CFP History of Video Games

From the H-Film List:

CFP: Call for Papers on History of Video Games

Date Written: Wed, 7 Dec 2011 11:58:59 -0600
Date Posted: Thu, 07 Dec 2011 12:58:59 -0500

We are seeking chapters for a new interdisciplinary collection addressing the representation and depiction of history in video games. In a 2005 article discussing the simulation of history through video games, William Uricchio observes that the opportunities for mediation through play pose new and difficult questions about narrative authority and representation. “What happens”, he asks, “if we push the notion of mediation beyond language, to the domain of game, enactment, or simulation? Does this allow us to slip out of the well-critiqued trap of representation? And if so, where does it land us?” As of 2011, his questions remain unanswered.

Amid a world of SIMs, first-person warfare games, strategy, MMO and MMORPs in which players can influence the outcome of battles, campaigns, and even entire civilisations, such questions about the means by which history is delivered to new generations gain increasing importance. When history can be simulated,
recreated, subverted and rewritten on a variety of levels, new questions arise about the relationship between video games and the history they purport to represent, questions which traditional historical approaches cannot properly address.

The proposed edited collection thus seeks to examine representations of history through video and computer games from a multidisciplinary perspective. Our aim is to avoid criticisms of inaccuracy and betrayal or descriptions of games which purportedly ‘get things wrong’, but to look instead at the ways in which
contemporary players actually can and do engage with the past, and what effect this has on the period depicted.

Suggested topics may include (but are not limited to):

• The representation of historical battles, wars and campaigns (e.g. Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Command & Conquer, Battlefield)
• The role of play in the recreation, retelling and representation of key events in history (e.g. Anno 1404, Anno 1701, Sid Meier’s Colonization)
• The representation of historical personages (Caesar, Napoleon, Victoria, Sun Tzu)
• The ways in which non-western histories are depicted (e.g. Seven States, Pharaoh, Age of Empires: Asian Dynasties, East India Company, Total War: Shogun, Assassin’s Creed)
• The role of the player and designer in subverting the “master narratives of history” (Sim City, Sim Earth, Populous, Age of Empires, Deus Ex)
• Games which rewrite histories across eras (e.g. Civilization, Empire Earth, Europa Universalis, Pride of Nations )
• Instances of alternative history or future history (e.g. Alpha Centauri, Masters of Orion, World of Warcraft, Galactic Civilizations, Homeworld)

While we welcome proposals which adopt unusual approaches to representations of the past, we hope to focus on games with a wide fan base in order to appeal to a wide readership of both non-gamer historians and non-historian gamers alike. Likewise, we would encourage essays which address a single topic or theory (such as World War I or the Great Man theory of history) across a number of games. Proposals are sought from both experienced researchers and doctoral students alike, and co-authored submissions which seek to cross traditional disciplinary boundaries are especially welcome.

Abstracts of 300 words, along with a brief CV or publication list, should be sent to the editors at
simulatehistory@gmail.com by January 16th 2012. At this stage we are expecting to receive draft essays of 5-6,000 words by late May 2012. For informal enquiries, please contact either Matthew Kapell or Andrew Elliott at simulatehistory@gmail.com.

-matthew
 ____________________
 Matthew Wilhelm Kapell
 Swansea University
 American Studies
 matthewkapell.com
____________________

CFP Anomalous Ethnographies

CALLS FOR PAPER

Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural invites articles for a special issue called Anomalous Ethnographies: Wild Wonders, Diminutive People and Reticent Races, scheduled for publication in fall 2012.

We are seeking academic articles from any discipline and period. Topics might include (but are not limited to) Abatwa, Bloody Mary, Boogieman, djinn, elves, elementals, fairies, fauns, goblins, gremlins, hauntings, Homo Floresiensis, incubi/succubi, mermaids, mummies, Plinian races, reptilians, Sasquatch, selkie, the undead, werewolves, wild men and wild women, Yaksa, and all other alternate forms of humanity, as represented in anthropologies, fiction, folk-lore, medias, mythologies, sermons, travel literatures, and urban legends. Contributions should highlight their construction, cultural role, or historical significance in popular narrative or academic discourse.

For more on the journal, please consult <www.preternature.org>.

Abstracts of 500 words are due on April 1, 2011. Final contributions should be roughly 8,000 - 12,000 words (with the possibility of longer submissions in exceptional cases), including all documentation and critical apparatus. If accepted for publication, manuscripts will be required to adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (style 1, employing footnotes).

Preternature also welcomes original editions or translations of texts related to the topic that have not otherwise been made available in recent editions or in English.

Queries about submissions, queries concerning books to be reviewed, or requests to review individual titles may be made to the Editors:


Kirsten C. Uszkalo
CIRCA Scholar
University of Alberta, Canada
circe@ufies.org

Richard Raiswell
Department of History
University of Prince Edward Island, Canada
rraiswell@upei.ca

CFP Monstrophy

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR PRETERNATURE 2.2. MONSTROPHY: THE ACADEMIC STUDY OF MONSTERS

Preternature 2.2.

Monstrophy: The Academic Study of Monsters

''Monstrophy'' is a term referring to the academic study of monsters as representational and conceptual categories, which has gained recent currency in several related fields of study (literary and cultural history, sociological theories of identity and difference, et al.), as well as in a number of recent books and articles about monsters as subjects of theoretical interpretation. Etymologically derived from Latin ''mōnstrum'' (meaning prodigy, ominous sign, monstrous creature or person, abomination) and Greek ''sophia'' (σοφία, wisdom), hybrid compounding of monstrophy is not uncommon in disciplinary names, e.g. [[sociology]], another Greek and Latin compound.) Monstrophy literally means "wisdom about monsters," and in academic usage refers to the broader study of monsters in society and history.

Monsters have been widely catalogued in their historical and ethnographic contexts, and have been commonly included in cultural products such as epic, folktale, fiction, and film, but have only begun to be studied seriously as semiological markers indicating the seams of internal cultural tension. Interpreters commonly note the "monstrous" as occupying space at the borders of a society's conceptual categories, such as those relating to sexual and behavioral transgression, or to inherent prejudice and internal conflict (for instance, in race, gender, politics, and religion). Monsters are rarely fully distinct from the "human," but are often comprised of hybrid features of the human and non-human. This issue of Preternature invites contributions that explore how the category of "monster" is used to define and articulate what a certain group of people articulates to itself to be properly human.

Contributions are welcome from any discipline, time period, or geographic provenance, so long as the discussion highlights the cultural, literary, religious, or historical significance of the topic.

Contributions should be roughly 8,000 - 12,000 words (with the possibility of longer submissions in exceptional cases), including all documentation and critical apparatus. If accepted for publication, manuscripts will be required to adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (style 1, employing footnotes).

Preternature also welcomes original editions or translations of texts related to the topic that have not otherwise been made available in recent editions or in English. Submissions are made online at: <www.preternature.org>.

Final Papers are due February 15, 2012

Queries about submissions, queries concerning books to be reviewed, or requests to review individual titles may be made to the Editor:

Kirsten C. Uszkalo: kirsten@uszkalo.com

Inquiries about book reviews should be sent to the Book Review Editor:

Richard Raiswell: rraiswell@upei.ca

For more on the journal, please consult <www.preternature.org>.

CFP Speculative Dimensions of Divination

CFP: Speculative Dimensions of Divination
A Special Issue of Femspec

Deadline: Feb. 15 2012

Femspec (a peer reviewed journal dedicated to critical and creative works that challenge gender through speculative means in a variety of genres) is seeking submissions on speculative aspects of divination through any means including Tarot – particularly representations of Tarot and other readings in film, speculative literature, art, poetry, and popular culture.


Submissions that focus on the divination reading process and the spiritual medium reader using whatever tools at hand are particularly welcome and may include:

• critical analysis as well as short stories, poetry, and excerpts from longer works
• personal accounts of experiences working as a reader
• memoirs and autobiographical accounts of spiritual and divination readers
• scholarly papers about fiction, cultural products or ethnographies
• participant observation and commentaries on representations of the spiritual reading in any aspect of popular culture, including evolution of contemporary decks in the women's spirituality movement, the practice ofpalmists or phone psychics, art, film, the phenomenon of internet readers, Tarot reading shops, booths on boardwalks or at carnivals and festivals such as Renaissance Fairs.

Papers collected will be reviewed individually or as a special section or special issue of the journal, depending on the volume received and on what is timely for publication. The journal is double anonymously peer reviewed. All copyrights will be maintained by Femspec. All submitters must have active subscriptions throughout the submission, review, and publication process. The cover artist will receive two free copies of the issue.


MLA format required. See the Femspec website (femspec.org) for paper submission format. For more information, contact femspec@aol.com.

Techno-Orientalism in SF CFP

CFP Edited Collection: Techno-Orientalism in Science Fiction Film, Media and Literature
Call for Papers Date: 2012-03-15
Date Submitted: 2011-12-01
Announcement ID: 190163


Edited Collection: Techno-Orientalism in Science Fiction Film, Media and Literature
Editors: David Roh, Greta Niu, and Betsy Huang

Deadline: March 15, 2012

We seek submissions for an edited collection on techno-Orientalism, dubbed by David Morley and Kevin Robins and refined by Greta Niu as the practice of ascribing, erasing, and/or disavowing relationships between technology and Asian subjects. From Sax Rohmer’s Dr. Fu Manchu in the early twentieth-century to William Gibson’s late twentieth-century cyber adventures, figurations of Asian people and landscapes have been uncannily linked to societal desires and fears in speculative discourses of science and technology. Fu Manchu, for instance, embody the onset of American techno-Orientalist anxieties through his occult-like ability to co-opt Western knowledge, while Gibson’s Asian landscapes and ninja bodyguards play upon late-capitalist fears of faceless, mechanical, de-individuated Japanese sarariman (Salarymen) who threaten American economic dominance. This volume aims to establish techno-Orientalism as a crucial and compelling cross-genre critical field, and to provide critical insight into the problematically persistent trope of the technologized Asian in science fiction literature, film, and new media.

Articles may address techno-Orientalist tropes in multiple media, including literature, film, digital games, and electronic texts in which the Asian subject, technological proxy, or cultural representation plays a central, contextual, or peripheral role. We welcome submissions that examine, for example, the literary works of William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and Ted Chiang; cinematic examples of the Fu Manchu films, Johnny Mnemonic, Goonies, Gung-Ho, The Matrix Triology, Bladerunner, Kill Bill, Robot Stories, Battlestar Galactica, and the heavily Sino-influenced futures of Joss Whedon’s Firefly/Serenity; televisual media such as a series of Verizon commercials featuring Asian American subjects; and electronic games/media such as World of Warcraft, Homefront, or Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries.

The editors invite articles (approximately 6,000 words) that respond to the focus of the volume. General inquires and article abstracts (300-400 words), along with a brief C.V., should be submitted by March 15, 2012, to David Roh at droh@odu.edu, while completed essays must be submitted by September 28th, 2012, following MLA formatting guidelines.

David Roh
Old Dominion University
Department of English
Batten Arts & Letters 5032
Phone (757) 683-4770
Fax (757) 683-3241
Email: droh@odu.edu

CFP Supernaturally Grimm: Fairy Tales on TV

CFP: Essay Collection Tentatively Titled Supernaturally Grimm: Fairy Tales on TV, proposals due January 15, 2012

full name / name of organization:
Pauline Greenhill/University of Winnipeg and Jill Terry Rudy/Brigham Young University

contact email:
jill_rudy@byu.edu and p.greenhill@uwinnipeg.ca


Pauline Greenhill and Jill Rudy are soliciting proposals for a book project which will gather new, original, previously unpublished essays covering a range of aspects of fairy tales on television. Submissions may address such areas as: specific series, like the current Grimm and Once Upon a Time shows or Nickelodeon’s animated Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics, which use fairy tales as organising themes; fairy-tale themed episodes in series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Muppet Babies, and Rocky and Bullwinkle’s “Fractured Fairy Tales;” made-for-television feature-length fairy tale adaptations, like Catherine Breillat’s Bluebeard; uses in made-for-television films of fairy tale images and themes as in The Red Riding Trilogy; television auteurs who often use fairy tales like Joss Whedon or Rob Tapert; fairy tale television fandom; themes in fairy tale television including crime and vampirism; fairy-tale premised reality television shows like the Canadian LGBT Fairy Tale; made-for-television mini-series like The 10th Kingdom; specials, like holiday presentations of The Nutcracker; and other topics. We are interested in live-action and animated material for children and adults and will be happy to consider additional ideas not specified here.


Anticipating a wide readership, we prefer projects that would be accessible, yet challenging, for an upper-level undergraduate audience as well as graduate students and specialists in a variety of fields.

Please send a 250-500 word (strict limit) abstract with title to both Jill Rudy and Pauline Greenhill by January 15, 2012. Please also send a 1-2 page c.v., with current position and relevant publications.
Please send as an e mail attachment in Word. Decisions will be made by January 31, 2012 and confirmations sent shortly thereafter. Quality drafts of 8-10,000 words including notes and bibliography (Chicago online author-date style) will be expected for May 31, 2012.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us both:

Pauline Greenhill: p.greenhill@uwinnipeg.ca

Jill Rudy: jill_rudy@byu.edu

New Bradbury Scholarship

The New Ray Bradbury Review, No. 2
William F. Touponce (ed.)

2010, 92 pp
ISBN 978-1-60635-037-9
Paper, $25.00
Shipping Status: Available
 Courtesy of our partner, Atlas Books

An annual dedicated to the life and writings of one of America’s most prolific and popular authors

Like its pioneering predecessor, the one-volume review published in 1952 by William F. Nolan, The New Ray Bradbury Review contains articles and reviews about Bradbury but has a much broader scope, including a thematic focus for each issue. Since Nolan composed his slim volume at the beginning of Bradbury’s career, Bradbury has birthed hundreds of stories and half a dozen novels, making him one of this country’s most anthologized authors. While his effect on the genres of fantasy, horror, and science fiction is still being assessed (See Ray Bradbury: The Life of Fiction, Kent State University Press, 2004), there is no doubt of his impact, and to judge from the testimony of his readers, many of them now professional writers themselves, it is clear that he has affected the lives of five generations of young readers.

The New Ray Bradbury Review is designed primarily to study the impact of Ray Bradbury’s writings on American culture. It is the central publication of The Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, a newly established archive of Bradbury’s writings located at Indiana University. This review is designed principally to study the impact of Ray Bradbury’s writings on American culture. In this second number, scholars discuss Bradbury’s view of the role of art and aesthetics in our modern technological lives. Included are Bradbury’s correspondence with renowned Renaissance art historian and aesthetician Bernard Berenson, a fragment from Bradbury’s screenplay “The Chrysalis,” a review of Now and Forever, and insightful essays by Jon Eller and Roger Lay.

Fans and scholars will welcome The New Ray Bradbury Review,as it will add to the understanding of the life and work of this recently honored author, who received both a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize.

Interested in learning more about this and future projects with theThe Center for Ray Bradbury Studies? Click here listen to William F. Touponce address these issues.

The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury: A Critical Edition: Volume 1, 1938–1943

William F. Touponce, and Jonathan R. Eller (eds.)

Description
2010, c. 332 pp
ISBN 978-1-60635-071-3
Cloth, $65.00
 Shipping Status: Available
Courtesy of our partner, Atlas Books

In the past, collections of Bradbury’s works have juxtaposed stories with no indication as to the different time periods in which they were written. Even the mid- and late-career collections that Bradbury himself compiled contained stories that were written much earlier—a situation that has given rise to misconceptions about the origins of the stories themselves. In this new edition, editors William F. Touponce and Jonathan R. Eller present for the first time the stories of Ray Bradbury in the order in which they were written. Moreover, they use texts that reflect Bradbury’s earliest settled intention for each tale. By examining his relationships with his agent, editor, and publisher, Touponce and Eller’s textual commentaries document the transformation of the stories—and Bradbury’s creative understanding of genre fiction—from their original forms to the versions known and loved today.

Volume 1 covers the years 1938 to 1943 and contains thirteen stories that have never appeared in a Bradbury collection. For those that were previously published, the original serial forms recovered in this volume differ in significant ways from the versions that Bradbury popularized over the ensuing years. By documenting the ways the stories evolved over time, Touponce and Eller unveil significant new information about Bradbury’s development as a master of short fiction.

Each volume in the proposed three-volume edition includes a general introduction, chronology, summary of unpublished stories, textual commentary for each story, textual apparatus, and chronological catalog. The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury is edited to the highest scholarly standards by the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies and bears the Modern Language Association’s seal of approval for scholarly editions.

American Literature Special Issue

I've been meaning to post this for a while:

American Literature
Volume 83, Number 2 (June 2011)

Speculative Fictions

Contents
Gerry Canavan and Priscilla Wald
Preface 237

Mark Chia-Yon Jerng
A World of Difference: Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren and the Protocols of Racial Reading 251

Nathaniel Williams
Frank Reade, Jr., in Cuba: Dime-Novel Technology, U.S. Imperialism, and the “American Jules Verne” 279

Aaron Bady
Tarzan’s White Flights: Terrorism and Fantasy before and after the Airplane 305

David M. Higgins
Toward a Cosmopolitan Science Fiction 331

Ramzi Fawaz
“Where No X-Man Has Gone Before!” Mutant Superheroes and the Cultural Politics of Popular Fantasy in Postwar America 355

Robert F. Reid-Pharr
Clean: Death and Desire in Samuel R. Delany’s Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand 389

Everett Hamner
The Predisposed Agency of Genomic Fiction 413

Latin American SF

The Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction
Rachel Haywood Ferreira

Series: Early Classics of Science Fiction

Wesleyan University Press
2011 • 320 pp. 15 illus. 6 x 9"
Latin American & Caribbean Studies / Science Fiction
( Cloth edition is un-jacketed. Cover illustration is for paperback edition only)
$29.95 Paperback, 978-0-8195-7082-6
$80.00 Hardcover, 978-0-8195-7081-9
$23.99 Ebook, 978-0-8195-7083-3



A fantastic voyage through the early science fiction of Latin America

Early science fiction has often been associated almost exclusively with Northern industrialized nations. In this groundbreaking exploration of the science fiction written in Latin America prior to 1920, Rachel Haywood Ferreira argues that science fiction has always been a global genre. She traces how and why the genre quickly reached Latin America and analyzes how writers in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico adapted science fiction to reflect their own realities. Among the texts discussed are one of the first defenses of Darwinism in Latin America, a tale of a time-traveling history book, and a Latin American Frankenstein. Latin American science fiction writers have long been active participants in the sf literary tradition, expanding the limits of the genre and deepening our perception of the role of science and technology in the Latin American imagination. The book includes a chronological bibliography of science fiction published from 1775 to 1920 in all Latin American countries.

Contents

List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Latin American Science Fiction Discovers Its Roots
• DISPLACEMENT IN SPACE AND TIME: THE LATIN AMERICAN UTOPIA AND DYSTOPIA
• Fósforos-Cerillos, “Mexico in the Year 1970”
• Joaquim Felício dos Santos, Pages from the History of Brazil Written in the Year 2
• Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, The Marvelous Journey of Mr. Nic-Nac . . .
• Eduardo de Ezcurra, In the Thirtieth Century
• Godofredo Barnsley, S<>o Paulo in the Year 2 . . .
• Eduardo Urzaiz, Eugenia
• THE IMPACT OF DARWINISM: CIVILIZATION AND BARBARISM MEET EVOLUTION AND DEVOLUTION
• Augusto Emílio Zaluar, Doctor Benignus
• Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, Two Factions Struggle for Life
• Leopoldo Lugones, “Essay on a Cosmogony in Ten Lessons,” “The Origin of the Flood,” “Yzur”
• Joaquim Manuel de Macedo, “The End of the World”
• Aluísio Azevedo, “Demons”
• Amado Nervo, “The Last War”
• Martín Luis Guzmán, “How the War Ended in 1917”
• STRANGE FORCES: EXPLORING THE LIMITS OF SCIENCE
• Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, Two Factions Struggle for Life [coda]
• Carlos Olivera, “Death at a Fixed Hour”
• Leopoldo Lugones, “The Omega Force,” “Psychon,” “An Inexplicable Phenomenon,” “Viola Acherontia,” “Metamusic”
• Miguel Cané, “The Harmonies of Light”
• Juana Manuela Gorriti, “He Who Listens May Hear—To His Regret: Confidence of a Confidence”
• Pedro Castera, “A Celestial Journey,” Querens
• Amado Nervo, The Soul-Giver, “The Sixth Sense”
• THE DOUBLE: FROM SCIENCE TO TECHNOLOGY
• Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, “Horacio Kalibang or The Automatons”
• Alejandro Cuevas, “The Apparatus of Doctor Tolimán”
• Horacio Quiroga, The Artificial Man, “The Portrait,” “The Vampire”
• Conclusion: A Global Genre in the Periphery
• Chronology: Latin American Science Fiction through 1920
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Primary Texts
• Secondary Sources
• Index

CFP ORU Conference on Science and Science Fiction

Call For Papers
For the ORU Conference on Science and Science Fiction
April 12 & 13, 2012

When Worlds Collide: Science, Faith, and the Imagination 
Download the call for papers (doc) (pdf)

This two-day interdisciplinary conference - sponsored by the colleges of Arts and Cultural Studies and Science and Engineering at Oral Roberts University - will examine the relationships between science and science fiction, social science and science fiction, and theology and science fiction in all forms of science and science fiction, including science fiction stories, film, television, radio, graphic novels, and theoretical physics.

Potential contributors are invited to submit an abstract or paper for this conference on themes related to any of the following conference tracks:

• Science Fiction and Theology. Investigating the relationship between and metaphors in science fiction and theology.
• Science in Science Fiction. Discussing the plausibility of fantastical science fiction concepts such as time travel, warp drives, cloaking devices, and (quantum) teleportation.
• Hard Science Fiction. Examining scientific rigor in science fiction.
• Social Sciences in Science Fiction. Investigating psychological, sociological, and cultural issues in science fiction.
• The Relationship between Science and Science Fiction. Exploring how science drives science fiction and/or how science fiction drives science.
• Original Science Fiction Short Stories. Submitting creative and original short stories (8-10 pages) over various science fiction themes and subjects.

Papers on the above themes are invited. However, papers on other subjects related to the above topics will also be considered.

Please submit an abstract or a full paper by January 31, 2012. Presentations are welcome in any format and style, including PowerPoint, and will depend upon the traditions of your discipline, but if you submit a paper to be read, it should be 8-10 pages (double-spaced, 12 point font) and needs to be an original work that has not been read at any previous conferences. Regardless of the presentation format, participants will be held to a twenty minute presentation limit.

E-mail all abstracts/papers to the following individual:
Dr. Andrew S.I.D. Lang, Conference Director
alang@oru.edu
Phone: 918-495-6692

To insure prompt notification, please include your e-mail address on your submission. If you are willing to chair a section, please note this at the top of your abstract/paper.

We are pleased to announce our two keynote speakers, Paul Davies and Joan Slonczewski.

Plenary Speakers

Paul Davies is an award-winning theoretical physicist and best-selling author of popular science books such as God and the New Physics and The Goldilocks Enigma: Why is the Universe Just Right for Life? Davies is British and has a PhD in physics from University College London. His postdoctoral work was at Cambridge under Fred Hoyle. His academic awards include the Eureka Prize, the Kelvin Medal, the Royal Society's Faraday Prize, and the Templeton Prize for making an "exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works."

Davies has published over 100 research papers in the fields of black holes, cosmology, and quantum field theory in curved spacetime. His monograph on Quantum Fields in Curved Space, remains a seminal text in the field of quantum gravity. Davies is the founder and director of BEYOND: The Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University. Davies is a lifelong fan of science fiction and many of his books, like How to Build a Time Machine, deal with the scientific plausibility of the technology found in science fiction.

Joan Slonczewski is a Science Fiction author and Chair of Biology at Kenyon College where she teaches both biology and science fiction. Slonczewski has a PhD in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University, is a National Professor of the Year Silver Medalist, and has been awarded funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to improve science instruction for minority students.

Slonczewski is a world renowned hard science fiction author, her novel A Door Into Ocean winning the prestigious Campbell Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of the year. Slonczewski is known for dealing with issues of theology, gender, and science through her writing.

New Book on Supernatural

TV Goes to Hell: An Unofficial Road Map of Supernatural
David Lavery and Stacey Abbott

Published: October 2011
ISBN-10: 1-77041-020-1
ISBN-13: 978-1-77041-020-6

General / trade - 250 pages
Dimensions: 6 x 9 in
Format: Paperback (BC)
$16.95 CAD

As a natural heir to the long-running television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer,Supernatural has risen to prominence with a strong cult following, and this collection of essays from contributors around the globe investigates the genre-bending series’ cultural footprint both in North America and abroad.

The book explores topics such as folklore, religion, gender and sexuality, comedy, music, and much more, and offers a brief guide to all the episodes as well.

Supernatural follows brothers Dean and Sam Winchester as they encounter and battle evil beings such as vampires, shapeshifters, ghouls, and ghosts from a multitude of genres including folklore, urban legends, and religious history.

Contributors to the collection come from the U.S., the UK, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Spain, and Austria.

Wrath of the Titans Trailer

Coming this March, a sequel to 2010's Clash of the Titans. The first film wasn't bad, but this looks really jumbled from the cutting of the trailer (and the rock score is a no go for me).

CFP Wagner Conference

Call for papers
WagnerWorldWide2013: America
University of South Carolina, Columbia
January 31-February 2, 2013

In recognition of Richard Wagner’s bicentennial in 2013, the University of South Carolina’s College of Arts and Sciences and School of Music are hosting a conference for Wagner scholars from all disciplines. The conference is part of a multi-year global initiative by the University of Bayreuth (www.fimt.uni-bayreuth.de ) under the heading WagnerWorldWide 2013 which will examine Wagner and his significance through five core areas:

Environment and Nature
Gender and Sexuality
Media and Film
History and Nationalism
Globalization and Markets

Submissions are encouraged that address one or more of these topics. All conference sessions will be plenary, and divided between panels with three 20-minute talks, and roundtable discussions with up to 10 participants, each with a 5-minute position paper.

The conference proceedings will be broadcast via live-stream on the internet and later as podcasts. There are plans for a live audience in Bayreuth and possibly elsewhere to be linked via video-conference. All lectures will be given in English. Additional discussions, questions, and suggestions may be added through Facebook (WagnerWorldWide 2013).

Abstracts of max 250 words for talks and/or position papers must be uploaded via the conference website (www.cas.sc.edu/www2013/call_for_papers ) no later than February 15, 2012. Abstracts should include contact information (mail, email and telephone) and institutional affiliation. Group submissions are also welcome. The group organizer should upload a single document. Advanced graduate students are particularly encouraged to apply. Three $500 graduate student travel stipends will be offered on a competitive basis.


Submit abstract

For more information about the multi-year project, please visit: www.cas.sc.edu/www2013

Questions and correspondence, including inquires concerning the graduate student travel stipends, should be directed to Nicholas Vazsonyi (vazsonyi@sc.edu).

CFP Neo-Victorian Studies

NEO-VICTORIAN STUDIES CALLS FOR PAPERS

Note: Neo-Victorian Studies accepts submissions for forthcoming general issues throughout the year. Please see the general CFP that follows the special issue CFPs below. For forthcoming special issues, please observe the relevant posted deadlines.


permanent Call for Papers (General Issue):

NVS invites creative and scholarly submissions from established and early career researchers and creative artists on any topic related to the exploration of the nineteenth century from a twentieth/twenty-first century perspective. Contributions on the period’s cultural legacies in non-British contexts, e.g. Asian, African, North and South American frameworks, are equally welcome. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

- theorising the neo-Victorian novel
- intertextual / intervisual negotiations with the past
- cultural traumas and practices of commemoration
- refracting or ‘queering’ narratives of nation and empire
- tracing patterns of environmental impact and destruction
- the legacies of nineteenth century sexual politics
- the heritage of Victorian law and social policy
- rewriting histories of science and medicine
- the biographical imagination/bio-fiction
- re-conceptualising children and childhood
- the fascinations of criminality
- spectrality, spiritualism, and the occult
- the space of cultural memory / the sense of place

Submissions may include:

- scholarly theoretical/critical articles of 6000-8000 words (plus bibliography)
- creative pieces (any genre of creative writing or creative arts)
- polemical pieces
- interviews
- notices of work in progress
- reviews of relevant critical/creative publications in the field
- (for future issues) critical/creative responses to previous contributions

Please direct enquiries and send electronic submissions via email with Word Document attachment to the General & Founding Editor, Marie-Luise Kohlke, at neovictorianstudies@swansea.ac.uk. Please consult our submission guidelines, prior to submission.


Special Issue 5:1 (2012)
The Child in Neo-Victorian Arts and Discourse: Renegotiating Nineteenth-Century Concepts of Childhood
Guest Editors: Claudia Nelson and Anne Morey

Neo-Victorianism has become a major trend in contemporary literature and culture. Novels, motion pictures, documentaries and TV series have all contributed to the persistent re-imagination of the nineteenth century. While neo-Victorianism in fiction and film has sparked off a lively academic industry, its impact on children’s literature and contemporary discourses on childhood has not yet been fully addressed. The Victorians were obsessed with the Romantic ideal of the innocent child of nature, an innocence that was thought to be perennially at risk; witness the centrality of the child victim in Victorian melodrama and the astonishing popularity of orphan narratives. Victorian constructions of childhood were also intimately linked to empire. Pauper children were frequently orientalised as ‘street Arabs’, while the indigenous inhabitants of the colonies were often portrayed as children, imposing various forms of maternalism and paternalism upon the coloniser. Both pauper children at the metropolitan centre and indigenous children at the outskirts of empire were frequently construed as orphans, even if their parents were still alive. Orphan narratives framed trafficking in children from the outskirts of empire to the centre and vice versa, as pauper children were sent abroad to the settler colonies as cheap labour hands, while ‘orphans’ in the colonies were removed from their parents in order to be raised at missionary homes or by Anglo-parents who could not conceive themselves.
This special issue of Neo-Victorian Studies will explore how Victorian constructions of childhood are re-mediated and renegotiated in contemporary arts and discourse, from neo-Victorian children’s literature and/or fiction featuring children, heritage film and television, the media, social policy making and family politics, to present-day legal frameworks. In particular, how do revisionary fiction and other contemporary cultural discourses for/about children and/or young adults rejuvenate, modify, and assist us in re-thinking the Victorians and associated themes of temporality, cross-generational continuities, and urgent social issues such as child labour, trafficking and paedophilia?
 Contributions, both academic articles and creative pieces, are invited on (but not limited to) the following topics:

• rewrites and film adaptations of Victorian children’s/young adults’ classics and/or child-focused fictions (The Little Princess, Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, The Turn of the Screw, etc.)
• re-imaginings of stock child characters from Victorian melodrama and other popular genres (orphans, street Arabs, innocent angels, feral and criminal children, etc.)
• re-inventions of Victorian narrative and dramatic genres for children (e.g. the adventure story, fairytale, moral tract, Bildungsroman, puppet play, and pantomime)
• adaptations of neo-Victorian genres for juvenile audiences (cf. steampunk or graphic novels for children and adolescents)
• continuities/discontinuities between contemporary narratives about adoption and migration and nineteenth-century orphan narratives
• imagined child readers/viewers
• child illness/death; children and medicine
• neo-Victorian vs. neo-Edwardian children’s fiction and other art forms
• the child victim in socio-legal and political discourse
• colonial vs. postcolonial representations of the child

Please address enquiries and expressions of interest to the guest editors Claudia Nelson at claudia_nelson@tamu.edu and Anne Morey at amorey@tamu.edu by 31st January 2012, including a 200 word proposal with draft bibliography and brief biographical details. Completed articles and/or creative pieces will be due 1st April 2012 and should be sent via email to the guest editors, with a copy to neovictorianstudies@swansea.ac.uk. Please consult the NVS website (submission guidelines) for further guidance.

Special Issue 5:2 (2012)
The Other Dickens: Neo-Victorian Appropriation and Adaptation
Guest Editors: Elodie Rousselot and Charlotte Boyce

As part of the bicentenary celebrations of Dickens's birth, the editors of a special issue of Neo-Victorian Studies on 'The Other Dickens: Neo-Victorian Appropriation and Adaptation' invite contributors to consider the 'other' Dickens - those aspects of Dickens's life and work that have been the subject of recent revision, reappraisal, and transformation in contemporary culture. The special issue will aim to critically assess our persisting fascination with this canonical Victorian figure and, more generally, the 'Dickensian' cultural legacy of the Victorian age in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We would especially welcome papers and creative pieces which address the continued influence of Dickens on neo-Victorian studies, in literature, in bio-fiction, as well as in film and television adaptations of his novels. Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Dickens and adaptation/re-writings
• Dickens and the legacies of Empire
• International/trans-cultural Dickens in the age of globalisation
• Dickens and contemporary politics (social reforms, the 'Big Society', philanthropy)
• Dickens and twenty-first-century material/commodity culture and consumerism
• Dickens and revisions of gender in the private and public spheres
• Dickens and neo-Victorian nostalgia
• Gothicised Dickens/Dickens's ghosts
• Dickens and Dickens's women in bio-fiction
• Dickens and (self-)performance/performing the past

Please send a 500 word proposal for a 6,000-8,000 word chapter to the guest editors Elodie Rousselot (Elodie.Rousselot@port.ac.uk) and Charlotte Boyce(charlotte.boyce@port.ac.uk) by 29 February 2012, adding a short biographical note. Completed articles and/or creative pieces will be due by 15 July 2012 and should be sent as a Word.doc attachment via email to the guest editors, with a copy to neovictorianstudies@swansea.ac.uk. Please consult the NVS website (submission guidelines) for further guidance.

That's All Folks? Ecocritical Readings of American Animated Features
Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann

hardcover
2011. 296 pp.
978-0-8032-3512-0
$50.00

Read an Excerpt (pdf)

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Although some credit the environmental movement of the 1970s, with its profound impact on children’s television programs and movies, for paving the way for later eco-films, the history of environmental expression in animated film reaches much further back in American history, as That’s All Folks? makes clear.

Countering the view that the contemporary environmental movement—and the cartoons it influenced—came to life in the 1960s, Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann reveal how environmentalism was already a growing concern in animated films of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. From Felix the Cat cartoons to Disney’s beloved Bambi to Pixar’s Wall-E and James Cameron’s Avatar, this volume shows how animated features with environmental themes are moneymakers on multiple levels—particularly as broad-based family entertainment and conveyors of consumer products. Only Ralph Bakshi’s X-rated Fritz the Cat and R-rated Heavy Traffic and Coonskin, with their violent, dystopic representation of urban environments, avoid this total immersion in an anti-environmental consumer market.

Showing us enviro-toons in their cultural and historical contexts, this book offers fresh insights into the changing perceptions of the relationship between humans and the environment and a new understanding of environmental and animated cinema.


CONTENTS:

List of Illustrations vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: A Foundation for

Contemporary Enviro-toons 1

1 Bambi and Mr. Bug Goes to Town: Nature with or without Us 29

2 Animal Liberation in the 1940s and 1950s: What Disney Does for the Animal Rights Movement 49

3 The upa and the Environment: A Modernist Look at Urban Nature 79

4 Animation and Live Action: A Demonstration of Interdependence? 91

5 Rankin/Bass Studios, Nature, and the Supernatural: Where Technology Serves and Destroys 115

6 Disney in the 1960s and 1970s: Blurring Boundaries between Human and Nonhuman Nature 135

7 Dinosaurs Return: Evolution Outplays Disney’s Binaries 161

8 DreamWorks and Human and Nonhuman Ecology: Escape or Interdependence in Over the Hedge and Bee Movie 183

9 Pixar and the Case of WALL-E: Moving between Environmental Adaptation and Sentimental Nostalgia 201

10 The Simpsons Movie, Happy Feet, and Avatar: The Continuing Influence of Human, Organismic, Economic, and Chaotic Approaches to Ecology 229

Conclusion: Animation’s Movement to Green? 241

Filmography 251

Works Cited 265

Index 277

AUTHORS:

Robin L. Murray is a professor of English at Eastern Illinois University. Joseph K. Heumann is a professor emeritus at Eastern Illinois University. They are the coauthors of Ecology and Popular Film: Cinema on the Edge.

CFP Folklore and Fantasy Conference (UK)

(There is no posting date, so this may be a repeat to the blog.)

FOLKLORE AND FANTASY CONFERENCE 2012


The Folklore Society and the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy are delighted to announce a joint conference on “Folklore and Fantasy” at the University of Chichester on Friday 13th to Sunday 15th April 2012.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Deadline 27 January 2012

Many folktales are closely related to the fantastic – through subject matter, content and impulse. Folklore often deals with the fantastic, or turns to the supernatural to provide explanations for extraordinary events. Similarly, folklore has long been a major source of inspiration for fantasy literature, from authors like Kevin Crossley-Holland and Angela Carter and graphic novelists like Neil Gaiman and Bill Willingham who take on and re-present traditional stories, to authors like Lloyd Alexander Susan Cooper, Kate Thompson who draw on established tropes, to authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Susanna Clarke and Terry Pratchett who invent their own folk traditions. This three-day conference will explore, investigate and celebrate the relationship between folklore and fantasy. We welcome papers on all aspects of folklore and fantasy from the medieval to the modern and the post-modern. Topics may include but are not limited to:

Folklore of the fantastic

Invented Folklore in Epic Fantasy

Graphic novels

Urban Legends

Superstitions

The Gothic Tradition

Monsters, Bogies and Boggarts

Real and invented folk history

Medieval and Modern Travellers’ Tales

Folklore in Children’s Literature

World Folklore in American Fantasy

Celtic folklore in Popular Culture

Folklore on the Stage or on the Screen

The Commodification and ‘Disneyfication’ of Traditional Stories

Folklore in Art

Abstracts of 250 words for 20-minute papers should be sent by 27 January 2012 to enquiries@folklore-society.com and to b.gray@chi.ac.uk

CFP Fairy Tales Conference (UK)

‘AFTER GRIMM: FAIRY TALES AND THE ART OF STORY TELLING’ CONFERENCE 2012


6th – 8th SEPTEMBER 2012, Kingston University

CALL FOR PAPERS:

2012 is the bicentenary of the publication of the first volume of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen [Children’s and Household Tales] by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. As this groundbreaking collection moves into its third century, this conference explores the trajectory of the Grimm phenomenon in Britain and the English-speaking world. Examining the varied and colourful reception history of this collection of tales, this conference will discuss the most recent fairy- tale scholarship, as well as looking forward to possible future developments. The Grimm bicentenary will also be celebrated through story-telling events, readings, a creative writing prize, and an exhibition of illustrations.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers: Professor Donald Haase, Neil Philip, Professor Marina Warner and Professor Jack Zipes

Previously this conference was billed as two distinct events. Now Kingston University and the Sussex Centre for Folklore Fairy Tales and Fantasy at the University of Chichester are delighted to announce that they will be collaborating on a single event. Proposals for conference papers are invited on any aspect of fairy tale and storytelling over the last two-hundred years, but particularly in the following subjects:

The Oral Tradition within Grimms’ Tales

The literary origins of the Grimms’ ‘folktales’

Translations of Grimms’ tales into English

The influence of Grimm upon British collectors of fairy tales

The impact of Grimms’ tales upon world literatures in English

Uses of Grimms’ tales in English-language visual media

Grimms’ tales and Romanticism

Grimms’ tales in Victorian Britain

Grimms’ tales in colonial and post-colonial contexts

Illustrations and art works relating to Grimms’ tales

Grimms’ tales in the electronic age

Memes, Tropes and Unchanging Elements

Telling Stories with Pictures

Songs as Stories

Reading Aloud

Performing Grimm

Packaging Grimm (illustrations, book covers, merchandising etc)

Fairy tales in (popular) culture

Retellings, Revisions and Reworkings

Adapting to New Audiences

New Fairy Tales a Fairy Tales on Stage and on Screen

Gossip, Slander, Rumour and News


This multi-disciplinary conference will welcome contributions from any disciplinary perspective including proposals to read creative work, screen films, mount performances and exhibit visual work.


ABSTRACT SUBMISSION:

Please submit an abstract of approximately 300 words, and a brief contributor’s bio online at: http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/activities/conferences/abstracts/

DEADLINE: January 31 2012.

ENQUIRIES:

Prof Bill Gray (Sussex Centre for Folklore Fairy Tales and Fantasy, University of Chichester) e: bgray@chi.ac.uk

Dr Andrew Teverson (Kingston University) e: fass-conferences@kingston.ac.uk

CFP Planet of the Apes and Philosophy

PLANET OF THE APES AND PHILOSOPHY: CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Deadline for abstract submission: January 15, 2012

Editor: John Huss

The editor encourages contributions from philosophers and other intellectuals that explore topics connected to the Planet of the Apes franchise, from Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel La Planète des singes to the 1968 politically charged blockbuster starring Charlton Heston, through the sequels and TV series to the 2011 reboot/prequel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The prequel, which was released at roughly the same time as the documentary Project Nim, has recently received attention from philosophers and animal rights activists, including Peter Singer. Much public discussion ofRise of the Planet of the Apes has centered on ethical and philosophical issues.

Of particular interest for the volume are popular essays addressing current debates in philosophy of biology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, animal rights, political philosophy, and environmental ethics. Authors who would like to try their hand at engaging a non-academic audience in philosophical dialogue using the Planet of the Apes films as a touchstone are especially encouraged to submit an abstract.

Email abstracts and a c.v. to: huss.john@gmail.com.

Deadlines: Abstracts due by January 15, 2012; notification of abstract acceptance by February 15, 2012. First drafts due by June 15, 2012; final drafts due by August 15, 2012.

The fine print: Contributors will not be paid in cash, but in copies of the book, worldwide fame and prestige.

CFP Conference on French Science Fiction

From SFRA-L:


POW! IN THE EYE OF THE MOON!
Conference on French Science Fiction
University of Regina
November 2nd and 3rd, 2012


The organizing committee of the conference invites you to send proposals for papers on any topic regarding French science fiction.

French science fiction is as old as the French language. Cyrano de Bergerac wrote about a trip to the moon that was published in 1657. So did Jules Verne in 1865, this time using scientific hard facts. The first movie showing a trip to the moon was made by Georges Méliès in 1902. In the comic format, Hergé had Tintin walk on the moon in 1954, 15 years before Armstrong. These are just a few of many unique French contributions to science fiction that rightly deserves to be better known. The conference wants to recognize the contribution of French science fiction to world science fiction but also wants to engage in multi-disciplinary exchanges. Science fiction is a genre embracing many different media, which are traditionally the respective domains of the Arts and Fine Arts.

Topics might include, but are not limited to:

- French science fiction literature

- French science fiction cinema

- French science fiction on television

- French science fiction in comics and graphic novels

- International reception of French science fiction


Papers presented at the conference will be refereed and published into electronic proceedings.


* Paper submission:

- Submissions are welcome in either French or English.

- Proposals should be 250 words maximum and should include a descriptive title.

- Audio-visual equipment available upon request.

- A $25 registration fee will be levied upon acceptance.

- Proposals must be submitted by e-mail no later than January 1st, 2012 to:

Philippe Mather
 

Email: philippe.mather@uregina.ca

Phone: (306) 359-1229

Campion College

University of Regina

3737 Wascana Parkway

Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 0A2

CANADA

CFP Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space

Another belated post from IAFA-L:


The Science Fiction Foundation announces:
Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space: The Fantastika and the Classical
World. A Science Fiction Foundation Conference

28 June – 1 July 2013

At The Foresight Centre, University of Liverpool

Guests of Honour/Plenary Speakers: Edith Hall, Nick Lowe, and Catherynne M. Valente

Call for papers

The culture of the Classical world continues to shape that of the modern West. Those studying the Fantastika (science fiction, fantasy and horror) know that it has its roots in the literature of the
Graeco-Roman world (Homer’s Odyssey, Lucian’s True History). At the same time, scholars of Classical Reception are investigating more aspects of popular culture, and have begun looking at science fiction.
However, scholars of the one are not often enough in contact with scholars of the other. This conference aims to bridge the divide, and provide a forum in which SF and Classical Reception scholars can meet
and exchange ideas.

We invite proposals for papers (20 minutes plus discussion) or themed panels of three or four papers from a wide range of disciplines (including Science Fiction, Classical Reception and Literature), from academics, students, fans, and anyone else interested, on any aspect of the interaction between the Classical world of Greece and Rome and science fiction, fantasy and horror. We are looking for papers on Classical elements in modern (post-1800) examples of the Fantastika, and on science fictional or fantastic elements in Classical
literature. We are particularly interested in papers addressing literary science fiction or fantasy, where we feel investigations of the interaction with the ancient world are relatively rare. But we also welcome papers on film, television, radio, comics, games, or fan culture.

Please send proposals (preferably by e-mail) to conferences@sf-foundation.org, or to Antony Keen, 48 Priory Street, Tonbridge, TN9 2AN, to arrive by 30 September 2012. Paper proposals should be no more than 300 words. Themed panels should also include an introduction to the panel, of no more than 300 words. Please include the name of the author/panel convener, and contact details.

Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space is organised by the Science Fiction Foundation, with the co-operation of the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool.

CFP Performing the Fantastic

From the IAFA-L:


Call for Papers


“Performing the Fantastic” — special issue of the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts

Jen Gunnels, Drama Critic/ New York Review of Science Fiction <jengunnels@gmail.com>

Isabella van Elferen, Musicologist/ Utrecht University <i.a.m.vanelferen@uu.nl>




The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts (JFA) is inviting contributions for a special issue on “Performing the Fantastic.”  Performance in this context encompasses any of the performing arts, broadly defined, such as theatre, music, dance, magic, and/or ritual.

Articles between 5,000–9,000 words might address, but are by no means limited to, the following:

• Critical analyses of fantastic influenced production designs of traditional forms of performance (theatre, dance, opera)

• Critical analyses of adaptations of fantastic narratives for the stage (from eighteenth-century Gothic melodrama to Wagnerian opera to musical fantasy)

• Performance analyses of staged productions (theatre, music, dance) utilizing fantastic subjects or motifs

• Fantastic use of performative conventions in non-staged (e.g., literary or interactive) narratives

• Utilization of the fantastic in musical subcultures and their aesthetics (including Goth, metal, neofolk)

• Fantastic influences on avant-garde and postmodern performance

• Fantastic performance as social and/or cultural commentary

• Evocations of the fantastic in magic, ritual, and liturgical performance


In accordance with the journal’s policy, all contributions will be peer-reviewed by JFA and subject to their acceptance. JFA uses MLA style as defined in the latest edition of MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (New York: The Modern Language Association). For more details, please see the journal’s “Submission Guidelines” section online at http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/iafa/jfa/submission.html, or e-mail jfaeditor@gmail.com to request a copy of JFA’s style sheet.


Please e-mail your contributions and/or any queries to the guest editors Jen Gunnels jengunnels@gmail.com) and Isabella van Elferen (i.a.m.vanelferen@uu.nl) by 1 August 2012.

Odyssey 2012

The Odyssey Writing Workshop is now accepting applications for its next workshop to be held from June 11 through July 20, 2012. Deadlines as follows:

Applications for Early Admission due Jan. 31, 2012

Regular Application Deadline April 7, 2012


Further details at http://www.sff.net/odyssey/.

2011 In Memoriam

As the year draws to a close, we often reflect on events of the past twelve months, and the latest issue of the Science Fiction Book Club catalog includes a listing of genre authors lost this year. It was a surprising list, as it includes both authors I was not familiar as well as one's whose work I had enjoyed but did not know that had passed on. Those featured were:

Leslie Esdalie Banks
Sara Douglass
Brian Jacques
Joel Rosenberg
Joanna Russ
William Sleator
Diana Wynne Jones


A noticeable omission, perhaps she died after press-time, is the recent death of Anne McCaffrey last month.

TV Update

I'm behind, but SyFy recently premiered the new season of Sanctuary and BBC America a new season of Primeval. In addition, SyFy has recently aired holiday episodes of Eureka, Haven and Warehouse 13. More to follow ASAP.

New Trailers from Warner Bros. Pictures

Coming Soon:

New Trailers from Walt Disney Pictures

Out Now:


Coming Soon:

New to DVD

Now out on DVD/Blu-Ray:

Being Human (US): The Complete First Season
Captain America: First Avenger (based on the long-running comic)
Cowboys and Aliens (based on the comic)
Doctor Who: The Complete Sixth Season
Dylan Dog (based on the comic)
Green Lantern (based on the long-running comic)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2
Super 8
Thor (based on the long-running comic)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
X-Men: First Class (based on the long-running comic)

Coming Soon:

Apollo 18
Contagion
Falling Skies: Complete First Season
Game of Thrones: Complete First Season
Merlin: Complete Third Season
Primeval: Volume Three
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
The Thing
Torchwood: Miracle Day

Doctor Who Returns

The Doctor returns (briefly) for this year's Christmas special:

SilverHawks on DVD

The classic 1980s animated series SilverHawks (1986) is now complete on DVD from Warner Bros. Home Video. Part one was released in 2008, and part two, with the remainder of season one, released just this week.

China Miéville Conference (UK)

I had thought I had posted this before:

Weird Council: An International Conference on the Writing of China Miéville

Saturday 15th September 2012
School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London

Sponsored by Gylphi: Arts and Humanities Publisher, Birkbeck, University of London and the University of Lincoln
Part of the Gylphi Contemporary Writers series

Keynote Speakers:
Professor Sherryl Vint (Brock University)
Professor Roger Luckhurst (Birkbeck, University of London)

Response and Q&A from China Miéville

Papers are invited for the first academic conference dedicated to the work of China Miéville. The winner of multiple awards, Miéville has developed a distinguished body of fictional work since the publication of his first novel, King Rat, in 1999. In addition to nine published novels (with his next forthcoming in May 2012) as well as a collection of short stories, Miéville is also a respected literary critic, political activist and legal scholar. His post-Suvinian working through of the “Fantastic” as a generic category encompassing SF, fantasy and the Gothic, as well as avant-garde traditions such as Surrealism, has been influential in cutting across received boundaries of genre. Miéville’s monograph Between Equal Rights: A Marxist Theory of International Law was published in 2005 and he has written and edited articles for a variety of journals; from Historical Materialism and the philosophical journal Collapse, to the Harvard International Law Journal.

Influenced by, among others, late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century pulp traditions and New Wave SF – especially the work of M. John Harrison – Miéville has recently been credited as “leading revolutions in fantasy as both a writer and a critic” (in a 2009 special edition of SF journal Extrapolation dedicated to his work). His fiction spans a wide variety of themes, contexts and genre-blurring literary traditions, which metaphorically explores, among other things, the implications of lived cultural, racial and geographical boundaries, collective struggle, and bodily affect.

Despite the critical acclaim of Miéville’s fictions – as well as his prominence as a literary and cultural critic – there is little scholarly work on Miéville’s already substantial oeuvre. The organisers welcome papers on any topic related to Miéville’s writing from any disciplinary position. Topics might include, but are not limited to:

Miéville and his literary contexts – the New Weird, the British SF Boom, London Gothic, steampunk, post-cyberpunk, post-genre fiction, slipstream
utopian and dystopian thinking
class, social mobility, poverty and social inequality
the critique of racism
revolution and the critique of capitalist modernity
spaces of alterity
urban and spatial phantasmagorias
Marxist theory and aesthetics
Metaphor vs. Allegory
teratology and hybridity
noir and crime
gender, sexuality, and feminism
religion and religious cults
posthumanism
Young Adult literature
post-Suvinian SF criticism
political writing and activism
hierarchies of high and low culture
fan subcultures and geek aesthetics
comics and role playing games
affinities with key figures in the British fantastic tradition (e.g. Mervyn Peake and M. John Harrison)

The conference welcomes proposals for individual papers and panels from any discipline and theoretical perspective. Submissions are welcome from both research students and academics. Please send a title and 300 word abstract for a 20 minute paper along with your name, affiliation and 100 word professional biography to mieville@gylphi.co.uk by 1st March 2012.

The conference is organised by Dr Caroline Edwards, Lecturer in English, Department of English, University of Lincoln and Tony Venezia, PhD candidate and tutor, School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London.

http://ulincoln.academia.edu/CarolineEdwards 

http://birkbeck.academia.edu/TonyVenezia

The conference is sponsored by Gylphi Arts and Humanities Publisher, the Department of English, University of Lincoln and the School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London. Selected papers from the conference proceedings will be published as China Miéville: Critical Essays, with a contribution by Miéville, as part of Gylphi’s Contemporary Writers: Critical Essays series (Series Editor: Dr Sarah Dillon). For more information regarding the Series see:

http://www.gylphi.co.uk/criticalessays/index.php

The Miéville conference website will launch in autumn 2011: see the Gylphi website for more details: http://www.gylphi.co.uk/index.php.


Caroline Edwards
Department of English
University of Lincoln
Brayford Pool
Lincoln, LN6 7TS
United Kingdom
Email: mieville@gylphi.co.uk

Miscellaneous from McFarland

New and recent from one of our favorite publishers:

The Galaxy Is Rated G: Essays on Children’s Science Fiction Film and Television

Edited by R.C. Neighbors and Sandy Rankin

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-5875-2
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8801-8
notes, bibliographies, index
292pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2011
Price: $40.00


About the Book
Through spaceships, aliens, ray guns and other familiar trappings, science fiction uses the future (and sometimes the past) to comment on current social, cultural and political ideologies; the same is true of science fiction in children’s film and television.

This collection of essays analyzes the confluences of science fiction and children’s visual media, covering such cultural icons as Flash Gordon, the Jetsons and Star Wars, as well as more contemporary fare like the films Wall-E, Monsters vs. Aliens and Toy Story. Collectively, the essays discover, applaud and critique the hidden--and not-so-hidden--messages presented on our children’s film and TV screens.


Table of Contents

Introduction. Horizons of Possibility: What We Point to When We Say Science Fiction for Children 1
SANDY RANKIN AND R.C. NEIGHBORS

PART 1. D IS FOR DEVIANCE
ONE. Monsters Among Us: Construction of the Deviant Body in Monsters, Inc. and Lilo & Stitch 15
ELIZABETH LEIGH SCHERMAN
TWO. Susan Murphy, Ginormica, and Gloria Steinem: Feminist Consciousness-Raising as Science Fiction in Monsters vs. Aliens 31
HOLLY HASSEL
THREE. Performing Gender, Performing Romance: Pixar’s WALL-E 53
CAROL A. BERNARD
FOUR. Last in Space: The “Black” Hole in Children’s Science Fiction Film 64
DEBBIE C. OLSON
FIVE. A Few Beasts Hissed: Buzz Lightyear and the Refusal to Believe 83
DANIEL KENNEFICK

PART 2. S IS FOR STRUCTURES OF POWER
SIX. Forward to the Past: Anti-Fascist Allegory and “Blitz Spirit” Revisionism in Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. 97
DANIEL O’BRIEN
SEVEN. The Search for a “More Civilized Age,” or the Failure of Utopian Desire in the Star Wars Franchise 111
R.C. NEIGHBORS
EIGHT. Inexplicable Utterances: Social Power and Pluralistic Discourse in Transformers 123
JACQUELINE WIEGARD
NINE. “Population: Us”: Nostalgia for a Future that Never Was (Not Yet) in The Iron Giant 138
SANDY RANKIN
TEN. Doctor Who: A Very British Alien 161
J.P.C. BROWN

PART 3. F IS FOR FUTURE SHOCK
ELEVEN. No Future Shock Here: The Jetsons, Happy Tech, and the Patriarchy 183
BRIAN COWLISHAW
TWELVE. “No One’s Lazy in LazyTown”: The Making of Active Citizens in Preschool Television 195
LYNN WHITAKER
THIRTEEN. Flash Gordon: Remembering a Childhood Hero (Past, Present, Future) 217
PATRICK D. ENRIGHT
FOURTEEN. Toys, a T-Rex, and Trouble: Cautionary Tales of Time Travel in Children’s Film 228
KRISTINE LARSEN
FIFTEEN. “Manmade Mess”: The Critical Dystopia of WALL-E 248
ALEXANDER CHARLES OLIVER HALL
SIXTEEN. A Bumbling Bag of Ball Bearings: Lost in Space and the Space Race 262
JONATHAN COHN

About the Contributors 279
Index 283


About the Author
R.C. Neighbors holds degrees in psychology, English and film from the University of Arkansas, Northeastern State University and Hollins University. He serves as a reviewer for the journal Callaloo, published at Texas A&M University.

Sandy Rankin is a visiting assistant professor at the University of Central Arkansas. Her publications include poetry, fiction, and essays in such periodicals as Journal of Popular Culture.

The Buffyverse Catalog: A Complete Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel in Print, Film, Television, Comics, Games and Other Media, 1992-2010

Don Macnaughtan

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-4603-2
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8787-5
appendices, bibliography, index
326pp. softcover (7 x 10) 2011
Price: $45.00


About the Book
This bibliographic guide covers the "Buffyverse"--the fictional worlds of the acclaimed television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and its spinoff Angel (1999-2004), as well as the original Buffy feature film of 1992. It is the largest and most inclusive work of its kind. The author organizes and describes both the original texts of the Buffyverse (episodes, DVDs, novels, comic books, games, and more) and the secondary materials created about the shows, including books, essays, articles, documentaries, dissertations, fan production and websites. This vast and diverse collection of information about these two seminal shows and their feature-film forebear provides an accessible, authoritative and comprehensive survey of the subject.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vi
Preface 1
Introduction 3
User’s Guide 5

I. LICENSED (PRIMARY) MATERIALS

Section 1. Buffy the Movie 10
A. Film 11
B. DVDs 11
C. Movie Script 11
D. Reviews 11

Section 2. Television Episodes 13
A. Buffy Seasons 1–7 14
B. Angel Seasons 1–5 23
C. Trailers 31
D. Undeveloped Productions 31
E. Reviews 31

Section 3. Television DVD Sets 37
A. North American DVD Sets 39
B. European, Australian and Asian DVD Sets 41
C. Reviews 43

Section 4. Television Scripts 44
A. Published Scripts 45
B. Shooting Script Reprints 45
C. Unpublished Scripts 47

Section 5. Novels 48
A. Buffy and Angel Novels 49
B. Foreign Language Editions 51
C. Reviews 56

Section 6. Short Stories 57
A. Short Story Collections 58
B. Individual Short Stories 58
C. Foreign Language Editions 59

Section 7. Comic Books 59
A. Dark Horse Comics 62
B. IDW Comics 73
C. Other Licensed Comics 79
D. Comic Book Art 79
E. Foreign Language Editions 81
F. Reviews 83

Section 8. Audio 85
A. Audiobooks 85
B. Soundtrack CDs 85
C. Reviews 87

Section 9. Games 88
A. Board Games 89
B. Card Games 89
C. DVD Game 89
D. Role-Playing Games 89
E. Video Games 90
F. Unpublished Projects 91
G. Reviews 91

Section 10. Fan Magazines 92
A. MVP Official Magazines 93
B. Titan Official Magazines 94
C. Other Genre Fan Magazines 103
D. Celebrity Magazines 109
E. Partworks 110
F. Foreign Language Magazines 111

Section 11. Other Licensed Materials 111
A. Books 112
B. Promotional Posters 113
C. Trading Cards 114
D. Miscellaneous Materials 116

II. UNLICENSED (SECONDARY) MATERIALS

Section 12. Books 120
A. General Books 120
B. Essay Collections 121
C. Reference, Companion, and Guide Books 122
D. Biographies of Actors 125
E. Miscellaneous and Special Interest Books 125
F. Foreign Language Books 126
G. Reviews and Review Essays 127

Section 13. Essays and Book Chapters 131
A. Reference Book Articles 132
B. Essays and Book Chapters 133
C. Foreign Language Essays 190

Section 14. Journal Articles 191
A. English Language Articles 192
B. Foreign Language Articles 222

Section 15. Magazine Articles 222

Section 16. News Articles 235

Section 17. Broadcasts and Documentaries 250
A. Broadcast Segments 250
B. Documentaries 251
C. Reviews 252

Section 18. Interviews 252
A. Joss Whedon 253
B. Television Writers and Producers 257
C. Actors 258
D. Television Talk and Comedy Shows 260
E. Other Creators 261
F. Collected Interviews and Panel Discussions 261

Section 19. Dissertations and Theses 262
A. English Language Dissertations 263
B. Foreign Language Dissertations and Theses 266

Section 20. Conference Papers and Reports 267
A. Academic Conferences and Symposia 267
B. Conference and Research Papers 268

Section 21. Derivative Works and Parodies 272
A. Art and Graphic Design 274
B. Comic Books and Strips 274
C. Fan Fiction 275
D. Fan Vids 277
E. Live Theatre, Poetry, and Events 279
F. Movies 279
G. Music 279
H. Podcasts and Online Audio 280
I. Scientific and Technical References 280
J. Television 281

Section 22. Websites 282

Section 23. Bibliographies 284

Appendix A: Wikipedia 285
Appendix B: Cast and Creator 292
Appendix C: Episode Title Index 294
Index 297


About the Author
Don Macnaughtan was raised and educated in Auckland, New Zealand. His many written works include the first published discography of New Zealand popular music. He is a reference librarian and teacher at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon.



The Martians Have Landed! A History of Media-Driven Panics and Hoaxes

Robert E. Bartholomew and Benjamin Radford

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-648-2
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8671-7
13 photos, notes, bibliography, index
254pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2012
Price: $40.00

About the Book
History is replete with examples of media-created scares and panics. This book presents more than three dozen studies of media scares from the 17th century to the 21st century, including hoaxes perpetrated via newspapers, radio, television and cyberspace. From the 1835 batmen on the Moon hoax to more recent bird flu scares and Hurricane Katrina myths, this book explores hoaxes that highlight the impact of the media on our lives and its tendency to sensationalize. Most of the hoaxes covered occurred in the United States, though incidents from Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and Australia are featured as well. Several are global in scope, revealing the power global media wields.


Table of Contents

Preface 1

Section One : It Came from the Airwaves—Radio
1. The London Riot Hoax 13
2. Radio Daze—The Martian Invasion Broadcast 16
3. The Martians Return 23
4. Infamous Disc Jockey Hoaxes 27
5. Playing with Fire: Nuclear Scares 30

Section Two : It Came from the Small Screen—Television
6. “This Just In...” NBC Frightens Viewers 37
7. “Look! Up in the Sky!” Asteroid Panic 40
8. Pokémon Panics and Creepy Crawley Scares 44
9. The “Documentary” That Fooled England 49
10. Hurricane Katrina Mythmaking 53
11. Chicken Little and the Bird Flu Panic 59
12. The Russians Are Coming! 64
13. The Video Nasties Scare (Peter Hassall) 67

Section Three : It Came from Ink—Newspapers
14. The Batmen on the Moon Hoax 79
15. The Central Park Zoo Panic 84
16. The Halley’s Comet Scare of 1910 87
17. How the Press Created an Imaginary Terrorist 92
18. The Hook Hoax 98
19. The Ghost Slasher of Taiwan 101
20. The Phantom Clown Panic 105

Section Four : It Came from Cyberspace—The Internet
21. Chemtrails and Conspiracies 113
22. Morgellons: The First Internet Disease? 117
23. Katrina Evacuee Myths 120
24. The E-mail Virus Panic (Bill Ellis) 123

Section Five : It Came from a Friend of a Friend—Media-Spread Urban Legends
25. Urban Legends and the Media 131
26. The Curse of the Crying Boy (David Clarke) 134
27. Photos of the Gods (David Clarke) 146

Section Six : It Came from Everywhere
28. The Satanic Cult Scare 157
29. Halloween Panics 162
30. Stranger Danger and the Predator Next Door 170
31. The School Safety Panic 176
32. “Out of the Water!” Media Shark Frenzy 179
33. The Great Puerto Rican Chupacabra Panic 182
34. YouTube, Popcorn and the Killer Cell Phones 187
35. Someone Stole My Kidney! Organ Theft Scares 192
36. Killer Vaccines (Felicity Goodyear-Smith and Helen Petousis-Harris) 197

Notes 213
Bibliography 229
Index 241


About the Author
Robert E. Bartholomew has taught sociology in Australia at The Flinders University of South Australia and James Cook University in Queensland. Also a former broadcast journalist and contributor to news organizations such as the Associated Press and United Press International, he is the author of several books and lives in Whitehall, New York.

Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of the science magazine The Skeptical Inquirer. The author of several books, he has also written numerous articles on a variety of topics including urban legends, the paranormal, critical thinking, films, and media literacy. He has appeared on CNN, the History Channel, and the National Geographic Channel.



Murray Leinster: The Life and Works

Billee J. Stallings and Jo-an J. Evans

Foreword by James Gunn

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-6504-0
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8715-8
42 photos, appendices, bibliography, index
227pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2011
Price: $40.00

About the Book
Will F. Jenkins, known to science fiction fans by his penname Murray Leinster, was among the most prolific American writers of the 20th century. "The Dean of Science Fiction," as he was sometimes known, published more than 1,500 short stories and 100 books in a career spanning more than fifty years. This biography, written by his two youngest daughters, chronicles Murray Leinster’s private and literary life from his first writings for The Smart Setand early pulp magazines such as Argosy, Amazing Stories and Astounding Stories, through the golden age of science fiction in the 1930s through the 1950s, to his death in 1975. Included as appendices are his famous 1946 story "A Logic Named Joe" and 1954 essay "To Build a Robot Brain."


Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v
Foreword: The Dean Revisited by James Gunn 1
Preface 3

1. The Beginning: 1909 5
2. A Southern Family 13
3. The Early Days: 1910–1919 22
4. Entering Science Fiction: 1919–1921 33
5. Marriage: The 1920s 38
6. The 1930s 61
7. The New York Years: The 1940s 86
8. The 1950s 117
9. The 1960s 132
10. After Mary’s Death 152
11. On Writing 164

Appendix A. “A Logic Named Joe” 175
Appendix B. “To Build a Robot Brain” 187
Bibliography 195
Index 215


About the Author
Billee J. Stallings lives in Moorestown, New Jersey, where she is active in historical preservation.

Jo-an J. Evans has written previously about fashion and design. She lives in London.

Ridley Scott: A Critical Filmography

William B. Parrill

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-5866-0
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8593-2
23 photos, filmography, bibliography, index
189pp. softcover (7 x 10) 2011
Price: $45.00

About the Book
Ridley Scott, the director of such seminal films as Blade Runner, Alien and Thelma & Louise, is one of the most important directors of the last fifty years. Unlike many directors, Scott has been remarkably transparent about his craft, offering the audience glimpses into his creative process. This book explores Scott’s oeuvre in depth, devoting a chapter to his 22 primary works, from his first effort, Boy and Bicycle (1962), through Robin Hood (2010). Topics discussed include the critical reception of the films, and the ways in which Scott’s works function as cinematic mediators of issues such as religion, women’s rights and history.


Table of Contents

Preface 1
Introduction 3

1. Boy and Bicycle (1962): Playing Hooky 25
2. Adam Adamant Lives! (1966): The League of Uncharitable Ladies 28
3. The Duellists (1977): En Garde! 30
4. Alien (1979): Ripley on Call 36
5. Blade Runner (1982): At the Thanhauser Gate 43
6. Legend (1985): I Only Wanted to Touch One. Where’s the Harm in That? 58
7. Someone to Watch Over Me (1987): Is It Love, Mike? 63
8. Black Rain (1989): One Big Gray Area 68
9. Thelma & Louise (1991): On the Road: One Insult Too Far 74
10. 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992): I Think We Have Returned to Eden 85
11. White Squall (1996): A Meterological Phenomenon of the Imagination 91
12. G. I. Jane (1997): Wild Thing 94
13. Gladiator (2000): There Was Once a Dream That Was Rome 100
14. Black Hawk Down (2001): Bird Down in the City 108
15. Hannibal (2001): Hannibal the Cannibal 116
16. Matchstick Men (2003): Mean Street Men in Bright Colors 125
17. All the Invisible Children (2005): “Jonathan”: The Rediscovery of Life Through Childhood 129
18. Kingdom of Heaven (2005): Jerusalem: The Center of the World for Forgiveness 131
19. A Good Year (2006): Postcards from Provence 138
20. American Gangster (2007): Cops Kill Cops They Can’t Trust 142
21. Body of Lies (2008): Closing Time 150
22. Robin Hood (2010): The Outlaw Returns to History 154

Filmography 161
Bibliography 165
Index 173


About the Author
William B. Parrill is an emeritus professor of English and communication at Southeastern Louisiana University. He is a founding editor of the journal Louisiana Literature and has written extensively on films and contemporary literature.

Classic Home Video Games, 1989-1990: A Complete Guide to Sega Genesis, Neo Geo and TurboGrafx-16 Games

Brett Weiss 

Foreword by Leonard Herman

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-4172-3
121 photos, glossary, appendices, bibliography, index
344pp. hardcover (7 x 10) 2011
Price: $55.00

About the Book
The third in a series about home video games, this detailed reference work features descriptions and reviews of every official U.S.-released game for the Neo Geo, Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-16, which, in 1989, ushered in the 16-bit era of gaming. Organized alphabetically by console brand, each chapter includes a description of the game system followed by substantive entries for every game released for that console. Video game entries include historical information, gameplay details, the author’s critique, and, when appropriate, comparisons to similar games. Appendices list and offer brief descriptions of all the games for the Atari Lynx and Nintendo Game Boy, and catalogue and describe the add-ons to the consoles covered herein--Neo Geo CD, Sega CD, Sega 32X and TurboGrafx-CD.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii
Foreword by Leonard Herman 1
Preface 3

Neo Geo 7
Samurai 26
Sega Genesis 36
BubsyII 62
Mortal Kombat 145
TurboGrafx-16 251
Pac-Land 273

Appendix I. Neo Geo CD 285
Appendix II. Sega CD 288
Appendix III. Sega 32X 293
Appendix IV. TurboGrafx-CD 295
Appendix V. Atari Lynx 297
Appendix VI. Nintendo Game Boy 299
Glossary 311
Bibliography 323
Index 325


About the Author
Former comic shop owner Brett Weiss lives in Fort Worth, Texas area. In addition to his reference books about classic home video games, he has written for numerous industry magazines.



Of Muscles and Men: Essays on the Sword and Sandal Film

Edited by Michael G. Cornelius

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-6162-2
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8902-2
notes, bibliographies, index
218pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2011
Price: $40.00


About the Book
Few movie genres have highlighted the male body more effectively than the "sword-and-sandal" film, where the rippling torso and the bulging muscle are displayed for all to appreciate. Carrying his phallic sword and dressed in traditional garb calculated to bring attention to his magnificent physique, the sword-and-sandal hero is capable of toppling great nations, rescuing heroines, defeating monsters, and generally saving the day. Each of these essays examines the issues of masculinity and utility addressed in the sword-and-sandal genre. The contributors offer insights on a film form which showcases its male protagonists as heroic, violent, fleshy, and, in the end, extremely useful.


Table of Contents

Introduction—Of Muscles and Men: The Forms and Functions of the Sword and Sandal Film
MICHAEL G. CORNELIUS 1

Hercules, Politics, and Movies
MARIA ELENA D’AMELIO 15
Hero Trouble: Blood, Politics, and Kinship in Pasolini’s Medea
KRISTI M. WILSON 28
“To do or die manfully”: Performing Heteronormativity in Recent Epic Films
JERRY B. PIERCE 40
From Maciste to Maximus and Company: The Fragmented Hero in the New Epic
ANDREW B. R. ELLIOTT 58
Reverent and Irreverent Violence: In Defense of Spartacus, Conan, and Leonidas
JOHN ELIA 75
“Civilization ... ancient and wicked”: Historicizing the Ideological Field of 1980s Sword and Sandal Films
KEVIN M. FLANAGAN 87
Homer’s Lies, Brad Pitt’s Thighs: Revisiting the Pre-Oedipal Mother and the German Wartime Father in Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy
ROBERT C. PIRRO 104
An Enduring Logic: Homer, Helen of Troy, and Narrative Mobility
LARRY T. SHILLOCK 124
“By Jupiter’s Cock!” Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Video Games, and Camp Excess
DAVID SIMMONS 144
Beefy Guys and Brawny Dolls: He-Man, the Masters of the Universe, and Gay Clone Culture
MICHAEL G. CORNELIUS 154
Developments in Peplum Filmmaking: Disney’s Hercules
CHRIS PALLANT 175
Hercules Diminished? Parody, Differentiation, and Emulation in The Three Stooges Meet Hercules
DANIEL O’BRIEN 187

About the Contributors 203
Index 207


About the Author
Award-winning novelist Michael G. Cornelius is the author or editor of numerous books. He serves as chair of the department of English and Mass Communications at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

The Boy Detectives: Essays on the Hardy Boys and Others

Edited by Michael G. Cornelius 

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-6033-5
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-6198-1
notes, bibliographies, index
220pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2010
Price: $35.00


About the Book
Much has been written about the girl sleuth in fiction, a feminist figure embodying all the potential wit and drive of girlhood. Her male counterpart, however, has received much less critical attention despite his popularity in the wider culture. This collection of 11 essays examines the boy detective and his genre from a number of critical perspectives, addressing the issues of these young characters, heirs to the patriarchy yet still concerned with first crushes and soda shop romances. Series explored include the Hardy Boys, Tow Swift, the Three Investigators, Christopher Cool and Tim Murphy, as well as works by Astrid Lindgren, Mark Haddon and Joe Meno.


Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Nomenclature of Boy Sleuths
MICHAEL G. CORNELIUS 1

1. A Hardy Boys’ Identity Narrative and The Tower Treasure
LARRY T. SHILLOCK 19
2. Hardy Camaraderie: Boy Sleuthing and Male Community in the Hardy Boys Mysteries
C. M. GILL 35
3. Terminal Immaterial: The Uncertain Subject of the Hardy Boys Airport Mysteries
CHRISTOPHER SCHABERG 51
4. Strategies of Adaptation: The Hardy Boys on Television
BRIAN TAVES 62
5. Natural Detective Work: Ideas About Nature in the Early Tom Swift Books
ELIZABETH D. BLUM 86
6. Tim Murphy: Superhero Without a Cape
FRED ERISMAN 108
7. Adventures and Affect: The Character of the Boy Detective and Orphan in Astrid Lindgren’s Rasmus and the Tramp
CHARLOTTE BEYER 120
8. The Power of Three: Alfred Hitchcock’s Three Investigators Series
ALAN PICKRELL 132
9. Clashing Genres: (No) Sex and (No) Violence in the Christopher Cool, TEEN Agent Series
MICHAEL G. CORNELIUS 143
10. “The Perfect Hero for His Age”: Christopher Boone and the Role of Logic in the Boy Detective Narrative
NICOLA ALLEN 167
11. Has the World Outgrown the Classic Boy Detective?
JOHN FINLAY KERR 180

About the Contributors 199
Index 203


About the Author
Award-winning novelist Michael G. Cornelius is the author or editor of numerous books. He serves as chair of the department of English and Mass Communications at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

The Wind Is Never Gone: Sequels, Parodies and Rewritings of Gone with the Wind

M. Carmen Gomez-Galisteo

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-5927-8
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8636-6
notes, bibliography, index
216pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2011
Price: $35.00

About the Book
More than seventy years after its publication in 1936, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Windhas never been out of print. An icon of American culture, it has had similar success abroad, popular in Japan, Russia, and post-World War II Europe, among other places and times. This work analyzes the continuations of Mitchell’s novel: the authorized sequels, Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley and Rhett Butler’s People by Donald McCaig; the unauthorized parody The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall and a politically correct parody; and the many fan fiction stories posted online. The book also explores Gone with the Wind’s ambiguous ending, the perceived need to publish an authorized sequel, and the legal battle to determine who may re-write Gone with the Wind.


Table of Contents

Preface 1
Introduction: I Have Been Unfaithful to Thee, Scarlett! 3

1. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 15
2. To Be Continued: Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley and the Failed Sequels Commissioned to Emma Tennant and Pat Conroy 36
3. Copyright Not Gone with the Wind 55
4. The Gone with the Wind Parodies: The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall and “Frankly, Scarlett, I Do Give a Damn” by Beverly West and Nancy Peske 79
5. Rhett Butler’s Side of the Story: Rhett Butler’s People by Donald McCaig 107
6. Gone with the Wind Fan Fiction 124
7. The Gone with the Wind Canon 155

Conclusion: Is It Gone with the Wind? 173
Bibliography 183
Index 203

About the Author
M. Carmen Gomez-Galisteo’s work has appeared in Ad Americam, Contemporary Legend, Americana, Clepsydra, RAEI, The Grove, and NeoAmericanist, among other publications. She currently teaches at ESNE - Universidad Camilo Jose Cela (Madrid).

Learning from Mickey, Donald and Walt: Essays on Disney’s Edutainment Films

Edited by A. Bowdoin Van Riper

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-5957-5
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8475-1
chart, notes, bibliography, index
274pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2011
Price: $40.00

About the Book
Throughout its long and colorful history, Walt Disney Studios has produced scores of films designed to educate moviegoers as well as entertain them. These productions range from the True-Life Adventures nature documentaries and such depictions of cutting-edge technology as Man in Space and Our Friend the Atom, to wartime propaganda shorts (Education for Death), public-health films (VD Attack Plan) and coverage of exotic cultures (The Ama Girls, Blue Men of Morocco). Even Disney’s dramatic recreations of historical events (Ten Who Dared, Invincible) have had their share of educational value. Each of the essays in this volume focuses on a different type of Disney "edutainment" film. Together they provide the first comprehensive look at Walt Disney’s ongoing mission to inform and enlighten his worldwide audience.


Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction
A. BOWDOIN VAN RIPER 1

Section I: War and Propaganda
1. The Canadian Shorts: Establishing Disney’s Wartime Style
BELLA HONESS ROE 15
2. “Desiring the Disney Technique”: Chronicle of a Contracted Military Training Film
DOUGLAS A. CUNNINGHAM 27
3. Cartoons Will Win the War: World War II Propaganda Shorts
RICHARD J. LESKOSKY 40
4. Cartoon Combat: World War II, Alexander de Seversky, and Victory Through Air Power
JOHN D. THOMAS 63

Section II: Science, Technology, Mathematics and Medicine
5. The Promise of Things to Come: Disneyland and the Wonders of Technology, 1954–58
A. BOWDOIN VAN RIPER 84
6. A Nation on Wheels: Films About Cars and Driving, 1948–1970
A. BOWDOIN VAN RIPER 103
7. “A Journey Through the Wonderland of Mathematics”: Donald in Mathmagic Land
MARTIN F. NORDEN 113
8. Paging Doctor Disney: Health Education Films, 1922–1973
BOB CRUZ, JR. 127

Section III: Nature
9. “Nature is the Dramatist”: Documentary, Entertainment, and the World According to the True-Life Adventures
EDDY VON MUELLER 145
10. Sex, Love, and Death: True-Life Fantasies
RONALD TOBIAS 164
11. It Is a Small World, After All: Earth and the Disneyfication of Planet Earth
EDDY VON MUELLER 173

Section IV: Times, Places and People
12. A Past to Make Us Proud: U. S. History According to Disney
MARIANNE HOLDZKOM 183
13. Reviving the American Dream: The World of Sports
KATHARINA BONZEL 201
14. Beyond the Ratoncito: Disney’s Idea of Latin America
BERNICE NUHFER-HALTEN 209
15. Locating the Magic Kingdom: Spectacle and Similarity in People and Places
CYNTHIA J. MILLER 221
16. America’s Salesman: The USA in Circarama
SARAH NILSEN 237

About the Contributors 255
Index 259



About the Author
A. Bowdoin Van Riper has written several books and articles on popular culture and on the history of geology, archaeology, and technology. He teaches in the Social and International Studies Department at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Georgia.

The World of Angela Carter: A Critical Investigation

Dani Cavallaro

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-6128-8
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8723-3
bibliography, index
208pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2011
Price: $40.00


About the Book
Angela Carter, a prolific author who worked in numerous genres, remains one of the most important British writers of the last century. She was particularly renowned for her investigation of cultural mythologies, which shape our lives but which we often leave unexamined. This text explores a selection of Carter’s novels and short stories, supplemented with her perspectives on politics, society and aesthetics, and her attempts to redefine popular genres such as the fairy tale. This critical work is a strong addition to the scholarship on this important but often overlooked writer.


Table of Contents

Preface 1

1. Angela Carter’s Vision 5
2. Dark Play: The Magic Toyshop 18
3. Surrealist Visions: The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman 47
4. Modern Mythologies: The Passion of New Eve 77
5. Tradition Reimagined: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories 99
6. Beyond Gravity: Nights at the Circus 137
7. Mirror Identities: Wise Children 164

Bibliography 189
Index 197


About the Author
Dani Cavallaro has written widely about literature, cultural theory, and anime. She lives in London.