaches to these media reach from the implicit and explicit social and cultural politics of games and playable media on both the content and the structural level, to the regimes of representation and configuration present, the psycho-social phenomena surrounding the experiences created, to the political and social regulation of playful behaviour, and beyond. Game Studies are necessarily “a multidisciplinary field of study and learning with games and related phenomena as its subject matter” according to Frans Mäyrä (2010: 6), so theoretical perspectives from the whole range of academic disciplines and contributions from those working practically in the design and creation of ludic spaces would ideally come together to provide this fifth annual conference of the GFF with a kaleidoscopic overview of the full range of possibilities, problems, and the future potential of games and playable media in negotiating between the realms of the fantastic and everyday life.
As usual for GFF conferences, there will be an additional Open Track for all papers not directly related to the conference topic to safeguard a pluralism of perspectives in our research in the Fantastic. We thus invite papers of all aspects of the fantastic for this open track.
In the same vein, the GFF is happy to announce the availability of two student grants of €250 each as support of travel arrangements to the conference for the two most interesting student projects handed in. Apply for the student grant with abstract and bionote at the address below.
If you would like to contribute your voice to such a discussion of ludic imaginary spaces, we cordially invite you to send us a 350-word abstract to gff2014@aau.at detailing your projected 20-min paper in either German or English. Please do not forget to include your contact details, as well as a short bionote. The deadline for abstracts is December 31st, 2013.
Contact:
René Schallegger
Department for English and American Studies
Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt
Universitätsstraße 65 – 67
9020 Klagenfurt am Wörthersee / Austria
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)
22nd-23rd August: SF/F Now (A.Rhys.Williams@warwick.ac.uk
22nd-24th August Shamrokon (the Eurocon): http://www.shamrokon.ie/
5th-7th September British Fantasy Con: http://www.fantasycon2014.org/
5th & 6th September Diana Wynne Jones conference, Newcastle: http://conferences.ncl.ac.uk/dwj/conferenceprogramme/
SF/F Now and Irradiating the Object: M. John Harrison conferences
Warwick University (UK)
21-23 August 2014
SF/F Now (22-23 August) is a 2-day international, interdisciplinary conference exploring the current research into the fantastic (in any medium) and the ways in which sf, fantasy, and the weird grapple with and illuminate the crucial political and social issues of the moment.
It will consist of conventional panels and a series of innovative workshops led by pairs of international specialists exploring the relation of fantastic fiction to contemporary issues: Animal Studies; Crisis & Protest; Energy & Petrofiction; Environmental Studies; Humanity 2.0; Utopia & the City; Science Studies; World Systems & World Sf. The workshops are designed to allow all participants the opportunity to benefit directly from discussion with all our attending experts.
Workshop leaders include Gerry Canavan (Marquette), Caroline Edwards (Birkbeck), Steve Fuller (Warwick), Joan Haran (Cardiff), Veronica Hollinger (Trent), Roger Luckhurst (Birkbeck), Graeme MacDonald (Warwick), David McNally (York), Charles Sheppard (Warwick), Stephen Shapiro (Warwick), Imre Szeman (Alberta), and Sherryl Vint (UC Riverside).
We invite proposals (300-500 words) for 20-minute papers or pre-constituted panels (3×20 minute papers on a related theme) on topics relating to the current state of the fantastic, contemporary research into the fantastic, or the relation of the fantastic to social and political issues, including but not restricted to those covered by the workshop titles. Please include detail of institutional affiliation and any AV requirements.
Deadline for proposals 31 March 2014. For further information, join our FB event page SF/F Now (http://on.fb.me/1ce1dfn)
SF/F Now will be preceded by a one-day conference, Irradiating the Object: M. John Harrison (21 August 2014), on one of Britain’s leading sf and fantasy writers and critics. Deadline for proposals 31March 2014. Selected papers will appear in a collection co-edited by Mark Bould and Rhys Williams. Irradiating the Object: M. John Harrison, in collaboration with Gylphi. For further information, join our FB event page Irradiating the Object (http://on.fb.me/1dSlKmV).
A small number of travel and accommodations bursaries will be available for students attending all three days of the conference(s). For those wishing to apply, please include a CV with you proposal.
Please address any queries and submit proposals to Rhys Williams (A.Rhys.Williams@warwick.ac.uk) and/or Mark Bould (mark.bould@gmail.com).
CALL FOR PAPERS 2/2014
Fafnir – Nordic Journal for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research invites authors to submit papers for the upcoming edition 2/2014.
Fafnir – Nordic Journal for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research is a new, peer-reviewed academic journal which is published in electronic format four times a year. The purpose of Fafnir is to join up the Nordic field of science fiction and fantasy research and to provide a forum for discussion on current issues on the field. Fafnir is published by FINFAR Society (Suomen science fiction- ja fantasiatutkimuksen seura ry).
Now Fafnir invites authors to submit papers for its next edition, 2/2014. Fafnir publishes various texts ranging from peer-reviewed research articles to short overviews and book reviews in the field of science fiction and fantasy research.
The submissions must be original work, and written in English (or in Finnish or in Scandinavian languages). Manuscripts of research articles should be between 20,000 and 40,000 characters in length. The journal uses the most recent edition of the MLA Style Manual. The manuscripts of research articles will be peer-reviewed. Please note that as Fafnir is designed to be of interest to readers with varying backgrounds, essays and other texts should be as accessibly written as possible.
The deadline for submissions is 28 February 2014.
In addition to research articles, Fafnir constantly welcomes text proposals such as essays, interviews, overviews and book reviews on any subject suited to the paper.
Please send your electronic submission (saved as RTF-file) to all three editors at the following addresses: jyrki.korpua@oulu.fi,hanna.roine@uta.fi and paivi.vaatanen@helsinki.fi. For further information, please contact the editors.
This edition is scheduled for June 2014. The deadlines for the submissions for the next two editions are scheduled at 31 May (3/2014) and 31 August (4/2014).
Science Fiction Film and Television is looking for film and TV reviewers for recent DVD/Blu-ray releases. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide copies of the films/series, but every published reviewer who works from their own copy does receive a free copy of the issue in which his or her review appears.
Our film and television reviews (1000-2000 words) are intended to fill the gap that exists between popular/journalistic reviews and the fuller critical treatment only some films/programmes will receive, often much later, in academic venues. Ideally, each review will situate the film or television show within a broader critical and/or historical framework and sketch out a critical analysis which will prove useful to students and researchers. They are reviews of the films/programmes themselves, not of the DVD/Blu-ray edition (unless there is something particularly noteworthy to which you wish to draw attention).
We are interested in reviews of the titles listed below, but if you would like to propose something else please do so – we are especially keen to cover non-Anglophone and otherwise marginalised films and television series. Check with us (mark.bould@gmail.com and sherryl.vint@gmail.com) first to ensure we have not already commissioned a review, and if you have not written for us before, please include a cv.
After Earth
Antiviral
Branded
Cloud Atlas
The Cosmonaut
Ikarie XB 1
Elysium
Pacific Rim
Space Battleship Yamato
This is the End
Upside Down
Upstream Color
The Wolverine
World War Z
Contributions are sought for an edited collection of essays on Dark Fantasy novels.
Dark Fantasy emerged in the 1960s as a direct attack on high fantasy conventions, aims, and archetypes. Dark Fantasy narratives typically subvert, challenge, or abandon crucial fantasy elements, such as utopian landscapes, the experience of wonder, the virtuous hero, the moment of “eucatastrophe”, and the satisfying resolution to plot. Dark Fantasy has recently experienced a surge in popularity, yet has received little critical attention.
We invite Dark Fantasy scholars to submit essays to an edited collection. Essays should be between 4000 and 5000 words. The aims of the volume are, firstly, to bring scholars in the field to one place—given Dark Fantasy’s diffuseness—and secondly, to offer a collection that demonstrates the ways that Dark Fantasy texts can be analysed through various critical lenses. Finally, the volume would stake a place for Dark Fantasy within studies of popular culture.
Possible topics include
Abstracts of 500 words plus a brief biography should be sent to Glen Thomas (gj.thomas@qut.edu.au) & Tyler Bartlett (tg.bartlett@qut.edu.au).
Abstracts should be received by 28 February, 2014, with final essays due by 30 September, 2014.
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.
CFP: “Digital Science Fiction”
Science Fiction Studies special issue
(Guest Editor: Paweł Frelik)
In the last few decades, digital technologies have dramatically reconfigured not only the circumstances of media production and dissemination, but also cultural genres and conventions expressed in them. Science fiction has not been immune to these changes, but their impact extends far beyond mere enhancement of sound or vision. In older media, such as science fiction film and television, special effects and non-linear editing have affected aesthetics as well as story-telling strategies and stories themselves. New sf media have emerged, too, most readily exemplified by video games.
While similar technologies have long been a thematic staple of sf, the actual arrival of digitality has proven somewhat problematic. Science fiction emerged as a predominantly narrative discourse and much of its cultural relevance has so far been ascribed to its capacity to address contemporary issues and anxieties through stories— but stories that are, ideally, plot- and psychology-driven, formally sophisticated, and conceptually complex. However, the centrality of traditionally-understood narrative in science fiction stands in direct opposition to the character of digital technology, which, as Andrew Darley noted, “endorses form over content, the ephemeral and superficial over permanence and depth, and the image itself over the image as referent.” This incompatibility has resulted in frequent denunciations of sf media forms that de-privilege narrative in favor of visuality or simulation.
Science Fiction Studies seeks articles for a special issue devoted to “Digital Science Fiction.” Both in-depth analyses of individual authors or texts and more general, theoretical discussions are invited. We are specifically interested in submissions focused on videogames and virtual environments; digital art, graphics, and illustration; electronic music; music videos; and apps, software, and cybertexts.
Areas of interest include but are not limited to:
Abstracts of 500 words should be submitted by 15 February 2014 to Paweł Frelik (<pawel.frelik@umcs.edu.pl>). Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by 1 March 2014. Full drafts (5,000 to 7,000 words) will be due by 31 August 2014. The issue is provisionally scheduled for November 2015.
Invitation for submissions:
Issue Number 2 – Scheduled for publication in August 2014
Deadline: February 28, 2014
Please, submit through Alambique´s submission web page.
Note: To submit you must first create or log-in with your bepress account. If you need assistance with this please contact the Scholar Commons Administrator.
Alambique (ISSN 2167-6577) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal devoted to scholarly research and criticism in the fields of science fiction and fantasy originally composed in Spanish or Portuguese. Alambique will accept scholarly articles written in English, however, as long as the main focus of the study concentrates on one of the Spanish or Portuguese cultural regions of the world. It will also accept scholarly articles written in Spanish, Portuguese and English that focus on relevant cultural contact areas, i.e. Catalan, Guarani, Nahuatl, etc. In addition, Alambique intends to publish old and/or largely forgotten literary works that helped forge the Spanish and Portuguese tradition in science fiction and fantasy. These texts, whenever possible, will have accompanying English translation.
Alambique currently does not include a review of books section.
Best
Miguel Ángel Fernández Delgado and Juan Carlos Toledano Redondo
____________________________________________________________
Convocatoria:
Número 2 – publicación prevista para agosto del 2014
Fecha límite: 28 de febrero del 2014
Por favor, envíe artículos a través de la página web de entregas de Alambique.
Nota: Para entregar en primer lugar debe crear o iniciar una sesión con su cuenta de bepress. Si necesita ayuda, por favor póngase en contacto con el administrador de Scholar Commons.
Alambique (ISSN 2167-6577) es una revista revisada por pares, de libre acceso, dedicada a la investigación académica y la crítica en los campos de la ciencia-ficción y fantasía compuesta originalmente en español y portugués. Alambique también acepta artículos académicos escritos en inglés, siempre y cuando el enfoque principal del estudio se centre en una de las regiones culturales del español y portugués en el mundo. Alambique también acepta artículos académicos escritos en español, portugués e inglés que se enfoquen en áreas culturales de contacto como el catalán, guaraní, náhuatl, etc. Además, Alambique tiene la intención de publicar obras literarias antiguas y/o en gran medida olvidadas que ayudaron a forjar la tradición de la ciencia-ficción y la fantasía en español y portugués. Estos textos, siempre que sea posible, tendrán una traducción acompañante en inglés.
Alambique actualmente no incluye una sección de reseñas de libros.
Saludos cordiales de
Miguel Ángel Fernández Delgado y Juan Carlos Toledano Redondo