Mythlore for Fall/Winter 2022

The Fall/Winter 2022 issue of Mythlore is now available. I've provided the full content below. Ordering information can be found on the Mythopoeic Society's website at this link.

Mythlore 141 Volume 41, Issue 1
Fall/Winter 2022

Table of Contents

Editorial
— Janet Brennan Croft

Notes of an Inklings Scholar: Musings on Myth and History, Promises and Secrecy, Ethical Reviewing, and the Limits of Authorial Intent
— David Bratman

David Lindsay’s The Violet Apple
— Eric Wills

History in the Margins: Epigraphs and Negative Space in Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice
— Matthew Oliver

Echoing Ecopoetics: Fantasy Literature’s Background Sounds
— Catherine Olver

“Read this Book, and You Will Find All the Grand and Marvelous Things to be Found”: A Song of Ice and Fire and Medieval Travelogues
— Elisabeth Brander

Haunted Manikins and the Hero(es) Within: The Modern Romantic Hero as the Divinely Inspired Person Inside the Personality
— Mikaela von Kursell

“Delight in Horror”: Charles Williams and Russell Kirk on Hell and the Supernatural
— Camilo Peralta

Tellers of Dark Fairy Tales: Common Themes in the Works of Terence Fisher and C.S. Lewis
— G. Connor Salter

“What Happened to Battles are Ugly Affairs?”: Fighting Girls in the Films The Chronicles of Narnia, Chapters 1, 2, and 3
— Anne-Frédérique Mochel-Caballero

“The Evil Side of Heroic Life”: Monsters and Heroes in Beowulf and The Hobbit
— Catherine Hall

Goddess and Mortal: The Celtic and the French Morgan Le Fay in Tolkien’s Silmarillion
— Clare Moore

“Well, I’m Back”: Samwise Gamgee and the Future of Tolkien’s Literary Pastoral
— MG Prezioso

Notes

The Nurse of Elfland: Lizzie Endicott and C.S. Lewis — Reggie Weems
What Sam Said — David Bratman

Reviews

Tolkien, Race, and Racism in Middle-earth by Robert Stuart — Robert T. Tally, Jr.
Queering Faith in Fantasy Literature: Fantastic Incarnations and the Deconstruction of Theology by Taylor Driggers — C. Palmer-Patel
Friendship in The Lord of the Rings by Cristina Casagrande — Mark A. Brians II
Charles Williams and C.S. Lewis: Friends in Co-Inherence by Paul S. Fiddes — Tiffany Brooke Martin
The Writer’s Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands by Huw Lewis-Jones — Susan M. Moore
Dante’s Dream: A Jungian Psychoanalytical Approach by Gwenyth E. Hood — Liam Butchart
The Modern Myths: Adventures in the Machinery of the Popular Imagination by Phillip Ball — Janet Brennan Croft
Tolkien as a Literary Artist: Exploring Rhetoric, Language and Style in The Lord Of The Rings by Thomas Kullmann and Dirk Siepmann — Sharon L. Bolding
Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes: Hervor and Heidrek and Hrolf Kraki and His Companions translated and edited by Jackson Crawford, and Norse Mythology by Jackson Crawford — Phillip Fitzsimmons

Briefly Noted:

Is Superman Circumcised? The Complete Jewish History of the World’s Greatest Hero by Roy Schwartz — G. Connor Salter
Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws: And Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities by Adrienne Mayor — Janet Brennan Croft

Coming Soon from Disney: Strange Worlds

 Trailer for an upcoming Disney film. It looks like a version of Journey to the Center of the Earth.

CFP In Pursuit of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (9/9/2022; NEASA Fall Colloquium 11/12/2022 Worcester, MA)

In Pursuit of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Saturday, Nov. 12 | Clark University

Proposals Due by Sept. 9th | @neasacouncil@gmail.com

For the New England American Studies Association’s 2022 Fall Colloquium, we invite submissions for 1-hour long panels, workshops, roundtables, and facilitated conversations or 15-min interactive presentations that will explore how the pursuit of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has shaped or could shape American higher education, history, culture, society, politics, and/or the field of American Studies. Submissions may explore histories, theories, and case studies surrounding DEI, but should focus on being strategy-generating rather than simply content-driven. In particular, we are interested in programming that will foster dialogue on possible DEI best practices in a variety of settings, and that will offer key takeaways for practical application.

We invite submissions that explore questions including but not limited to:

• How do we create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture in academia and beyond?
• What strategies and methods do we employ to foster DEI in our work and teaching?
• Beyond theory, what does DEI in practice look like in various settings such as classrooms, universities, libraries, museums, community organizations, or other educational spaces?
• What are some obstacles in the pursuit of DEI and how can we overcome them?
• How can we bring an actual systemic change through DEI initiatives? Or what is the role of DEI initiatives in addressing systemic barriers?
• What are some challenges and limitations of the DEI framework and how can we overcome them?
• What is at stake when DEI efforts fail?

If you’re interested in organizing a panel or giving an individual presentation addressing these themes please send an email to neasacouncil@gmail.com by September 9th. This can be an informal email, including your name, affiliation if any, and a broad theme of your panel or presentation. For panels, please also include the names of other participants.

This event will be held in-person at Clark University in Worcester, MA on November 12, 2022. Registration will be free, but required. Full schedule will be available by October 17th. More details TBD.

Register for the colloquium using the link below.

Colloquium Registration

CFP Space, the Feminist Frontier: Essays on Women and Gender in Star Trek (11/29/2022)

Space, the Feminist Frontier: Essays on Women and Gender in Star Trek

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/07/13/space-the-feminist-frontier-essays-on-women-and-gender-in-star-trek

deadline for submissions:
November 29, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Jennifer Garlen

contact email:
jennifer.garlen@gmail.com



Co-editors Jennifer C. Garlen and Anissa M. Graham are currently seeking proposals for an anthology of intersectional feminist essays examining the past and present of Star Trek. Proposals may engage any of the Trek films, television series, or related media (games, books, convention culture, etc). At this time, we are particularly interested in proposals that represent LGBTQ+ and BIPOC perspectives. Graduate students and independent scholars are welcome to submit proposals. Accepted contributors will receive author credit for their work as well as a free copy of the final publication, pending acceptance of the book proposal by an academic publisher. Proposals should include a working title, a brief (1-2 paragraph) summary, and relevant personal or academic background. For questions or proposal submissions please email Jennifer at jennifer.garlen@gmail.com.

Jennifer and Anissa are the co-editors of two previous essay anthologies for McFarland: Kermit Culture (2009) and The Wider Worlds of Jim Henson (2013). Both have also contributed to several academic essay anthologies about film, television, and popular culture.



Last updated July 14, 2022

CFP Evolution of Jim Henson's Puppetry Symposium (6/24/2022; hybrid 9/9-10/2022)

CFP: SYMPOSIUM “THE EVOLUTION OF JIM HENSON’S PUPPETRY: FROM ANALOGUE CRAFT TO DIGITAL FRANCHISING”. SEPT 09-10, 2022 @ UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL (UK) AND ONLINE. DEADLINE: JUNE 24, 2022.

Source: https://cstonline.net/cfp-symposium-the-evolution-of-jim-hensons-puppetry-from-analogue-craft-to-digital-franchising-sept-09-10-2022-university-of-bristol-uk-and-online-deadline-june-24-20/

Jun 17, 2022




A two-day research symposium

Symposium organizers: Prof. Rayna Denison (University of Bristol) and Dr. Cristina Formenti (University of Udine)



“On the stroke of 5:15, I happened to be walking into the radio and television department of Harrods and there, on a third of the television sets in the place was Kermit, waving his green arms about. Everybody, customers and assistants alike, paused and edged towards him. […] Thank goodness that the show finished at 5:45 or they’d never have got the store shut.” (McGill, Evening Standard 1977)



This two-day symposium addresses the legacy of Jim Henson’s puppetry. It will thus not only look back to the 1970s when the world came to a halt to watch Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy in The Muppet Show, but it will also explore the transformations undergone by Henson’s original creations under Disney in the digital age. As Jennifer Carlin and Annisa Graham (2013) argue, “Henson was the creative force behind a huge catalogue of television programs, films, and other productions.” And more than thirty years after the death of their creator, Henson’s puppets and muppets continue to enchant audiences globally, demonstrating the power of his imagination to connect to us across cultures, platforms, and generations.

With this symposium we seek to understand the artistry, variety, and popularity of Henson’s many creations, examining examples which range from his avant-garde filmmaking to his work in popular television and blockbusters. In doing so, the symposium will investigate both the original and wider landscapes of media that have spun out from Henson’s imaginative worlds, to influence contemporary puppetry and animation. From aesthetics and character development through to performance, voice acting, music, and social media we wish to underscore the many ways that Henson’s creative work has impacted popular culture around the world.

We are particularly interested also in papers exposing how nonfiction aesthetics and modes of representation have been exploited within titles starring Henson’s characters as well as in proposals focusing on how discourses around Henson’s approach to puppetry and his characters have instigated and shaped through filmic and televisual making-of documentaries on the production practices behind popular titles like The Muppets Show or Sesame Street. Finally, the symposium aims to investigate also issues of eco-criticism and eco-sustainability in relationship to Henson’s franchises and puppetry more generally.

We invite proposals for 20-minutes papers on topics including (but not limited to): Character development

• Henson’s characters under Disney ownership
• Henson’s characters in the digital age
• Co-productions and transmedia franchising of Henson properties
• The Muppets, stardom, and social media
• Parody and pastiche in Muppet performance
• Ecocriticism and eco-sustainability in Henson’s franchises
• Making-of documentaries and the shaping of discourses on Henson’s approach to puppetry
• Genres and adaptation
• Gender and sexuality
• Ethics and philosophy
• Reception and translation
• Music and the Muppets
• Voice acting and puppet performance
• Artistic and craft aesthetics in puppet creation
• Fandom and Muppets merchandising
• Animation and Henson characters/properties
• Intertextuality and the influence of Henson’s creations

Please submit your proposals as a word document to Cristina Formenti (cristina.formenti@uniud.it) and Rayna Denison (r.denison@bristol.ac.uk). Include a title, an abstract of up to 250 words, and a short biographical statement (max 100 words) as well as contact information and institutional affiliation where applicable. To facilitate participation from scholars based across the globe, the symposium will be held as a hybrid event, and it will be possible to present either in person or online. Please specify in your submissions the mode of participation of your choice.

Deadline for submissions: June 24th, 2022.

Acceptance/non-acceptance notifications will be sent by July 20th, 2022.

For all symposium-related inquiries, you can email Cristina Formenti (cristina.formenti@uniud.it) and Rayna Denison (r.denison@bristol.ac.uk) using as subject line “Jim Henson‘s puppetry symposium”.

CFP NEMLA 2023 "The Classics Take Centerstage: Theatrical Adaptations of Ancient Histories and Myths" (9/30/2022)

NEMLA 2023 "The Classics Take Centerstage: Theatrical Adaptations of Ancient Histories and Myths"

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/06/15/nemla-2023-the-classics-take-centerstage-theatrical-adaptations-of-ancient-histories

deadline for submissions:
September 30, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Charles Firestone East, Columbia University

contact email:
cfe2107@columbia.edu



In celebration of the off-Broadway début of The Tyrannicides, the first ever full theatrical adaptation of the story as told in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, this roundtable calls for a discussion of theatrical and cinematic (re)tellings of classical histories and myths. As The Tyrannicides makes its audience confront the tragic events that eventually led to the foundation of democracy in the West, a larger history set against a more personal story of romance that dissects homoeroticism and pederasty in ancient Greece, the works in discussion at this roundtable will highlight the enduring relevance of these classical stories to the contemporary circumstances of our present — be it for their social, historical, cultural, or other significance. With a very open definition of what counts as “classical” and “modern,” this roundtable welcomes proposals from scholars who come from a variety of backgrounds and who work with various canons (i.e. both classicists who work primarily with the original tellings of these stories and modernists whose expertise lies more in their (re)tellings). Preference will be given to proposals that highlight specifically some aspect of enduring relevance that make their proposed history’s retelling and commentaries pertinent in debates ongoing in contemporary society. Nonetheless, proposals might also treat the very act of adaption, focusing on the shift in cultural norms from antiquity to the present and the particular challenges of reframing those stories for a contemporary audience.


Last updated June 16, 2022

Out Now - Mythlore 140

Mythlore 140 Volume 40, Issue 2

Spring/Summer 2022

source: https://www.mythsoc.org/mythlore/mythlore-140.htm.

Information on purchasing this issue appears on the Mythopoeic Society website. Click the link above for details. 

    

Table of Contents

Editorial

— Janet Brennan Croft

“One Aims at the Officers First”: Reassessing the Relationship of C.S. Lewis and T.S. Eliot

— Ben Reinhard

Being Psyche: The Jungian Soul in Glome

— Kelly Webber

Who is Merlin? A Closer Look at the Character in Charles Williams’s Taliessin Poetry

— Joseph Thompson

The Wheel of Power in HBO’s Game of Thrones

— Inbar Shaham

Sterner Stuff: Sansa Stark and the System of Gothic Fantasy

— Joseph Rex Young

A Lost Tale, A Found Influence: Earendel and Tinúviel

— Verlyn Flieger

Soup, Bones, and Shakespeare: Literary Authorship and Allusion in Middle-earth

— Owen Dugan and James Krasner

Tolkien and Bakhtin: Symphony of Time in The Lord of the Rings

— Olesky (Alex) Ostaltsev

Seeing Double: Tolkien and the Indo-European Divine Twins

— Kristine Larsen

Círdan the Shipwright: Tolkien’s Bodhisattva Who Brings Us to the Other Shore

— Douglas Charles Kane

Notes and Letters

A Note on Ursula K. Le Guin’s Daoist Interests — Robert Steed

The Tao Masters Who Walk Away from Omelas — Sabina Schrynemakers

A Queer Atheist Feminist Autist Responds to Donald Williams’s “Keystone or Cornerstone? A Rejoinder to Verlyn Flieger on the Alleged ‘Conflicting Sides’ of Tolkien’s Singular Self” — Robin A. Reid

Reviews

Abolishing Man in Other Worlds by Courtney Petrucci, Deeper Heaven: A Reader’s Guide by Christiana Hale, and A Compass for Deep Heaven edited by Diana Pavlac Glyer and Julianne Johnson — Josiah Peterson

No Ordinary People: 21 Friendships of C.S. Lewis by Joel D. Heck — James Stockton

The Undiscovered C.S. Lewis edited by Bruce R. Johnson — Melody Green

Correspondence: 1927-1987 by Joseph Campbell — Phillip Fitzsimmons

Pamela Colman Smith: Tarot Artist by Dawn C. Robinson, and Pamela Colman Smith: Artist, Feminist, and Mystic by Elizabeth Foley O’Connor — Emily E. Auger

Dorothy L. Sayers, A Biography by Colin Duriez, and Dorothy and Jack by Gina Dalfonzo — G. Connor Salter

Ethics and Form in Fantasy Literature by Lykke Guanio-Uluru — Phillip Fitzsimmons

Tolkien and the Sea: Proceedings edited by Richard Cranshaw and Shaun Gunner — Kris Swank

Pagan Saints in Middle-earth by Claudio A. Testi — Toni Thibodeaux

Middle-earth, or There and Back Again by Łukasz Neubauer — Giovanni Costabile

A Sense of Tales Untold by Peter Grybauskas — Robert T. Tally Jr.

Tolkien and the Classical World edited by Hamish Williams — Larry Swain

Musical Scores and the Eternal Present by Chiara Bertoglio — John Wm. Houghton

Leadership in Middle-earth by Michael J. Urick — Alana White

CFP Specificity of Fantasy (Spec Issue of Literature) (8/31/2022)

Special Issue "The Specificity of Fantasy"

source: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/literature/special_issues/fantasy

Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Literature (ISSN 2410-9789).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2022.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Geoff M. Boucher E-Mail Website SciProfiles
Guest Editor


Faculty of Arts and Education, School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia
Interests: Frankfurt school critical theory; psychoanalysis; postmarxism; fantasy literature; anti-authoritarianism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is now a decade since Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn noted, in The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature, that, by contrast with science fiction, “the study of fantasy has only just moved on from attempting to define the form”. Since then, against the background of an emergent scholarly consensus on fantasy as the “literature of the impossible,” new research has explored marvellous settings, gothic monsters, children’s fantasy, invented myth, race in fantasy, high adventure and epic fantasy, and fantastic modernism. At the same time, we have seen an explosion of fantasy subgenres, innovative fantasy works celebrated internationally, cultural controversies and the politicization of awards, and a scholarly boom around writers such as JK Rowling, George RR Martin, and Phillip Pullman. In light of all of this, and of the constantly increasing popularity of fantasy literature, together with the global impact of the work of figures such as NK Jemisin, Brandon Sanderson, and Nnedi Okorafor, it is high time to sum up where it is that we think the study of fantasy has moved on to, and where it should go to next.

The aim of this Special Issue of Literature is to map this “where to?” by surveying the new diversity, mapping theoretical developments, and inviting provocative proposals for new research. We are especially interested in thinking about what is specific to fantasy, that is, how the literature of the impossible facilitates particular kinds of literary intervention or catalyzes particular sorts of imaginative response. The literature of the impossible, it must be supposed, meets some human need, makes some cultural contribution, performs some social role, or has some political implication that is specific to the form or particular to its characteristic themes and motifs. But what is it? And what do individual writers or particular works illuminate about how fantasy matters to the wider culture?

This Special Issue of Literature invites contributions around these questions, which may address the contemporary space of reflection on fantasy through theoretical arguments, general surveys, close readings of particular works, or innovative approaches to popular fiction. Responses might, but do not have to, zero in on themes such as:

• How does fantasy fit within the wider field of speculative fiction, and does it do anything that other kinds of speculation cannot do?
• What might be the formal features or substantive themes that determine the political orientation, social implications, or cultural role of a fantasy work?
• What is known about magical systems or monstrous ontologies in fantasy literature, and how might this affect the implications of fantasy?
• Are there particular genres of fantasy, or rhetorical modes, that are more likely than others to intervene culturally?
• How do innovative kinds of crossover fantasy disturb established literary boundaries and make new sorts of intervention possible?
• Is it possible to connect the politics of the reception of fantasy, especially in controversial contexts, to any formal or substantive features of fantasy?
• Do fantasy works express cultural conjectures, “what if” scenarios, and how do these relate to social reality or the natural world?
• Is there any such thing as emancipatory fantasy, or authoritarian fantasy?

Please send proposals to Dr. Geoff M. Boucher at boucher@deakin.edu.au by 31 May 2022; completed essays are due 31 August 2022.

Dr. Geoff M. Boucher
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Literature is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

fantasy literature
speculative fiction
popular fiction
fantasy genres
literature of the impossible
the imaginary
literary conjectures
utopian fiction

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.

CFP Adapting Bridgerton Collection (4/30/2022)

Of potential interest: 

Adapting Bridgerton

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2021/02/24/adapting-bridgerton

deadline for submissions:
April 30, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Valerie Frankel

contact email:
valerie@calithwain.com



Adapting Bridgerton

If Jane Austen and the history books present one version of the regency, Bridgerton shows a far different one. While the series had many surprises for viewers, it’s less clear what’s responsible. Does this come from being a 2020 show? From Netflix style? From the romance novels source material? Let’s consider and also weigh what worked and what didn’t. I’m seeking essays on:

Length will depend on how many submissions arrive. They will be in MLA format, secondary sources welcome, scholarly be approachable and fun for fans. Abstracts Due April 30, with a rolling acceptance, essays due June 30.

Please send to valerie@calithwain.com with a subject of Bridgerton.

Suggested topics include but are not limited to the following:

• The music, lighting, and other staging effects.
• Context: comparisons with Downton Abbey, Outlander, The White Queen, Austen adaptations, etc.
• Netflix franchises
• The show’s origin in a romance novel
• Costume and manners anachronisms
• The sex scenes
• Race
• Consent in the MeToo era
• Fan response/fans changing the content
• Memes, reviews, fanfic and other online responses to the show

Last updated March 16, 2022

CFP See and Be Seen: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Storytelling and Identity in Popular Culture (6/1/2022; New Zealand 9/13-14/2022)

See and Be Seen: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Storytelling and Identity in Popular Culture

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/02/03/see-and-be-seen-an-interdisciplinary-conference-on-storytelling-and-identity-in

deadline for submissions:
June 1, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Popular Culture Research Centre, Auckland University of Technology

contact email:
pop.centre@aut.ac.nz



Popular Culture Research Centre,

Auckland University of Technology

13-14 September 2022

Keynote Speakers:

Professor Katie Ellis (Curtin University, Australia)

Professor Lorna Piatti-Farnell (Auckland University of Technology)

The Popular Culture Research Centre (Auckland University of Technology) welcomes papers for its upcoming interdisciplinary conference on the theme of ‘storytelling and identity’ in popular culture. The conference will be a hybrid event (allowing for both in-person and online presentations), and will be held on 13-14 September 2022 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Practices of storytelling are at the centre of the ways in which popular culture disseminates information. In our Twenty-first century context, we tell stories through the foods we eat, the images we share, the people we follow on social media, the shows we watch, and the music we listen to. From film to television, from Twitter accounts to the latest fandom trend, popular culture provides us with channels through which our narratives of the everyday can transform from immaterial notions to very material and tangible objects of consumption. At the centre of our ways of storytelling lies the formation of our identities. Popular culture is privileged in its ability to both reflect and influence the way we live, how we see ourselves, and how we want to be seen by others. As an event, ‘See and Be Seen’ responds to the important and multifaceted part played by storytelling in popular culture.

The conference invites abstracts for presentations related to the theme of ‘storytelling and identity’ in popular culture. Topics can include, but are not limited to:

• Fictional narratives (from film to literature, television, comics, and beyond)
• Popular genres and media
• Consumerism and (im)materiality
• Social and online media
• Sharing cultures and cult followings
• Fandom and celebrity
• Popular icons
• Trends and fads
• Depicting ‘reality’ in popular media and culture
• Biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs
• Practices of remaking and re-adaptation
• Fashion, design, and culture
• Aesthetics and desire
• Food cultures, histories, and representations
• All matters of taste
• Cuisine and identity
• Gender identities and politics
• Sex and sexualities
• Family matters (including functions and disjunctions)
• Spirituality and religion
• Matters of life and death
• Gothic and horror (in all their guises, as related to storytelling and identity)
• Memory, remembering, and mis/remembering
• Popular performances
• Environmental matters
• Stories of love and romance
• Popular culture and the news
• Authenticity and accuracy
• Race, ethnicity, and Indigenous discourses
• Heritage and historiography
• National politics and identities
• Global vs local narratives and identities

Abstracts (of around 250 words) should include your name, affiliation, e-mail address, the title of your proposed paper, and a short bio (100 words max). Please email abstracts to the attention of the conference organisers at: pop.centre@aut.ac.nz

The deadline for submissions is 1 June 2022.




Last updated March 16, 2022

CFP of Interest: Critical Essay Collection on THE GOLDEN GIRLS (5/31/2022)

Not fantastic-related but of value to share given the impact of the show:

Critical Essay Collection on THE GOLDEN GIRLS

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/02/01/critical-essay-collection-on-the-golden-girls

deadline for submissions:
May 31, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Jill E. Anderson, Assist Prof of English

contact email:
goldengirls2022collection@gmail.com



This call is for critical essays for a proposed edited volume centering on the iconic television show The Golden Girls for Routledge’s Advances in Pop Culture series.

The Golden Girls’s seven seasons spanned 1985 to 1992 and produced one spin-off (The Golden Palace). With a cast of established actors and recognizable guest stars, the series won critical acclaim, several awards, and was the anchor of NBC’s Saturday night line-up for years. The series tackled some serious and timely matters—the HIV/AIDS crisis, immigration, teen pregnancy, sexual assault, same-sex marriage, elder care, environmental concerns, miscegenation, nuclear war, and financial and medical worries for the aging—along with regular arcs involving ageism and sexism. Throughout, Blanche, Rose, Dorothy, and Sophia modeled strong, supportive female friendships, typifying the bonds possible amongst four self-possessed women finding their own way in their golden years.

In the decades since the series finale, The Golden Girls has enjoyed a nostalgic status for some viewers while becoming a “comfort watch” for an entirely new generation. Fandom has produced many tributes: one now-defunct themed restaurant in NYC; podcasts; Instagram and other social media accounts and memes; multiple books including coloring books and children’s stories; board games, tarot cards, and playing cards; merchandise like t-shirts, tote bags, Funkos, Chia Pets, and saints’ candles; and drag queens and puppet shows. The show’s continued appeal and now iconic status make it an area ripe for cultural analysis.

We invite scholars to send proposals for critical essays to be included in this collection. While not limited to the following, we are particularly interested in submissions that address:

• · Sexuality and the sex lives of the women in the series
• · Regionalities of the women and discussions of their familial heritage
• · The arc of the “four woman” show and any parallels (i.e. Designing Women, Sex and the City, Girlfriends, Desperate Housewives, Girls, Living Single etc.), both contemporaneous and successive
• · Ageism and its impacts
• · The role of work
• · The role of medical care
• · Discussions of race, class, or other political/social issues
• · Aspects of fandom surrounding the show
• · An examination of any aspect of The Golden Palace
• · The actors’ activism and its ties to the series
• · Fashion and interior design in the show
• · Analysis of the role of comfort watching the series
• · Ties between the actors’ other work/performances and the series

Proposals should be approximately 350 words and copy and pasted (no attachments, please) into an email to goldengirls2022collection@gmail.com by May 31, 2022. Please also include a short author(s) bio, and use this email for any questions. **EDITED TO ADD: we are open to having shorter pieces too if you think you have an interesting topic that might not constitute a "normal" academic length. Just make note of that in your proposal.**

Thank you (for being a scholar),

Jill E. Anderson, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor of English at Tennessee State University) and Susannah R. Young (Owner/Principal at Susannah Young Creative Communications)




Last updated March 17, 2022

CFP Science Fiction from the Margins (Spec Issue of Panic at the Discourse; 5/1/2022)

Science Fiction from the Margins

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/04/04/science-fiction-from-the-margins

deadline for submissions:
May 1, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Panic at the Discourse: An Interdisciplinary Journal

contact email:
panicatthediscourse@gmail.com



We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.

- Ursula LeGuin, 2014

Science fiction includes a myriad of thematics from futurism, technology, transhumanism, apocalypse, other-worldliness, interspeciality, alterity and to history. As a result, its’ texts and images bear more of a ‘family resemblance’ than a generic codification. However, at the core of science fiction is an imagining of the world as other than it is­—whether that be by space travel, super-powers, or magic. This special issue of Panic at the Discourse, “Science Fiction From the Margins,” seeks to think and imagine the world otherwise with care and focus to marginalized understandings, ontologies, and epistemologies.

The guest editors invite submissions on topics including, but not limited to:

• Science fiction as minority pedagogy and methodology
• Troubling the history of science fiction as a genre/mode of film, literature, politics, etc.
• Instrumentalization of science fiction as theory and politics
• Engaging science fiction as ‘cult’ or ‘low’ art in film, television, literature, comics, art, and other mediums, thinking about how they challenge the boundaries of their respective media
• Imagining alternative histories and/or futures of racial formations
• Exploring real life science fictional phenomena (cloning, speculations about alien life, advanced forms of AI) and the anxieties produced by these phenomena
• Examining how dystopian fiction has engaged/failed to engage with forms of political domination
• Connections between form and minority politics including but not limited to dispossession, exile, displacement, and racialization

We welcome submissions from a range of disciplines including, but not limited to: Philosophy, Literary Studies, Film and Media Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Critical Disability Studies, Black Studies, Cultural Studies, and Indigenous Studies. All submissions should be written for an interdisciplinary audience.

Additionally, we accept a wide range of submissions from poetry, visual art, creative writing, reviews, and traditional scholarship. Traditional articles must be between 4000-6000 words and reviews a maximum of 750 words.

All submissions will undergo a review process by the publication editorial team. Works selected for publication will receive editorial queries for revision. Publication will be contingent on satisfactorily resolving all queries. Included images must be high resolution and have accessible descriptions. It is the author’s responsibility to obtain image permissions. Use Chicago style endnotes for any citations. Please include a brief author bio of no more than 50 words. Authors retain all rights to their work. Email the publication if you have a work you are unsure about.

Send all submissions to panicatthediscourse@gmail.com with the subject line “Submission: Article Title” by May 1st, 2022.





Last updated April 7, 2022

CFC Countdown to Hallmark Collection (7/15/2022)

This is a neat idea:

Call for Chapters: Countdown to Hallmark

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/04/04/call-for-chapters-countdown-to-hallmark

deadline for submissions:
July 15, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Carlen Lavigne / Red Deer Polytechnic

contact email:
carlen.lavigne@rdpolytech.ca



Since launching its hugely popular “Countdown to Christmas” made-for-TV movie series in 2009, Hallmark has expanded its offerings of American small-town romances to include Valentine’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, New Year’s, and Hanukkah, as well as winter, spring, summer, fall, and “Christmas in July.” Dozens of original films are planned and shot each year, often in Canadian locations such as Vancouver and Ottawa. These now-year-round productions are formulaic, heteronormative, Christian, and overwhelmingly white—and they have been undeniably commercially successful, rocketing Hallmark to cable success and spawning imitations across multiple platforms.

Contributions are invited for this multinational, multidisciplinary collection of essays studying Hallmark Channel movies and Hallmark’s current dominance in the North American media landscape. The collection is intended as part of the Routledge Advances in Popular Culture Studies series. Topics explored may include, but are not limited to:

• Christian markers, secular tensions, and “inclusivity” (e.g. Hanukkah films)
• Heteronormative patterns and/or queer influences
• Racial diversity and/or BIPOC erasure
• Disability narratives and/or disability erasure
• Parenthood and challenges or reinforcements of nuclear family structures
• Evangelical Christianity and “Boycott Hallmark” movements
• Nostalgic casting (e.g. sitcom stars from the '80s and '90s)
• Urban and rural—images and myths of the big city vs. small-town America
• Capitalism, labour, and women’s careers
• The Hallmark script formula and the romance genre
• Jane Austen and other literary influences
• Escapism and formula TV during COVID or other disaster times
• Cross-promotion (e.g. Hallmark greeting cards, sweaters, tie-in novels)
• Comparisons between Hallmark productions and competitors such as Netflix and Lifetime

Submit an abstract of 250-400 words and a short bio to Dr. Carlen Lavigne (carlen.lavigne@rdpolytech.ca) by July 15, 2022. Accepted articles of 5000-6000 words will be due by January 15, 2023.


Last updated April 8, 2022

CFP Space, the Feminist Frontier: Essays on Women and Gender in Star Trek (5/31/2022)

A post in honor of First Contact Day:

Space, the Feminist Frontier: Essays on Women and Gender in Star Trek

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/04/06/space-the-feminist-frontier-essays-on-women-and-gender-in-star-trek

deadline for submissions:
May 31, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Jennifer Garlen

contact email:
jennifer.garlen@gmail.com



Co-editors Jennifer C. Garlen and Anissa M. Graham are currently seeking proposals for an anthology of feminist essays examining the past and present of Star Trek. We are looking for feminist readings that engage any of the Trek films, television series, or related media (games, books, convention culture, etc). We welcome any proposals considering the roles of women and gendered identity in Star Trek and are especially interested in intersectional feminist criticism that also addresses issues of race and sexuality. Graduate students and independent scholars are welcome to submit proposals. Accepted contributors will receive author credit for their work as well as a free copy of the final publication, pending acceptance of the book proposal by an academic publisher. For questions or proposal submissions, please email Jennifer at jennifer.garlen@gmail.com.

Jennifer and Anissa are the co-editors of two previous essay anthologies for McFarland: Kermit Culture (2009) and The Wider Worlds of Jim Henson (2013). Both have also contributed to several academic essay anthologies about film, television, and popular culture.




Last updated April 8, 2022

CFC What Writing is Like: The Many Worlds of Russell T Davies (7/30/2022)

Call for Contributions to a Book: What Writing is Like: The Many Worlds of Russell T Davies

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/04/07/call-for-contributions-to-a-book-what-writing-is-like-the-many-worlds-of-russell-t

deadline for submissions:
July 30, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Anindya Raychaudhuri, University of St Andrews

contact email:
ar220@st-andrews.ac.uk



Russell T Davies has been one of the foremost voices in British television for the last three decades. The range of Davies’s work is formidable - from his early work on children’s television such as Dark Season (1991) and Century Falls (1993), to his ground-breaking work creating programmes such as Queer as Folk (1999-2000), Bob and Rose (2001), The Second Coming (2003) and Mine All Mine (2004), to his phenomenally successful rejuvenation of Doctor Who (2005), through to his more recent work such as Cucumber (2015), Years and Years (2019) and It’s a Sin (2021). In the process, he has indelibly transformed the British televisual landscape.



The proposed volume will be the first major, book-length scholarly appraisal of his works. We are looking for 6000–7000-word chapters on any aspect of Russell T. Davies and his work. Innovative, interdisciplinary, and comparative approaches are encouraged. Possible topics may include:

• Sex and sexuality
• Religion
• Wales and welsh identity
• Politics
• Science fiction and fantasy
• Children’s television
• AIDS pandemic
• Dystopian futures
• The Television Industry
• Televisual Forms

University of Wales Press has expressed interest in this volume, and we will be submitting a formal proposal by the end of the year.



Please submit a short abstract (250 words) and a biographical outline to ar220@st-andrews.ac.uk by 30 July 2022. Full papers will be due around December 2022.




Last updated April 8, 2022

CFP Academic Track of Multiverse Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention (6/30/2022; Atlanta 10/14-16/2022)

Multiverse Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/04/05/multiverse-science-fiction-and-fantasy-convention

deadline for submissions:
June 30, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Multiverse Convention

contact email:
Learn@Multiversecon.org



Call for Submissions

Multiverse Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention

Event Date & Location: October 14-October 16, 2022, Westin Atlanta Perimeter North, 7 Concourse Parkway in Sandy Springs
Deadline for Submissions: June 30, 2022
Name of Organization: Multiverse Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention
Organization Website: https://www.multiversecon.org
Contact Email: Rhonda Jackson Joseph, Learn@Multiversecon.org

CONVENTION THEME:

Multiverse Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention was formed from our belief that great stories don’t only come from the books and comics we love to read. Each fan is their own universe as well, with their own unique story to tell. Added together, these infinite stories create the Multiverse of modern fandom.

This Multiverse also informs the creation of works of speculative fiction, a body of work encompassing every imaginable academic field. In this light, we seek to create a multidisciplinary academic program that will showcase the innumerable ways speculative fiction is inspired by various branches of academia.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:



Multiverse Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention is seeking academic presentations of 15, 25, and 45 minutes in length for our 2022 convention. While we require presentations to reflect rigorous academic scholarship, we are not requesting conference paper readings. Presentations only, please.

We are seeking presentations that approach an academic topic in a way that non-academic audiences will find accessible and entertaining. Ideally, presentations will incorporate a core theme or topic of interest to speculative fiction fans.

Example topics may include, but are not limited to:

● An interesting historical event that garners immense speculation. What really happened?
● A comparison between modern governments and dystopian societies
● The application of a sociological lens in examining a popular speculative fiction TV show or movie
● From a scientific angle, could one of the monsters from horror tropes really exist?
● How might the fantasy elements of speculative fiction lend themselves to child development in teaching various lessons?
● A chemistry presentation that teaches children how to create spider webbing
● A presentation on new, emerging technologies or scientific breakthroughs (e.g., artificial intelligence, biotech, space travel, etc.)

Presentations on specific authors, works of fiction, or genres within speculative fiction are also welcome. Of particular interest are presentations on the works of any of our Guests of Honor and/or focuses on voices within speculative fiction that are not typically amplified.

Please note: we would like to include at least one presentation per convention day that fits our theme and is targeted to a child/family audience, so please submit those presentation proposals, as well. Our definition of child/family targeted includes any images, videos, or handouts accompanying the presentation.

Please provide the following in your submission:



● 300-500 word abstract
● Preliminary bibliography
● Length of presentation (15, 25, or 45-minute category)
● 100-word professional biography (should reflect academic credentials)
● Any required props or specialized A/V equipment
● Do you have any special accommodations or additional requests we should be aware of? (any request for a video presentation should be indicated here, please)
● What are your pronouns?



Email your submissions and/or questions to Rhonda Jackson Joseph at: Learn@Multiversecon.org

Accepted presenters will receive a complimentary convention membership for 2022 and may be invited to participate in other panels within the convention’s other programming tracks. If you would like to be considered for other programming at the convention, separately or in conjunction with your proposed academic presentation, please fill out our guest application.

Proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis up until July 31, 2022.



Last updated April 7, 2022

CFP Open Call for Popular Culture Review - Submissions for General Issues

Popular Culture Review - Submissions for General Issues

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2021/10/22/popular-culture-review-submissions-for-general-issues

deadline for submissions:
January 10, 2021

full name / name of organization:
Popular Culture Review - University of Nevada Las Vegas, Dept. of English

contact email:
greena@unlv.nevada.edu



Popular Culture Review seeks to publish compelling, well-argued, and well-researched articles on a variety of topics related to popular culture.

Submissions undergo a rigorous peer review process.

General Issues are published in March. Submissions must be received by January 10th for that year's General Issue.

Please see our submission guidelines and instructions at our new website: https://www.popularculturereview.org/submissions.html




Last updated April 8, 2022

CFP MAPACA 2022 (Princeton, NJ 11/10-12/2022)

Just announced: 

2022 MAPACA Annual Conference Call for Papers: Princeton, NJ – Nov. 10-12, 2022

This is the early April MAPACA newsletter. Our next conference is November 10-12 in Princeton, NJ.

Source: https://mapaca.net/newsletter/general/202204011323

In This Newsletter, We Have:

• Our Call for Papers for the 2022 Annual Conference
• Our Statement on Covid

2022 Call for Papers

Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA)

2022 Annual Conference

November 10-12, 2022

Princeton, NJ — Princeton Marriott at Forrestal

Call for papers:

Proposals are welcome on all aspects of popular and American culture for inclusion in the 2022 Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA) conference in Princeton, NJ. Single papers, panels, roundtables, and alternative formats are welcome.

Proposals should take the form of 300-word abstracts, and may only be submitted to one appropriate area. For a list of areas and area chair contact information, visit mapaca.net/areas. General questions can be directed to mapaca@mapaca.net. The deadline for submission is Thursday, June 30, 2022.

MAPACA’s participants are comprised of college and university faculty, independent scholars and artists, and graduate and undergraduate students. MAPACA is an inclusive professional organization dedicated to the study of popular and American culture in all their multidisciplinary manifestations. It is a regional division of the Popular Culture and American Culture Association, which, in the words of Popular Culture Association founder Ray Browne, is a “multi-disciplinary association interested in new approaches to the expressions, mass media and all other phenomena of everyday life.”

For more information, visit mapaca.net.

Covid Statement:

We look forward to welcoming you to our 2022 conference this November. The Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association (MAPACA) is monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely. Check the MAPACA website at mapaca.net or follow MAPACA on Twitter @mapacanet or Facebook facebook.com/mapacanet for the latest information.

Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA)

P.O. Box 1358

Lansdowne, PA 19050

mapaca@mapaca.net

Join Us on Twitter

Follow Us on Facebook

CFP School Fantasy / École et Fantasy (3/30/2022; Special Issue of Fantasy Art and Studies)

School Fantasy / École et Fantasy

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/02/19/school-fantasy-%C3%A9cole-et-fantasy

deadline for submissions:
March 30, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Fantasy Art and Studies (association les Têtes Imaginaires)

contact email:
fantasyartandstudies@outlook.com



From the famous castle of Hogwarts to Sunnydale high school and the magical academy of Aretuza, Fantasy stories are frequently set in school settings, especially when they are addressed to young readers and viewers. These familiar and possibly reassuring surroundings can hide important mysteries, including secret and magical passages or vampire-teachers, thus creating either worry or wonder.

Even if the teaching relationship can be restricted to one-on-one situations between teacher and student, like in T. H. White’s The Sword in the Stone and Mistress Masham’s Repose, most Fantasy stories seem to favour group situations when it comes to education. These can thus appear closer to the reader’s own reality – with a magical twist –, as is the case in the Harry Potter saga written by J. K. Rowling, and in one of its inspirations, Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch. The presence of several students usually allows for numerous plot developments, giving the story a more dynamic pace. Beside these successful series in which the characters barely leave the school grounds, one could list ad infinitum Fantasy stories taking place in a school, or in which education is the main theme: A Wizard of Earthsea, The Magicians, The School for Good and Evil, Umbrella Academy, Spellwright, The Shadow of What Was Lost, Novice Dragoneer, A Deadly Education, etc.

Why is the Fantasy genre fascinated by schools? Is it merely a way to reckon on the proximity of the young reader’s daily life? Or does Fantasy see in school settings a way to reenchant the world, one lesson at a time? The 13th issue of the bilingual journal Fantasy Art and Studies plans on studying this close link between Fantasy and school. It will also take into consideration other teaching spaces, including preschool, middle school, high school, university, etc.

This issue will also look for studies of the way Fantasy stories are taught in school, and the potential discrepancies in their integration in curricula between different countries.

Paper proposals could focus on, without being limited to:

• the representation of school settings in Fantasy stories and its evolution;
• themes, characters and issues directly associated with school Fantasy;
• the educational purpose of Fantasy stories;
• the representation of schools in Fantasy stories from different cultures and countries;
• the way Fantasy is taught in school and its evolution;
• etc.

Paper proposals of approximately 2.000 signs, written in English or French, will be accompanied by a short biobibliography and sent in .doc or .docx format by 30 March 2022, to fantasyartandstudies@outlook.com

The complete papers will not exceed 30.000 signs (space and endnotes included). They will be written in English or French, and sent in .doc format, Times New Roman 12pts, single-line spacing, by 1 July 2022.

Please read our submission guidelines before forwarding your paper: https://fantasyartandstudies.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/submission-guidelinesen.pdf




Informative bibliography

Besson Anne (dir.), Dictionnaire de la fantasy, Paris, Vendémiaire, 2018.

Bougon Marie-Lucie, Breton Justine et Timoner Amelha (dir.), Fantasy et enfance, Cahiers Robinson n°49, 2021.

Cani Isabelle, Harry Potter ou l’anti-Peter Pan : Pour en finir avec la magie de l’enfance, Paris, Fayard, 2007.

Klingberg Göte, The Fantastic Tale for Children: A Genre Study from the Viewpoint of Literary and Educational Research, Gothenburg, Gothenburg School of Education, 1970.

Lochhead Marion, The Renaissance of Wonder in Children’s Literature, Edinburgh, Canongate, 1977.


categories
classical studies
cultural studies and historical approaches
film and television
journals and collections of essays
popular culture

Last updated February 21, 2022

CFP Fantasy Literature: A Companion (6/1/2022)

One more cfp for today:

Fantasy Literature: A Companion

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/01/03/fantasy-literature-a-companion

deadline for submissions:
June 1, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Editor Dr. Charul ("Chuckie") Palmer-Patel

contact email:
c.palmerpatel@gmail.com



While fantasy fiction has become incredibly popular and prolific in these last few decades, the appeal of fantastical literature dates back to antiquity, as mythologies, legends, and encounters with the supernatural have formed a large part of narrative traditions in every culture and language. This companion seeks to update and address underexamined areas of fantasy fiction, with the chief aim to provide a global introduction to English-language and English-translation fantasy fiction. This collection will focus on the contemporary written word (narrative prose) produced in late 20th and early 21st century. However, given the range and scope of fantasy (poetry, paintings, sculptures, plays, ballets, operas, films, television shows, graphic novels, animation, video games, tabletop games, etc), the editor will consider proposals which incorporate other mediums as comparisons, adaptations, or lineages, so long as the focus on the written word is apparent.



The companion will be divided into 3 sections:



Historical Influences and Lineage, including (but not limited to) considerations of:

- Mythological or oral roots (evolution, transmission, and/or dissemination,)

- Legends and representations of heroic ideals

- Considerations of influential writers, past and present (note that this topic previously read "challenges to and considerations of influential writers," but based on the responses to the section, I have taken the first steps in creating a companion that focuses on this topic. Please see the CFP for Forgotten Fantasists for details



Poetics and Aesthetics of Genre, including (but not limited to) considerations of:

- Discussions of significant tropes or common images (either across the fantasy genre, specific to a subgenre)

- Adaptations and movement between mediums

- Development of the genre/genre boundaries



Current Social Concerns, including (but not limited to):

- Challenges to or affirmations of gender binaries and heteronormative relationships

- Issues of decolonization, including unpacking the villain as Other or dissolving the binary of good and evil

- Global anxieties such as climate change or late-stage capitalism



The editor Dr. C. Palmer-Patel invites abstracts of 500 words with 100-word bionotes to be submitted to c.palmerpatel@gmail.com by 1 June 2022. Early expressions of interest encouraged. Abstracts will be considered with emphasis on the primary objective of the collection as a whole (as an updated first-stop introduction to fantasy criticism to be used by teachers, students, and scholars), alongside the fit of the proposed chapter for each section. Bionotes should include details of primary research interests along with recent and relevant contributions to the field.



The collection has been pitched to Peter Lang's Genre Fiction and Film Companions series. Final chapters will be 4000 words (including bibliography) and will be due 2023/2024.




Last updated March 15, 2022

CFP Literaria (Open Issue) (5/30/2022)

LITERARIA  CALL FOR PAPERS (OPEN ISSUE)

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/02/27/call-for-papersopen-issue

deadline for submissions:
May 30, 2022

full name / name of organization:
NEW LITERARIA

contact email:
newliteraria@gmail.com




LITERARIA invites the submission of articles, shorter essays, interviews, and book reviews offering historical, interdisciplinary, theoretical, and cultural approaches to literature and related fields.



Submissions should be emailed to editor@newliteraria.com by no later than 30th May 2022. All submissions must include a cover letter that includes the author's full mailing address, email address, telephone numbers, and professional or academic affiliation.



Articles should be between 3,500 and 8,000 words long (including bibliography and footnotes). Book reviews should be between 750 and 1,500 words.



Please note that, if relevant submission and formatting guidelines are not met, manuscripts will not be deemed eligible for publication.



More information on submission can be found at https://newliteraria.com/for-authors/



Please contact editor@newliteraria.com for details regarding the submission of book reviews.



Submission Deadline: 30th May 2022
Expected Date of Publication: 30th July, 2022




Last updated March 4, 2022

CFP Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian (5/15/2022; PAMLA Los Angeles 11/11-13/2022)

CFP - Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian - PAMLA Conference

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/02/17/cfp-geographies-of-the-fantastic-and-the-quotidian-pamla-conference

deadline for submissions:
May 15, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association

contact email:
andrkirb@gmail.com



This is a call for papers for the anual PAMLA conference to be held in Los Angeles, California at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center and Hotel between Friday, November 11 and Sunday, November 13, 2022.

The Film Studies session is open to all papers that explore some aspect of film or Film Studies, but we are particularly interested in papers attuned to some facet of the conference theme, "Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian.” For example:

-The role of space and place in genre filmmaking

-World-building in fantasy film and television

-Cinematic cityscapes

-Road movies

-Representations of localized ecologies

-Settler colonialism in film

-Geographical otherness

-Films limited to one setting

-Representations of claustrophobia or agoraphobia

-Landscape in film

-Otherworldy spaces

-Outer space

-Theme parks and the carnival

-The role of satire in constructing places

-Impact of space in residential life

-Transcending real and unreal spaces

Please visit https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/ in order to submit proposals by May 15. The session specifiic information is available at https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/Home/S/18471.




Last updated March 5, 2022

CFP Peter Nicholls Essay Prize 2023 (12/5/2022)

Peter Nicholls Essay Prize 2023

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/03/03/peter-nicholls-essay-prize-2023

deadline for submissions:
December 5, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction

contact email:
paulmarchrussell@gmail.com



We are pleased to announce our next essay-writing competition. The award is open to all post-graduate research students and to all early career researchers (up to five years after the completion of your PhD) who have yet to find a full-time or tenured position. The prize is guaranteed publication in Foundation (summer 2023).

To be considered for the competition, please submit an original article on any topic, period, theme, author, film or other media within the field of science fiction and its academic study. Approximate length should be 6000 words. All submitted articles should comply with the guidelines to contributors as set out on the journal pages of the SF Foundation website. Only one article per contributor may be submitted.

The deadline for submission is Monday, 5th December 2022. All competition entries, with a short (50 word) biography, should be sent to the journal editor at paulmarchrussell@gmail.com The entries will be judged by the editorial team and the winner will be announced in the spring 2023 issue of Foundation.




Last updated March 8, 2022

CFP Young Adult Literature and Culture (In-Person panel) (5/15/2022; PAMLA 11/2022)

Young Adult Literature and Culture (In-Person panel)

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/03/05/young-adult-literature-and-culture-in-person-panel

deadline for submissions:
May 15, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Pacific and Ancient Modern Language Association (PAMLA)

contact email:
melaniemarotta@yahoo.com



This session is open to all papers that explore some aspect of Young Adult literature and/or culture. The panel is particularly interested in papers attuned to some facet of the conference theme, " Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian.” How does space impact YA literature and/or culture? How is the Anthropocene represented in YA fantasy? Further, presentations that examine diverse voices in media are encouraged. This panel welcomes submissions about young adult literature, film, television, etc. Feel free to submit an abstract pertaining to the conference theme or otherwise. If you have any questions, please email.



Please submit abstracts via the PAMLA submission portal: PAMLA CFP (ballastacademic.com)

Conference site: https://www.pamla.org/conference/2022-conference-theme/

Location of conference: UCLA Luskin Conference Center and Hotel



Last updated March 8, 2022

CFP SAMLA 2022: Speculative Fiction (5/31/2022; SAMLA Jacksonville 11/11-13/2022)

SAMLA 2022: Speculative Fiction

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/03/14/samla-2022-speculative-fiction

deadline for submissions: May 31, 2022

full name / name of organization: Mary Ann Gareis / Middle Georgia State University

contact email: mary.gareis@mga.edu



Speculative fiction covers a broad range of narrative styles and genres. The cohesive element that pulls works together under the category is that there is some “unrealistic” element, whether it’s magical, supernatural, or a futuristic/technological development: works that fall into the category stray from conventional realism in some way. For this reason, speculative fiction can be quite broad, including everything from fantasy and magical realism to horror and science fiction—from China Miéville to Margaret Atwood to Philip K. Dick. This panel aims to explore those unrealistic elements and all their varied implications about society, politics, economics, and more.



Please submit a 250-300 word abstract, a brief bio, and any A/V needs by May 31, 2022 to Mary Ann Gareis, Middle Georgia State University, at mary.gareis@mga.edu.

SAMLA’s 94th annual conference, Change, will be held at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel in Jacksonville, FL this year from November 11-13. Those accepted must be members of SAMLA to present.




Last updated March 14, 2022

CFP MMLA 2022 Science and Fiction: Posthumanism and the Post-Apocalyptic (proposals by 4/15/2022; Minneapolis 11/16-21/2022)

MMLA 2022 Science and Fiction: Posthumanism and the Post-Apocalyptic

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/03/15/mmla-2022-science-and-fiction-posthumanism-and-the-post-apocalyptic

deadline for submissions: April 15, 2022

full name / name of organization: Andy Harper / Midwest Modern Language Association

contact email: andy.harper@slu.edu

Science and Literature: Posthumanism and the Post-Apocalyptic

The recognition of anthropogenic climate change and the form and figure of apocalypse have intertwined in the U.S. consciousness for at least as far back as George Perkins Marsh’s 1864 contention in Man and Nature that “earth is fast becoming an unfit home for its noblest inhabitant.” For at least so far back, writers and philosophers have contributed to the cultural imagination of humanity’s future: adaptation or extinction. This panel invites contributions which look beyond the “now” of what Marsh calls “climatic excess” to the bodies, minds, and forms of being that emerge in literature that registers environmental collapse or transformation. What human (or posthuman) subjectivities (or intersubjectivities) populate our imaginary future? What other ends are we able to imagine by imagining the end of the world—or simply of human life on it? Such discussions may take up, for instance,

• The alien body in science fiction
• Biocultural or bioregional perspectives
• The climate crisis in literature and film
• Ecocriticism and/or eco-feminism
• Geographical collaborations
• Metamorphoses (cockroach and otherwise)
• Post-apocalyptic narratives
• Radiation and radioactivity in popular culture
• Techno-utopian solutions
• Zombies

Papers on a variety of literary traditions and literary theory are invited. Please submit an abstract or proposal not exceeding 300 words to andy.harper@slu.edu by 15 April 2022. The Midwest MLA 2022 convention will be held 16-21 November in Minneapolis, Minnesota.



Last updated March 15, 2022

CFP Chicon 8/Worldcon 80 Academic Track Call for Papers (4/29/2022)

Chicon 8/Worldcon 80 Academic Track Call for Papers

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/03/15/chicon-8worldcon-80-academic-track-call-for-papers. 

deadline for submissions: April 29, 2022

full name / name of organization: Chicon 8

contact email: academic@chicon.org



Science fiction (and its cousin genres, fantasy and horror) have long explored what it means to explore the unknown. In particular, some of SF’s familiar narratives have pondered life beyond our world, grappled with the vast expanse of the universe and the many things to be discovered there, and tackled complicated meetings with other beings and other ways of life. Beyond the SF bubble, fantasy has imagined entire worlds and wondered at a cosmos of gods and magic; meanwhile, horror has teased at the edges of its genre cousins, offering disturbing visions of space and other forms of travel and exploration in which the unknown is often waiting with jaws wide open. These are some of the things we can imagine when considering Chicon 8: The 80th World Science Fiction Convention’s theme: “Take to the Stars.”

Chicon’s Academic Track Committee welcomes proposals for scholarly presentations* about genre fiction in its myriad forms**, with particular interest in those which address our convention theme, “Take to the Stars,” which may include some of the following topics (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Themes of exploration and discovery, particularly interpretations of space and sea travel, discovery as a metaphysical and/or psychological concept, the ties between genre fiction and historical or scientific discovery, and other intersections
• New encounters, cultural clashes and resolutions, alien first encounters, and other types of encounters beyond the known
• Seeking new ideas and solutions to imagined or real issues, including (but not limited to) utopian and radical political perspectives on climate change, challenges to hegemonic power structures such as contemporary empires, and visions of decolonization or other ways of structure societies
• Ties between genre fiction and community building and expansion, whether regional, global, in zines or blogs, online or in in-person spaces, and other iterations

Additionally, we also want to see proposals—theme-specific or otherwise—in some of the following categories:

• Regional interest, including representations of Chicago in genre fiction, Chicago-area creators, the influence of the Jazz Age on genre, and Chicago fandom
• Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, and related futurisms and movements
• Non-U.S. and non-Eurocentric genre fiction, including works in English and in translation
• Work by Guests of Honor and by attending authors

While we appreciate the classics of the genre, our goal will be to highlight lesser known works or to place the classics in conversation with newer works. We view genre as a constantly evolving entity, and we would like to see this reflected in scholarship.

Finally, we are also interested in proposals for roundtable discussions on subjects relevant to scholars, teachers, and related individuals. These roundtables will share knowledge with (especially emerging) scholars and educators, and they might address teaching methods across the humanities disciplines, tools for scholarly research, applying research to education, editing scholarly work, or open dialogues on specific SF/F/H topics of particular interested to the broad field of scholarship.

The deadline for submissions is April 29, 2022.

The Academic Track Committee will accept proposals for the following formats:

• Individual Presentations -- A 15-minute presentation (these will be grouped into 3-presentation panels by the academic committee)
• Group Presentations -- A group of 3 presentations linked together by content, topic, etc. Presentations should be no longer than 15-minutes each. Please provide contact information for all participants with your submission.
• Panels or Roundtables
• Discussions among 3-5 scholars on subjects relevant to the academic track. These should be conversational and informative events similar to a traditional convention panel. You may propose a panel you’d like to see OR a panel with the lineup and topic fully established.

All scholars are welcome to submit, whether formally affiliated with a university or operating as an independent. We also strongly encourage BIPOC and other scholars from minority backgrounds to submit, including scholars outside of the U.S.

Chicon 8’s Academic Track will run programming items through all five days of the event (Sept. 1-5) and will include virtual items to help make scholarship accessible to virtual participants and international scholars and students who wish to be part of the conversation. We look forward to hearing your presentation ideas!

To submit, please provide proposals, bios, and other relevant details using the application form on the Chicon website: https://chicon.org/home/whats-happening/program/academic-program/

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*By “presentation” we mean talks, ideally with visual support, rather than readings of academic work. Presentations should also be geared towards a general audience, as Worldcon attendees come from a myriad of academic and non-academic backgrounds.

**Proposals may address any genre media or genre-related content, including but not limited to fiction, poetry, film and television, comics and graphic novels, plays, fandom, genre history, and so on.




Last updated March 15, 2022

CFP Forgotten Fantasists: A Companion to Fantastic Literature (10/1/2022)

Forgotten Fantasists

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/03/15/forgotten-fantasists.

deadline for submissions: October 1, 2022

full name / name of organization: Forgotten Fantasists: A Companion to Fantastic Literature

contact email: c.palmerpatel@gmail.com



Who are the unsung heroes of fantastical literature? Who deserves to be recognised for their significant contribution to contemporary Anglophone Fantastika literature but are pushed out of the limelight? This edited companion to fantastical literature hopes to address gaps in research by bringing together considerations of important but underexamined authors and artists. Depending on the number of abstracts received, the collection may be further divided into separate sections – or even individual volumes – taking into consideration different media:

• Textual (novels, short stories, essays, poems, magazines/fanzines, etc)
• Artistic (paintings/illustrations, animation, sculptures, etc)
• Performance (game-playing, plays, opera, ballet, etc)

as well as under-represented voices:

• Female fantasists
• POC and/or non-Anglo fantasists
• LGBTQIA+ fantasists
• Fantasists with disabilities

The editor Dr. C. Palmer-Patel invites abstracts of 500 words with 100-word bionotes to be submitted to c.palmerpatel@gmail.com by 1 October 2022. Early expressions of interest encouraged. Please include in your bionote details of your primary research interests along with recent and relevant contributions to the field.

The collection has been pitched to Bloomsbury Academic. Abstracts should make a clear defense for the importance of the author’s work. Final chapters will be due in 2025 and must take into consideration any previous or relevant critical works on the author.

Note that this CFP is related-to but distinct from the CFP for Fantasy Literature: A Companion. After receiving a number of submissions for one of the suggested topics – challenges to or considerations of influential writers – it was apparent that there is enough interest in the area to warrant a separate collection. Any submissions made for the Fantasy Literature Companion which fall under the remit of the Forgotten Fantasists CFP will be advised to submit their piece to the latter.


Last updated March 15, 2022

CFP Gardeners of the Galaxies: How Imaginary Worlds Teach Us to Care for This One (5/15/2022)

CFP: Gardeners of the Galaxies: How Imaginary Worlds Teach Us to Care for This One, co-edited by Dr. Sørina Higgins and Dr. Brenton Dickieson

Source (and video intro to the project): https://apilgriminnarnia.com/2022/02/24/cfp-gardeners-of-the-galaxies-how-imaginary-worlds-teach-us-to-care-for-this-one-by-by-drs-sorina-higgins-and-brenton-dickieson/.

PDF version at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lmX9M3LgVzap0j7UjVAvLb0Wlun8bTa7/view. 

As the climate crisis worsens, our home planet and our conversations about it are heating up–and creative writers both reflect and anticipate such concerns. Thanks to the recent ethical turn in science fiction and fantasy, many speculative works offer readers a mirror in which to view our own world. Its beauties and vulnerabilities take on special clarity through the page or the screen. A tale of terraforming another planet reminds us how precious and fragile our home world is. The perennial conflict between nature and technology comes alive when trees march to war. We find insights into healthy, diverse communities by spending time with characters in a fellowship–or on a starship.

Gardeners of the Galaxies: How Imaginary Worlds Teach Us to Care for This One will be an academic, peer-reviewed collection of interdisciplinary essays, co-edited by Dr. Brenton Dickieson and Dr. Sørina Higgins. This volume will explore literature, film, the visual arts, and other creative works (especially Cli-Fi, genre fiction, and speculative lit) that imagine, invent, and embody environmental concerns. Rather than coercing texts to conform to our analyses, however, we want to approach our subjects humbly and earnestly, listening to what they say about creation care, biodiversity, or neighborliness; immersing ourselves in their stories of ecological harmony and disharmony; mourning the disasters they depict; and celebrating the solutions they imagine. In particular, we would love analyses of works that envision ingenious alternatives to large-scale planetary depredation.

Chapter proposals might consider questions such as the following (although this list is by no means comprehensive nor intended to limit lines of inquiry): What kinds of environmental disasters are depicted in contemporary literature, film, and other media? How does a certain genre or medium represent nature, and how have those portrayals evolved over time? Do certain metaphors for land or diction choices about earth impact how people treat the soil, landscapes, or ecosystems with which and in which they live? In a given work, is nature empowered or oppressed, and how do characters respond? What is the significance or impact of the anthropomorphism of animals, plants, landscape features, or celestial bodies? When stories blur the line between the human and the nonhuman, what implications does such destabilization have for our living in community with our nonhuman neighbors? What lessons are conveyed through encounters with extraterrestrial species? What do stories of interplanetary colonization suggest about imperialist urges, their ecological impacts on earth, and strategies for integrating with the Other rather than obliterating or oppressing them? Are there tales in which technology plays an essential role in preserving nature or reinforcing what makes us human? What techniques do creators use to entertain us and draw us into moral considerations without compromising artistic excellence or devolving into propaganda?

Submission Information:

As this volume will be interdisciplinary, we welcome scholars working in literature, film, popular culture, the fine arts, ecology, history, the social sciences, religion, and related fields. While aimed at a scholarly audience, chapters should be written in a lively, accessible tone, avoiding jargon while employing rigorous theoretical and critical frameworks and engaging deeply with existing research. Interested authors should consider trying out their ideas at TexMoot, Signum University’s Annual Texas Literature & Language Symposium (held in Austin, TX, and online; CFP deadline March 1st), which explores the overlapping theme of “Starships, Stewards, and Storytellers: How Imaginary Worlds Teach Us to Care for This One.”

Please submit 500-word proposals here by May 15, 2022. Notifications regarding acceptance will be made in June 2022. Full papers (5,000-8,000 words, including notes) will be due by November 30, 2022.

In addition to academic submissions, the editors will carefully curate a small number of creative works for possible inclusion in the volume. Poets, short-story writers, essayists, and visual artists are invited to submit the actual piece of work that they would like to have considered here; note length limits on the submission form. These works can be submitted up until September 1, 2022.

Send questions about academic submissions to Brenton Dickieson (brenton[dot]dickieson[at]signumu[dot]org). Send queries about creative submissions to Sørina Higgins (sorina[dot]higgins[at]signumu[dot].org).

TexMoot 2022 Notice and Schedule for 3/26/2022

Missed posting the call for this last month:

TexMoot 2022: Signum University’s Fifth Annual Texas Literature & Language Symposium

Official site: http://texmoot.org/.

26 March 2022
at the Norris Conference Center
2525 W. Anderson Ln
Austin, TX 78757
and online

Starships, Stewards, and Storytellers: How Imaginary Worlds Teach Us to Care for This One

Signum University is pleased to announce its fifth annual Texas Literature & Language Symposium (aka “TexMoot”) on Saturday, March 26th, 2022, in Austin, Texas. TexMoot will offer a gleeful gallimaufry of lively curated conversations, a keynote presentation, workshops, and lots of fellowship and social time. Plan ahead to enjoy this balanced blend of academic rigor and avid literary fandom. Stay tuned on the Announcements page and in our Facebook group for more information about special guests, optional pre-conference activities, workshop participation, and more. Visit our CFP page for info about how to submit a topic for discussion. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Email info@texmoot.org with questions.
Registration

Registration for TexMoot 2022 costs $50 for on-site participants, $25 for online attendees, and $15 for students in either mode. To register, please click here.

TexMoot 2022 Schedule!


Here’s our tentative schedule as it currently exists. 

8:30 Registration
9:00 Welcome by Sørina Higgins & the TexMoot Team
I. 9:10 Shawn E. Marchese & Alan Sisto: “For I also am a steward…”
II. 9:30 Utopia vs. Dystopia: A Difference of Priorities?

Panel moderated by Joseph Torres:
1. Joe Ricke, “Teach Us to Care and Not to Care: Attachments, Detachment, and Penultimate Concerns in Out of the Silent Planet”
2. Jules Anderson, “The Death of Pan: Exploring Environmental Conservation in Percy Jackson and The Olympians”
3. Jason Pitruzzello, “Pro-Environmental Strip Mining and Genocide: The Curious Case of Aquatic Species in Stellaris: Aquatics
Open discussion for all:
Paul Fortunato starts off the conversation with “A Wendell Berry Approach to Understanding the Elves and Nature?”

 
III. 11:00 Ecological Care in Japanese Mythologies

Panel moderated by Shawn E. Marchese:
1. Hannah Barton, “The Weathering is Magical: The Mundane Moments in Climate Change”
2. Pilar Barrera Wey, “The Role of Animals in Traditional Japanese Fairy Tales”
3. Joshua Sosa, “Godzilla: From Allegory to Myth”
Open discussion for all:
Jed Bickman starts off the conversation with “Is Cyclonopedia Useful? Sentient Oil as an Autonomous Chemical Weapon”

 
Lunch

Gather in little groups to walk to nearby restaurants and grab some refreshment.

 
IV. 2:00 Gardeners of the Galaxies

Dr. Brenton Dickieson & Dr. Sørina Higgins chat about their forthcoming edited collection on how imaginary worlds teach us to care for this one. You know you want to submit a proposal! Check out https://tinyurl.com/GalaxyGardenersCFP.

 
V. 3:00 Samwise & Shapeshifters & Stewards

Panel moderated by Chad Bornholdt:
Kenton Sena, “Community Greening in The Lord of the Rings: Samwise Gamgee and the power of local care”
Kaelyn Harris, “The Balance of Nature: Beorn as an Ecological Ideal in Middle-earth”
Sara Brown, “Taking Care of the Land: Stewardship in Tolkien’s Middle-earth”
Open discussion for all:
Our contest winner will headline this final conversation!

VI. 4:30 The Tolkien Professor Takes Us To Other Worlds & Back Again

Dr. Corey Olsen provides closing observations on the talks and themes of the day, moderated by Sørina Higgins. And then, vámonos!

6:30 Dinner

Vámonos Tex-Mex
4807 Airport Boulevard
Austin, TX 78751