CFP Science Fiction of the 1870s (Spec Issue of Foundation) (10/07/2024)

Science Fiction of the 1870s

deadline for submissions: October 7, 2024

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

contact email: paulmarchrussell@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/03/01/science-fiction-of-the-1870s

To mark the 150th issue of Foundation in spring 2025, we would like to include contributions on the topic of sf from 150 years ago, published during the 1870s. Darko Suvin once proposed 1 May 1871 as the starting-point for sf – the day that Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Coming Race was published, George Chesney’s The Battle of Dorking began serialisation, and Samuel Butler submitted Erewhon to his publisher. Jules Verne, however, was already in full swing and he would soon be joined by such contemporaries as Camille Flammarion. Where else can we trace the roots of science fiction in the 1870s? How can we reassess the writers we know and who are the writers we need to rediscover?

We welcome articles on any aspect of science fiction published between 1870 and 1880. Articles should be 5000-8000 words long and written in accordance with the style guide available on the website (www.sf-foundation.org/journal). Topics may include but are not limited to the following:

• Ideas of utopia
• Humans and machine technology
• The impact of evolution and the biological sciences
• Sf and the invasion novel
• Sf and astronomy
• Satire and allegory
• Science and pseudo-science
• Space travel and other worlds
• Exploration and voyages of discovery
• Race and empire
• Gender and sexuality
• Arnold, Huxley and the ‘two cultures’ debate
• Sf and the non-anglophone world

The deadline for articles is 7 October 2024. Please email your submission to Dr Paul March-Russell at paulmarchrussell@gmail.com with a short (50-word) bionote


Last updated March 6, 2024

CFP The Fantastic for Children - Children in the Fantastic Symposium (3/15/2024; Germany 5/3-5/2024)

The Fantastic for Children - Children in the Fantastic

deadline for submissions: March 15, 2024

full name / name of organization: Inklings Society for Literature and Aesthetics e.V.

contact email: 2024-symposium@inklings-symposium.de

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/12/13/the-fantastic-for-children-children-in-the-fantastic

“I write, not for children, but for the child-like, whether they be of five, or fifty, or seventy-five.”
― George MacDonald

It is often easier for child characters to cross boundaries between reality and fantasy worlds, which frequently go unnoticed by adult characters. In fantasy stories, whether in literature or media for an adult or child audience, it is mainly children who discover portals into fantastic worlds. These child protagonists become redeemer figures and symbols of hope and overcome personal and global crises in those worlds, into which they are lured or called.

Examples abound: Alice follows the White Rabbit into Wonderland and antagonises the Red Queen, the Pevensie siblings find their way to Narnia through a wardrobe and defeat the White Witch, Frodo saves the world from the dark forces of Sauron. In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, the young wizard Harry Potter rescues the Muggle and wizarding world from the seemingly invincible power of Voldemort, while a girl named Lyra becomes a key figure in the salvation of a multiverse in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. In Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story, it is up to Bastian to save the human imagination, while in J.M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy childhood imagination manifests spatially in the world of Neverland.

In many narratives, the intuitive entry into fantastic worlds is a privilege and burden of the child characters, a pattern which is also continued in film and series, for instance in the Netflix series Stranger Things. Here, the protagonist Eleven and other child characters fall victim to the Upside Down, vanish into the parallel world and continue to return to it in order to save the frequently clueless adult world from its dark powers.

These fantastic worlds do not only pose danger but are also places of longing for these child characters. Moreover, both adult and child readers want to experience adventures, explore the world with curiosity and pick up courage on the way. They harbour desires, dreams, hopes, develop goals and expectations, which are also reflected in fantasy. Thus, many of these fantastic stories, which fascinate readers, also reflect those topics they deal with in everyday life: the pursuit of familiarity, fellowship, friendship or love. The fantastic accompanies these children on their journey towards adulthood, helps them discovering their true self and hence illuminates a fundamental process of human life.

George MacDonald’s initial quote indicates that the fantastic is neither childish nor exclusively for children, but rather for the child-like of all ages. His fairy tales and fantasy novels also (but not exclusively) inspired the Inklings, predominantly J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Accordingly, the upcoming symposium takes MacDonald’s 200th birthday as a cue to explore the role of children and childhood in fantasy. We invite contributions investigating the connection between children and the fantastic, including but not limited to the following possible topics:

• the role of the fantastic in the work of the Inklings
• the fantastic in the work of George MacDonald, Lewis Carroll, Edith Nesbit or Lord Dunsany
• Child characters as redeemer figures, (anti-)heroes and antagonists in fantasy, science fiction, horror, animal stories or children’s and young adult literature
• Fantasy and its role in identity formation
• modern retellings of fantastic narratives
• diversity and representation in fantasy
• fantastic narratives as coming-of-age story
• critical discussions of fantasy as escapism
• fantasy and (re-)enchantment
• ethical, philosophical and religious readings of fantastic narratives
• coping and coming to terms with trauma through fantasy
• emotional security, love and friendship in fantastic narratives
• childhood and heroism in fantasy
• fantasy and games, especially tabletop role-playing game

Please send proposals (300–500 words, either in German or English) as well as a short bio to 2024-symposium@inklings-symposium.de. Please use the subject line “Inklings Symposium 2024”. The deadline is 15 March 2024. Presentations at the symposium should be 20 minutes long and a selection of them will be published in the Inklings Yearbook.

Location: Schloss Malberg, Kylltal (https://www.schloss-malberg.de/)
Date: 3 to 5 Mai 2024
Travel Allowance: There will be a small allowance available to speakers for accommodation and travel expenses.
Further information on the Inklings symposium 2024 see https://inklings-gesellschaft.de/symposium-2024/


Last updated February 25, 2024

CFP Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian (Spec Issue of Pacific Coast Philology) (06/05/2024)

Call for Submissions to “Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian”: Special Issue of Pacific Coast Philology

For this special issue, we seek essays that engage the theme of “Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian.” Particularly fascinating might be explorations of the extraordinary, the exemplary, the “out of this world” sorts of places, real and figurative: the spaces of the fantastic and the bizarre. Anything pertaining to the surreal city of Los Angeles would be encouraged. The lived and experienced environments of the banal might spark equally fertile archaeologies of the everyday. Paper proposals of particular interest include explorations of all varieties of heterotopologies; explorations of fictional domains; Borgesian labyrinths; road narratives; enclaves of digital introspection or connection; theme parks; elision, caesura, and other grammatological openings; migration/border crossings; psychedelic “trips” of all sorts; native practices of tending the land; mirrors and projections; choreography and dance; exteriority/interiority; the politics or rhetorics of dispossession; theatrical staging; embodiment and disembodiment; panopticism; the family and/or spaces of domesticity; museums and archives; homelessness and houselessness; communities and cliques; as well as both paroxysmal places and quiet passages.



Please contact Special Issue Editor Jeremiah B.C. Axelrod at pamla@axelrod.info if you have questions.



Essay proposals should include the following, and should be emailed to Jeremiah B.C. Axelrod at pamla@axelrod.info by June 5, 2024: cover page with author’s name, affiliation, and a brief biography, plus the title of the essay; also a 4,000 to 7,000 word separate document with a brief abstract, a list of four to seven keywords, and the proposed paper, following the guidelines of the MLA Style Manual, 9th edition. Important: Please include Geographies of the Fantastic and Quotidian Special Issue Proposal in your email subject line to ensure prompt processing

CFP Sixth Biennial Dr. Henry Armitage Memorial Scholarship Symposium of New Weird Fiction and Lovecraft-Related Research (5/24/2024; Providence, RI 8/15-18.2024)

The Sixth Biennial Dr. Henry Armitage Memorial Scholarship Symposium of New Weird Fiction and Lovecraft-Related Research

NecronomiCon Providence convention in Providence, RI
15-18 August, 2024
Location: Omni Hotel, Providence – Bristol/Kent Room, 3rd floor

Symposium Chairs: Dr. Elena Tchougounova-Paulson, editor of Lovecraftian Proceedings (Hippocampus Press)
Symposium Co-Chair: Prof. Dennis P. Quinn 

CALL FOR PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS:

The Dr. Henry Armitage Memorial Scholarship Symposium seeks Lovecraftian and Weird Fiction related research for the NecronomiCon Providence convention. Providence, RI, August 15-18, 2024

The Lovecraft Arts and Sciences Council (the organizer of NecronomiCon Providence) invites submissions for the upcoming Armitage Symposium, a conference that will be held within the convention. The Symposium is substantially dedicated to the life and works of the Providence-based Weird fiction writer, the father of Cosmic horror, H.P. Lovecraft, but also to his milieu, his literary contemporaries, predecessors and successors in the Weird/horror/Gothic/Neo-Gothic lore. For many decades, Lovecraft’s legacy has been the central topic for challenging discussions, and many prominent scholars have joined in debates, followed by significant textual insights, great literary discoveries, and numerous high-quality academic publications. The Armitage Symposium in 2024 will continue to explore Lovecraft’s works in relation to classic and contemporary Weird fiction, science fiction, other similar genres of horror/Gothic/Neo-Gothic literature, modern philosophy (phenomenology and epistemology), literary theory, linguistics, cultural history and cultural theory, archaeology, ethnography, etc.


Possible topics for 15-minute papers might include:

• Lovecraft’s influence on the American or, broadly, Western literary canon
• Lovecraft and Cosmic mythology
• Lovecraftian Mythos as a cultural phenomenon
• Lovecraft and religion/mysticism, and race/gender studies
• Lovecraft and Eurocentrism: origins and complexities
• Lovecraft’s correspondence as pre-blogging/travelog
• “Arkham House” and its heritage: further discoveries in its archival history
• Horror/Supernatural/Gothic fiction: its origins, historical frames and defining terms
• The works of potent and influential masters such as Dunsany, M.R. James, and Clark Ashton Smith
• Modern literary and cinematic perspectives in Lovecraftiana and the Supernatural
• Women in Lovecraftiana/Weird fiction in the past, present, and future
• Contemporary philosophy of weird, horror, and the supernatural: interpretive approaches

Traditionally, the Armitage Symposium has aimed to foster explorations and disseminations of Lovecraft’s elaborate cosmic mythology, and how this mythology was influenced by, and has come to influence, numerous other fiction writers, historians, art critics, philosophers, archivists, bibliographers of the past and the present. However, all submissions that contribute to interconnecting new linguistic and literary theoretical concepts in academic Lovecraftiana/horror studies are very welcome.

Specifically for the Armitage Symposium, we are particularly interested in submitting works from academics: undergraduates, PhD students, post-graduates, independent scholars, established researchers. Presenters should be prepared to deliver a fifteen to twenty-minute oral presentation, and are invited to submit a manuscript for possible inclusion in the peer-reviewed Lovecraftian Proceedings no. 6.

For consideration, interested scholars should submit an abstract (of around 250-300 words) in Word format along with a short bio (around 100 words) to the symposium chair, Dr Elena Tchougounova-Paulson, at tch.elena15@gmail.com.

The deadline for submissions is May 24, 2024. Early submissions are encouraged.

In addition to these talks, NecronomiCon Providence will also feature numerous traditional panels and presentations, given by many of the top names in Lovecraftian studies and the global Weird Renaissance. For more information on the Armitage Symposium, or the overall convention and the themes to be explored, please, visit our website: necronomicon-providence.com.





About the Symposium:

The Lovecraft Arts and Sciences Council (the organizer of NecronomiCon Providence) hosts the Armitage Symposium to showcase academic works that explore all aspects weird fiction and art, from pop-culture to literature, including the writings and life of globally renowned weird fiction writer, H.P. Lovecraft. Topics of value include the influence of history, architecture, science, and popular culture on the weird fiction genre, as well as the impact that weird and Lovecraftian fiction has had on culture.

In past years, the Armitage Symposium has aimed to foster explorations of Lovecraft’s elaborate cosmic mythology, and how this mythology was influenced by, and has come to influence, numerous other authors and artists before and since. Additionally, we promote all works that foster a greater, critical, and nuanced understanding weird fiction and art (and related science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc.).

Selected talks will be presented together as part of the Armitage Symposium, a mini-conference within the overall convention framework of NecronomiCon Providence, 15-18 August 2024. Presenters will deliver fifteen-minute oral presentations summarizing their thesis, and are invited to submit a brief manuscript for possible inclusion in a proceedings publication.

For more information on the Armitage Symposium, or the overall convention and the themes to be explored, please visit our website: necronomicon-providence.com – where we will post updates and details as they develop over the final weeks leading to the convention. In addition to these talks, NecronomiCon Providence will feature numerous traditional panels and presentations given by many of the top names in the global weird renaissance.

The 2024 CALL FOR PRESENTATION PROPOSALS can be downloaded here: Armitage-Symposium-CFA-2024.pdf

CFP History and Nostalgia: The 1950s in Popular Culture (1/31/2025; online 3/28-29/2024)

History and Nostalgia: The 1950s in popular culture

deadline for submissions: January 31, 2025

full name / name of organization: PopCRN - the Popular Culture Research Network

contact email: PopCRN@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/10/04/history-and-nostalgia-the-1950s-in-popular-culture


PopCRN (the Popular Culture Network) will be holding a free virtual symposium exploring the 1950s in popular culture. Held online on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th of March 2025.

The 1950s was the decade where the world began to recover from the tragedy of the Second World War. This conference aims to explore both the popular culture of the 1950s, and how the 1950s have been depicted in the popular culture of other eras.

The 1950s was the era of the teenager, the atomic bomb, the space race, the Queen’s coronation, the Cuban revolution, the Korean War, the French Fifth republic, Lego, colour television, the Montgomery Bus boycott, the finding of DNA, the founding of McDonalds, Rock n roll, jukeboxes, the Melbourne Olympics, Poodle Skirts, I love Lucy, birth of the credit card, Dr Seuss, James Bond’s Casino Royale, Disneyland opens, Sidney Poitier wins an Oscar, The Day the Music Died, 3D cinematography, Marilyn Monroe, The Twilight Zone, Jackson Pollock, Teddy Boys, Dior’s New Look, Formula One racing begins, McCarthyism, Science Fiction, the Munich air crash, the SS Andrea Doria, Ten Pound Poms, Hungarian Uprising, Univac – the first business computer, Paul McCartney meets John Lennon, the Xerox machine, death of Stalin, Hillary and Norgay climb Mount Everest, the Polio vaccine, the Warsaw Pact, Suez Crisis, introduction of transatlantic jetliners, China’s Giant Leap, the European Economic Community, the Malayan Emergency, the Algerian War, the Eurovision Song Contest, Peanuts comic strip, Fahrenheit 451, The Lord of the Flies, the Chevrolet Corvette, Barbie, Super Glue, Power Steering, first Video Tape Recorder, first Diet soft drinks, the Black Box, invention of Liquid Paper, the first computer game – Tennis for Two, and TV dinners to name just a few.

We welcome papers from researchers across the academic spectrum and encourage papers from postgraduate researchers and early career researchers. Papers from this conference will have the opportunity to be published.

To whet your appetite, we have provided some topics below. We will also accept topics beyond this scope:

• “I can't imagine there has ever been a more gratifying time or place to be alive than America in the 1950s. No country had ever known such prosperity.” – 1950s America in popular culture.
• “Some people would like the world to go back to the 1950s.” – Retromania and subcultur
• “In 1955, when I'd write a science-fiction novel, I'd set it in the year 2000. I realised around 1977 that, 'My God, it's getting exactly like those novels we used to write in the 1950s!' Everything's just turning out to be real.” – Science fiction of the 1950s
• “My law school class in the late 1950s numbered over 500. That class included less than 10 women.” – Women’s careers as depicted in 1950s films
• “But let's just say, I'm Irish. I grew up in the 1950s. Religion had a very tight iron fist.” – Associations of religion and the 1950s in popular culture.
• "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." – Neighbours, community and culture in the 1950s.
• We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight – The rock ‘n’ roll phenomenon.
• “You can't just walk out of a drive-in.” – Leisure activities of the 1950s
• “A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past.” – Communism, socialism and capitalism of the 1950s in popular culture.
• “I could have gone on flying through space forever” – How the space race captured the public imagination.
• “I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.” – Remembering racism and protest in the 1950s.
• “Ban the Bomb” - Nuclear weapons in popular culture
• "[Franklin] came very much closer to the discovery of the double helix than she has usually been credited with doing." – science, gender and women.
• “The second thing was they just wanted to lay a few fists and see a fair bit of Russian blood in the pool. And that's what happened. – Sport as a battleground for Cold War politics

Please email abstracts (200 words) to popcrn@une.edu.au by 31st January 2025. Please include your name, affiliation, email address, title of paper, orcid ID (where available), google scholar link (where available) and a short biography (100 words). Registration is free.



Last updated February 13, 2024

CFP New York Tolkien Conference 2024 (4/30/2024; New York 6/15/2024)

New York Tolkien Conference

deadline for submissions: April 30, 2024

full name / name of organization: New York Tolkien Conference

contact email: christopher.tuthill@baruch.cuny.edu

main site: https://nyctolkienconference.wordpress.com/2024/01/16/call-for-papers-20...



The organizers of the 2024 New York Tolkien Conference are seeking proposals related to the following:

• Presentations on Tolkien and the Inklings, their literary work, or related issues.
• Papers on fantastic fiction–this can include anything from books heavily influenced by Middle-earth to other genres of fantasy. Examples of authors we’re interested in include George RR Martin, Octavia Butler, Tad Williams, Ursula K. LeGuin, Gene Wolfe, Susanna Clarke, Terry Pratchett, Tim Powers, J.K. Rowling, and Nnedi Okorafor.
• Fantasy that preceded Tolkien, or presentations dealing with Tolkien’s influences.
• Presentations on (or demos of) board and tabletop games dealing with Middle-earth or other fantasy realms.
• Discussions of Tolkien’s scholarly work

If you are wondering whether your topic might fit with the conference, please ask! We are open to different approaches.

If you are interested in presenting at the conference, please upload your paper proposal at the link below. Proposals are now open, and we will make decisions for scheduling by mid-April. https://baruch.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8cUCJKsREiLqV0i

For further information about previous conferences and the organizers, please see the conference page and archive below. The conference will take place Saturday, June 15, 2024 at Baruch College in New York.

If you have any other questions, please contact Christopher Tuthill at christopher.tuthill@baruch.cuny.edu


Last updated January 17, 2024
This CFP has been viewed 677 times.

CFP Mythmoot XI: The Resilience of Imagination (3/31/2024; Leesburg, VA/Online 6/20-23/2024)

Mythmoot XI: The Resilience of Imagination

deadline for submissions: March 31, 2024

full name / name of organization: Signum University

contact email: events@signumu.org

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/02/05/mythmoot-xi-the-resilience-of-imagination

event page: https://signumuniversity.org/mythmoot/mythmoot-xi/

The Resilience of Imagination

June 20-23, 2024

National Conference Center,

Leesburg, VA

“In a time of destruction, create something”

Maxine Hong Kingston

This year, our theme is “The Resilience of Imagination.” Imagination intrinsically ties into stories and the creative work that creates the world and characters contained within said stories. Imagination does not limit itself just to writers though – anyone who creates or interacts with art relates to imagination. What does imagination mean in a story? How do you use imagination? What does it encompass?

Resilience is a capacity to withstand, an endurance, and a term that can apply to imagination in a variety of ways. How do you see the resilience of imagination in the books, games, films, and other media you consume? Is it something the author places into the secondary world? Is it something that you, as a creator, consider?


“We all have futures. We all have pasts. We all have stories. And we all, every single one of us, no matter who we are and no matter what’s been taken from us or what poison we’ve internalized or how hard we’ve had to work to expel it—we all get to dream.”

N. K. Jemisin

We are accepting proposals for Papers, Panels, Workshops, and Creative Presentations about our theme of “The Resilience of Imagination” in the following areas:

• Imaginative Literature including film and other media (ex: Howl’s Moving Castle, Dune, The Broken Earth Trilogy, Naruto, The Left Hand of Darkness, Star Trek, Kindred, The Vorkosigan Saga, Lord of the Rings, Watership Down, etc.)
• Tolkien and Inklings Studies
• Classic Literature from ancient times to the present
• Philology, Historical Linguistics, ConLangs and invented worlds
• interrelated topics such as superheroes, philosophy, media, and fandom studies

If you are unsure whether your topic fits, send your proposal or a description of your idea to events@signumu.org, and we will review it for relevance.

(N.B. The “creative” category is not limited to original works of fiction but can include crafting, music, drama, dance, or other performative arts. If you have questions about what you can present, please contact us.)

Individual presentation/paper whether creative or critical, will have 30 minutes: 20 minutes for presentation and 10 for Q&A. Each presentation/paper will be presented in 90-minute sessions of 1 – 3 presenters.

Panels must contain at least 3 papers and/or presenters and will be allocated 90 minutes total, inclusive of presentations and Q&A.

Workshops will be either 30 min, 60 min, or 90 min; the proposal must include justification for the requested time. We recommend at least two leaders for each workshop. (Workshop examples: the knitting of a phoenix, an interactive discussion on the elements of haunted house novels that are also used when describing houses in the real world, etc.)!

To submit visit the conference CFP page: https://signumuniversity.org/mythmoot/mythmoot-xi/mythmoot-xi-call-for-p... which will have a link to the submission form.

No presentations will be given if you are not registered to attend, and your submission to Mythmoot XI is considered an agreement to both register, at the cost of the conference ticket, and attend (either digitally or in person) to present should your proposal be accepted.

For an in-person event, each room will have a projector for presenter use. If you are presenting virtually, ensure that you have access to a computer, video camera, and microphone.



Last updated February 8, 2024
This CFP has been viewed 286 times.

CFP Academic Track Multiverse Convention (6/30/2024; Peachtree City, GA 10/18-20/2024)

Multiverse Convention 2024

deadline for submissions: June 30, 2024

full name / name of organization: Multiverse Convention

contact email: learn@multiversecon.org

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/02/16/multiverse-convention-2024

Call for Submissions Multiverse Convention Event Date & Location: October 18-October 20, 2024, Hilton Peachtree City, 2443 HWY 54

Call for Submissions
Multiverse Convention
Event Date & Location: October 18-October 20, 2024, Hilton Peachtree
City, 2443 HWY 54 West, Peachtree City, Georgia, 30269
Deadline for Submissions: June 30, 2024

Name of Organization: Multiverse Convention
Organization Website: https://www.multiversecon.org
Contact Email: Rhonda Jackson Joseph, Learn@Multiversecon.org

CONVENTION THEME:

Multiverse 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 Convention is seeking academic presentations of 15, 25, and 45
minutes in length for our 2024 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 2024 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 here:
https://www.multiversecon.org/be-a-guest-apps-open.

Please note that guest applications (not the CFP) close on April 1.

Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis up until June 30th.

Acceptances will be sent out no later than July 31.


Last updated February 19, 2024
This CFP has been viewed 189 times.

CFP Current Research in Speculative Fiction Conference 2024 (3/24/2024; Liverpool, Eng./Hybrid 7/3-5/2024)

Current Research in Speculative Fiction Conference 2024

deadline for submissions: March 24, 2024

full name / name of organization: Current Research in Speculative Fiction

contact email: crsf.team@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/01/22/current-research-in-speculative-fiction-conference-2024

Current Research in Speculative Fiction 2024

14th Annual Conference

3 – 5th July 2024, University of Liverpool, Offline and Online, https://crsfhome.home.blog/



“I realize I don’t know very much. None of us knows very much. But we can all learn more. Then we can teach one another. We can stop denying reality or hoping it will go away by magic.”(Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower)



KEYNOTES: Lindz McLeod (Manchester Metropolitan University); TBC



AUTHOR ROUNDTABLE: (TBC)



ACADEMIC PUBLISHING ROUNDTABLE (TBC)



SF WRITING WORKSHOP

Dr Rachel Handley (Possible Worlds and Other Stories, 2022; various other publications including in The Liminal Review and Sonder Magazine)



OTHER ACTIVITIES (in person): ARCHIVE VISIT (July 3rd); OPEN MIC (July 4th)



“Economics was like psychology, a pseudoscience trying to hide that fact with intense theoretical hyperelaboration. And gross domestic product was one of those unfortunate measurement concepts, like inches or the British thermal unit, that ought to have been retired long before.” (Kim Stanley Robinson, Blue Mars)



“When the reasoning mind is forced to confront the impossible again and again, it has no choice but to adapt.”

(N.K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season)



Whether it is science fiction, fantasy, or horror, speculative fiction allows us to imagine new worlds, for authors and readers to fully engage their imaginations with what is beyond our current capabilities or comprehension. We build up Earth in beauty and destruction. We think of distant new planets or dimensions, radical and fantastical species, and find that even in the darkest dystopias there is something to learn. For CRSF’s 14th year, this hybrid offline/online event seeks to generate interdisciplinary discussions of growth in speculative fiction, exploring the theme in its many different guises.



We welcome papers from the fields of literary studies, creative writing, media studies, philosophy, art, anthropology, sociology, and political theory that speak to, but are not limited to:

• Technological growth, uplift fictions; advanced societies
• Expansion; population growth; space colonisation; speculative worlds
• Representations of waste such as nuclear waste; humans and animals as waste; natural resources
• Representations of transhumanism, augmented or artificial intelligence, robotics, and extra-terrestrial life
• The body and its transformations (the posthuman body; the racialised & gendered body; the queer body)
• Speculative fiction as a vehicle of political critique and social transformation
• Interrelationships between power, fantasy, actors, action, forms, and reality
• Forms of alternative kinship made possible (or restricted) by speculative fiction
• Breaching boundaries in speculative fiction

We welcome proposals for academic and artistic contributions that speak to any of the issues. Papers should be 15-20 minutes long. Abstracts (max. 300 words) and a short biographical note (max. 100 words) should be submitted to crsf.team@gmail.com by March 24th. For those reading at the open mic, please submit your piece (any speculative prose, poetry, or drama, max. 1500 words) to the same address by May 31st to secure a reading spot on the night.



All queries can be directed to the above email address or message on Twitter @CRSFteam or Instagram @crsfliverpool.

https://crsfhome.home.blog/


Last updated January 24, 2024
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Mythlore for Fall Winter 2023

 

The latest from the Mythopoeic Society. Available for purchase at their website.

Mythlore 143 Volume 42, Issue 1

Fall/Winter 2023    

Table of Contents

Editorial

— Janet Brennan Croft

The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder of Frodo Baggins

— Bruce Leonard

“It is ‘About’ Nothing But Itself”: Tolkienian Theology Beyond the Domination of the Author

— Tom Emanuel

“Or Break It”: The Cost of Silmarils and Sworn Oaths

— Alexander M. Bruce

Through Fire and Water: The Exodus of the Gondothlim

— Ethan Danner

“A Bleak, Barren Land”: Women and Fertility in The Lord of the Rings

— Dylan L. Henderson

Otherworldly but not the Otherworld: Tolkien’s Adaptation of Medieval Faerie and Fairies into a Sub-creative Elvendom

— Elliot Thomas Collins

Negative Estrangement: Fantasy and Race in the Drow and Drizzt Do’Urden

— Steven Holmes

Mythos to Myth to Mythopoeia: A Cyclical Process

— Ashna Mary Jacobs and Nirmala Menon

Notes and Letters

“A Fearful Weapon” — Verlyn Flieger

The Sun, The Son, and the Silmarillion: Christopher Tolkien and the Copernican Revolution of Morgoth’s Ring — Kristine Larsen

On the Rings of Power: Thoughts Inspired by Larry Burris’s “Sentience and Sapience in the One Ring” — Nancy Martsch

Nine Tolkien Scholars Respond to Charles W. Mills’s “The Wretched of Middle-earth: An Orkish Manifesto” — Robin Anne Reid, Bianca L. Beronio, Robert Stuart, Robert T. Tally Jr., Tom Ue, Cait Coker, Cami Agan, Charlotte Krausz, Helen Young

To the Editor — Charles A. Huttar

The C.S. Lewis Correspondence Project — Bruce R. Johnson

In Memoriam: Mike Foster — Janet Brennan Croft

Reviews

Inkling, Historian, Soldier, And Brother: A Life Of Warren Hamilton Lewis by Don W. King — David Bratman

“Uncle Curro”: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Spanish Connection by José Manuel Ferrández Bru — Nicole M. duPlessis

C.S. Lewis for Beginners by Louis Markos — Wendell Wagner

Jewish Fantasy Worldwide: Trends in Speculative Stories from Australia to Chile, edited by Valerie Estelle Frankel — G. Connor Salter

Tolkien Dogmatics: Theology through Mythology with the Maker of Middle-earth by Austin M. Freeman — Alex (Oleksiy) Ostaltsev

The Lion’s Country: C.S. Lewis’s Theory of the Real by Charlie W. Starr — Mark-Elliot Finley

How to Misunderstand Tolkien: The Critics and the Fantasy Master by Bruno Bacelli — Nancy Martsch

Death in Supernatural: Critical Essays, edited by Amanda Taylor and Susan Nylander — Martina G. Wise

Adapting Tolkien: Proceedings of the Tolkien Society Seminar 2020, edited by Will Sherwood — Alana White

East of the Wardrobe: The Unexpected Worlds of C.S. Lewis by Warwick Ball — Philip Irving Mitchell

Nólë Hyarmenillo: An Anthology of Iberian Scholarship on Tolkien, edited by Nuno Simões Rodrigues, Martin Simonson, and Angélica Varandas — Nancy Martsch

Sunbeams and Bottles: The Theology, Thought and Reading of C.S. Lewis by James Prothero — Suzanne Bray

The Great Tales Never End: Essays in Memory of Christopher Tolkien, edited by Richard Ovenden and Catherine McIlwaine — Cait Coker

Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination, Second Edition, by Vigen Guroian — Sarah O’Dell

Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Woood: A Critical Companion by Paul Kincaid — Glenn R. Gray

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man, by Michael Ward — Jeremy M. Rios

Briefly Noted:

The Fairy Tale World, edited by Andrew Teverson — Janet Brennan Croft