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Monthly Archives: October 2016

CfP: Glasgow International Fantasy Conference

Call for Papers

Glasgow International Fantasy Conference

Fantasy at the Crossroads: Intersections, Identities, and Liminality

29th-31st March 2017

1st Keynote Speaker: Julie Bertagna,
in conversation with Dr Maureen Farrell

2nd Keynote Speaker: Professor Louise Welsh, giving a talk on her
latest novel and the genre of speculative fantasy

What is fantasy? This is a question that the University of Glasgow’s MLitt in Fantasy has explored throughout its first year. While this may seem an unanswerable question, for many of us, fantasy is where reality and the impossible meet. Fantasy inspires a sprawling collection of worlds that stem from a myriad of identities, experiences, and influences. From traditional epics to genre-melding, fantasy branches out into every style imaginable. Cross-sections of genre and identity create cracks in traditional forms, opening in-between spaces from which bloom new ideas and stories.

With a focus on intersections (academic and creative writing, film, art, and games) we aim for GIFCON’s inaugural conference to be a crossroads at which these communities can meet and come into conversation.

Examples of intersections in fantasy can be found in:

– Julie Bertagna’s Exodus trilogy, which explores environmentalism within the context of fantasy and science fiction

– Arianne “Tex” Thompson’s Children of the Drought series, which focuses on subversions of race and gender

– China Miéville’s The City and the City, which fuses the detective novel with the fantastic

– Eowyn Ivey’s The Snow Child, which uses fairy tale inspirations to create a magical realist setting and narrative

– Netflix’s Stranger Things, which melds horror with Dungeons and Dragons via a coming of age science fiction story

– The Elder Scrolls video game series, which intersects narrative, music, and visual arts

– Frank Beddor’s Looking Glass Wars series, which combines science fiction and fantasy to explore unique, genre-melded world-building

We ask for 300-word abstracts for 20 minute papers, presentations and/or creative/experimental projects. All mediums and forms are welcome. We are particularly interested in submissions from early career researchers, and we will offer workshops in creative writing for those interested in exploring the creative process.

Suggested topics include:

-Intersections between cultures, genres, identities (gender, race, sexuality, sexual identity, neurodiversity, disability, faith and religion, and subversions of representation)

-Liminal Spaces: the bringing together of ‘real’ and ‘fairy’ or ‘magical’ spaces (as in folklore, fairy tale/myth, magical realism, or ‘third’ spaces in urban fantastic); genre-melding (as in weird fiction or “postcolonial gothic”)

-Transitions from one medium to another: adaptations of literature from/to graphic novels, film and TV, radio, etc.

-Responses to disaster/ looking to the future: dystopia and the choices/events that lead to that future situation; and how communities pick up after devastation

-Tensions between the individual’s and the community’s journey (for example, the use of Joseph Campbell’s monomyth in contemporary fantastical works)

-Reading/engaging fantasy as a community activity (whether academic study, book groups, fandoms, collaborative storytelling via RPGs, etc.)

-Crossovers and divides between fantasy, science fiction, and other speculative fiction

-Where fantasy meets pedagogy in young adult fiction

-Medieval/High/Traditional fantasy in a technocratic age

-Fantastical elements in graphic novels/comic books

-Works that exist outside of typical genre or thematic boxes

Conference fee: £50 for students, £65 for non-students (includes registration, merchandise, and daily lunches).

Please submit a 300-word abstract, along with a 100-word biography (in DOC or RTF format) to submissions.gifconference@gmail.com by Monday, 12th December 2016

Early Career Researchers, please note: If you are struggling with fees, please contact your university to inquire about conference-specific funding opportunities.

https://gifcon.org/

CfP: Ray Bradbury And Horror Fiction: The New Ray Bradbury Review Special Issue

CALL FOR PAPERS for THE NEW RAY BRADBURY REVIEW SPECIAL ISSUE

Call for Papers: Ray Bradbury And Horror Fiction: The New Ray Bradbury Review Special Issue

Categories: Genre & Form, Narratology, Interdisciplinary, Cultural Studies, Film, TV, & Media, History, Philosophy, Literary Theory, Pedagogy, Horror, Fantasy

Location: Publication

Organization: Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, Indiana University School of Liberal Arts (IUPUI)

CFP: “Ray Bradbury And Horror Fiction”

The New Ray Bradbury Review special issue
(Guest Editor: Jeffrey Kahan: Vortiger@hotmail.com)

The problem of genre is especially complicated when it comes to Ray Bradbury. The author of The Martian Chronicles, Dandelion Wine, The Halloween Tree, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451, and innumerable poems, comic books, short stories, radio, TV, and movie scripts alchemically combined elements as diverse as rockets and hauntings, uncanny phenomena and freak shows, the Cthulhu mythos and common serial killers. The New Ray Bradbury Review seeks essays for a special issue dedicated to Ray Bradbury’s unique brand of horror fiction.

Bradbury began his writing career with a homemade pulp, Futuria Fantasia, modeled on Farnsworth Wright’s Weird Tales. Many of his early stories were based on Poe, including “The Pendulum” (1939) and “Carnival of Madness” (1950, revised as “Usher II” in The Martian Chronicles). Poe also is at the center of “The Mad Wizards of Mars” (1949, best known as “The Exiles” in The Illustrated Man, 1951), a story that is also populated by many of the horror and dark fantasy writers of the last two hundred years. Lovecraft’s influence is traceable as well: “Luana the Living” (a fanzine piece from 1940) and “The Watchers” (1945), a tale that centers on a Lovecraftian horror of unseen forces bent on destroying anyone who discovers their presence beneath the surface of everyday life. Concurrently, Bradbury explored aspects of the American Gothic (see, for example, his carnie tales in Dark Carnival [1947], The Illustrated Man [1951], and The October Country [1955]). His later career saw a return to gothic fantasy elements, now playfully blended with other genres in such novels as Death is a Lonely Business (1985) and A Graveyard for Lunatics (1990). Some of his early gothic fantasy was revisited in his late career with the novelized story-cycle From the Dust Returned (2001).

The New Ray Bradbury Review, produced since 2008 by the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University and published by Kent State University Press, seeks articles on topics including (but not limited to):

• Bradbury and the pulps
• Bradbury and the American Gothic (including circus and freak show stories)
• Bradbury and mythology
• Bradbury and the problem of genre (ways literary historians have catalogued or miscatalogued his work)
• Bradbury’s literary reputation (and similar problems faced by writers as diverse as Carson McCullers and Stephen King)
• Bradbury and the Lovecraft Circle, including Robert Bloch, August Derleth, and Frank Belknap Long
• Bradbury and the Southern California circle, including Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, William F. Nolan, George Clayton Johnson
• Bradbury and related short story writers, such as Roald Dahl, Nigel Kneale, Theodore Sturgeon, Fritz Leiber, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman
• Unproduced works or adaptations, for example Bloch’s Merry-Go-Round for MGM (based on Ray Bradbury’s story “Black Ferris”)
• The Halloween Tree (novel, screenplay, and/or animated adaption), Something Wicked This Way Comes (novel, stage play, and/or Disney film), The October Country or the collection Bloch and Bradbury: Whispers from Beyond
• Bradbury and literary agent/comic book editor Julius Schwartz
• Bradbury’s stories for the radio programs such as Dimension X and Suspense, TV series such as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, or horror tales adapted for EC Comics or other outlets
• Bradbury’s own adaptations for the TV series The Ray Bradbury Theater.
• The art of the animated Halloween Tree and later films such as The Nightmare Before Christmas

Proposals of up to 500 words should be submitted by May 1, 2017, to guest editor Jeffrey Kahan (vortiger@hotmail.com). Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by July 1, 2017. Full drafts (5,000 to 7,000 words) will be due by December 1, 2017. The issue is provisionally scheduled for spring 2019.

For more information please visit: http://bradbury.iupui.edu/news/call-papers-new-ray-bradbury-review-special-issue

Words and Worlds at ICFA

Dear poetry and prose writers!

Words and worlds needs you this year at ICFA —-again or for the first time. Thanks to Isabella, Stacie and Dale we have two sessions for poetry and two for short prose and would love to hear from you if you’d like to read.

I need to know really fast though, by October 30 if you can at g.wisker@Brighton.ac.uk.

Really looking forward to this.

Gina Wisker

ICFA 38: Fantastic Epics, Paper Submission and Conference Registration

Hello Everyone!

As we near the deadline for submitting papers for The 38th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Fantastic Epics, which will be held March 22-26, 2017, I wanted to send out some information on the conference theme and give you all some information on submitting a paper proposal and registering for the conference!  (Please click here for a VI version of this email.)

THEME:

Our theme this year is “Fantastic Epics.” We welcome papers on the work of: Guest of Honor Steven Erikson (World Fantasy and Locus Award nominee), Guest of Honor N. K. Jemisin (Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award nominee, Locus Award winner), and Guest Scholar Edward James (Pilgrim, Hugo, British Science Fiction Association, and Eaton Award winner).

The hero(ine)’s tale is as old as storytelling itself. We trace our way from Gilgamesh to current practitioners of the art through routes that lead to – and beyond – other kingdoms, including those of Malazan and the cities of Gujaareh, Sky, and Shadow.

Papers may tread the paths of Thomas the Unbeliever, Bren Cameron, Sundiata Keita, and Boudica, or follow a dark road through Gondor, Camelot, or any valley of shadow. We can find the Epic in the hall of Heorot and in the rooms of Schaherazade. Examinations of modern epics might include the American west, the Marvel Universe, or the world of Miyazaki. A journey, a quest, an awakening – all these and more are part of Fantastic Epics.

We also welcome proposals for individual papers and for academic sessions and panels on any aspect of the fantastic in any media.

The deadline for proposals is October 31, 2016. We encourage work from institutionally affiliated scholars, independent scholars, international scholars who work in languages other than English, and graduate students.

PROPOSING PAPERS:

If you would like to propose papers, sessions, panels, roundtables, or other programming, you can find instructions and other useful information here.

To submit a paper proposal, you will need the following information:

  • An abstract of 300 to 500 words, which must include the methodological/theoretical approach. Please note that, if accepted, abstracts will be posted on-line without editing. Authors are responsible for proofreading. PDF is preferred. Word is accepted.
  • A bibliography containing both primary and secondary parts. Maximum number of references is 20. PDF is preferred. Word is accepted.
  • A brief CV/Résumé or professional bio specifying fields of publication, expertise, and interests. This is mandatory. It will be used for organizing sessions, not to evaluate submissions. 2 pages maximum. PDF is preferred. Word is accepted.

Once you have all of this information together, you can go to the submissions portal here to upload all of your information!

For a list of divisions, descriptions of what topics are handled by each division, and for contact information to contact the appropriate Division Head with questions go here.

MEMBERSHIP AND REGISTRATION:

If you would like to renew your membership and register for the conference, you can go here.  Although you can join the association even if you don’t attend the conference, current IAFA membership is required for conference attendance, so you should join the association or renew your membership before attempting to register for the conference.  A list of all fees associated with the conference can be foundhere, and a “How To” guide for membership renewal and registration can be found here  for your convenience.

You can also find a brief set of instructions for renewal and registration here.  

IMPORTANT DATES:

Early registration ends on January 14th, 2017 at midnight Orlando time, so if you want to take advantage of the early registration prices, make sure you register before then.  Regular registration prices will be in effect from 1/15/2017 through 1/31/17, and late registration begins 2/1/17 and lasts until 3/1/17.  After March 2, 2017, the on-line system will be closed temporarily so that the conference committee can commit to the hotel for space and meal requirements. The system will open again for on-site registration on March 22nd . Please note that date changes for registration purposes are reckoned by local time in Orlando, Florida.

THE HOTEL:

The conference will be held March 22-26, 2017 at the Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel.  We recommend that you have your hotel reservations booked by January 31st, 2017.

For reservations, please call the hotel’s toll-free number: 1-800-380-6751, or dial direct: 407-851-9000, or use the Orlando Airport Marriott web site. The IAFA group code for the conference rate is IAFIAFA. Fill it in as the group code if you register on-line or mention it to the hotel if you call in the reservation. The box to fill in the group code is on the left hand side of the screen when you first go to search for a room. It’s below the section where it asks you the check in date and for your Marriott number. Fill in the discount code before you click “find.” You can find more information about the hotel here.  

Remember to reserve your room early so that you get into the conference hotel! 

If you have any questions or need any help with membership renewal or registration, please email me at iafareg ATgmail.com.

Regards,

Valorie

 

Valorie Ebert

International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) 

Membership & Registration Coordinator

1279 W. Palmetto Park Road, #272285

Boca Raton, Florida 33427

iafareg@gmail.com

 VI VERSION

Call for Applications: IAFA Book Room Liaison

Call for Applications: IAFA Book Room Liaison

The IAFA Board invites applications for the position of Book Room Liaison.

Requirements

The successful application will have
· a knowledge of the field of speculative fiction publications

· good organization skills

· the ability to work productively as part of a team

· the ability to be available in the Orlando area in the month before the conference to receive and store books that are shipped for the conference. (The IAFA Board will provide a storage locker to store this inventory.)

Responsibilities

The Book Room Liaison will primarily be responsible for receiving and managing the inventory of shipments of books published by attending IAFA authors to be sold at the conference, and for supervising the set-up, staffing, and clean-up of the Book Room for each conference.

The Book Room Liaison will report to and work collectively with the IAFA Board, who will set policies on books to be purchased and stored, and who will make available the funds for any purchases to be made by the organization.

The Book Room Liaison will also be the person primarily responsible for transporting the books to and from a storage locker and for managing this locker and monitoring its inventory between conferences. The Book Room Liaison will also assist the Board members with the donation of any books that are not purchased after a duration to be set by the Board, and with the management of any books donated to members for the conference luncheons.

The Book Room Liaison will be assisted by other volunteers who will help with the physical labour of setting up the book room and returning unsold items to storage. The Book Room Liaison will work with the President and the Membership and Registration Coordinator to recruit and appoint these volunteers.

During the conference period, the Book Room Liaison will be responsible for managing Book Room operations, including the processing of payments. A cash float will be made available by the IAFA Treasurer and a system for credit card payments is in place. The Book Room Liaison will schedule staffing hours for the volunteers who will assist in running the book room during the conference.

It is expected that the Book Room Liaison will be available at the conference hotel from the Sunday preceding the conference until the Sunday following it. The IAFA Board will pay for accommodation during this period. The Board will also pay for economy-fare travel to this venue, if needed. The IAFA Board will also provide the Book Room Liaison with a complementary registration for the conference during the period of service, and with tickets to all the conference meals.

IAFA Governance
The IAFA Board governs the organization and is made up of a number of elected and appointed positions. The Board is assisted in running the conference by a number of other volunteers appointed to specific roles, such as the Division Heads, who do not sit on the Board. The Book Room Liaison will be an appointed but not a Board position.

The Book Room Liaison will report to and assist the IAFA Board. This is a voluntary, not paid, position, consistent with all positions within IAFA governance, both appointed and elected; these listed compensations are to off-set the costs that the individual will incur through the act of providing this service to the conference.

To Apply
Applications should consist of a résumé and a letter of interest outlining the candidate’s experience with the conference, qualifications for the position, and reasons for wanting to serve as Book Room Liaison.

Applications should be sent to IAFA President Sherryl Vint at sherryl.vint@gmail.com.

All applications will be reviewed by the Board and the successful candidate will be appointed by the President after a majority vote by the Board, as is consistent for all appointed positions within conference governance.

The deadline for applications is November 15, 2016.

PDF version of this call: book-room-liaison-call

CfP: Osiris volume on Frankenstein and its Iterations in the History of Science and Medicine, Deadline Oct. 15

  • October 13, 2016 – 12:42 pm
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Osiris volume on Frankenstein and its iterations in the history of science and medicine

Type:
Call for Papers

Date:
October 15, 2016

Location:
United States

Subject Fields:
History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Intellectual History

To follow the publication of our recent book, Monstrous Progeny: A History of the Frankenstein Narratives (Rutgers UP, 2016) and in honor of the upcoming bicentennial of the publication of Frankenstein, Les Friedman and I are proposing an edition of the history of science journal Osiris to be devoted to iterations of the Frankenstein story in the history of science and medicine. We are still searching for a few contributors who would be interested in writing on any aspect of this in any region at any time. Possible themes include but are not limited to experimentation, scientific institutions and universities, Arctic exploration, the search for the “spark of life,” Galvinism, anatomy, the rise of scientific disciplines, and the formalization of scientific practice/the formation of scientific truth. For now, only a 500 word abstract is required by the miuddle of October. It will be submitted with the complete proposal for consideration, and we hope to hear we were selected in November. I hope to hear from interested contributors ASAP at akavey@jjay.cuny.edu.

Thanks!
Allison Kavey
History Department
CUNY John Jay College and CUNY Graduate Center

Contact Info:
Allison Kavey
CUNY John Jay College-History Department
524 W 59th St
NY, NY 10019

Contact Email:
akavey@jjay.cuny.edu

CfP: From R.U.R. to Mr. Burns: Science Fiction Takes the Stage, Comparative Drama Conference, April 6-8, in Orlando, FL

  • October 13, 2016 – 12:36 pm
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From R.U.R. to Mr. Burns: Science Fiction Takes the Stage

deadline for submissions:
November 26, 2016

full name / name of organization:
Panel Call for Comparative Drama Conference

contact email:
Lsnyder4990@stevenson.edu

Science Fiction as a genre is ubiquitous in our culture, dominating popular novels and summer blockbuster movies. Teachers have been quick to note how this pop culture force can draw students into the classroom to discuss ‘high culture’ themes. I have taught a course on futuristic literature spanning 1984 through The Hunger Games. My peers are teaching courses on slipstream and video games as literature. The courses fill fast with excited learners ready to engage in high-level debates on topics as diverse as the environment, government surveillance, cloning, and consumerism. Yet, as I have looked over the course reading lists, I have noted that none of them, not even my own, included a play. It’s not that there aren’t science fiction plays, or that they all deserve a ‘low culture,’ ‘pulp’ categorization. The 1920 Czech play R.U.R., which introduced the term ‘robot,’ critiqued Fordism and post-war culture, much like Brave New World. The Rocky Horror Show premiered first as a stage play at the Royal Court Theatre, later becoming the LGBTQIA iconic film. Ayckbourn and Churchill have penned sci-fi plays that surely cannot be dismissed as purely pop culture action pulp. And the current boom in science fiction plays provides excellent examples of theatre with pop-culture appeal and ‘high’ culture thematic content; Jennifer Haley’s The Nether and Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, are two notable examples. Both have won critical accolades as well as large audiences. Clearly, the genre deserves greater critical attention than it has so far received.

This panel is interested in papers that explore any facet of the development of the genre of science fiction plays, plays within and/or playwrights that write within the genre (Ayckbourn, Churchill, Nguyen, Adams, George, Washburn, Haley, et al.), companies that stage sci-fi plays (e.g. Vampire Cowboys Theatre Co., Otherworld Theatre), major contemporary themes being developed in the genre, or teaching strategies that involve science fiction plays. The panel is being proposed for the 2017 Comparative Drama Conference, April 6-8, in Orlando, FL. (For more information visit http://blogs.rollins.edu/drama/call-for-papers-2/)

To be considered for the panel, send a 250 word abstract with paper title, author’s name, institutional affiliation, status, postal address and email address at top left, to Dr. Laura Snyder at Lsnyder4990@stevenson.edu . Proposals should arrive no later than November 26. I will acknowledge receipt of the abstract within three days and will inform submitters of the status of their submission by Dec. 2.

An Announcement from the President Regarding the ICFA Book Room

Dear IAFA Members,

At our meeting in March, the IAFA Board discussed several issues assocationed with the ongoing operation of the book room. We propose several changes to the Book Room at the conference, including decreasing the amount of back stock that we store. We also will begin a relationship with Scholars Choice, a conference service that makes academic books for sale at conference venues.

We will put the Book Room on the agenda for the Business Meeting at the conference this coming March and will present more details about the history and the situation then. That will also be an opportunity to have a discussion with the membership about your desires moving forward so that we can ensure that we are proceeding in the appropriate way.

For the time being, the linked document provides a brief précis of the relevant issues and the steps we have taken thus far. I hope this document will help members understand the context in which the Board took the decisions we have made.

We will soon be advertising for a new position as part of the IAFA conference staffing, the Book Room Liaison. The person who takes on this role will play a crucial role in guiding the conference forward to a new model of the Book Room and its place in our conference culture.

Please hold your questions until the General Meeting rather than opening a discussion by email, but be assured that we look forward to hearing your thoughts and that no decisions taken thus far are set in stone.

I look forward to that opportunity to further discuss the future of IAFA with you.

Best wishes,
Sherryl Vint
IAFA President

book-room-information-to-members

CfP: Cinderella Conference, University of Bedfordshire

Call For Papers

Three-hundred and nineteen years since the publication of Charles Perrault’s famous Histories du Temps Passé, the myth of Cinderella remains integral to many current facets of our cultures. Inspired by the University of Bedfordshire’s collection of scripts, books, theatrical memorabilia, designs, ephemera on Cinderella and organised by the Research Institute for Media, Arts and Performance, this conference focuses on the role of performance and storytelling as a way to analyse moments of significant artistic, cultural and social change.

The interdisciplinary event will provide an open debate about this ever-present story from different cultural perspectives across the world and we invite abstracts of 300 words for 20 minute papers. Possible themes include:

Cinderella narratives and metaphors
Cinderella on screen and stage
Transnational Cinderella
The publishing of Cinderella
Victorian Cinderella
Cinderella and design
Adaptations of the Cinderella story
The psychology of Cinderella
Non-traditional proposals featuring collaborative papers, practice-led research, video-essays, elements of performance etc. where they increase our knowledge of the role of re-narration of fairy tales in artistic, cultural and social change are actively encouraged. RIMAP wishes to offer a prize for the best Postgraduate proposal.

Please include the following with your abstract:

Collaborators’ and presenters’ names, addresses, affiliations, contact details in a short biography, together with a URL to a sample of work (if appropriate). Please state if you are a postgraduate research student.
Description of the presentation/performance/screening 300 words max (if appropriate)
Technical or space requirements
Duration (the standard duration is 20 minutes but you may request multiples)
Please send your abstracts and support documentation to cinderella@beds.ac.uk by 11.30pm on 9th December 2016. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 3rd February 2017.

More information about the conference will be posted on the conference website: www.beds.ac.uk/cinderella and on Twitter @cinderellaconf

2016 James Tiptree, Jr. Symposium: A Celebration of Ursula K. Le Guin

2016 James Tiptree, Jr. Symposium: A Celebration of Ursula K. Le Guin
Symposium on feminist SF to highlight Oregon’s own Grand Master

Welcoming scholars, luminaries, and fans of speculative fiction to Eugene, the University of Oregon will host a two-day symposium dedicated to the life and work of Ursula K. Le Guin on December 2-3, 2016.

Tentative keynote speakers: Karen Joy Fowler, Kelly Sue De Connick, and Brian Attebery.

Co-sponsors include the UO Libraries and Oregon Humanities Center.

For more information, please visit: https://library.uoregon.edu/tiptree-symposium-2016.