CFP Fan Studies Network North America (FSNNA) 2025 conference (5/16/2025; online 10/23-26/2025)

Fan Studies Network North America (FSNNA) 2025 conference

deadline for submissions: 

May 16, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

Fan Studies Network North America (FSNNA)

contact email: 

fsnna.conference@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/05/05/fan-studies-network-north-america-fsnna-2025-conference

Get Ready – CFP for FSNNA 2025! Call for Participation

Fan Studies Network North America Conference 2025 (virtual)

October 23-26, 2025

 

REPUTATION: Influence, Power, and Capital

FSNNA Annual Conference 2025

When fan studies first emerged as an undisciplined discipline, fandom was more of a niche activity whose practices (and even existence) still had to be explained to a general readership. Today though, fandom is a widely recognized phenomenon, a frame of reference for popular culture, and a desirable market demographic for new cultural products like music, films, and games. These broader cultural shifts are often mirrored within fandom itself: experienced fans observe that multifandom peers move from interest to interest faster, while new fans might enter fandom(s) without any knowledge of community norms. 

As participation in fandom has broadened, changing fan experiences and fan cultures, many reckon with questions about what it means to be in fandom and to be a fan today. While most seem to embrace and accept the idea that fandom can be fun, there’s a shared sense that it is also so much more. But what does that entail? Is fandom a form of activism? Slacktivism? Representation? Social justice work? Moral stance? Popularity contest? Some combination thereof?

As we consider the shifting understandings and reputations of fandom(s), fan studies has much to offer. Who holds the most influence? Who wields what kinds of power? How do social, subcultural, and financial capital intersect with grassroots activity and forms of production? And how does all of this change fandom in turn? 

As this conference enters its eighth year, FSNNA invites proposals exploring these avenues into fandom and fan studies. We are especially interested in work that considers how fan communities, activities, and works interact or engage with the reputation of fandom itself – for better, for worse, or for both. 

Submissions for the 2025 FSNNA Conference

Fan Studies Network North America (FSNNA) warmly welcomes submissions from early career researchers, graduate students, and independent scholars, as well as established scholars. (This year, we’re also offering a track specifically for undergraduate students: check out the parallel cfp HERE!) Contributions are welcomed from across disciplines, not just fan studies: we are interested in work from media studies, the humanities, the social sciences, library science, and more.

Some topics that we hope to see submissions for include (but are not limited to!):

• Capital and fandom participation: financial/economic capital, social capital, cultural capital, etc. 
• Influence in fandom: parasocial relationships, BNFs, microcelebrities, 
• Power in fandom: politics, policing, gatekeeping; who speaks, creates, listens, learns  
• Having a platform: platform migration, features, community roles, moderation
• Intersectional identities: fans, fan-creators, performers, authors, actors
• Antagonisms and Fandom: the changing language and nature of “anti-fandom” 
• Fandom during crisis: in continuing “post-Covid” era, during rise of global fascism, during online platform precarity
• Internal and external perceptions of fandom: media representations, stigmatization, celebration, misinformation

This work may focus on specific media texts (e.g., film, television, print texts/series, games, video streaming, etc.) or other fan-objects (e.g., sports, music, celebrity culture, etc.). Alternatively, it may consider specific national or regional contexts, theoretical approaches to studying fandom, investigations of fanwork genres or fan practices, and more.

Format of the 2025 Conference

FSNNA 2025 is once again a discussion-focused online conference with accessibility, interdisciplinarity, and global participation at its heart. However, based on participant feedback from previous years, we are moving towards a format that allows for longer conference presentations of roughly 10-15 minutes apiece. Essentially, you can choose one of two options. 

1. Presentation Track (Roundtable Talk + Poster)

Participants on the presentation track will be grouped into roundtables based on overlapping objects, approaches, methods, or themes. Each presenter will have an opportunity to introduce themselves and explore their work for 10-15 minutes, followed by a moderated discussion and Q&A with the audience.

Participants will also prepare a digital poster summarizing their research contribution. (More specific guidelines about poster formats will be available after submissions are evaluated.)

2. Poster Track (Poster ONLY) 

Participants on the poster track will prepare a digital poster summarizing their research contribution. They will not be assigned to a roundtable or introduce their work during a talk. 

All posters from both tracks will be available asynchronously throughout the conference in our Discord server, where attendees can post questions and share feedback.

PLEASE NOTE: As part of your application, you will be asked to stipulate which track you are applying for – presentations or poster only. Likewise, once a submission is accepted, the participation format cannot be changed (i.e., you cannot move from poster only to presentation, or vice versa).  

As in past years, we also welcome the submission of pre-constituted roundtables, which are a group of 3-5 talks that are already organized around a shared topic, text, and/or method. Please note, however, that participants in a pre-constituted roundtable must still contribute posters.

Submissions are due by Friday, May 16.

Submission Details

Ready to submit your work for FSNNA 2025? Here’s what the application form will ask for: 

• An abstract of ~300 words (include a clear explanation of your research, methods, and the project’s relevance to fan studies and fan studies scholars)
• 3-5 keywords about your poster (may include topics, texts, theories, methods, etc.)
• A bibliography of 3–5 references
• A biographical statement (~50 words)

Get Ready for the 2025 Conference!

We’re excited to consider your work for the 2025 FSNNA conference! We also encourage you to check out a new offering this year: a parallel cfp for undergraduates interested in presenting their fan studies work at FSNNA.

Still have a question? Please feel free to contact us at fsnna.conference@gmail.com.

Ready to submit your work? Visit our submission form HERE

(Or if the link above doesn’t work, copy and paste this into your browser: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtiTvsJS6_dIOdAGyfjeVM-_i7QGwOhi3ICmLHfWfRYRrlGA/viewform?usp=sharing)

Last updated May 5, 2025

Call for Book Chapters -- Fans, Fandoms, and Tabletop Roleplaying Games (6/15/2025)

Call for Book Chapters -- Fans, Fandoms, and Tabletop Roleplaying Games

deadline for submissions: 

June 15, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

Fans, Fandoms, and Tabletop Roleplaying Games

contact email: 

fans.fandoms.and.ttrpgs@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/05/05/call-for-book-chapters-fans-fandoms-and-tabletop-roleplaying-games

Call for Book Chapters
on Fans, Fandoms, and Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Deadline for submissions: Sunday, June 15, 2025

Contact email:fans.fandoms.and.ttrpgs@gmail.com 

 

Editors: 

Maria K. Alberto, University of Utah

Adrianna Burton, University of California – Irvine

 

We are seeking proposals for chapters to be included in a peer-reviewed edited collection on fans, fandom(s), and tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). The University of Michigan Press has expressed interest in this collection and the book proposal is currently underway. 

 

TTRPGs are rapidly evolving, as are their players, designers, and content creators. For example, industry titan Wizards of the Coast released a new 2024 Dungeons & Dragons ruleset; Catalyst Games successfully crowdfunded a Frostpunk tabletop adaptation; and indie studios like Evil Hat and Crossed Paths continue launching new games. Meanwhile, actual play (in which players record themselves playing TTRPGs, and the recordings are released as their own media texts) has proven a booming area of interest. Actual play shows like Critical Role and Dimension 20 regularly draw tens of thousands of viewers each week; these shows are also expanding in new directions with spin-offs like live events, novelizations, and more. TTRPGs have even made it mainstream both on the silver screen, in movies like Honor Among Thieves (Paramount Pictures, 2023), and on consoles, as with video games such as Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios, 2023). 

 

Underlying all of these developments is the undeniable involvement of fans, who play a critical role in the success of TTRPGs both new and established. This edited collection will critically explore relationships between fans, fandom(s), and TTRPGs, examining how these connections impact analog gaming in both its long-standing and emerging forms.

We are interested in close readings of specific texts, in autoethnographic or personal experiences contextualized critically, and in considerations of historical or overall trends and movements, among other approaches. We invite perspectives from game studies, fan studies, and beyond; other disciplines may include performance studies, digital humanities, pop culture studies, sociology, communication, media studies, interdisciplinary work, and more. This collection is ultimately interested in exploring questions such as: who are fans of TTRPGs? How might fans relate their positionality as simultaneously TTRPG players, creators, and/or freelancers? How do TTRPGs and their producers view their fans and fandom? How do fans position themselves in reaction to industry or textual changes?

Potential topics for chapters include, but are not limited to: 

• Fan productions inspired by TTRPGs (fanfiction, fanart, fanvids, etc.) 

• Positionality of TTRPG fans and/as players

• TTRPG fan culture - in general, or for mainstream vs. indie TTRPGs

• Navigation of TTRPG fandom (as fan, creator, consumer, viewer, or other positionalities)

• Industry perspectives on TTRPG fandom

• Design for fans, fandom, and/or fan engagement

• Designers and industry professionals as fans

• Fan reactions to industry or textual changes like the Open Game License (OGL), Open RPG Creative License (ORC), new seasons of actual plays,etc.

• Fans of actual play shows 

• Education and TTRPG fandom

• Technology/digital platforms and TTRPG fandom

• Other topics related to TTRPG fans and fandom(s)

 

Please submit a 300-500 word abstract for your proposed chapter (including title, 3-5 keywords, and a 100-150 word author bio) to fans.fandoms.and.ttrpgs@gmail.com with the subject line “Chapter Proposal [Author Name].” 

 

Deadline for Abstract Submission: June 15, 2025

Notification of Acceptance: July 1, 2025

Full Chapter First Draft Submission Deadline: December 15, 2025

Last updated May 5, 2025

Panel Call for ICFA 2020: Expanding the Archive (10/11/2019; Orlando 3/2020))

Panel Call for ICFA 2020: Expanding the Archive
July 2, 2019
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2019/panel-call-for-icfa-2020-expanding-the-archive/


Panel Call for ICFA 2020: Expanding the Archive

In 2019, the fanfiction site Archive of Our Own (AO3) was nominated for a Hugo award. This repository of nearly 5 million original works, representing over 30 thousand fandoms, stands out in the world of Science Fiction and Fantasy awards not only because of the sheer number of authors it represents, but also because it is the first nomination for unpublished fanfiction and many of the authors are young women. This nomination draws attention to what is “archived” and, by extension, what is valued. AO3’s nomination is not the year’s only example of the expanding canon of Speculative Fiction. The documentary film Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, produced by Tananarive Due, directed by Xavier Burgin, and based on Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman’s book Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present (2011), begins with the assertion that “black history is black horror” and tracks how the genre can engage with questions of race and power. Similarly, Dr. Ebony Thomas’s The Dark Fantastic considers Black female characters Bonnie Bennett (CW’s The Vampire Diaries), Rue (The Hunger Games), Gwen (Merlin), and Angelina Johnson (Harry Potter), and explores how these characters mirror racist violence in the real world. Each of these examples makes a case for expanding the idea of the canon (and what we value enough to archive) to include different types of characters and voices.

In terms of physical archives, a recent open letter on the Reading While White blog called out the lack of context and white-washing of the University of Minnesota’s Children’s Literature Research Collection’s exhibit and corresponding book The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter, demonstrating that even professional archives are not neutral—especially once their materials are extracted and exhibited for public consumption. In the wake of this controversy, curators of archives, whether in libraries, classrooms, or their own scholarly work, must address how the materials presented and their surrounding context represent choices that speak to the curator’s values and priorities.

When archives hold the power to exclude and include, to value and affirm both people and genre, then how do we as scholars decide what belongs and how do we think through the consequences of those choices for ourselves, our students, and our field? We encourage submissions that answer these questions and otherwise critically examine the speculative fiction archive, broadly defined.

Submissions may consider but are not limited to the following topics in relation to archives:

• Accessibility
• Materialism
• The worth/value estimation of collecting
• Teaching courses in the archives
• Archival pedagogy- constructing the archives for our courses/ asking students to construct their own archives
• Controversies and canon
• Digital collections
• Internet as archive
• Fan spaces
• Race and representation
• Award winners as archive

Please submit a 300-500 word abstract and preliminary bibliography to Emily Midkiff (midki003@umn.edu) or Sara Austin (austins4@miamioh.edu) by Oct 11, 2019. Abstracts will also be considered for a special issue of the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, for which we will be issuing a CFP in November.

Bookmark the Google Doc version of this call to keep on top of any updates: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i1_izexTPz_vj8hfreDZjqaXc3yNN4zud5ifc6TV9QA/edit?usp=sharing

CFP Indiana Jones and the Edited Collection of Critical Essays (9/1/2018)

A great idea for a collection:

Indiana Jones and the Edited Collection of Critical Essays
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/05/20/indiana-jones-and-the-edited-collection-of-critical-essays

deadline for submissions: September 1, 2018

full name / name of organization: Randy Laist / McFarland

contact email: rlaist@goodwin.edu


With his signature bullwhip and fedora, the familiar sounds of his orchestral anthem, and his eventful explorations into the arcana of world religions, Indiana Jones – archeologist, adventurer, and ophidiophobe – has become one of the most recognizable heroes of the silver screen. Since his debut in 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones has appeared in three sequels, and Steven Spielberg has recently announced that he will soon begin production on a fifth Indiana Jones film. Along the way, the character has spawned a raft of children’s novels, cartoon and live-action television series, and video and role-playing games. Despite the longevity and popularity of the Indiana Jones franchise, however, it has rarely been the focus of academic criticism, a fact which is surprising considering the critical attention enjoyed by other early George Lucas and Steven Spielberg films. As stories about archeology, the Indiana Jones tales reflect an array of ethical questions and representational issues regarding the nature of the past. As stories about an American man globe-trotting in the middle of the twentieth century, Indiana Jones’s adventures intersect with a wide range of cultural narratives about World War II, the late colonial era, and late-century nostalgia for perceived mid-century ideals. As stories about the sacred, Indiana Jones’s quests engage questions about the nature of the sublime, the representation of the otherworldly, and the role of narrative in constructing reality.

McFarland is interested in publishing a multiauthor volume about the Indiana Jones franchise. While the study will approach the subject from a wide range of perspectives, the book will be centered around the theme of the quest. Indiana Jones narratives are propelled by the pursuit of what Hitchcock called the MacGuffin and what Lacan called objet petit a, and they dramatize and comment upon the nature of loss, desire, and ambiguous retrieval, as well as upon the dynamics of acquisitiveness, appropriation, and possession. Indiana Jones’s reclamation of sacred objects illustrates cultural attitudes about how the past is remembered and preserved (or not), how historical truth is defined and organized, and how socio-political power becomes invested in physical artifacts. At the same time, Indiana Jones films are themselves historical artifacts, glowing with the same shimmering aura of signification that Spielberg’s camera imparts to Indy’s quarries. The theme of the quest, therefore, unites the analysis of individual Indiana Jones texts with the wider analysis of Indiana Jones as a cultural reference point.

Chapter topics may include, but are by no means limited to, such subjects as:

• Representations of: archeology, Nazism, the sacred, the past, colonialism, non-Western cultures, mid-century America, World War II, heroism, paternity, globalization, geography, etc.
• Indiana Jones and cinematic pastiche: the inheritance of Gunga Din (1929), King Solomon's Mines (1950), The Secret of the Incas (1954), film noir, etc.
• The relationship between the Indiana Jones films and Spielberg’s other films
• Indiana Jones and the “hard body” action hero of the 1980s
• The extended franchise: children’s novels, Choose Your Own Adventure books, role-playing games, video games, “The Young Indiana Jones,” etc.
• Representations of women: plucky sidekicks, damsels in distress, femmes fatales
• Fan culture, from the Gen-X nostalgia of Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (2015) to the hostile reception of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
• Narratology of the artifact: the MacGuffin, le petit object a, the Holy Grail, etc.
• Cultural appropriation and the controversial legacy of Hiram Bingham
• Indiana’s fear of snakes and the theme of threatening encounters with different animal species throughout the series

Please send 300-word abstracts to Randy Laist at rlaist@goodwin.edu by September 1, 2018, or feel free to contact me with queries at any time.

CFP Everything Old Is New Again: Adapting the Classics in Contemporary Young Adult Novels (9/1/2018)

A nicely written call on an important topic:

Everything Old Is New Again: Adapting the Classics in Contemporary Young Adult Novels
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/30/everything-old-is-new-again-adapting-the-classics-in-contemporary-young-adult-novels

deadline for submissions: September 1, 2018

full name / name of organization: Drs. Dana Lawrence and Amy L. Montz

contact email: almontz@usi.edu



CALL FOR PAPERS

Everything Old Is New Again:

Adapting the Classics in Contemporary Young Adult Novels

“An adaptation is not vampiric: it does not draw the life-blood from its source and leave it dying or dead, nor is it paler than the adapted work. It may, on the contrary, keep that prior work alive, giving it an afterlife it would never have had otherwise” (Linda Hutcheon, A Theory of Adaptation, 2006).

Linda Hutcheon’s refusal to see adaptation as “vampiric” is particularly inspiring for those who do work on adaptations. The idea of an “afterlife” of texts, of seeing what comes before as an inspiration for what comes now is, by its very definition, keeping works “alive.” Adaptations for young adults, in particular, have the added benefit of engaging the young adult reader with both then and now, past and present. The hope is, of course, that the young adult reader will approach both text and context, both original and adaptation, to explore the importance of a theme, or a writer, or a novel, and see the historical, cultural, and literary connotations presented. Linda Hutcheon defines adaptation further by noting, "If we know that prior text, we always feel its presence shadowing the one we are experiencing directly. When we call a work an adaptation, we openly announce its overt relationship to another work or works.” Adaptation is about connection, connective tissues leading from one text to another, one author to another, one time to another. We see an adaptation and we must remember the original, engage with the original, and are encouraged to visit the original for the first time, or once again.


For this proposed collection, we are most interested in essays that explore relationships between texts and contexts, that see the connections between canonical and young adult literature. As adaptation simultaneously re-imagines and reinscribes a literary canon, the engagement with the canon is a key aspect of the adaptive qualities of the text. The author’s familiarity with the original work--or, for the purposes of this collection, the original author--lends new life to the canonical text. In “Seven Types of Intertextuality,” Robert S. Miola understands adaptations as “literary progeny that bear direct and immediate descent from originary texts and that exist in a very conscious counterpoise of tribute and criticism…If an author’s revision of his or her own work asserts his or her power and domination, then the reviser of another’s work enacts a rebellion and usurpation.” What remains unique about the adaptation is this tension between tribute and criticism, particularly when issues of race, gender, and other aspects of diversity are brought into play. Seeing the past through new eyes means we must examine the past in all its defects. It means engaging with our predecessors and the rights, and wrongs, of their literatures.


“Everything Old Is New Again: Adapting the Classics in Contemporary Young Adult Novels” will explore the “afterlife” of texts and contexts. These historical and literary phenomena will argue that adapting the classics is a way to engage young adult readers with their cultural past, and to see how that past can be rewritten in order to best present what can be changed, what benefits from change, and how they, too, can be agents of change. These adaptations empower young readers to make them more culturally, historically, and socially aware through the lens of literary diversity.

Topics may include:

• Authenticity
• Authorship and Authority
• Fan fiction
• Graphic Novel Adaptations
• Sequels and prequels
• Rewrites of canonical texts

Of particular interest are essays about texts that diversify race, sexuality, gender, and ability in adaptations.

Interested authors will need to submit a 500-word abstract and 150-200 word bio by September 1, 2018. Selected abstracts will be included in a book proposal to a peer-reviewed publisher. 6,000 to 8,000 word essays will due early in 2019. Please submit abstracts to both Dr. Amy L. Montz at almontz@usi.edu and Dr. Dana Lawrence at lawrende@mailbox.sc.edu. Questions can be addressed to both, as well.

CFP Journal Issue on Tim Burton (Spec Issue of Parol: Qauderni d'Arte e di Epistemologia) (expired)

Sorry to have missed posting this earlier; it is certainly a publication worth looking out for:

Journal Issue on Tim Burton
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/03/16/journal-issue-on-tim-burton

deadline for submissions: May 15, 2018

full name / name of organization: Dr. Antonio Sanna

contact email: isonisanna@hotmail.com



Journal Issue on Tim Burton

Edited by Antonio Sanna

Tim Burton is certainly one of the most popular directors of contemporary Hollywood. His oeuvre includes blockbuster films such as Batman (1989), Planet of the Apes (2001) and Alice in Wonderland (2010) as well as less profitable– but still highly recognizable - films such as Ed Wood (1994). His work with stop motion, evident in Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005) and the recent Frankenweenie (2013) has further popularized and updated a technique that has been fundamental in cinema since the silent era. His distinctive and personal touch, a visionary style that is now referred to as “Burtonesque”, and his frequent collaborations with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Danny Elfman (to mention merely a few) has contributed to establish a unique and identifiable brand.

The Italian academic and peer-reviewed journal Parol: Qauderni d'Arte e di Epistemologia will dedicate one of its next issues to the artistic production of the American director, including a total of six/seven papers on the subject, that explore Burton’s multi-medial oeuvre from multidisciplinary perspectives. The issue will be edited by Antonio Sanna, co-editor of the volume A Critical Companion to Tim Burton (Lexington Books, 2017). The editor seeks previously-unpublished essays that explore the American director’s heterogeneous career, and is particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to the subject that can illuminate the diverse facets of the Burton’s work and his unique visual style.

There are several themes worth exploring when analyzing Burton’s works, utilizing any number of theoretical frameworks of your choosing. The editor requests the papers to be based on formal analysis and to use an academic language. Papers on the visual style of Burton will be particularly appreciated, but contributions may include the following topics:

• Burton and the visual arts
• Humour, Black Humour and the Macabre
• Burton and fairy tales
• Gender and queer readings
• Neo-Victorian art
• Exploration of dreams and the subconscious
• Fascination with machines and ecocriticism
• Mob mentality
• Alienation and misperception, conformity/nonconformity
• Disfigurement, deformity and (dis)ability
• Death and the afterlife
• Intertextuality
• Adaptations, Remakes and Appropriations
• Music and Danny Elfman
• Tim Burton in/and translation
• Evil Clowns
• Fan practice and fan communities

The journal issue will be organized around these topics and others that emerge from submissions. I am open to works that focus on other topics as well and authors interested in pursuing other related lines of inquiry. Feel free to contact the editor with any questions you may have about the project and please share this announcement with colleagues whose work aligns with the focus of this volume.

Submit a 300-500 word abstract of your proposed paper contribution, a brief CV and complete contact information in a single word file to Dr. Antonio Sanna (isonisanna@hotmail.com) by 15 May, 2018. Full chapters of 4000-6000 words will be due by 1 July, 2018 at the latest. Note: all full chapters submitted will be included subject to review.

CFP Sherlock Holmes Fandom (Spec Issue of TWC) (3/1/16)

NB: The original containing formatting errors; I corrected what I could, but I could not find the original source for the call:

CFP: Transformative Works and Cultures Special Issue on Sherlock Holmes
http://fanstudies.org/2015/06/18/cfp-transformative-works-and-cultures-special-issue-on-sherlock-holmes/
By Bethan
Transformative Works and Cultures Special Issue CFP: SHERLOCK HOLMES FANDOM, SHERLOCKIANA, and THE GREAT GAME (3/1/16; 3/15/17)

Sherlock Holmes has attracted devoted fans almost since the date of first publication in 1887.  The oldest still-existing Sherlockian society, the Baker Street Irregulars, was founded in 1934, while the Sherlock Holmes Society of London dates from 1951.  More recent additions to the ever-growing network of organized Sherlock Holmes literary societies include the formerly all-female Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, and fan groups in the media fandom model have arisen, such as the Baker Street Babes and other online communities. This special issue seeks to engage both academics and fans in writing about the older, long established Sherlockian fandom. We welcome papers that address all fandoms of Sherlock Holmes and its adaptations, particularly those that trace the connections and similarities/differences among and between older and newer fandoms.

We welcome submissions dealing with, but not limited to, the following topics:
* Questions of nomenclature, cultural distinction, class, race, gender, and sexuality
* The role of Sherlockian fandom and the Great Game in fandom history
* Academic histories of Sherlockian fandom, both organized and informal
* Connections between new adaptation-based fandoms and the older fandom
* Fan productions, e.g., pastiche, fan works, and Sherlockian writings on the Canon
* Influence of intellectual property law and norms on adaptations and fan productions
* Sherlockian publishing, e.g., MX, Titan, BSI Press or Wessex Press
* Community, e.g., Sherlockians on the Internet or Sherlockian world gatherings
* Specific national fandoms, e.g., Japanese or Chinese Sherlock Holmes reception

*Submission guidelines* Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC, http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) is an international peer-reviewed online Gold Open Access publication of the nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works copyrighted under a Creative Commons License. TWC aims to provide a  publishing outlet that welcomes fan-related topics and to promote dialogue between the academic  community and the fan community. TWC accommodates academic articles of varying scope as well as other forms that embrace the technical possibilities of the Web and test the limits of the genre of academic writing.

Theory: Conceptual essays. Peer review, 6,000-8,000 words.
Praxis: Case study essays. Peer review, 5,000-7,000 words.
Symposium: Short commentary. Editorial review, 1,500-2,500 words.

Please visit TWC’s Web site (http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) for complete submission guidelines, or e-mail the TWC Editor (editor@transformativeworks.org).

*Contact* Contact guest editor Betsy Rosenbaum and Roberta Pearson with any questions or inquiries attwcsherlock@gmail.com.

*Due date* Contributions are due March 1, 2016

CFP Current Research in Speculative Fiction (3/9/15; Liverpool, UK 6/8/15)

Europeans have all the fun:

Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF] 2015
http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/60481
full name / name of organization:
Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF] / University of Liverpool
contact email:
CRSF.team@gmail.com
Current Research in Speculative Fiction 2015
Monday 8th June 2015
University of Liverpool

With Keynote Lectures from:
Dr. Andrew M. Butler (Canterbury Christ Church University)
Dr. Sarah Dillon (University of Cambridge)

Returning for its fifth consecutive year, CRSF is a one day postgraduate conference designed to promote the research of speculative fictions, including SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY and HORROR; showcasing some of the latest developments in these dynamic and evolving fields. CRSF attracts an international selection of delegates and provides a platform for postgraduate students to present their current research, encourages discussion with scholars in related subjects and the construction of crucial networks with fellow researchers. The University of Liverpool, a leading centre for the study of speculative fiction and home to the Science Fiction Foundation Collection, will host the conference. We are seeking abstracts relating to speculative fiction, including, but not limited to, papers on the following topics:

•Alternate History •Alternative Culture •Animal Studies •Anime •Apocalypse •Body Horror •Consciousness •Cyber Culture •Drama •Eco-criticism •Fan Culture •Gaming •(Geo)Politics •Genre •Gender •Graphic Novels •The Grotesque •The Heroic Tradition •Liminal Fantasy •Magic •Meta-Franchises •Morality •Monstrosity •Music •Non-Anglo-American SF •Otherness •Pastoral •Poetry •Politics •Post-Colonialism and Empire •Proto-SF •Psychology •Quests •Realism •Sexuality •Slipstream •Spiritualism •Steampunk •Supernatural •Technology •Time •TV and Film •Urban Fantasy •Utopia/Dystopia •(Virtual) Spaces and Environments •Weird Fiction •World Building •Young Adult Fiction.

Please submit an abstract of 300 words for a 20 minute English language paper and a 100 word biography to CRSF.team@gmail.com by Monday 9th March 2015. Queries can be sent to the same address.

By web submission at 01/27/2015 - 16:25

CFP Otherness and Transgression in Celebrity and Fan Cultures (8/22/14; Denmark 11/21-22/14)

CFP - Otherness and Transgression in Celebrity and Fan Cultures
full name / name of organization:
Aarhus University - Cultural Transformations Research Group
contact email:
otcelebrityfan@gmail.com

Otherness and Transgression in Celebrity and Fan Cultures
Hosted by the Cultural Transformations Research Group, Aarhus University.
November 21-22, 2014

LOCATION: AARHUS UNIVERSITY, DENMARK.
CALL FOR PAPERS DEADLINE: AUGUST 22, 2014

Keynote speaker:
Matt Hills, Aberystwyth University –
"Fans as Celebrities, Celebrities as Fans: The Rise of an Affective Economy?"

The notions of otherness and transgression play an essential part in the cultural work and practices celebrities and fandoms perform inasmuch as these concepts are inseparable from the celebrity and fan cultural processes of social in/exclusion, identification and dissociation, uniformity and diversification, and forces both drawing and disrupting demarcations between normalcy and deviance. To the extent that these processes are actively shaped by and partake in shaping our desires, contempt, ways of thinking and being, otherness and transgression constitute pertinent sites for critical exploration within the two overlapping fields of research, Fan and Celebrity Studies.

A complex and multivalent term, otherness is conventionally signaled by markers of “difference” and the unknown. As difference remains a condition for any determinate sense of identity, otherness is also inevitably implicit and complicit in considerations of subjectivity, identity, and sameness rendering it a pivotal aspect in discussions on both their constitution and impossibility. Likewise, in the field of Fan and Celebrity culture – where categories such as class, gender, race, sexuality, and age dynamically intersect and interact in manifold ways – the identity work, social meanings, and cultural preferences informing both these cultures’ production and consumption of cultural and media texts are also constantly negotiated. Reflexive of the values, biases, and tensions of the social body, they are useful indicators of contemporary configurations and devices for othering; for example, the ways in which the discourses of immorality, pathology, monstrosity, impropriety, and cultism, among others, inform the construction of difference, and function as vehicles for othering that additionally cut diagonally across various imbricating “-isms,” such as racism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism, and lookism.

As difference often implies the perception of deviance, otherness is accompanied by the constant impending threat of transgression, to undo and redraw the differentiating limits determining the provisional identities of entities, behaviors, and bodies. While transgression refers to a violation and exceeding of bounds, it also ambiguously realizes and completes these boundaries as it helps define them and reaffirms a given social order by designating the illicit. This dialectic of the de/stabilizing effects of transgression summons further inquiry in relation to fandoms and celebrity cultures, in which deviance is an attractive commercial component. Construed as particularly excessive, both celebrity personas and subcultural fan practices are defined by their distance from the norm, but where celebrity culture concerns the consumption of transgressive content and narratives of extraordinary personalities, in the case of fan culture, consumption itself is purportedly transgressive. Celebrities are conventionally conceptualized as power-saturated signs seductively reinforcing cultural norms – either through glossy portraits of charismatic individuals advertizing luxurious lifestyles and the censure of celebrities in the scandal genre respectively – and fandoms, conversely, as subversively contesting these norms through the fetishistic appropriation of cultural icons, media products, and playful textual poaching. However, hardly homogenous, both celebrity power and fandoms channel a multitude of contradictory and inconsistent ideological inflections, and entail a complex mesh of conformity and heterogeneity, which informs, for example, the social interaction among fans and their interpretive communities, whose internal fractions struggle over affect and meaning, as well as the pervasive circulation and currency of certain im/proper celebrity images and fan identities. Accordingly, the need to study, explain, and analyze the semiotic labor invested in the celebrity sign and by the fan in a given media product respectively only becomes greater.

In light of today’s new socio-political subjectivities, prosumer and participatory culture, new technologies and distributive modes, expanding networks, and means of communication enabling transcultural proximity between individuals from different parts of the world, new encounters, expressions, and understandings have emerged and with it, transformed nuances of othering, saming, and transgression. As a result, Fan and Celebrity cultures, are in need of a reappraisal in which the new fickle and permeable boundaries between identities, cultural practices, private and public spheres, products and consumers, celebrity and fan bodies, intimacy and estrangement are investigated. Refracting otherness and transgression from overlapping prisms, the pleasures, representations, productions, and affects of celebrity and fan cultures opens up a fruitful and invigorating space for further research.

It is this variety of formulations which this conference wishes to convene on from divergent disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. The Cultural Transformations Research Group at Aarhus University therefore invites submissions exploring celebrity and fan cultures within the scope of the critical spaces and contexts offered by otherness and transgression.

WELCOME TOPICS INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING:

The Intersection of Celebrity and Fan Studies
Sex, Gender, Sexual Differing, and Queering the Fan / Celebrity Body
Cross-Over Celebrities; Ethnicity, Hybridity, and Fandom in Transcultural Contexts
Celebrity Representations of Dis/ability and through Fan Works
The Intersectionalities of Social Categories in Celebrity and Fan Cultures
Notoriety, Infamy, Scandal, Deviance, and Excess
Social Media and the Construction of Celebrity as Other
The Construction of Otherness in Fandom and Fan Works
Monstrosity, the Abject, and Uncanny in Fan Fiction, Fandoms, and Celebrityhood
Pathology, Addiction, Cultism, Confession, and Therapy
Mashing and Vidding: Viral and Violating
Authenticity, Secrecy, Intimacy, and Publicity
Post-feminist Celebrity Narratives and Cultural Forms
Power, Prosumerism, and Participatory Culture
New Modes of Self-Other Relations within Para-social Contexts
Fan and/or Celebrity Shaming
The (Im)Material Other Worlds of Fandoms and the Alternative Spaces of Fan Communities

PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITIES
We are pleased to announce that qualified research papers are considered for prospective publication in a special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Otherness: Essays and Studies, http://www.otherness.dk/journal/. Submitted articles will follow the standard review process of the journal.

PROCEDURE FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSALS FOR PAPERS
The conference is open to scholars and students of all disciplines. Those wishing to participate in the conference are invited to submit an abstract of no more than 300 words to the organizers at otcelebrityfan@gmail.com by Friday, August 22, 2014. The convenors will have reviewed the abstracts and notified the authors of whether their proposals have been accepted no later than September 12, 2014. Papers may be given in English with citations in any language, and are limited to 20 minutes.

All questions regarding conference content (abstracts, presentations, speakers etc.) may be directed to the organizers at otcelebrityfan@gmail.com.

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE:
Matthias Stephan, Ph.D. scholar Claus Toft-Nielsen, Ph.D.
Lise Dilling-Hansen, Ph.D. scholar Susan Yi Sencindiver, Ph.D.


By web submission at 05/09/2014 - 13:28

CFP Fan Phenomena: James Bond (6/30/14)

CFP Fan Phenomena: James Bond
full name / name of organization:
Dr Claire Hines, Southampton Solent University
contact email:
claire.hines@solent.ac.uk
Call for Papers

Fan Phenomena: James Bond

Having recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the James Bond films in 2012, and with pre-production on Bond 24 underway, Intellect's Fan Phenomena book series is now seeking chapters for a new volume on fandom and James Bond. The Fan Phenomena books explore and decode the fascination we have with what constitutes an iconic or cult phenomenon and how a particular person, TV show or film character/film infiltrates its way into the public consciousness. Over the years Bond has proved to be popular with fans, and is an enduring global cultural phenomenon, making him a perfect icon to be covered by the series.

From the original Bond stories written by Ian Fleming, through to the success of the EON-produced films, and other licensed Bond novels, video games and tie-in products, the Bond franchise is long-running and highly financially lucrative, having generated billions of dollars in revenue. But unsurprisingly, given his status as a global icon, Bond has also evolved well beyond this official image to become a popular hero who is deeply influential and widely appropriated. The James Bond (Fan Phenomena) title will examine aspects of the Bond fan culture, and may consider in particular what exploring fans and fandom might bring to debates about Bond’s continued cultural relevance. The emphasis will be on fan culture as an aspect of the Bond phenomenon, and the collection will aim to analyse some of the ways in which this iconic character has been taken up and (re)interpreted, (re)appropriated and (re)branded by and for his fan-base, and across media.

Topics of particular interest might include, but are not limited to:

- Bond as lifestyle icon

e.g. Bond’s influence on fashion, the emulation of Bond through the purchase of clothing/accessories/fragrance, fan appropriation or identification with the Bond image or role, Bond-themed experiences, or Bond as cult hero

- The Bond brand

e.g. the creation of brand partnerships, brand recognition and reinforcement, the significance of ‘Bondomania’, the Bond brand reboot, transmedia Bond, the Bond villain, or Bond girl

- Bond merchandise, memorabilia and collecting

e.g. the significance of product consumption, marketing or creation

- Bond fans’ use of different media to create community

e.g. fan clubs, fanzines, Bond on the internet, video games, books, music or comic books

- The phenomena of Bond fan art, fan fiction, fan films and other fan responses

e.g. the Bond/Q pairing, crossover fan fiction (such as Bond and Harry Potter, Bond and Dr Who, or Bond and Batman), fan interpretations of the Bond character, or Bond fan fiction and copyright

- Bond fan demographics

e.g. the role of gender, sexuality, age in the Bond fan base, global examples of Bond fandom, or stereotypes of the Bond fan

- Arguments and divides between Bond fans

e.g. fans of the Bond books vs. fans of the films, Bond bests and worsts (actors/films/characters), or fan responses to particular characters, casting choices or the direction of the Bond franchise (such as DanielCraigisnotBond.com)

- Bond-inspired tourism

e.g. fans who visit Bond film shooting locations, Bond tours, Bond’s London, or the Bond-related tourist industry

- Bond-inspired spoofs, satires, parodies, imitations and references in film, books, videogames, on TV or other media

e.g. Austin Powers (1997, 1999, 2002), James Pond (1990), ‘You Only Move Twice’ (1996) The Simpsons’ episode, Johnny English (2003), or the short story ‘Bond Strikes Camp’ (1963)

- Bond and philosophy

e.g. the philosophical questions raised by Bond, or the appeal of Bond’s philosophy

- The language of Bond

e.g. key terminology (the ‘Bondian’), the significance of Bond’s body language, or of the repetition of iconic phrases (by fans)

Like other titles in the Fan Phenomena series, this book is aimed at both fans and those interested in the cultural and social aspects of James Bond. As such the book is intended to be entertaining, informative, and accessible to a broad audience.

Please send an abstract (300 words) and a short bio, or direct enquiries to Claire Hines claire.hines@solent.ac.uk by 30 June 2014. Final chapters will be 3,000 – 3,500 words.


By web submission at 04/30/2014 - 11:22

CFP Prestige of Literature (6/15/14; Ottawa 10/10-11/14)

Of potential interest (see especially request for papers on fanfiction):

[UPDATE] The Prestige of Literature--Oct. 10-11, 2014 (Ottawa, ON)
full name / name of organization:
English Department, Carleton University
contact email:
prestigeofliteratureconference@gmail.com

This conference aims to explore the role that prestige plays in the contemporary literary marketplace. James English’s The Economy of Prestige, Gillian Roberts’s Prizing Literature, and Lorraine York’s Literary Celebrity in Canada are prominent examples of recent studies that consider how literary prizes—and debates about prize culture—confer and circulate prestige. English notes that prizes are both “a means of recognizing an ostensibly higher, uniquely aesthetic form of value” and “an arena in which such value often appears subject of the most businesslike system of production and exchange.” For example, when Johanna Skibsrud’s novel The Sentimentalists won the 2010 Giller Prize its independent publisher was forced to sell rights to a company that could handle the increased demand for copies. The ways in which authors can become prestigious have proliferated in recent years. A favourable review or interview in a respected publication, being endorsed by another renowned author, or having one’s work selected for a book club broadcast on radio or television—these are just a few of the paths to literature’s elite echelon of celebrated writers. Writers who reach such heights—Toni Morrison, Junot Diaz, and Margaret Atwood, for example—have moreover used their prestige to draw attention not just to their own work but to other writers and to particular political causes. In recognition of the many forms and sources of prestige that have not yet been significantly studied, as well as furthering current studies on prestige, participants in this conference will consider how prestige is generated and managed, what it is used for, and how it is contested.

Keynotes: Dr. James English, University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Lorraine York, McMaster University

Possible topics include:

· Literary prizes (Canada Reads, Giller, Governor General’s Awards, Pulitzer Prize for fiction, et cetera)
· Literary celebrity
· The “Giller effect”
· Hierarchies of literary genres in awards (discussion of prizes for poetry, drama, etc.)
· Authors and social media
· Effect of reader reviews (Amazon, Goodreads) on sales
· “Anti”-literary awards
· The role of blogs and social media
· Fan Fiction
· In-store promotions
· Authorial endorsements
· Methodological approaches to studying prize culture/prestige

Please submit an abstract of 250-300 words, along with a short bio of 50-75 words, to prestigeofliteratureconference@gmail.com by June 15, 2014.


By web submission at 05/16/2014 - 13:50

CFP Fan Phenomena: The Lord of the Rings (5/15/14)

Head's up from popcaanz.com:

Fan Phenomena: The Lord of the Rings
Posted on May 3, 2014
Call for chapters
Fan Phenomena: The Lord of the Rings
Deadline for abstracts: 15 May 2014

Intellect’s Fan Phenomena series is seeking chapters for a new volume on fandom and The Lord of the Rings films. The series explores and decodes the fascination we have with what constitutes an iconic or cult phenomenon, and how a particular person, TV show or film infiltrates its way into the public consciousness.

The Lord of the Rings (Fan Phenomena) title will examine the film’s ‘fan culture’, including matters of audience participation and iconic status, as well as other areas of influence and impact. Subjects are to be addressed in a thoughtful and accessible manner aimed at both fans and those interested in the cultural, economic, and social aspects of The Lord of the Rings.

Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:

- Fan media
- Cult status
- Film-based tourism
- Website and forum interactions
- Character franchises
- Adaptation processes
- Audience reception
- Prequels/sequels
- Film location guides
- Fantasy fandom
- Merchandise
- Economics
- Collector editions
- Media design
- The importance of ‘location’
- Gender portrayal
- The philosophy of LOTR

Interviews with The Lord of the Rings tour organisers, fan-media coordinators, or authors of LOTR-related books (especially of tourism and film guides) will also be considered as additional pieces.

Please send an abstract (300 words) and a short bio (250 words max) by 15 May 2014. Please direct all questions and submissions to Dr Lorna Piatti-Farnell: lorna.piatti-farnell@aut.ac.nz

Fan CULTure: Essays on Participatory Fandom in the 21st Century

Fan CULTure: Essays on Participatory Fandom in the 21st Century 

Edited by Kristin M. Barton and Jonathan Malcolm Lampley
Foreword by Stephen J. Sansweet
Published by McFarland

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-7418-9
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4766-0459-6
bibliographies, index
212pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2014
Price $40.00

About the Book
Fan CULTure explores how present-day fans interact with the films, television shows, books, and pop culture artifacts they love. From creating original works of fanfiction to influencing the content of major primetime series through social media, fans are no longer passive consumers. They have evolved into active participants in creating and shaping these works. The all-new essays in this collection provide in-depth analyses of how fans interact with such popular franchises as Harry Potter, Lost, Supernatural, Lord of the Rings and Joss Whedon’s Serenity, and examines as well topics not based on media-like fans of the LEGO building blocks, Disneyland, and NFL quarterback Tim Tebow.

About the Editors
Kristin M. Barton is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Communication at Dalton State College in Dalton, Georgia. He lives in Woodstock, Georgia. Jonathan Malcolm Lampley, a prolific contributor to many popular-culture periodicals and publications, is a professor of English and film at Dalton State College in Georgia.

Table of Contents

Foreword (http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/excerpts/978-0-7864-7418-9.Foreword.pdf)
Stephen J. Sansweet 1
Introduction (http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/excerpts/978-0-7864-7418-9.Introduction.pdf)
Kristin M. Barton 5

Section 1: Fan Productions
Can’t Stop the Sequel: How the Serenity-Inspired Browncoats: Redemption Is Changing the Future of Fan Films (Kristin M. Barton) 9
Dark Shadows Fandom, Then and Now (1966-2013) (Jeff Thompson) 23
Spellbound: An Analysis of Adult-Oriented Harry Potter Fanfiction (Don Tresca) 36
Recut Film Trailers, Nostalgia and the Teen Film (Kathleen Williams) 47

Section 2: Social Media
Bringing Piety Back: Tim Tebow, Sports and American Culture (Susan Orenstein) 61
Fan-Made Time: The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit (Owain Gwynne) 76
The Fandom Is Out There: Social Media and The X-Files Online (Bethan Jones) 92
Alternate Reality Games, Narrative Disbursement and Canon: The Lost Experience (Kent Aardse) 106

Section 3: Fan-Influenced Content
Block Party: A Look at Adult Fans of LEGO (Jennifer C. Garlen) 119
A New Kind of Pandering: Supernatural and the World of Fanfiction (Anissa M. Graham) 131 (http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/excerpts/978-0-7864-7418-9.Pandering.pdf)
Desiring the Tangible: Disneyland, Fandom and Spatial Immersion (Meyrav Koren-Kuik) 146
Chuck Versus the Advertiser: How Fan Activism and Footlong Subway Sandwiches Saved a Television Series (Kristin M. Barton) 159
"Guys, where are we?" Podcasts, Online Video and Lost’s Participatory Culture (Michael Graves) 173

Afterword: The Past and Future of Fandom Studies (Jonathan Malcolm Lampley) 191

About the Contributors 197
Index 199

CFP Lord of the Rings Fan Phenomena Collection (proposals by 5/15/14)

CFP: The Lord of the Rings Fan Phenomena
full name / name of organization:
Dr Lorna Piatti-Farnell, Auckland University of Technology
contact email:
lorna.piatti-farnell@aut.ac.nz

Intellect's Fan Phenomena series is seeking chapters for a new volume on fandom and The Lord of The Rings films. The series explores and decodes the fascination we have with what constitutes an iconic or cult phenomenon, and how a particular person, TV show or film infiltrates its way into the public consciousness.

The Lord of the Rings (Fan Phenomena) title will examine the film's ‘fan culture’, including matters of audience participation and iconic status, as well as other areas of influence and impact. Subjects are to be addressed in a thoughtful and accessible manner aimed at both fans and those interested in the cultural, economic, and social aspects of The Lord of the Rings.

Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:

• Fan media
• Cult status
• Film-based tourism
• Web site and forum interactions
• Character franchises
• Adaptation processes
• Audience reception
• Prequels/sequels (The Hobbit in particular)
• Film location guides
• Fantasy fandom
• Merchandise
• Economics
• Collector editions
• Media design
• The importance of ‘location’
• Gender portrayal
• The Philosophy of LOTR

Interviews with The Lord of the Rings tour organisers, fan-media coordinators, or authors of LOTR-related books (especially of tourism and film guides) will also be considered.

Please send an abstract (300 words) and a short bio (250 words) by 15 May 2014. For selected abstracts, the final chapters of 3000-3500 words will be due 1 September 2014. Please direct all questions and submissions to Dr Lorna Piatti-Farnell: lorna.piatti-farnell@aut.ac.nz.


By web submission at 03/01/2014 - 22:59

CFP Nine Worlds' Academia and Geek Culture Conference (4/1/14; London 8/8-10/14)

Sorry for the late posting:

Nine Worlds' Academia and Geek Culture Conference (8-10 August 2014)
full name / name of organization:
Nine Worlds
contact email:
sffacademic@nineworlds.co.uk
Academia and Geek Culture

Last year, the Nine Worlds convention hosted an academic conference. You can find the details of it at www.sffacademic.wordpress.com. This year, we’re intending to do it somewhat differently. Instead of having an academic conference in its own devoted room, we’ll be placing talks, panellists and other speakers in tracks on their own topic.

With that in mind, we’re inviting submissions for papers and suggested panels, as well as volunteers to talk on pre-organised panels. All areas of study surrounding ‘geek media’ are accepted – from video games to classic fantasy, and we welcome submissions from anyone who is a current student or has graduated with a degree in a relevant field. Talks will be ideally 20-30 minutes in length, and the standard panel time is 1 hour, 15 minutes.

Nine Worlds will take place in London (Heathrow) between the 8th and 10th of August 2014. Tickets are available for purchase on www.nineworlds.co.uk, and they will grant you access to the whole convention – not just the academic content.

Suggested areas of submission include:

- Video Games and the surrounding culture
- Board, Social and Role-playing Game
- Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature*
- Diversity and representation in geek culture
- ‘Geek’ film and TV
- Comics
- Religion/culture and geek culture
- Steampunk/other alternative history movements
- Fanfiction
- Science and its relation to geek media/culture

* We’re especially looking for some Game of Thrones content here.

Please ensure your paper/panel is suited to non-academics. Ideally, you may assume the audience has full knowledge of primary sources, but little secondary, so please take this into consideration. We intend to each session be accessible and understandable to those outside of the usual academic groups.

Please send a title, a 300 word abstract, your name and affiliation (university) to sffacademic@nineworlds.co.uk

The deadline for submissions is April 1st, 2014. This deadline is for abstracts only – the completed papers will be due mid-July.

Registration will be completed through the purchase of a ticket to the convention as a whole. Accommodation is available at the hotel, but should be booked separately by individual participants. All profits from the conference/convention will go to charity. Please do email if you have questions.

Nine Worlds deliberately tries to include parity of race, sexual orientation, genders and creeds as a part of its programming remit, wherever possible. We aim to follow this in our selection of panellists, and would also be interested in including papers or panels that address these issues. However, we are aware that some people do not want to discuss these as direct topics, and wish to be sensitive to this, so you will only be asked to speak on topics that you offer to.


By web submission at 02/13/2014 - 15:32

CFP Performing Fandom (Journal Issue) (March/April 2014)

CFP: Special Issue Performing Fandom, Journal of Transformative Works and Cultures
Call for Papers Date: 2014-03-01
Date Submitted: 2011-12-19
Announcement ID: 190620

Call for papers Performing Fandom Special issue of Transformative Works and Cultures, March 2015 Edited by Jen Gunnels (New York Review of Science Fiction) and Carrie J. Cole (University of Arizona, Tucson)

Surprisingly, fan studies and performance studies remain relative strangers in scholarship. With a few exceptions, there seems to be little crossover between fields in terms of analysis, theory, and methodology. Such a situation, on both sides of the equation, should be addressed given the potential productive overlap between the two. With this special issue, we want to encourage scholars of both fan and performance to open up further avenues of study and methodological practice in order to expand both fields to their mutual benefit. Fandom is a performed set of practices. It’s something that one does. For many, being a fan is a distinct part of their performed identity. This practice may take many forms, from the performativity inherent to fan writing to more blatant performances such as LARPs and cosplay. From the other side of the fence, performance studies has had little interaction with fan studies, and investigations into intersections between the disciplines around such issues as identity performance and participant/performer ethnographies would further energize both fields.

We invite scholars in fan studies and performance studies to examine how fandom is performed, what performance practices can reveal about fandom, and how fan studies can benefit performances. We welcome submissions dealing with, but not limited to, aspects of:
• Specific performance analysis of particular fandoms.
• Fan fiction as performative or dramaturgical.
• Identity and community performance in specific franchise fandoms and in general.
• Cosplay.
• Live-action role-playing games.
• Design and performance in nonfranchise fandoms such as steampunk.
• Fan communities and participation as applied to traditional performances.
• Online performance within fan listservs and sites.

Submission guidelines:

TWC accommodates academic articles of varying scope as well as other forms that embrace the technical possibilities of the Web and test the limits of the genre of academic writing. Contributors are encouraged to include embedded links, images, and videos in their articles or to propose submissions in alternative formats that might comprise interviews, collaborations, or video/multimedia works. We are also seeking reviews of relevant books, events, courses, platforms, or projects.

Theory: Often interdisciplinary essays with a conceptual focus and a theoretical frame that offer expansive interventions in the field. Blinded peer review. Length: 5,000–8,000 words plus a 100–250-word abstract.

Praxis: Analyses of particular cases that may apply a specific theory or framework to an artifact; explicate fan practice or formations; or perform a detailed reading of a text. Blinded peer review. Length: 4,000–7,000 words plus a 100–250-word abstract.

Symposium: Short pieces that provide insight into current developments and debates. Nonblinded editorial review. Length: 1,500–2,500 words.

Submissions are accepted online only. Please visit TWC's Web site (http://journal.transformativeworks.org/) for complete submission guidelines, or e-mail the TWC Editor (editor AT transformativeworks.org). Contact We encourage potential contributors to contact the guest editors with inquiries or proposals: Jen Gunnels and Carrie J. Cole (fandom.performance AT gmail.com).

The call for papers is available here: http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/announcement/view/22

Due dates:
Contributions for blinded peer review (Theory and Praxis essays) are due by March 1, 2014.
Contributions that undergo editorial review (Symposium, Interview, Review) are due by April 1, 2014.

Jen Gunnels, New York Review of Science Fiction P.O. Box 78 Pleasantville NY 10570 Carrie J. Cole, University of Arizona, Tucson Theatre Film and Television P.O. Box 210003 Tucson AZ 85721-0003 (520) 621-3205
Email: fandom.performance@gmail.com
Visit the website at http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/announcement/view/22

New/Recent CFPs

Here's a batch from the UPenn CFP site:

[UPDATE] CFP: The Ray Browne Conference on Popular Culture: Modes of Mobility: Popular Culture in an Age of Technology (deadline 11/16/12)

Call for Submissions: Studies in Popular Culture (no deadline)

CFP: The Gothic in Literature, Film and Culture (11/30/12; National PCA/ACA Conference, 3/27/13-3/30/13)

CFP Edited Collection on Dark Fairy Tales in Children's and Young Adult Literature (deadline 10/20/12)

Monsters and the Monstrous Volume 3, Number 1, Themed Issue on Monstrous Spaces/ Spaces of Monstrosity (deadline for submissions 3/8/13)

Call for Papers: Indigenous 'Deep' Space: Indigenous Absence and Presence in Sci-Fi and Comics (Southwest/Texas PCA deadline 11/16/12)

Call for Papers: Indigenous Science Fiction February 13-16, 2013 (SW/Texas PCA deadline 11/16/12)

The Geek and Popular Culture (SW/Texas PCA deadline 11/16/12)

Mystery & Detective Fiction Area, March 27-30, 2013, Washington, DC (National PCA deadline 11/30/12)

The Empire Tele-Calls Back: Indian Science Fiction in the Global Age (collection; deadline 11/30/12)

Weird Lovecraft: H.P. Lovecraft, Weird Tales, and the Construction of the American Horror Canon [Update] (panel; deadline 1/15/13)

Horror (Text, Media, Culture) (national PCA; deadline 11/30/12)

Call for Submissions - Edited Collection -- Fan Phenomena: Supernatural (deadline 9/15/12)

First Annual FANS Conference (deadline 2/1/13)

Stephen King Area-2013 Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference (Sumbissions: 11/30/12)

 The Age of Lovecraft: Cosmic Horror, Posthumanism, and Popular Culture (collection; deadline 10/31/12)

Fan CULTure: An Examination of Participatory Fandom in the 21st Century CFP (5/15/12)

CFP for Fan CULTure: An Examination of Participatory Fandom in the 21st Century
Call for Papers Date: 2012-05-15 (in 22 days)
Date Submitted: 2012-02-23
Announcement ID: 192607

With the advent of new media technologies and social networking sites making communication faster and easier than ever, there exists a dearth of opportunity to see how fan cultures have evolved as a result. For example, fans can now have a direct impact on how some of their favorite TV shows are made and have influenced the storylines taking place. This type of “participatory” fandom has reached new heights in the 21st century as fans and creators become better connected. With this in mind, Dr. Kristin M. Barton and Dr. Jonathan M. Lampley are seeking proposals for an edited volume under consideration at McFarland titled Fan CULTure: An Examination of Participatory Fandom in the 21st Century. The question this volume will seek to address is: How are fans interacting with or participating in cultures associated with popular culture objects? Proposals should look at specific properties (media or non-media) and how fan culture intersects with them using new or modern techniques. Each essay will ideally focus on a different media vehicle or object. We expect to have essays that focus on some (if not all) of the following topics: Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr. Who, Lord of the Rings, Joss Whedon’s creations, Game of Thrones, the Harry Potter franchise, and LEGOs, among others.

Possible topics to explore with regard to these properties include (but are not limited to):
- Fan fiction
- Incorporating fans in DVD production/distribution/release
- Use of social media
- Fan involvement in helping create/steer storylines
- Fan films/Fan trailers/“Sweding”
- Theme parks/rides
- “Shipping” (fan fictionalization of characters in existing television/film series)
- Fan participation within a property (fans as zombies in The Walking Dead)
- Costuming (Star Wars’ 501st Legion)
- Fan activism (Lady Gaga’s “Little Monsters” rallying for gay rights)

Again, the focus of the essays should be how these have been adopted into fan culture within a 21st century context.

The editors invite articles (approximately 6,000 words) that respond to the focus of the volume. Article abstracts (300-400 words) and a brief CV should be submitted by May 15, 2012 to Dr. Jonathan Lampley at jlampley@daltonstate.edu. Submissions with detailed outlines or in draft form will be given stronger consideration. Completed essays must be submitted by November 15, 2012. Brief queries are welcome should there be questions about appropriate submission topics. Selected authors will be notified by the end of May 2012, and please note that invitation to submit a full essay does not guarantee inclusion in the volume.


Jonathan Lampley
Dalton State College
650 College Dr.
Dalton, GA 30720
Email: jlampley@daltonstate.edu