The IAFA Newsletter: Upcoming Conference News Archives

August 09, 2008

ICFA-30: Call for Papers

The 30th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts
Time and the Fantastic

The 30th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts will be held March 18-22, 2009, at the Orlando Airport Marriott in Orlando, Florida. The conference begins at 3pm on Wednesday and ends at 1 am on Sunday upon the conclusion of the conference banquet. Malcolm J. Edwards and Brian Stableford write that “the metaphysics of time continues to intrigue writers inside and outside the genre” of the fantastic; thus, the focus of ICFA-30 is on the intriguing relationships between time and the fantastic. Papers are invited to explore this topic in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other related modes of the fantastic. In addition, we especially look forward to papers on the work of our honored guests:

Guest of Honor: Guy Gavriel Kay, Aurora Award-winning, Caspar Award-winning, and Mythopoeic Fantasy Award-nominated author of the Fionavar Tapestry (The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, The Darkest Road), Tigana, A Song for Arbonne, and The Last Light of the Sun

Guest of Honor: Robert Charles Wilson, Hugo Award-winning author of Axis, Spin, The Chronoliths, Darwinia, Mysterium, and A Bridge of Years

Guest Scholar: Maria Nikolajeva, author of The Aesthetic Approach to Children’s Literature (Scarecrow), The Rhetoric of Children’s Literature (Scarecrow), and From Mythic to Linear: Time in Children’s Literature (Scarecrow)

As always, we also welcome proposals for individual papers and for academic sessions and panels on any aspect of the fantastic in any media. The deadline is October 31, 2008.

We encourage work from institutionally-affiliated scholars, independent scholars, international scholars who work in languages other than English, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

The Jamie Bishop Memorial Award for an Essay Not in English is open to all members of the IAFA. The IAFA Graduate Student Award is open to all graduate students presenting papers at the year’s conference. Details are available via Robin Reid, Second Vice-President (Robin_Reid@tamu-commerce.edu). Finally, the Dell Magazines Undergraduate Science Fiction Award will also be handed out at this year’s conference.

Visit http://www.iafa.org for more details.

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 09:08 PM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2008

Photos of ICFA-29

Thanks to Bill Clemente who has posted some photos of ICFA-29 here.

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 03:06 PM | Comments (0)

ICFA-29: Wrap Up Commentary

Now that ICFA-29 is over and everyone is slowly returning to their base of operations, I thought I'd provide some commentary and/or observations on the entire experience. I begin with a query: how was it? Really! How was it? For those of you who noticed, I didn't actually make it this year in spite of my best intentions. You see, the week before ICFA I became a father to Declan Kyle John Atticus Murphy. I couldn't then leave my newborn son and my wife (who was supposed to join me this year) to fend for themselves while I was off in Florida; so, I had to cancel my trip (and the Board has been wonderfully supportive of this decision ... my heartfelt thanks!!!). I've since heard from a few people that it was a wonderful conference and that it went off without a hitch, but I'd like to hear from you. So, if you wanted to send me your thoughts, commentary, stories, etc. I can then post them to the blog on your behalf. If you're interested, please e-mail me at GrahamMurphy AT trentu.ca and I'll start posting content (please be advised that I might edit according to length).

In the meantime, we've already started work on ICFA-30, our anniversary conference. So, keep checking www.iafa.org for updates and book early as this one promises to be the conference of all conferences.

Back to Orlando!

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 07:03 AM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2008

Universal Excursion Sold Out

Hello IAFAers,
A notice went out on iafa-l last week but just a reminder: the ICFA Universal excursion scheduled for Sunday has officially sold out. The bus is full and hiding one more in the bathroom at the back isn't a viable option. Thanks to you all for coming out. We'll look forward to seeing you at ICFA and on the bus on Sunday.

On to Orlando!

Take care,
Graham J. Murphy

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 06:22 PM | Comments (0)

February 27, 2008

An Appeal for Help

The ICFA bookroom needs help in setting up, maintaining and tearing down the bookroom. Here is the work schedule:

1. Sunday, March 16 - Moving the books from the storage facility to the hotel and arranging the unopened boxes into an approximate order for unpacking.

2. Monday and Tuesday, March 17 and 18 - Unpacking books, arranging the room, pricing all new books in PENCIL, repricing the older books.

3. Wednesday through Saturday, March 19 through 22. Two sessions each day approximately 8:15 AM to Noon and then approximately 2 PM to 6 PM. The room is open all day on Saturday. This is non-arduous work. Rearranging books, assisting shoppers and either repricing existing stock or pricing new books. If we have a separate auction room, we will also need someone to simply sit in the room.

4. Extra help is needed Thursday and Friday about 3/4 hr. before lunch and Saturday 3/4 hr. before the Banquet to place books at each place for the meal.

5. On the final Sunday, packing all remaining books under Peter Halasz's direction (Yes, there is an art and science to this) and moving them to the storage facility.

The two intensive manpower needs are the two Sundays. Some years we have been very short of help on the last Sunday.

We provide rewards for assistance. We break the day into morning and
afternoon sessions. For three sessions of work we provide a membership to the conference that does not include any of the meals. Additional work sessions can earn meals. This includes help in setting up the conference prior to the opening sessions on Wednesday.

If possible email me at JTBerlant@AOL.com with the times you are available. We will also cheerfully welcome anyone stopping in to help. Work on the two Sundays is somewhat strenuous, moving boxes.
The rest is reasonably non-strenuous.

Thanks for your assistance.

Joe Berlant, ICFA Bookroom Manager

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 05:06 PM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2008

ICFA-29 Draft Program

From Chrissie Mains, First Vice-President:

After much sweating of palms and furrowing of brows, the program for ICFA 29, to be held in Orlando March 19-23, is available on the association's website for your information and enjoyment. From the main page, click on the link for Conference Information, and scroll down until you see the link for this year's program. Clicking on that link will open a page that lists the program schedule. Do remember that this program is preliminary and subject to change right up until the conference starts, so don't use it as a basis for your travel plans!

I'd appreciate it if everyone who is participating on the program in any way could check to make sure that their names, their affiliations, and the titles of their papers are spelled properly; it's especially important to check the formatting of titles, since some formatting information can be lost in transit in the long journey between your computer and mine. If you spot a typo, please contact me at cemains@shaw.ca and I'll fix that right up. And it wouldn't hurt to use the browser's 'find on this page' function to look for your name, in case you've been scheduled on a panel or other event that you weren't quite aware of (hey, it happens sometimes).

Do keep in mind that any requests for scheduling and A/V had to be included in the original proposal; such requests affect the grouping of papers into sessions and the scheduling of those sessions into the rooms we have available, and it's extremely difficult to make changes at this stage. If you see a problem, then contact both your division head and me immediately, and we'll do our best to resolve it.

However, there is a limited time in which to make any corrections to the program that will appear in print, so don't put this on your to-do list for later. And I'll say again: if you think you won't be able to make the conference after all, now is the time to tell us.

We've got a wonderfully diverse program this year, and we think you'll love the new hotel (the pool bar is really quite nice, and the room for our evening programming is beautiful). And remember, although the program officially ends with the Saturday night banquet, this year we do have a Sunday trip to Universal Studios theme park (more info on the website).

See you in March,
Chrissie

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)

January 17, 2008

IAFA Graduate Student Award Reminder

IAFA GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD

The 29th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts

The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts is pleased to continue its annual award and stipend to the graduate student submitting the most outstanding paper at the Association's 2008 Conference, to be held at the Orlando Marriott Airport Hotel, Orlando, FL, March 19-23, 2008. The award, and a cheque for $250, will be presented to the winner at the Awards Banquet on Saturday evening.

CRITERIA & INSTRUCTIONS

1. The student will have had a paper accepted for presentation at the Conference. The paper submitted for the competition should be essentially the same as that presented at the conference. The maximum length for entries is 3500 words (about 2 pages over the recommended reading length of 8-9 pages), excluding bibliography/works cited page. Students should be aware that funds are limited and that only one award will be given. The paper selected will be published in the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, and therefore must not have been previously published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Please note that acceptance of a paper for the Conference does not guarantee an award.

2. It is the responsibility of the student to send a copy of the paper by 1 February 2008 to the IAFA Student-Support Committee's Chair, as well as a copy of the letter of acceptance and verification of student status.

Submissions should be in MSWord or rich text format (rtf) files, sent as e-mail attachments to Robin Anne Reid, Student Support Committee Chair, at:

Robin_Reid@tamu-commerce.edu

rrede13@yahoo.com

Students may be in master's or doctoral programs, at any stage of their program (taking courses, taking exams, writing theses or dissertations), as long as they are currently enrolled. Verification of student status could be a letter of confirmation from a director or advisor, a copy of student ID, etc.

Support documents may be sent as attached files to the same address or sent by mail to:

Department of Literature and Languages
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Commerce, TX 75429

3. The committee is looking for good writing: clear, coherent, and interesting. Essays should be solidly grounded in scholarly tradition, showing awareness of previous studies and of historical contexts. Essays may use any suitable method of analysis, including historical and sociological approaches as well as those which originate in literary theory. Judges tend to value the ability to examine materials from a theoretical perspective without simply plugging in a particular critical method. Essays should give a clear idea of the critical/theoretical framework within which the discussion will be situated, as well as identify primary and secondary texts for the discussion.

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 02:56 PM | Comments (0)

January 08, 2008

ICFA Display/Auction

As we continue getting ready for ICFA-29, this is a friendly reminder that if anyone has any academic donations for the ICFA display/auction then please contact David Hartwell at dgh@panix.com. Also, if you have a book in print please seriously consider getting your press to send a copy for the display/auction. On to Orlando!

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 07:39 AM | Comments (0)

January 07, 2008

ICFA-29 Trip to Universal Studios

A friendly reminder: Sunday (March 23) after ICFA-29 there will be an opportunity to visit Universal’s Theme Park for an IAFA Group Rate of $67US. This is for a one-day, one-park group discount ticket (adult or child) for Universal Studios Orlando that includes bus transportation to/from the site. The bus will leave the hotel at 9:15 am, deliver people to Universal Studios, and then pick them up at 5:45 pm to return to the hotel. There is a minimum requirement of 30 people and there are 40 spaces in total, so first come first serve. If we are unable to meet our minimum requirement by February 1st we will be forced to cancel this social outing. Conference registrants, their partners, and families are all eligible for this tour. The park ticket does not have to be used on the day of the group trip (Sunday) if another day is more convenient, but Sunday is the only day IAFA has arranged for transportation.

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 05:59 PM | Comments (0)

November 13, 2007

ICFA-29 -- A New Deadline Warrants A New CFP

The 29th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts
Delightful Horror and the Sense of Wonder: Appreciating the Sublime in the Fantastic

[Feel free to distribute this general Call for Papers. The more it's passed around the merrier! Also, although the original deadline of Oct. 31 has passed, the recent news of SFRA's change of venue ((see below)) for SFRA 2008 has prompted the IAFA to revise its deadline for paper proposals for ICFA-29. The new deadline is December 15th.]

The 29th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts will be held March 19-23, 2008, at the Orlando Airport Marriott in Orlando, Florida. The conference begins at 3 pm on Wednesday and ends at 1 am on Sunday upon the conclusion of the conference banquet. The focus of ICFA-29 is on the relationship between the sense of wonder embodied by the sublime and the fantastic in literature, film, and other media. The sheer magnitude of the universe gives rise to the amazing, the astonishing, the astounding, the thrilling, and the wondrous. Edmund Burke argued it is “infinity [that] has a tendency to fill the mind with that sort of delightful horror which is the most genuine effect and truest test of the sublime.” It then should come as no surprise that the sublime has been a mainstay in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other related fantastic modes. Papers are invited that explore this topic. In addition, we especially look forward to papers on the work of our guests:

Guest of Honor: Vernor Vinge, author of “The Technological Singularity” and Hugo Award-winning A Fire Upon the Deep.

Guest of Honor: Greer Ilene Gilman, author of the Crawford Award-winning Moonwise.

Guest Scholar: Roger Luckhurst, author of The Trauma Paradigm (Routledge) and Science Fiction (Polity Press).

As always, we also welcome proposals for individual papers and for academic sessions and panels on any aspect of the fantastic in any media.The new deadline is December 15th.

We encourage work from institutionally-affiliated scholars, independent scholars, international scholars who work in languages other than English, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

Please See Page Two (Over) for Submission Guidelines
Look for Information and Updates at the IAFA website: www.iafa.org

Submission Guidelines

In order to be considered for the 2008 program, your proposal to (1) read a paper, (2) recruit and chair a paper session, or (3) organize and chair a panel discussion should be date-stamped no later than December 15th.; electronic correspondence is welcome. Proposals must be sent to the appropriate Division Head (addresses below). Advise the Division Head if you would like to volunteer to chair a paper session. Proposals must include a 500-word abstract and appropriate bibliography indicating the project's scholarly or theoretical context. Presenters must be members of IAFA at the time of the conference. Be sure to indicate all audio-visual equipment needs in this initial proposal; later A/V requests cannot be guaranteed.

FANTASTIC IN CHILDREN’S & YOUNG-ADULT’S LITERATURE & ILLUSTRATION

All aspects of the fantastic in work aimed at children and young adults. Division Head: Joe Sutliff Sanders, California State University, Dept. of English, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, CA, 92407-2397 (DR.JOESS@GMAIL.COM).

FANTASTIC LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
All aspects of the fantastic in British, American and Commonwealth literature. Division Head: Charles W. Nelson, Humanities Dept., Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931 (CWNELSON@MTU.EDU).

FANTASTIC IN FILM & MEDIA
All aspects of the fantastic in television, video, and film. Division Head: Susan A. George, Gender & Women's Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 3326 Dwinelle Hall, Berkeley CA 94720-1070 (SAGEORGE13@SBCGLOBAL.NET).

COMMUNITIES & CULTURE IN THE FANTASTIC [formerly PCVA]
All aspects of the fantastic in fan cultures and communities, including fan fiction, comics/graphic novels, filking, conventions, hypertexts, viral marketing, RPG. Division Head: Barbara Lucas, VIS, 31225 Bainbridge Rd, Suite M, Solon OH 44139 (BARBEDWRITING@YAHOO.COM).

VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS [formerly PCVA]
All aspects of the fantastic in live drama, music, dance, sculpture, body art, and photography and digital imagery. Division Head: Stefan Hall, Bowling Green State University, Dept. of Theatre and Film, 338 South Hall, Bowling Green, OH, 43403-0180 (STEFANH@BGNET.BGSU.EDU)

HORROR LITERATURE
All aspects of horror in mainstream and popular literature, including literary traditions, aesthetics, psychological constructs, and comparative influences. Division Head: Stephanie Moss, 10032 N. 52nd. Street, Tampa, FL 33517 (SMOSS@CAS.USF.EDU).

INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC LITERATURE
All aspects of the fantastic in international and comparative literature. Division Head: Dale Knickerbocker, Dept. of Foreign Languages, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858 (KNICKERBOCKERD@MAIL.ECU.EDU).

SCIENCE FICTION LITERATURE & THEORY
All aspects of science fiction literature, history, and theory. Division Head: Sherryl Vint, Dept. of English Literature, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1 (SVINT@BROCKU.CA).

March 19-23, 2008
Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel
Look for Information and Updates at the IAFA website: www.iafa.org

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 05:58 PM | Comments (0)

SFRA 2008 -- Change of Venue

These Irish eyes aren't smilin' given the recent news from our SFRA compatriots that deserves mention on our IAFA blog (economically prudent and understandable, but disappointing nonetheless):

The SFRA Executive Committee has decided that, due to the uncertainties caused by recent currency fluctuations, the only financially prudent course is not to hold our 2008 annual meeting in Dublin, Ireland. We sincerely regret any problems this announcement will cause our members, wherever they reside. It was not a decision the Committee reached lightly, and it is a decision that has caused all of us bitter disappointment. But whether or not we could reach sufficient prepaid registrations by preset cancellation deadlines, which given the rapid decline of the U.S. dollar against foreign
currencies seemed a major uncertainty, the amount of money SFRA would have to upfront for registration subsidies to attract a minimal attendance seemed almost to guarantee a significant deficit, one that could grow substantially under certain conditions. The SFRA Executive Committee agreed that we should not commit to this level of expenditure at this time.

We would like to thank the Dublin Conference Group for all the hard work they have put in over the past several years on this project. We stress that it is not the fault of any of them that these plans have not worked out, but rather the declining value of the U.S. dollar that is the major culprit here. And we stress that SFRA will continue to do all it can in the future to serve ALL of its membership, wherever they reside.

The SFRA Executive Committee will work to find a site in the United States for SFRA's 2008 Conference that is affordable and will make for a quality academic gathering. We hope to announce this new venue in the next couple of weeks. In addition, SFRA will do what it can to offer graduate students willing to present a paper at that conference, particularly non-North American students who were looking forward to the Dublin locale, travel grants to lessen the cost of attending the U.S. venue.

We hope that out of this disappointment will somehow come a shared
determination to make SFRA a more vital and more dynamic group of science fiction scholars.

Adam Frisch
SFRA President

Note: for those of you intent on going to Ireland this summer, there is a viable alternative that deserves a plug:

9th International Conference of the Utopian Studies Society
University of Limerick, Ireland, July 3-5, 2008.

The 9th. International conference will be hosted by the Ralahine Centre at the University of Limerick. A Call for Papers will be posted as soon as it is available.

Special themes identified by the Steering Group so far will be Architecture, Music, and Irish Utopias, but proposals on a wide range of Utopian topics will be welcome.

Venue: The Ralahine Centre, University of Limerick, Ireland
The nearest airport is Shannon.
For information, click here.

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 05:47 PM | Comments (0)

November 10, 2007

Call for Proposals: Academic and Creative Events for ICFA-29

Hello, all IAFA members attending (or still thinking about attending) this year's conference in beautiful Orlando, Florida in March 2008.

While our early deadline for submissions has passed, we do have a secondary deadline this year, November 30, 2007. Those of you who regularly attend ICFA know that we aim to provide a good mix of programming. We think that it's in part this mix of programming that makes ICFA such a wonderful experience for all of us, whether we're scholars or teachers, authors or poets.

We've already received lots of proposals for all kinds of events for this conference, but we're still looking for more. For one thing, our new hotel (Orlando Airport Marriott) has an extra conference room for us to fill! We would love to hear from any member of IAFA about ideas for panels, fiction workshops, additional author and poetry readings, and special events.

Keep in mind that there are some limits on how many and what kinds of events participants can be part of. For instance, if you're an attending author reading from your fiction in the creative track, you can't also present an individual paper in an academic session, although you can still participate in a panel discussion. And if you're an academic reading a paper, you can't also read from your creative work in the creative track, although you can still participate in other kinds of creative events, such as workshops or themed talks about writing the fantastic.

If you're not sure who to approach about what, you can contact any Division Head or 1VP Chrissie Mains (cemains AT shaw.ca or cmains AT ucalgary.ca) and we'll work on putting you in touch with others with similar interests and ideas.

Anyone interested can organize both academic and creative events and propose them for inclusion in the programming (although obviously we can't guarantee that every proposal can be accepted). The only limit to participation in ICFA is space (which is larger than in previous years) and the needs of the 1VP to be able to schedule events with a minimum of conflicts (sadly, that will never change).

Looking forward to seeing you in March
Chrissie Mains

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 06:05 AM | Comments (0)

November 01, 2007

Call for Papers: International Conference (The Center for Children's and Young Adult Fiction)

Relevant Across Cultures:
Visions of Connectedness and World Citizenship in Modern Fantasy for Young Readers

University of Wrocław, 28-31 May, 2008

International Conference hosted by
THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WROCŁAW

Second Call for Papers

“We need a story, a myth that does what the traditional religious stories did: it must explain. It must satisfy our hunger for a why. Why does the world exist? Why are we here? […] It must provide some sort of framework for understanding why some things are good and others are bad. […] We need a myth, we need a story because it’s no good persuading people to commit themselves to an idea on the grounds that it’s reasonable”
--Philip Pullman, “The Republic of Heaven,” 665-666

Works of literature are distinctive to the specific culture which produced them and embody that culture’s place- and time-bound consciousness. However, many of the themes and topics in literature are relevant across cultures. The well-being of children, the importance of family, the need to foster human relationships, and the right for happiness are some among the many concerns central to most cultures. In the global reality of contemporary uni-media-verse, an increasing number of fantasy novels and films addressed to young audience cross cultures in their important themes. They explore what it means to grow up and get along in the modern world, provide glimpses into the cultures and traditions that make up the fabric of this world, and define human rights and responsibilities toward this world in its social, political, cultural and environmental dimensions.

Since its inception the Center for Children’s and Young Adult Fiction has had a strong interest in the way in which literature addressed to young audience, especially fantasy, can bring about empathy for and understanding of cultures and situations other than those we are familiar with. In our Relevant Across Cultures Conference we want to look at how novels, picture books and films of the last three decades are helping to bridge cultural, social and political gaps between different groups of people. We are particularly interested in the current mythopoesis toward connectedness and world citizenship, in new heroic and gender patterns which are beginning to fill the mythology gap, and in visions of viable value systems which promote intercultural dialogue, harmonious coexistence and environmental awareness.

Our key-note speaker will be Brian Attebery, American critic and scholar, author of The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature (1980), (1992), and Decoding Gender in Science Fiction (2002). His presentation on “Stories Linked to Stories: Fantasy as a Route to Myth,” will open what we hope will become an exciting debate on the place of fantasy literature and film in the shaping of transnational cultural referents of the global tomorrow. Our intention is to provide a forum for a wide range of scholarly presentations and workshops.

Suggested topics for proposals include, but are not limited to:
•political and social holism in fantasy literature and film,
•the exchange of various cultural forms across borders as a theme in fantasy,
•fantasy as reflecting modern understanding of myth and the need for relevant mythic narratives,
•the significance of national/regional boundaries and categories like “citizen,” “immigrant,” “stranger” in fantasy narratives; ways in which introducing non-human thinking races shapes the reader’s concept of social relations,
•the impact, on fantasy literature and film, of the theoretical and political frameworks of globalization,
•ways in which fantasy allows its audience to better understand the effects of globalization on the nation and the environment,
•the implications of “common speech” versus racial languages in fantastic worlds,
•fellowships, guilds, republics and leagues in fantasy and role-playing games as a form of integration above divisions, suggesting a partnership-based cultural and racial patchwork with a place for individuality; imaginary relevance of culturally diverse union to the idea of European integration,
•the journey—not only an archetypal, but also actual experience—and the quest-based plot as reflecting the mobility of the contemporary globalized world,
•the positive and negative motivations for unification and cooperation,
•fantasy narratives as a type of discourse on important contemporary issues: eugenics, genetic manipulation, artificial intelligence, human and animal cloning, culture clash,
•essentialization and relativiziation of moral concepts in fantastic literature and film,
•speculation on the merits and dangers of a community constructed around a specific ideological or moral issue: matriarchy, patriarchy, technology, nature-worship, sexual affirmation or constraint, and so forth.

SUBMISIONS

The deadline for proposals is December 31, 2007. Proposals must include your name, e-mail address, mailing address, telephone number, institutional affiliation, technology requests (availability to be confirmed later), presentation/workshop title, and a 300-word abstract. Presentations will be limited to 20 minutes; workshops to 30 minutes. Selected papers will be considered for publication in the conference proceedings. Please submit your proposals to:

Marek Oziewicz and Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak
Institute of English Studies, University of Wroclaw
ul. Kuźnicza 22, 50-138 Wroclaw, Poland

Electronic submissions are preferred, but not required. Please send them as Word document attachments, alternatively via plain-text email. Detailed information about costs, accommodation, optional tours etc. will follow in January.

Conference secretary:
AGATA ZARZYCKA, agata@proteus.pl

Conference organizers:
DR. JUSTYNA DESZCZ-TRYHUBCZAK,
deszcz@yahoo.com

DR. MAREK OZIEWICZ,
marekoziewicz@uni.wroc.pl,
marek.oziewicz@fulbrightweb.org

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)

September 27, 2007

Post Conference IAFA Universal Tour

Sunday after the conference there will be an opportunity to visit Universal's Theme Park for an IAFA Group Rate of $67US that includes bus transportation and discounted admission to the site. The bus will leave the hotel at 9:30 am, deliver people to Universal, and then pick them up at 6:00 pm to return to the hotel. There is a minimum requirement of 30 people and there are 40 spaces in total, so first come first serve. If we are unable to meet our minimum requirement by February 1st we will be forced to cancel this social outing. Conference registrants, their partners, and families are all eligible for this tour.

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 01:54 PM | Comments (0)

IAFA 2008 Membership & ICFA-29 Conference Pre-Registration Form Posted

The IAFA 2008 Membership & ICFA-29 Conference Pre-Registration Form is now posted on the new IAFA website at www.iafa.org under "Conference Info." Also, please note the Sunday Group Outing to Universal Studios. See you all in Orlando.

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2007

CFP: International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts

The 29th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts

Delightful Horror and the Sense of Wonder:
Appreciating the Sublime in the Fantastic

The 29th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts will be held March 19-23, 2008, at the Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel in Orlando, Florida. The focus of ICFA-29 is on the relationship between the sense of wonder embodied by the sublime and the fantastic in literature, film, and other media. The sheer magnitude of the universe gives rise to the amazing, the astonishing, the astounding, the thrilling, and the wondrous. Edmund Burke argued it is “infinity [that] has a tendency to fill the mind with that sort of delightful horror which is the most genuine effect and truest test of the sublime.” It then should come as no surprise that the sublime has been a mainstay in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other related fantastic modes. Papers are invited that explore this topic. In addition, we especially look forward to papers on the work of our guests:

Guest of Honor: Vernor Vinge, author of “The Technological Singularity” and Hugo Award winning A Fire Upon the Deep.

Guest of Honor: Greer Ilene Gilman, author of the Crawford Award-winning Moonwise.

Guest Scholar: Roger Luckhurst, author of The Trauma Paradigm (Routledge) and Science Fiction (Polity Press).

As always, we also welcome proposals for individual papers and for academic sessions and panels on any aspect of the fantastic in any media. The new deadline is October 31, 2007 but we will be happy to consider papers until the original deadline (November 30), pending availability.

We encourage work from institutionally-affiliated scholars, independent scholars, international scholars who work in languages other than English, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

March 19-23, 2008
Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel

Look for Information and Updates at the IAFA website: www.iafa.org

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 07:53 PM | Comments (0)

July 01, 2007

The IAFA Needs You

As we make the transition from an ICFA based in Fort Lauderdale to one based in Orlando, one of the things the IAFA has lost is local assistance/resources. The IAFA is looking for any Orlando-based members to assist in conference preparation, chiefly to move materials, help get the location prepped, report if some wildstorm has destroyed the hotel, etc. Your availability would be needed the Sunday before the conference until the Monday after the conference. So, any Orlando-based IAFA members want to take a direct involvement in getting ICFA off the ground in Orlando? If so, please make yourself known on the iafa-l so first contact can be established. Much thanks.

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 01:10 PM | Comments (0)

June 28, 2007

Photos of the Marriott Orlando -- New Site for ICFA

Bill Clemente, the IAFA Treasurer, has posted photos of the recent Executive Board retreat at the Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel, our new ICFA site. If anyone would like to have a better visual then click on the link and enjoy.

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)

June 24, 2007

ICFA Conferences -- Future Planning

There has been some discussion on iafa-l regarding the dates of ICFA-29 (March 19, 2008 to March 23, 2008) because there are a series of unavoidable conflicts, including the Easter weekend. Some of the reasons for the ICFA-29 dates and the extreme difficulties in moving the dates are discussed on iafa-l, so I won’t repeat them here. But, for those of who like advanced planning, here are the next series of ICFA dates:

ICFA-29 (2008): March 19 (Wednesday) to March 23 (Sunday)
ICFA-30 (2009): March 18 (Wednesday) to March 22 (Sunday)
ICFA-31 (2010): March 17 (Wednesday) to March 21 (Sunday)
ICFA-32 (2011): March 16 (Wednesday) to March 20 (Sunday)

On to Orlando!

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 09:15 PM | Comments (0)

On to Orlando! Some Initial Thoughts

I’ve come home from our 2007 Executive Board meeting, kissed my wife hello, ate some dinner, and have now retreated to my office to post initial thoughts on the Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel that awaits us for our future ICFA conferences. This is a wonderful site and full kudos go to Donald Morse and Jeri Zulli for finding this gem. While these are my personal thoughts and don’t necessarily reflect all the Board members’ official positions, I think it’s safe to say that the Executive Board was extremely pleased (maybe even thrilled) at the new location and the amenities it offers. It’s undergone (and will have completed by the time we’re there in March) a $17 million renovation and the quality shines forth. Here are some of the perks (in no particular order):

•a 24 hr. gym with state-of-the-art equipment (including 5 treadmills, 3 stair steppers, 3 stationary bikes, weights, change rooms with sauna/steam (male and female), lockers (but no locks; bring your own), a rubber floor, hot towels, and fresh fruit; also, the gym overlooks the indoor pool...

•...which also becomes the outdoor pool. The two pools are connected so one can swim indoors and then swim through a plastic barrier and, voila, you’re swimming outdoors. The pool varies in depth from 3-7 feet. There is also a baby pool for any attendees who bring young ‘uns and want them to go for a safe dip. The pools are open until 10:00 PM but we know hotel guests (including an Executive Board member or two) were swimming at 11:00 PM and even at 2:00 AM. The indoor pool also has a hot tub beside it and, of course, there are plenty of towels available; and, . . .

•. . .speaking of availability, there are plenty of deck chairs/loungers surrounding the pool area that will facilitate those vitally important late-night sessions that are as equally important as ICFA’s paper sessions and panels. There is plenty of deck space and not all of it surrounds the pool. In fact, your Executive Board has already found an ideal conversation area and dubbed it “the Boardroom” (thanks to Gary for that), but I’m not telling where it is – I have to draw a line at my promotional responsibilities somewhere. Anyway, there is plenty of deck space for conversations; and, what would deck space be without . . .

•. . . the Tiki bar?! I don’t have the official name handy, but suffice to say it is a fully-stocked bar that we’ve been assured will stay open until 11:00 PM every night of the conference. They have all the drinks you could imagine (or at least I’m told; I don’t drink so my liquor knowledge is limited) and a fave was the mango daiquiri, both the regular version and the “Jeri” mango daiquiri (ask her about the difference). The bar/pool area is also surrounded by a little lake and there are trails around the lake area, although I didn’t personally go to them so I cannot really offer substantial commentary. There are also tennis courts and a beach volleyball court. But, don’t feel you need to stay at the outdoor bar/pool area all the time, because. . .

•. . . there is a wonderful indoor bar that is part of the Luxe Restaurant. That bar is equally inviting and an added bonus is that they will serve patrons in the bar but also in the many nooks and crannies located in front of the bar/restaurant area and in the lobby; after all, what would a lobby/lounge area be like if they didn’t allow for intimate gatherings? Well, the Marriott has taken this into consideration as there are plenty of couches throughout the lobby area of the hotel and they are also served by the bar staff. Also, speaking of the Luxe Restaurant. . .

•. . . the food was very impressive and reasonably priced. The food in Lauderdale was problematic as expensive prices were paired with poor quality. In this case, I thought the food quality was wonderful and the prices seemed (to me) reasonable for hotel food. Granted, there is a problem with vegetarian dishes (I don’t believe there were any on their dinner menu) and we’ve brought that to their attention so hopefully that’ll be rectified by March. They did directly tell us that they are sensitive to their patrons’ food needs, so that’s a good sign for vegetarians and those who do have food allergies. While we ate in the Luxe Restaurant (I can’t speak for anyone else, but their breakfast was delicious: two scrambled eggs, toast, three sausages, juice, and hash browns for around $12) we didn’t get a chance to eat in the upscale Porterhouse Restaurant. That establishment requires reservations and the cost of the entrees run anywhere from the mid-20s to 40s, all depending on your food choice. We were told that the Orlando Sentinel has a special section of their paper where they publish restaurants’ recipes and the Porterhouse has had its recipes published in the newspaper, so that’s gotta be a good sign. So, certainly give the hotel food a try because I thought it was quite good and aside from the problem with vegetarian dishes it seems the other Board members agreed on its quality; yet, if you wanted to take a break from the hotel food and venture out to another establishment. . .

•. . . you’re in luck! There are other restaurants. In addition to the Marriott, there are about five or six other hotels all within walking distance and you can obviously eat there. In addition, there is a Denny’s about 5-10 mins. away, a T.G.I. Fridays about 10 mins. away, another chain establishment that will go unnamed (be quiet, Bill!) also about 5-10 mins. away, and an entire series of pubs/restaurants anywhere from 5-10 mins. to 30 mins. away [note: all time references are based on walking]. So, for those of you who are on a budget, notably our valued Undergraduate and Graduate Students, there are so many more food options (as well as a Walgreens, Kinkos, etc.) than the Lauderdale location ever offered. But, what about that eclectic and/or specialized culinary fare? Well. . .

•. . . I really can’t tell you. Since Orlando is a tourist mecca and we were in a tourist hotel area, I didn’t personally see specialized restaurants. The hotel has a map (which we’re going to adapt) so that might be useful, but specialty/non-chain/non-pub restaurants might require transportation so perhaps a rental car might be in order. Oh, did I mention that conference attendees will have free parking during the conference?!?! So, transportation is certainly facilitated, and speaking of transportation. . .

•. . . we barely heard the planes. The Lauderdale location had a steady retinue of planes flying over our heads but that was not the case in Orlando. True, we did hear planes but the number was dramatically reduced. At one point we realized it’d been several hours since we heard a plane flying overhead, so that made the experience so much better. As many of you will agree, the Lauderdale location felt like we were abandoned in an industrial park with nothing around us, sorta like...well, the airport! The Marriott is dramatically different as airport-noise is less obtrusive and with all the surrounding amenities it just feels like we’re in a civilized area. Our Marriott representative said that they’ve tried to make the Marriott feel like a resort and not an airport-hotel and, from my perspective, it certainly feels that way. The overall ambience is much more professional, including such “little” things as windows in the meeting rooms where we’ll be holding our panels, bigger registration space, working elevators that don’t lurch up-and-down before opening their doors (sometimes before actually stopping at the floor), an automated elevator voice announcing the floor as well as braille on the buttons, free Xerox copying at the front desk (max. of 20 copies per person; note: the per-page printing costs are unusually high), televisions in the lobby and weight room that can be turned down (or off) by the patrons, a directory providing nearby licensed/bonded childcare (thanks for that, Robin!), and a staff that generally wants to see us happy.

Overall, I think you’ll all be pleased with what Orlando has to offer us and this new environment appears well-positioned and well-suited to address ICFA’s needs and help contribute to our growing conference experience. More information will be forthcoming, but I thought I’d share these initial comments.

But wait! I know, some of you are going to miss that cat that wandered around the Lauderdale location (did it have a name?). Rest assured, the Marriott has some local wildlife on the premises, including cute lizards, ducks (ask Stacie what they were doing when she and I found them), a wide variety of birds, at least one racoon, turtles (well, one anyway that I saw in the lake) and, if you’re lucky, you’ll see Al and Junior (you’ll find out).

On to Orlando!

Posted by GrahamMurphy at 09:01 PM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2007

Roundtable Readings

Regular attendees and careful perusers of the online program will know that each year we schedule a couple of roundtable discussions focused on particular readings. This year, the SF division is hosting a roundtable discussion of an article in Science Fiction Studies by Wendy Pearson, who will also be in attendance. The CC division (the new Communities and Cultures of the Fantastic Division, formerly part of the PCVA division) is sponsoring a discussion of two articles on gender issues in fandom cultures.

Following the usual practice, we have made these readings available prior to the conference so that anyone wishing to attend and participate can read the articles in time to formulate comments and questions. If you surf on over to the main webpage (www.iafa.org) and scroll down the page, you'll find a link to the roundtable readings. Click on that link and you'll be able to click on pdf copies of the CC readings or click on a link that will take you to the SFS site for a copy of the Pearson article (we'd like to thank Art Evans and Veronica Hollinger of SFS for allowing us to link to their site).

Thanks to Len for doing the uploading and linking, and to Barb Lucas and Sherryl Vint for co-ordinating availability of the articles.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)

March 04, 2007

ICFA 28 - Pre-Conference Event

Farah Mendlesohn has asked me to pass along the following announcement about a special event taking place before the official start of the conference:

For all you early arrivals.....

Join us for Elevens's and the wit and wisdom of Brian Aldiss.

By the miracle of Radio 4, Listen Again and the ipod of Edward James, we present:

Brian Aldiss on Desert Islands Discs

Boardroom at 11a.m. on Wednesday, March 14

Posted by ChrissieMains at 09:11 PM | Comments (0)

Hotel Update from Donald Morse

Thanks to all of you who did check on their reservations. It looks now that most (and I hope all) of the Wyndham reservations have made their way into the Hilton system.

The hotel is sold out Friday and Saturday nights. This has been true in the past but happened earlier this year. We did anticipate this somewhat which is why the emphasis on registering with the hotel well in advance of the deadline of 9 February. As it was we were able to keep reservations open through 16 February but that was a stretch and not always consistent. The hotel's web page lists some other hotels in the area and we have posted a listing for potential roommates. I'm terribly sorry for the trouble and inconvenience any of you are experiencing.

I believe the large number of conferees this year demonstrates that we've outgrown the Ft Lauderdale Hilton after some 20 years. I will be discussing this and other issues at the business meeting.

See you soon for a great conference!!

Donald Morse
IAFA Conference Chair

Posted by ChrissieMains at 09:07 PM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2007

Crawford Award

The winner of the 2007 Crawford Award of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts has been announced by IAFA Committee Director Gary K. Wolfe: Mary Rickert for Map of Dreams.

On behalf of the IAFA, the board would like to congratulate Mary Rickert, who will be in attendance at the International Conference of the Fantastic of the Arts March 14-18, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to accept the award.

The board would also like to extend congratulations to the other finalists:

Daniel Abraham, A Shadow in Summer
Alan De Niro, Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead
Keith Donohue, The Stolen Child
Theodora Goss, In The Forest of Forgetting
Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora
Naomi Novik, Temeraire

The Crawford Award, presented annually by the IAFA since 1985 and originally funded by a gift from Andre Norton, recognizes the first book by an outstanding new fantasy writer. Past winners include Joe Hill, Alexander Irvine, Candas Jane Dorsey, Jonathan Lethem, Susan Palwick, Greer Gilman, and Charles de Lint.

Nominators for this year's award included Kelly Link, Graham Sleight, Niall Harrison, Jonathan Strahan, Farah Mendlesohn, and Gary K. Wolfe.

The award will be presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, March 14-18 in Fort Lauderdale.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 06:35 PM | Comments (0)

January 14, 2007

ICFA 28 Grad Paper Award

A reminder for all graduate students who will be presenting at IAFA in March, 2007.

The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts is pleased to continue its annual award and stipend to the graduate student submitting the outstanding paper at the Association’s 2007 Conference, to be held at the Fort Lauderdale Airport Hilton, Fort Lauderdale, FL, March 14-18, 2007. The award, and a cheque for $250, will be presented to the winner at the Awards Banquet on Saturday evening.

Deadline: February 1, 2007

CRITERIA & INSTRUCTIONS

1. The student will have had a paper accepted for presentation at the Conference. The paper submitted for the competition should be essentially the same as that presented at the conference. The maximum length for entries is 3500 words (about 2 pages over the recommended reading length of 8-9 pages). Students should be aware that funds are limited and that only one award will be given. The paper selected will be published in the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, and therefore must not have been previously published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Please note that acceptance of a paper for the Conference does not guarantee an award.

2. It is the responsibility of the student to send a copy of the paper by 1 February 2007 to the IAFA Student-Support Committee’s Chair, as well as a copy of the letter of acceptance and verification of student status. Submissions may be in WordPerfect, MSWord or rich text format (rtf) files, sent as e-mail attachments to Robin Anne Reid, at:

Robin_Reid AT tamu-commerce.edu

Support documents may be sent as attached files to the same address or sent by mail to:
Department of Literature and Languages
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Commerce, TX 75429

Posted by ChrissieMains at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)

ICFA28 Program on the Website

A nearly-final working draft of the program for ICFA 28, to be held March 14-18, 2007 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been uploaded to the website at www.iafa.org.

We still need some details filled in, and because it is a work-in-progress, there will likely be some changes before the deadline for heading to the printer. And of course things will change even after that deadline, with the inevitable late cancellations.

Please be sure to check your own information for possible errors in spelling your name, affiliation, paper title, etc. If there are any concerns, contact your division head and Farah, VP in charge of scheduling the program, at farah.sf AT gmail DOT com.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2006

Update to Conference Guest

Unfortunately, Marina Warner has had to cancel as our Guest Scholar due to a teaching commitment, but we have found an excellent replacement.

Jane Donawerth of the University of Maryland is the author of Frankenstein's Daughters: Women Writing Science Fiction (Syracuse, 1997) and Shakespeare and the Sixteenth-Century Study of Language (Illinois, 1984). She is the co-editor of Utopian and Science Fiction by Women: Worlds of Difference (Syracuse, 1994) and of Women, Writing, and the Reproduction of Culture in Tudor and Stuart Britain and Crossing Boundaries: Attending to Early Modern Women; Rhetorical Theory by Women before 1900. She has published more than 40 articles in venues as diverse as Science Fiction Studies, Extrapolation, PMLA, Shakespeare Quarterly, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, and Feminist Teacher.

We are very pleased to have Jane Donawerth as our Guest Scholar for the 2007 ICFA.

Mike Levy
IAFA President

Posted by ChrissieMains at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2006

ICFA 28 - Call for Papers

Representing Self and Other:
Gender and Sexuality in the Fantastic
International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts 28
March 14-18, 2007
Wyndham Fort Lauderdale Airport Hotel
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The focus of ICFA-28 is on issues of gender and sexuality, long a concern of the fantastic in literature, film, and other media. Given the oft-marginalized status of science fiction and fantasy in relation to mainstream literature and culture, it’s not surprising to see fantastic works considered in the light of queer theory and feminist approaches. The hero doesn’t have to be a guy, but it’s just as rewarding to examine the construction of the masculine hero in space opera, sword-and-sorcery, and superhero comics. In graphic novels, book cover illustrations, and art, the gendered Other is the BEM, the elf, the alien, the vampire. Awards such as the Tiptree and the Lambda, and the success of WisCon, speak to the importance of this theme to the communities of the fantastic.

We look forward to papers on the work of this year’s guests:

Guest of Honor Geoff Ryman, author of the Tiptree Award-winning Air as well as Was; The Child Garden, winner of the Campbell Award; The Unconquered Country, winner of the World Fantasy Award; The Warrior Who Carried Life.

Guest Scholar Marina Warner, award-winning critic and fiction author. Her scholarly work includes Alone of All Her Sex, From the Beast to the Blonde, Monuments and Maidens.

Special Guest Writer Melissa Scott, winner of the Lambda Award, author of Trouble and her Friends; The Kindly Ones, Dreaming Metal, and with Lisa Barnett, Point of Hopes and Point of Dreams.

Suggested topics include, but are by no means limited to:

· Childhood in Geoff Ryman’s works
· Boyhood and violence
· Revising gender roles in traditional children’s literature
· Mothers & Fathers
· The "hard" man vs. the "soft" man in film and other media
· the representation of gay men and women in SF/H/F
· changes or patterns in the representation of the feminine in 21century films
· Gender blending and bending
· The Other as love/sex object
· Vampires/werewolves as the "first" transsexuals
· Tiptree award winners
· Gender stereotypes in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, etc
· Alien sex
· Slash fan fiction
· 1st, 2nd, or 3rd wave feminism and sf
· Judith Butler and gender performativity
· Donna Haraway and cyborg feminism
· Anthropology and gender
· gender cues in anime art
· performing gender in Role Playing Games
· female protagonists in action games for video and computer
· the exaggeration and stereotyping of sexual characteristics in comic art

A more complete list of suggested topics, frequently updated, is available on the website.

As always, we also welcome proposals for individual papers and for academic sessions and panels on any aspect of the fantastic in any media, even outside the conference theme.

Submit 500 word abstracts for proposals and panel sessions, including contact information and A/V requests, to the appropriate Division Head (full mailing information is available on the website):

(CYA) Fantastic in Children’s & Young Adult Literature & Art: Joe Sutliff Sanders, dr.joess AT gmail.com

(FE) Fantastic Literatures in English: Charles W. Nelson, cwnelson AT mtu.edu

(FM) Fantastic in Film & Media: Susan A. George, sageorge13 AT sbcglobal.net

(CC) Communities & Culture in the Fantastic: Barbara Lucas, barbedwriting AT yahoo.com

(VPA) Visual & Performing Arts in the Fantastic: Stacie Hanes, shanes1 AT kent.edu

(H) Horror: Stephanie Moss, smoss AT cas.usf.edu

(IF) International Fantastic Literature: Dale Knickerbocker, knickerbockerd AT mail.ecu.edu

(SF) Science Fiction Literature & Theory, svint AT stfx.ca

The deadline for submission of proposals for papers or panels is November 30, 2006, although Division Heads will accept proposals at any time before that date.

You can review all conference information at the IAFA website. Bookmark the site to keep checking back for updates.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)

March 10, 2006

Changes to Poolside

Some of you may remember that during the recent hurricane season, lucky Fort Lauderdale was a landfall location. Bill Senior assures us that the hotel is looking good, but regular attendees of the conference will notice a few changes.

Among those changes is the poolside area; aside from missing several trees and shrubs, a lot of the patio furniture has gone missing, and, unfortunately, the poolside bar is no longer regularly open. This is a decision made by the new owners of the hotel.

The board has arranged for a poolside bar with food on Saturday afternoon. During the week, the Keys Bar in the lobby will be open early afternoon and throughout the evening.

The opening reception will include the usual cash bar as will the Saturday evening banquet. After the banquet, the hotel is sponsoring a dessert reception with cash bar in the Regatta room.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)

March 09, 2006

Getting to the Hotel

Those of you new to the conference might be wondering how you get from the airport to the hotel. Thankfully, the hotel is only a few minutes away from the airport; if you have a window seat on the plane, you might be able to see the distinctive yellow building from the end of the runway.

If you want to take a cab to the hotel, it should only cost about five dollars. There's also a free hotel shuttle, which might take a little longer (sometimes it's very prompt, sometimes not so much).

When you're in the baggage claims area of the airport terminals, turn your back on the carousel and you'll see a bank of phones, with numbered ads for hotels, rent-a-car places, and cab companies. The phones also list the hotel names on a little plaque next to the phone, if you don't feel like looking at all the ads to find the right number for our hotel. You're looking for the Wyndham Fort Lauderdale Airport Hotel; once you have the number, pick up the phone and dial, and you'll be connected to the hotel desk.

Ask for the shuttle, and you'll be connected to the guy outside the hotel who handles the shuttle vans. You'll be asked what terminal you're in (or what airline you've arrived on) and will then be given directions for leaving the terminal and finding the shuttle stand (they have signposts with 'hotel' on them). Then you can watch cars, cabs, and various vans whiz on by while you wait for the Wyndham van to pick you up.

The drive to the hotel is only a few minutes long, and the shuttle is air-conditioned. You might not think you'll appreciate that at this moment, but a few minutes outside the airport terminal and you definitely will.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 11:12 PM | Comments (0)

Congratulations to our Future Guests

We're all focused on ICFA-27, but let's look ahead for a moment to ICFA-28 next year.

The theme will be "Gender and Sexuality in the Fantastic." Our Guest of Honor will be Geoff Ryman, our Guest Scholar will be Marina Warner, and Special Guest Writer will be Melissa Scott.

Geoff Ryman's novel Air (2005) has just won the Tiptree Award, while Marina Warner, who was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2005, will be granted a Degree of Doctor of Letters honoris causa by The University of Oxford later this year. Congratulations to both of them.

Next week, while we're celebrating the contributions to the field of the fantastic by our wonderful guests Charles Vess, M. Thomas Inge, and Kathleen Ann Goonan, take a few minutes during coffee or paddling your feet in the pool to think about what you'd like to see at next year's conference. You'll find proposal forms in your registration package, and a drop-off box for submitting those forms at the registration desk.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 10:59 PM | Comments (0)

What to do on Wednesday

Regular attendees at the conference will notice that we've done something a little different with Wednesday this year.

As usual, there is a set of paper sessions on Wednesday afternoon, beginning a little later than usual, from 5-6. This first collection of papers gets the conference off to a wonderful start, with titles including "The Unappreciated Monster, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Zombie" and "For All Your Happily Ever Afters: Fairy Tale Pastiche and Fantasy Plots." Check out the program on the web for a full listing.

What's different is that we have an opening ceremony, featuring a special panel on this year's theme, preceding the first paper session. From 3-3:30, refreshments will be available in the Ballroom Foyer, and at 3:30, after opening remarks from Vice President Farah Mendlesohn, Jeff VanderMeer will host "The Visual Arts in the Fantastic" with participants Judith Clute, Joe Haldeman, Guest Scholar M. Thomas Inge, and our Guest of Honor Charles Vess.

The Opening Reception will be held, as usual, at 8:30 in Regatta (the small building across the parking circle from the hotel entrance, for those of you new to the conference). And if you are new, or if you want to introduce yourself to some of our new attendees, the Student Caucus is hosting a Meet-up for Newcomers at 8:00 in Atlantic. If you're new and not sure of the hotel layout, there's a map in the back of the program book; if you arrived after the close of registration, check the board next to the registration desk on the second floor or check with the hotel staff for directions.

Registration will open at noon, and stay open until 8:00 on Wednesday. The bookroom will also open at noon and close at 6:00, if you want to get in a little book shopping (and pick up a T-shirt) before things get really busy.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 10:44 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2006

Coming to the Conference from Overseas?

Farah Mendlesohn advises:

I've just been informed that immigration are getting stickier. Make sure you have the *full address* of the hotel for your immigration form.

Wyndham Ft Lauderdale Airport Hotel
1870 Griffin Road
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33004-2214
United States
Phone: 954-920-3300

Posted by ChrissieMains at 07:53 PM | Comments (0)

February 27, 2006

What to See at the Conference: SF Division

SF Area Session Introduction

This year’s conference promises to be another exciting and thought-provoking exploration of the fantastic in its many genre and media forms. Part of the fun and challenge of the conference will be trying to choose among many papers being given simultaneously. This brief introduction to SF area programming is aimed to help you in this difficult task.

The theme of this year’s conference is Drawn by the Fantastic, focused on visual media and visual images within all media. The SF area has two paper sessions focused on this theme.

Session 47: Image and Graphic Texts in Wells, Dick and Miller with presentations by Shawn Smolen-Morton, Kelley Meyer, and Graham J. Murphy will explore the relationship between sf texts and illustrations

Session 60: Ideologies of Technology and Science in Graphic SF features papers by Richard Landom and Rob Latham on sf conventions translated into graphic novels and on the visual aspects of New Wave sf.

For those interested in the question of what it means to do sf scholarship we have two paper sessions focused on such questions.

Session 10: Metalanguages and Metanarratives in Science Fiction will consider sf fiction through theories of language and representation ranging from postmodernism to metalinguistics in papers given by John Fast, Ethan Sproat and James Arthur Anderson.

Session 42: SF Scholarship: Crossing Academic and Marketing Genre provides presenters Neil Easterbrook, Jean Lorrah, and C.W. Sullivan with a chance to ask us to consider the methods of sf scholarship and the role of market forces in what we do.

The international aspect of our organisation is strongly represented in two of this year’s sf panels that consider the influence of national and literary cultures on sf texts.

Session 8: Cultural Influences on SF Narratives and Graphics features papers by Lisa Yaszek, Rebecca Rowe, and Edward James that consider, respectively, 1950s US culture, Japanese manga, and the British Commonwealth.

Session 64: Futurity and Free Will in Butler and Gibson focuses on the work of William Gibson and Octavia Butler, two canonical sf authors, in papers given by Jennifer Orme, Stacie Hanes, and Bill Senior.

Finally, the SF area has a number of panels that focus in a variety of ways on theories of alterity and the representation of otherness in sf.

Session 7: Marked Bodies and Identities in Science Fiction engages with subject theory in discussions of queer subjectivity, tattooed bodies, and biometric technology by presenters Robert von der Osten, Patricia Melzer, and Kim Surkan.

Session 18: Constructions, Inversion and Conventions of ‘Race’ in Science Fiction with presentations by Krista Kasdorf, Rachel Swirsky, and Sharon Louise Degraw looks at various images of racial otherness in sf.

Session 34: Art, Mythology and Ethics in Le Guin and Tepper considers the representation of gender and species otherness in these authors in papers presented by William Burling, Madeline Malan, and Joan Gordon.

Session 49: Science Fiction’s Theorising of Alterity and Performativity considers the full range of otherness from animals to aliens to technobodies in papers presented by Sherryl Vint, Grace Dillon, and Veronica Hollinger.

Session 89: Body and Machine with presentations by Liz Hoiem, Elizabeth Barnes and Amy Hale further considers the boundaries of humanity with papers on automata, Philip K. Dick, and transhumanism.

In addition to hearing from our exciting list of presenters, there are also opportunities for audience participation and interaction sessions within the SF area.

Session 56: SF Roundtable is an opportunity to consider the importance of visual and material technology for sf representations through a group discussion Chapter 8, “Synthesis: The 1939 New York World’s Fair,” from David Nye’s The American Technological Sublime lead by Robin Anne Reid, Len Hatfield, and Sherryl Vint. Download the article from the site and join us for a lively discussion.

Session74 : Panel: The Secret History of Science Fiction: Remediation and the Visual in SF opens with ideas from panellists Mark Bould, Joe Sutliff Sanders, Shelley Rodrigo and Sherryl Vint on the importance of visual media and the representation of media in sf, and then opens for a wider discussion with the audience about these issues.

Sherryl Vint, Incoming SF Division Head

Posted by ChrissieMains at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)

SF Theory Roundtable

Science Fiction Theory Roundtable March 2006
The American Technological Sublime.
David Nye
MIT Press
1996

Chapter 8: “Synthesis: The 1939 New York World’s Fair” pages 199-224, notes p.

Nye’s book is an exploration of what he calls the technological sublime in American culture. Nye argues that in American culture technology rather than nature took over the role of provoking that sense of awe and wonder that we associate with the sublime and of producing a sort of social cohesion through this shared quasi-religious experience. The book is an exploration of how technology came to play this role in American culture and is organized around the shifting sublime from geometrical, through electrical, to technological sites. Nye argues in his preface that his work is not a history form an engineering point of view but instead “it is concerned with the social context of technology, with how new objects are interpreted and integrated into the fabric of social life” (xv). After providing background about theories of the sublime and the particular American inflection of this concept, Nye develops his argument through chapters on a number of things that have been sites of the sublime in the American experience: the railroad, bridges and skyscrapers, the factory, electrical lighting and signs, cityscapes and lit skylines, the Apollo missions, the nuclear bomb, and the statue of liberty. Nye notes that while the European model of the sublime involved a sense of awe that involved a sense of human weakness or insignificance in the face of the power and grandeur of nature, along with the compensatory empowerment that came with recognizing that the human mind was able to grasp something larger than itself. In contrast the technological sublime “does not endorse human limitations; rather, it manifests a split between those who understand and control machines and those who do not” (60).

The chapter we will be considering, Chapter 8, focuses on the 1939 New York World’s Fair as a location in which all previous varieties of the sublime – geometrical, electrical and technological – came together to create an experience of the imagined future for a depression-bound American public. As Nye notes, previous World’s Fairs had also focused around technological marvels of the sublime, but the 1939 World’s Fair is unique in combining its displays of such marvels with a narrative about a fantasized future in which science, technology, and major corporations could transform the world, solving the economic crisis and ushering in a technological utopia. This chapter focuses on the way the 1939 World’s Fair worked to create visual models of this future and interpolate the visitor into them. This article, about a material, visual, and phenomenological future one might visit, raises interesting questions about the role of sf images and experiences in our vision of the future, and about the role of corporate/technological innovation in the sf imagination.

Possible issues to discuss include (but are not limited to) questions about whether or not Nye’s arguments about the sublime are similar to the ‘sense of wonder’ often attributed to the proper experience of reading sf. Are technological objects to sf literature what nature was to the Romantic poets? Is there anything particularly ‘American’ about this sublime relationship to technology that helps us to understand differences between American and UK science fiction? Historically, the sublime has been an experience that has been gendered male (women experience emotion instead, or so the theory goes). Is there something about the way technology itself has also been gendered that helps us to understand the marginalized role of women in a lot of sf? Does this focus on technology itself as the site of the sublime have a connection to a tendency in sf to eschew the material and focus on the abstract and transcendent? Nye notes a tendency to erase the labour of human workman and engineers in consuming the spectacle of the technological object itself, separated from the conditions of its production. Is there a similar implication in commodity fetishism in our sense of wonder in sf? The sublime is largely a religious experience. Is there a connection between the sublime and the recent interest in religion in some sf and scholarship on technology and culture? Much golden age sf valorize the role of the scientist or engineer to solve all social problems. Is there a connection between this and the role of the technological sublime in valuing those who can control the power of awe-inspiring machines? The theory of the sublime is rooted in a sense of the sublime experience being a visceral or phenomenological one, often with the visual sense predominating. Does thinking about the visual qualities of the technological sublime help us see new things about sf scholarship and texts? The 1939 World’s Fair was organized around an experience of escape from mundane reality into a better world to be made by technology. How much does this sense of escapism dominate in the sf tradition or how much are such representation critiqued by more sophisticated sf?

Sherryl Vint, Incoming SF Division Head

Posted by ChrissieMains at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2006

What to See at the Conference - Horror

There is a wealth of papers representing the Horror Division this year. Among them is a session on the writing of Michael Arnzen with Mike (wearing his scholarly hat) presenting a paper on his own work.

For Lovecraft fans, there are two papers on the horror mythologist, one looking at Lovecraft’s reinvention of the horror genre (his shift of horror from the often predictable Judeo-Christian cosmos to the inherent terrifying universe of science) and a second examining Lovecraft’s influence on Thomas Ligotti.

One of the most interesting papers (one that I am personally looking forward to) dissects Mark Denielewsi’s House of Leaves, the fascinating novel that circulated widely in manuscript before its actual publication. House of Leaves manipulates the often overworked theme of the haunted house into a truly terrifying examination of interior space.

In addition, there will be papers on Hawthorne, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, Chuck Palahniuk’s Phastasmagoria, Wrath James White’s short story, “Resurrection Day,” “Boobs” by ICFA writer Suzy McKee Charnas, two papers on Stephen King, and for Proust lovers, a paper that follows up on last year’s examination of psychoanalytical terror in the works of the French writer.

There are also two papers with a philosophical bent, one on the actual phenomenon of horror and a second on Eastern philosophy and western occult.

Lord Ruthven Assembly members are active (as always), presenting several papers on Dracula (of course), including a paper session on the visual in the grand-daddy of all vampire novels (with LRA’s guest scholar, Elizabeth Miller, presenting). In addition, LRA will tender a panel on the always popular “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and separate papers on I am Legend, Interview with a Vampire, and Vampire Hunter D.

LRA’s David Van Becker will offer a paper on his life work, the Gothic, and there will be one very unusual paper examining Canada’s unique Prince Edward Island in relation to Anne of Green Gables and Dracula.

Finally, although Chelsea Quinn Yarbro will not be at the conference this year (she will be in Italy for a promotional tour), there will be several readings by varied horror authors.

Stephanie Moss
Head, Horror Division

Posted by ChrissieMains at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)

What to See at the Conference: CYA Division

Because the visual dimension of media in children's literature is such an important avenue for acculturation and marketing, our division features some especially intriguing work on the overlap between visual art and prose.

Papers include those on how race, film, digital technology, subversion, and imperialism are caught up with the visual dimension of literature for children.

Our panel discussion (Saturday at 10:30) asks what uses art has for children politically; in other words, how does art teach children to see the world, how does it help situate them in a consumer economy, and how does it engage them in a symbolic landscape marked by conceptions of prejudice and innocence? As the centerpiece of the division, the panel is a good place to ask the fundamental theoretical questions that are implicit in the rest of the division, where papers explore classic children's literature as well as Harry Potter and comics for kids.

Joe Sutliff Sanders, Division Head (CYA)

Posted by ChrissieMains at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2006

PCVA Roundtable Reading

And the second Roundtable reading is now online. Point your browser to this site and use the same username (icfa-27) and password (2006) as for the SF Reading.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 05:41 PM | Comments (0)

T-shirts

The order has gone in for the conference T-shirts, and I'd just like to say that a T-shirt will be a must have this year. Our Guest of Honor Charles Vess has designed a lovely image that will grace the program cover as well, and the T-shirt color is a striking deep red that sets off the image beautifully. Because of the extra work involved in creating the shirts they will cost a little more than usual, but they'll be so worth it.

Our esteemed President Mike Levy plans to buy some for his family, and is somewhat sad that the shirts don't come in a size small enough for the family cat. That's how incredibly gorgeous the shirts will be.

For those of you new to the conference, T-shirts are available for sale in the bookroom.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 01:25 PM | Comments (0)

Roundtable Readings Online

If you've checked out the conference program available on the website, you'll have seen that we have two roundtable discussions this year, one for the Science Fiction division and one for Popular Culture and the Visual Arts.

As in past years, we're making the articles that are the focus of the roundtables available on the website for the convenience of members who might not have easy access to the print versions. This way, members who want to participate in the roundtable discussions will be able to read the articles before the conference.

Because of copyright concerns, the articles are password protected.

The Nye essay, for the SF Roundtable, is available at the site. The username is "icfa-27" and the password "2006". The article is in pdf format, so you'll need the freeware Adobe Acrobat Reader, and it is a fairly large file at 25mb, so if you're on dial-up it might take a little time to download.

We hope to have the PCVA Roundtable Reading up soon.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 01:16 PM | Comments (0)

January 26, 2006

Registration & Membership Reminder

Another in my series of continuing reminders to take care of registration and membership renewal as soon as possible.

Everyone who is presenting a paper at ICFA this year is reminded of this note on the Call for Papers:

Presenters must be members of the association at the time of the conference.

The form to renew your membership in the association and to register for the conference is available through the main page of the website. If you have any questions or concerns about membership or registration, contact Katy Hatfield at the email link on the website.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2006

ICFA 27 - Program on the Web for Review

Hey, everybody!

A pretty much final draft of the conference program has been uploaded to the website for your review. Point your browsers to www.iafa.org and scroll down to the first link on the main page, following the banner with the title, dates, and guests for this year's conference. Clicking this link will take you to a new page where the draft of the program is available.

We do not expect to make any major changes to the program at this point, but please keep in mind that this is a work-in-progress and that it is possible that information could change as we finalize room bookings and deal with the inevitable handful of cancellations.

Please take the time to do a search on your own name and make sure that your name, affiliation, and paper title are spelled correctly; this information passes through a lot of hands on its way into the program book, and while we're proofreading constantly, things do slip through.

Contact Chrissie Mains at cemains@shaw. and Farah Mendlesohn at farah.sf@gmail.com if you need your info fixed. If you have a bigger concern than the spelling of your name, contact Farah as well as your Division Head.

You'll see that we're still searching for chairs for a number of sessions, so if you'd like to volunteer to act as a session chair, make sure that you're not already down to do something else in that timeslot and then contact Farah to volunteer.

This is time-sensitive as we prepare the program files for the printer, so take the time to review the program sooner than later.

See you all in March in Florida,

Chrissie

Posted by ChrissieMains at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)

January 06, 2006

Getting Ready for the Conference

We're only weeks away from the annual conference, so if you're not prepared yet, now's the time.

1. Have you sent in your membership/conference registration fee? The form is on the website, and can be downloaded in MSWord doc so that you can type in your info, print it off, and mail it in. There's a link to the email address for registration co-ordinator Katy Hatfield, if you have any questions or concerns.

Keep in mind that the conference registration fee does increase the later you wait, with registration at the door being the most expensive.

2. Have you booked your room? The number for the hotel, the conference code, and the rates are listed on the website. The hotel will honor the conference rate (which is a really good deal in comparison to regular hotel rates for Ft. Lauderdale in March) until Feb. 1 OR until there are no rooms available. So if you haven't booked your room, you should do that now. Remember that it is possible to share a room in order to save costs; the association doesn't maintain a list of willing roomies, but you can ask on the listserv.

3. Have you booked your flight? It is Ft. Lauderdale in March, after all, so you don't want to leave this chore too much longer. Also, given the cruise ships docking in Ft. Lauderdale, it can be difficult to get a flight out on Sunday if you don't act quickly. Or, consider sticking around an extra day and leaving on Monday; there are always several ICFA souls hanging around by the pool on Sunday.

The conference schedule is being put together right now, and a draft will be available for review on the website soon; I'll make an announcement when it's ready.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 01:37 PM | Comments (0)

October 08, 2005

Call for Papers Deadline Reminder

Drawn by the Fantastic: Comics, Graphic Novels, Art and Literature
March 15-19, 2006
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

This year, the deadline for getting paper and panel proposals to the appropriate Division Heads was later than you might be used to, at the end of November rather than in October.

So you do have until November 30 to submit a proposal.

However, there's nothing like beating a deadline! And there's no reason you have to wait until November 30 to send in those proposals.

So, check out the website (www.iafa.org) for the Call for Papers, with possible topic ideas and the contact information for the Division Heads.

And feel free to download a copy of the CfP to circulate in your departments or at other conferences you might be attending.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 06:23 PM | Comments (0)

May 18, 2005

ICFA 27 - CfP Change of Address

If you've already printed off a copy of the CfP for next March's conference (available in various formats on the website at www.iafa.org), you might want to print off another copy.

The Division Head for The Fantastic in Children's and Young Adult Literature and Art has had to change his snail mail contact address (see previous announcement for the reason). His email address has not changed.

The information has been updated on the CfP available on the website as of May 17, 2005.

The Call for Papers for next March's conference is available for download in various formats; just go to the association's website at www.iafa.org, and click on your preferred format to download the CfP and print it off for posting in your departments or passing along to a colleague.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)

April 02, 2005

Europeans travelling to future ICFAs

Farah Mendlesohn wants to pass along this important information to European members of IAFA who may be travelling to the States, for next year's conference or before:

"Most Europeans, including almost all British citizens, will need a visa to visit America later this year after the US Congress said that there was little chance of postponing a deadline for the introduction of biometric passports."

For full story, go here .

Posted by ChrissieMains at 08:10 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2005

Volunteers at Registration Desk

The registration desk at ICFA-26 needs helps during the upcoming conference. By helping out, you can lower your meetings costs by earning a luncheon or banquet ticket. If you are interested, let Katy know as soon as possible! Please check the conference schedule, which is posted on the IAFA website, to see when you might be available to volunteer.

Workers are needed during the following times:

Wednesday, March 16 -- 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 17 -- 7:45 a.m. - Noon and 2:00 - 4 p.m.
Friday, March 18 -- 7:45 a.m. - Noon and 2:00 - 4 p.m.

By working only 3 hours you can earn a free ticket to either the Thursday or Friday luncheon or for working 4 hours, you can earn a free ticket to the Awards Banquet on Saturday evening. Spaces are limited so sign up early. Send your offers of help, or questions to Katy Hatfield, Conference Registrar at katy.hatfield AT gmail.com.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 08:36 PM | Comments (0)

March 06, 2005

Bookroom Volunteers Needed

David Hartwell and his team are still looking for volunteers to cover shifts in the bookroom before, during, and after the conference. He particularly needs coverage on Friday and Saturday.

Regarding the perks of volunteering in the bookroom, David says:

"Shifts in the bookroom are 4 hours. Perks may include tickets to luncheons, the Saturday banquet, or even refund of registration fees, depending upon number of shifts worked and on which days. We do not reimburse in advance. Benefits include getting to talk to many writers, and usually a free book or two, by arrangement."

If you're interested in covering a shift or two, contact David at dgh AT panix.com.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 01:28 PM | Comments (0)

February 28, 2005

Roundtable Readings on Website

The readings for the SF Theory Roundtable and the PCVA Theory Roundtable are now available on the IAFA website.

Because these articles are copyrighted, they are password protected. To read these articles, go to www.iafa.org/icfa26/locked/. You will be prompted for a username (icfa-26) and a password (s3x3s). Once you have entered this information, you will be able to read the two articles.

Thanks to Robin Reid and Kristina Busse for supplying the articles and Len Hatfield for arranging the website access.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2005

Getting Comfortable at ICFA

I'd like to second Robin Reid's message, which is full of good advice, by emphasizing that most people at ICFA are very approachable. Conference veterans, both senior professors and graduate students, will be happy to talk with you about your paper or their paper, variant editions of Dracula or the latest Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean comic collaboration, the application of Baudrillard to cyberpunk, or the relevance of Spivak to slash fiction; somewhere at ICFA will be at least a half dozen people who talk your language and share your passion. Trust me--I know this to be true from personal experience. When I attended my first ICFA back in the mid-1980's, knowing no one, I soon made friendships and professional connections that are still with me to this day.

A lot of wonderful scholarship is put on display at ICFA, but that's only half the story. The conversations are at least as important. And then there's the guest of honor's talk, and the book room, and the scholar's talk, and the luncheons and banquets, and the free books, and the many, many author readings, and the silent auction, and the swimming pool, and the play, and the mentoring program, and the parties, and Donald Morse's reading of the menu at each meal (you'll understand this last better after you've experienced it).

I've been to many other conferences, but none of them is quite like ICFA. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Mike Levy
IAFA president

Posted by ChrissieMains at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)

Mentors Needed for ICFA26

Dear all,

ICFA-26 is approaching and there is still need for a few more mentors to help out in the IAFA/SCIAFA mentoring program. So if you are a seasoned (or reasonably seasoned) ICFA participant who wouldn't mind helping a new student participant find their way around the conference, I'd appreciate it if you sent an e-mail, including the following information, to stefan.ekman AT englund.lu.se:

§ Your name.

§ Your e-mail address.

§ Your institutional affiliation.

§ Your main interests in the field of the fantastic.

§ When you will be arriving at the conference.

§ When you will be departing from the conference.

§ Whether you are currently planning to attend the conference reception on Wednesday evening.

More information about the mentoring program can be found on the Student Caucus web site and at the IAFA NewsBlog (scroll down).

More mentees are of course still welcome; if you want to participate in that capacity, add that pice of information as well :-).

Best regards,

Stefan Ekman
Student Caucus Rep.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)

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 06:26 PM | Comments (0)

Observations and a Question from Irma

"These have been important to me:

1. Sharing the hotel costs is possible, as is looking for roommates through the iafa-list;

2. The lunch and banquet system, with piles of free books, and wonderful guest of honour speeches;

3. The total lack of shops near the hotel, meaning, unfortunately, a lack of pharmacy things" (ed. note: this is less of a problem for those with rental cars, of course).

And a question from Irma to other longtime conference-goers:

"Actually I would be interested to know how you could get to the beach without a car."

Anyone have any ideas?

Posted by ChrissieMains at 03:26 PM | Comments (0)

Advice to Newcomers from Robin Reid

The first time at a conference is like a visit to a new country. Each academic conference has its own culture. If this conference is your first one ever, the experience is even more frightening. The temptation will be to hide away in your room and to scurry to your session and maybe a few others and then to take cover. That's understandable--I did it myself at my first major conference (which was attended by about 1800 scholars!). But even ICFA, much smaller in terms of numbers (much more interesting in terms of focus and covering a much larger scope and area of disciplines than many academic conferences) can seem intimidating. Everybody around you will seem to know people and have others to talk to, while you alone are left to lurk in the hallways.

My advice would be to attend the newcomer events--to sign up for a mentor, to keep an eye out for those other people who look as if they are attending for the first time. And remember that we all share a common interest in the fantastic. Come a few minutes early to sessions, and stay after. Network. Talk to the presenters (don't we all love to hear that someone enjoyed our presentation!) Talk to the other audience members. Try to be there for more than just the day you're presenting if at all possible. Don't ignore the opportunities at the luncheons and around the pool and the lounges during the days and in the evenings to meet and hang out with others, especially if you recognize them from sessions, if they're working or writing in areas that you are also interested in. Some of the best connections and friendships start up in between the official events.

And the fastest way to start meeting people is to volunteer. All academic conferences are run by academics, most of us volunteering to do this professional service. Seek out your Division Head and talk to them: maybe you'd like to organize whole paper session in your field of interest next time, or suggest a panel discussion topic and then organize the event. Attend the business meeting and see what parts of the conference need volunteers. Getting involved in running things will guarantee you more involvement and interaction as well as people approving of you! If you enjoy the conference and plan to make this area one of your scholarship and/or teaching areas, you'll want to attend again, and you'll find that your second and third time things are different. You're no longer a newcomer, you know more of the language and the people.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2005

Publishing Opportunities at ICFA26

58. Publishing Opportunities (Friday 2:45 Intrepid)
Robin Anne Reid

Although listed under the SF Programming Track, this session will be of interest to those who work with ANY genre or medium of the fantastic, focusing on women writers and artists or on gender.

This session is intended as a working/brainstorming session for those interested in contributing to Greenwood Press' Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy: An Encyclopedia. I signed the contract to edit the Encyclopedia in January 2005. Official calls for contributors will be going out with more specific information in a few months, but this session is your chance to get involved early. If you cannot make the session, feel free to grab me at the conference and give me your contact information!

PROJECT INFORMATION: Greenwood has specified a multi-genre and multi-media focus for the project which will produce the first general reference work focusing on women's contributions to science fiction and fantasy in fiction, nonfiction, film, television, art, comics, graphic novels, and music. The two-volume work will be 350,000 words long. Volume 1 (approx 175,000 words) will be a collection of thematic essays. Volume 2 (175,000 words) will be the A-to-Z component. Along with the primary focus on the women writers and artists, the Encyclopedia will also include entries on how the topics of "women" and "gender" have been dealt with by major male writers and artists in science fiction and fantasy. The focus is primarily but not exclusively on work in English from the 19th century to the present, covering fiction, nonfiction, film, television, art, comics, graphics novels and music. Background entries will draw on existing international scholarship on feminism, women writers and fantastic genres to cover major writers in other languages and national traditions. Background entries will also address fantasy by and about women from the Middle Ages through the 1800's.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 08:11 PM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2005

ICFA26 Program Update

The schedule for ICFA 26 has been re-uploaded to the website. This is the version that will appear in the printed program.

Inevitably, there will be changes as we get closer to the conference, as a few papers are withdrawn or emergencies arise. But any such changes will be listed on the errata sheet included in registration packages.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 01:22 PM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2005

ICFA 26 Program Uploaded

The program for ICFA 26 is now available for review on the website; just go to www.iafa.org and click on the link for ICFA26 Program (in Progress).

Keep in mind that the program is still undergoing minor tweaks and revisions, so there will likely be changes in the coming weeks. The authoritative version of the program will be that listed in the printed program book and accompanying errata sheet, which will be part of the package you receive when you arrive at the Registration Desk in March.

Please review your own information carefully, and contact Farah Mendlesohn (farah.sf AT gmail.com) with any corrections to the spelling of your name, or your institutional affiliation, or other information. We've done our best to make sure that all of the information is complete and accurate, but there have been a lot of steps between your submission of a proposal to the Division Head and this version of the program.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 04:04 PM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2005

Hotel Reservations

Just a reminder to all those attending the conference in March to book their hotel rooms soon. Information about rates, dates, and deadlines is available on the website at www.iafa.org.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 02:38 PM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2005

A/V reminder

All requests for AV equipment should have been submitted to your Division Head no later than 1 December, 2004.

IAFA supplies slide projectors and screens, overhead projector, video monitor and USA ONLY tape and DVD players, and occasionally LCDs. Recorders of various kinds are the responsibility of the presenter.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)

January 03, 2005

SF Theory Roundtable Reading

Science Fiction Theory Roundtable March 2005

The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction
Justine Larbalestier
Wesleyan University Press
2002
ISBN: 0-8195-6527-x paper

Chapter 1: "Faithful to Thee, Terra, in Our Fashion: Stories about Science Fiction, Fandom, and Community" page 15-38, Notes p. 242-245

Larbalestier argues in her introduction that the "period from 1926-1973 is absolutely crucial to the formation of contemporary feminist science fiction, and yet very little critical work has been undertaken on that period" (2). Most scholarship on feminist sf begins with stories and novels from the seventies. As important as the period of the 1970s is to feminist sf, the claim that the author goes on to make about the extent to which science fiction "has always contained some kind of engagement with the terrain of sex and sexual difference" (2) is an important one. Larbalestier's argument and the early chapters of her monograph serve to counter the common-sense notion that many have that "women" or questions of gender did not exist in science fiction until the 1970s, or that the only sf that deals with questions of gender is a narrowly defined canon of feminist sf. Larbalestier does not deal only with feminist science fiction but with women's engagement with science fiction from the origin of the contemporary genre in the U.S. during the 1920s despite the on-going critical and cultural myth that "women" did not exist in sf until the 1960s-70s. This monograph is based on an empirical and archival approach combined with ethnographic and linguistic methodology and draws upon the theories of the Annales school of history. Larbalestier uses major sf magazines, including letter columns and articles, fanzines, prozines, and interviews with fans to support her claims as well as analyzing sf stories.

The first chapter examines Gernsback's Amazing Stories, focusing on the response of readers, especially women readers, and the development of fan communities during the 1920s. This chapter is important as an example of an historical methodology that does not evaluate texts by aesthetic or other "literary" criteria. By analyzing how letter columns worked to construct a sf discourse relating to "gender" and "fans" from the start and provided the groundwork for the fan communities which later led to fanzines, conventions, and the growth of the fan culture(s), Chapter 1 provides an intriguing look at fans (of both genders) engaging in debate over gender in science fiction from a key period in North American sf.

This chapter and Larbalestier's work as a whole, raise interesting questions that we might discuss in March.

Possible issues include (but are not limited to) questions about methodology of sf scholarship. How predominant have "English departments" been in the past and to what extent could scholars of other disciplines bring new methods and tools to bear? Another question would be how "science fiction" is taught: Are courses that simply assign published works that meet a genre or literary criteria ignoring an important aspect of science fiction community and culture? While that approach may be appropriate for "literature classes," does this book open up the possibility (if it does not already exist) that other departments might have a stake in "teaching" science fiction from a very different perspective? What are the implications for future scholarship involving the very active and, according to many, the much larger female presence in today's internet fandom?

Posted by ChrissieMains at 06:37 PM | Comments (0)

Mentorship Program

At the Association’s June 2001 Board Meeting, IAFA and the IAFA Student Caucus (SCIAFA) passed a resolution to sponsor a Mentoring Program aimed at helping student scholars (and others new to ICFA) to find their way around ICFA, discover the natural friendliness of the conference as quickly as possible, use ICFA as an entrance into existing scholarly communities concerned with the fantastic, and leave with both fond memories of the supporting organization and plans to return. So far, the mentoring program has been a great success, so we boldly continue for a fourth year at ICFA-26 in 2005.

The success of this program depends upon its volunteer participants, and we would like to urge you to sign up as either a mentor or mentee, either by filling out a form on the Student Caucus web site or by sending an e-mail to Stefan Ekman, the current student representative, at stefan.ekman AT englund.lu.se. (Please include the information listed below in the e-mail.) For more information, check the Student Caucus web site (one click away from www.iafa.org).

Thank you in advance!

When signing up, please include the following:

§ Your name.
§ Your e-mail address.
§ Your institutional affiliation.
§ Your main interests in the field of the fantastic.
§ When you will be arriving at the conference.
§ When you will be departing from the conference.
§ Whether you are currently planning to attend the conference reception on Wednesday evening.
§ Whether you are signing up as mentor or mentee.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 06:32 PM | Comments (0)

December 24, 2004

Hotel and Travel Plans

Since most of us are enjoying at least a little break from the classroom over the holiday season, this seems like a good time to make your travel plans for ICFA 2005 if you haven't already done so.

Information about hotel rates and registration is available on the IAFA website. If you're hoping to save a bit of money by sharing a room, try posting a message to the IAFA listserv.

As Bill Senior reminds us every year, it can be difficult to get a flight out of Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, so it's better to book as early as you possibly can, especially if you really can't stay an extra vacation day and fly out on Monday instead. Some people might prefer to fly out of Miami instead; there are directions for getting from Miami to Fort Lauderdale by shuttle or train posted on the website.

Finally, of course, don't forget to send in your registration fees (and renew your association membership at the same time). Conference rates increase on January 1, 2005, and on-site registration will cost even more, so fill in that form soon. And remember not to use last year's address, as Registration Co-ordinator Katy Hatfield has moved. If you didn't receive the form in the mail, a downloadable and printable version is available on the website.

Posted by ChrissieMains at 12:31 AM | Comments (0)

November 10, 2004

Reopening the CfP

Please feel free to forward this announcement to any interested parties.

ICFA26: Blurring the Boundaries: Transrealism and Other Movements
March 16-20, 2005
Wyndham Fort Lauderdale Airport Hotel

This is a reopening of the Call for Papers for the 26th Annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts.

The focus of ICFA-26 is on the movements that encourage and embody the breaking and blurring of boundaries in all media. From film to fiction, from comics to poetry, in works for both adults and children, the border between the mundane world of reality and the fantastic world of the imagination is a space undergoing exploration.

While ICFA does focus on a different theme each year, we always welcome proposals for individual papers and for academic sessions on any aspect of the fantastic in any media, from the Fantastic in Children's and Young Adult Literature to Popular Culture & the Visual Arts and the Fantastic in Film, from Science Fiction and Horror to Fantastic Literature in English and the International Fantastic. For more information on these divisions and contact information for the appropriate di