Below are a bunch of calls for papers that have come to my attention, all intersecting around science fiction in a variety of interesting ways.
Before moving on to those, let me share a link to a recent discussion of science fiction from an academic perspective online, since that nicely sets the stage for thinking about conferences that will broach these topics. The “Academic Minute” portion of Inside Higher Ed focused on the bicentennial anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which is widely regarded as the first work of sci-fi. Here’s an excerpt:
The novel is, as widely assumed, a cautionary tale. But it’s not about wanting to become like God. It’s about taking fatherly responsibilities seriously. It’s about judging others based on character and not on looks. The story warns about what happens if someone is never lovingly hugged. The creature had neither biological birth and nor motherly caresses. There was also another major absence, no fatherly tenderness. Victor Frankenstein’s vice is not that he wants to become like God. His flaw is turning away from the responsibilities of fatherly affection.
Now on to the calls for papers. Most of the links to the various calls for papers below show the entire call for papers if I simply post a link into the blog post, and so I am doing that where it works. One that particularly grabbed my attention is the pop culture conference connected with HawaiiCon in September. Here is the intro to the call for papers:
Announcing SCIENCE FICTIONS, POPULAR CULTURES: devoted to cross-disciplinary, cross-genre, and cross-media scholarship.
SCIENCE FICTIONS, POPULAR CULTURES is an academic conference which runs in conjunction with HawaiiCon (September 13-16, 2018) with an opening reception on Thursday evening) on the sunny western Kona side of the Big Island of Hawaii at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel. Reserve by clicking here
The inaugural theme of SCIENCE FICTIONS, POPULAR CULTURES is: Beyond Boundaries.
Another one I will mention here, because it didn’t auto-display when the link was pasted, is the SAMLA Speculative Fiction call for papers – and so I’ve included a link to that one here, too. Now for the rest, in detail:
https://relcfp.tumblr.com/post/171559029412/cfp-sublime-cognition-science-fiction-and
https://relcfp.tumblr.com/post/171692285502/cfp-future-histories-of-the-middle-east-and-south
https://relcfp.tumblr.com/post/171592648625/science-fiction-and-fantasy-international
https://relcfp.tumblr.com/post/171813152031/edited-essay-collection-unethical-futures
And finally, here once more is the link to the call for papers for the conference in Hawaii…
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