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February 20, 2005
SF Division Highlights
SF Division/ICFA 26
Robin Anne Reid, Division Head
Unless you have a handy time travel device tucked away in a pocket universe, you will not be able to attend all the SF sessions since there is such a rich variety offered this year. Since a number had to be double-scheduled, herein is a Guide to the Multiple Galaxies of SF events at ICFA 26!
This group of events includes roundtables, panels, and a lecture by our Guest of Honor, Rudy Rucker, as well as a paper session on his work and the work of our permanent GoH, Brian Aldiss. Some of these events tend to be more interactive and present more of a chance to share ideas, but all will be fascinating.
Session 25: SF Theory Round Table (Thursday 2:30 Gulfstar) Read Chapter 1 of Justine Larbalestier's The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction (copy on the website and copies at the registration desk). Len Hatfield, Joan Gordon, and Robin Anne Reid will lead a no-doubt wide ranging and fantastic discussion on this work.
Session 28 Panel: Science Fiction and Poetry (Thursday 2:30 Atlantic). Albert Goldbarth, David Lunde, Judith Kerman, Joe Haldeman, and Michael Arnzen will be discussion science fiction and poetry.
Session 55: Science Lecture (Friday 2:45 Bertram) will feature the guest of honor, Rudy Rucker, on "The Lifebox, the Seashell and the Soul."
Session: 88: Rudy Rucker and Brian Aldiss (Saturday 2:00 Bertram) with presentations by Loren Means and John Roche.
Session 93: Panel: PMLA Special Issue (Saturday 2:00 Atlantic) Marleen Barr, Carl Freedman, Jeri Zulli, John Clute, and Eileen Gunn discuss issues relating to scholarship on SF, focusing on the PMLA Special issue.
Having special connections to the theme of this years conference are these four paper sessions featuring a range of disciplinary approaches to SF and analyses which foreground the blurring boundaries between genres of the fantastic and "realism."
Session 18: Philosophy, Aesthetics and the Fantastic (Thursday 10:30 Intrepid) with presentations by John Garrison, Donna Ross Hooley, and Chris Tonelli.
Session 33: Blurred Boundaries and Slipstreams (Thursday 4:00 Gulfstar) with presentations by Faye Ringel, Steen Christiansen, and Grace L. Dillon that will range from medievalisms to slipstream to scarification.
Session 66: Cultural Ideologies and Ambivalence in SF (Friday 4:00 Intrepid) blurs boundaries by having presentations by Art Evans, Carl Yoke, and Robin McAllister on Jules Verne, William Gibson, and Daina Chaviano.
Session 75: Blurring the Boundaries Between SF and Realism (Saturday 8:30 a.m. Intrepid) with presentations questioning genre borders by Wilma Shires, Edward Carmien, and Heidi Robbins.
These two paper sessions feature presentations on some of the authors in Golden Age SF and the later challenges to the genre of SF during the sixties and seventies, covering major authors and issues during these decades.
Session 7: Culture, Conflict, and Controversy in Sixties and Seventies SF (Thursday 8:30 Bertram) with presentations by Rob Latham, David M. Higgins, and Jenny Bonnevier.
Session 43: From Cold Equations to Capitalism: Fifties SF (Friday 8:30 a.m. Donzi) with presentations by Michael Underwood, James Landau, and Amelia Beamer.
These four paper sessions all include presentations that foreground contemporary critical theories such as feminist, gender and queer theory, postcolonialism, Afro-futurism, and cover topics such as the origins of science fiction, feminist fabulations, cyberpunk and cyber-subjectivity, and the conditions for queer sf erotica. Authors analyzed include (but are not limited to!) Margaret Atwood, William Gibson, David Brin, and Walter Mosley.
Critical Theory & Multiple Approaches to SF (Paper Sessions)
Session 14: Feminist Fabulations (Thursday 10:30 Hatteras) with presentations by Audrey Johnson, Marleen Barr, and Janice M. Bogstad.
Session 34: Postcolonialism, Cyber-subjectivity, and Afro-futurism (Thursday 4:00 Intrepid) with presentations by John Rieder, Larissa Lai, and Isiah Lavender III.
Session 72: William Gibson (Saturday 8:30 a.m. Bertram) with presentations by Amy E. Eoff, Lisa Swanstrom, and Carol McGuirk.
Session 98: Intimate Adventure and Queer Erotica (Saturday 4:00 Gulfstar) with presentations by Jean Lorrah, Patricia Melzer, and Norman Stroh.
Posted by ChrissieMains at February 20, 2005 06:26 PM