CfP: Current Research in Speculative Fiction 2015

I should have posted this here ages ago, but here it is:

Current Research in Speculative Fiction 2015

Monday 8th June 2015 

University of Liverpool 

 With Keynote Lectures from: 

Dr. Andrew M. Butler (Canterbury Christ Church University) 

Dr. Sarah Dillon (University of Cambridge) 

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

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

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

A PDF of the CfP can be downloaded from this link. Please share this information widely with all who may be interested.

Although CRSF only accepts papers by Postgraduate students and those who have recently completed their Ph.D, we welcome delegates from across the genre spectrum: from fan to professor, via author and undergraduate student.

Join the facebook event here.

CRSF 2013

I've just posted up the schedule for this year's Current Research in Speculative Fiction on the conference blog.

Head over yonder and take a look if you're interested:

www.currentresearchinspeculativefiction.blogspot.com

Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF] 2012

This year's Current Research in Speculative Fiction conference went really well.

I've just published the conference report on the CRSF blog so I won't repeat the material here, head over there to read it. There were thirty-five papers spread over thirteen panels. We had, in all, fifty delegates at the conference and they travelled from as far afield as Ankara University, Turkey, in the East and University of Virginia, USA, in the West, with representatives from institutions in twelve countries in Europe and North America.

One delegate described it as:

"superb, balancing nerd-excitement and the thrill of academic SF perfectly."

Which as the organiser, is exactly what I want to hear so I'm a happy (if tired) chap. Now, to start planning 2013...

Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space: The Fantastika and the Classical World. A Science Fiction Foundation Conference (CFP)

I'm proud to be able to say I'm part of the Science Fiction Foundation team putting together a conference in 2013 which will combine science fiction and classics. The call for papers was issued today and here it is:

Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space: 

The Fantastika and the Classical World. 

A Science Fiction Foundation Conference

29 June – 1 July 2013

At The Foresight Centre, University of Liverpool

Guests of Honour: Edith Hall, Nick Lowe, and Catherynne M. Valente

Call for papers

The culture of the Classical world continues to shape that of the modern West. Those studying the Fantastika (science fiction, fantasy and horror) know that it has its roots in the literature of the Graeco-Roman world (Homer’s Odyssey, Lucian’s True History). At the same time, scholars of Classical Reception are increasingly investigating all aspects of popular culture, and have begun looking at science fiction. However, scholars of the one are not often enough in contact with scholars of the other. This conference aims to bridge the divide, and provide a forum in which SF and Classical Reception scholars can meet and exchange ideas.

We invite proposals for papers (20 minutes plus discussion) or themed panels of three or four papers from a wide range of disciplines (including Science Fiction, Classical Reception and Literature), from academics, students, fans, and anyone else interested, on any aspect of the interaction between the Classical world of Greece and Rome and science fiction, fantasy and horror. We are looking for papers on Classical elements in modern (post-1800) examples of the Fantastika, and on science fictional or fantastic elements in Classical literature. We are particularly interested in papers addressing literary science fiction or fantasy, where we feel investigations of the interaction with the ancient world are relatively rare. But we also welcome papers on film, television, radio, comics, games, or fan culture.

Please send proposals to conferences@sf-foundation.org, to arrive by 30 September 2012. Paper proposals should be no more than 300 words. Themed panels should also include an introduction to the panel, of no more than 300 words. Please include the name of the author/panel convener, and contact details.

Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space is organised by the Science Fiction Foundation, with the co- operation of the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool.

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It can also be viewed on the Foundation events page.
And here's the official Facebook page.

Brighton Conference 2011: The Second World War: Popular Culture and Cultural Memory

The eye-catching oddity of Brighton's Royal Pavilion

Last week I gave my third paper in three months at the largest and most intimidating of my three conferences: The Second World War: Popular Culture and Popular Memory at Brighton University.

This was my first trip to Brighton and I was looking forward to the experience. Luckily I was able to get some cheap trains and stay with a cousin when down there else I fear I would  have been priced out of the whole venture. My biggest regret about the whole thing was that I wasn't able to spend a bit more time pottering around the city, what I saw of Brighton was an interesting, quirky place with a lot of character - of course it was also (on the whole) prohibitively expensive for an impoverished student such as myself, used to the cheaper thrills that Liverpool has to offer.

The conference itself ran for three days and covered a wide range of topics, mainly concerning the history and literature of the Second World War. I saw some truly fascinating papers and left with a good few sheets of hastily scribbled notes with names, dates and titles to look up now that I'm back in the solitude of Liverpool PG life. I also left having met some great people. I went to the conference not really knowing anyone (although with the slight advantage of having met or e-mailed a couple of people once or twice before) but I was delighted with how everyone opened up to each other and chatted happily not just about the conference but about all the associated small talk you'd expect. I was genuinely worried I'd get through the whole conference without really getting to know anybody and instead ended up as part of a group of people who came from different disciplines, different generations, different universities, and had a really good time sampling Brighton's ale and the conference's wine in their company.

My own paper ("Branching Paths: Nazi Victories in Alternate Second World Wars") went reasonably well, although I was conscious beforehand that it was the weakest of the three papers I've delivered this year. This was probably because although it is the final paper in a series of three, it was the first abstract to be drawn up and when it came to writing it I found myself constrained by that abstract and forced into writing something which didn't really work as a 20 minute paper as well as I'd like. That said, the reception of the paper was wonderful with several people approaching me afterwards to tell me that they'd found it interesting and informative, and that it raised questions they'd not considered before. Most of the questions asked were by historians who were simply interested in the ideas or texts, although I did get a couple of literature questions as well.

On the whole the conference was a resounding success and I'd like to thank all of the conference organisers for their hard work, and particularly thank whichever of them made the decision to accept my paper - I am immensely grateful for the opportunity. I'd also like to thank everyone I met at the conference for making me feel at ease and for listening to me talk about science fiction and alternate history.

It All Makes Sense!

So, going through the delegate lists for the CRSF conference I noticed that we had a very particular number of attendees...

  

Coincidence? Methinks not.*

*And if you don't get this reference then shame! Shame on you!

Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF] 2011

Wow.

That pretty much sums my reaction to the conference. It couldn't really have gone a great deal better. Everyone I spoke to seemed to enjoy themselves whilst also finding the papers informative and thought provoking. Certainly, the papers and discussions I saw were of a very high standard.

My official list of thanks can be seen on the official CRSF blog and whilst I remain immensely grateful to all of those people, I won't duplicate the list here. I shall, however, add a personal thanks for my girlfriend Anna who not only did all the usual stuff of being my editor and practice audience for my paper, but also manned the front desk when none of the other CRSF team members were available, and did the majority of the tidying up that got us out of the building on time, without her the whole process might not have gone quite as smoothly as it did!

The pre-conference and post-conference socials also went well with a strong attendance of both conference delegates and members of the public turning out at Waterstone's to hear Adam Roberts talk about Crime and Science Fiction (with relation to his next-but-one novel) on the Friday night. It was an interesting discussion that ended up resembling a round-table more than anything else, a happy accident as a round-table was something we wanted to include in CRSF but were unable to fit into the schedule. Talking to non-conference attendees (ie. people from my book club) afterwards they seemed to find it just as interesting and engaging as everyone else which is positive. After the conference a large group of us went for a meal in The Quarter and, barring a hiccup with the bill, had a greatly enjoyable and tasty meal.

This is, however, my personal blog and so I must now turn to my personal experience of the conference. My role in the organisation of the conference was relatively simple. I came up with the decision to organise the conference and we got to work putting it together. Most of the hard work of dealing with bookings and bureaucracy was done by Chris Pak whilst I acted as the conference "face" and point of contact for the various delegates, this meant I was perhaps heaped with more praise than I was deserving of - the conference wouldn't have happened without all Chris's hardwork, nor would it have been quite as slick without the advise, experience, and know-how of [Dr.] A.P. Canavan and Clare Parody.

My involvement was pure enjoyment. I got to open and close the conference, as well as introduce Prof. Adam Roberts's keynote lecture (Chris introduced Andy Sawyer's). I chaired a panel on Science in Science Fiction which included a brilliant paper on Kurt Vonnegut and J.G. Ballard by Erica Moore and a thought-provoking paper on Singularity Theory by Hallvard Haug. Chairing the panel was actually the part of the day I was most nervous about, it being my first experience of such a responsibility, and I was relieved to have two great papers and speakers which triggered an extended discussion session which needed little, if any, prompting from me.

The only other task of note I had to perform was giving my own paper. Haphazardly written in the week leading up to the conference it was titled "Alternate Histories and the Paratextual Instinct" and essentially used paratexts to examine the positioning of alternate history in the literary canon (is it science fiction, historical fiction, a literary technique or a genre in its own right?) and came to the conclusion that the situation as stands is confusing and requires a lot more attention and research (hence my thesis). Given that I only finished the paper on the Tuesday before the conference, my practice time was significantly truncated and delivering my paper in the first session of the day (a move intended to remove pressure from me for the rest of the day) meant I didn't have time to read it over at the last minute. As a result of these factors my delivery was somewhat more disjointed and generally sloppy than I would have preferred; a fact highlighted by verbal slip of referring historian Niall Ferguson as Niall Harrison, a slip which Adam Roberts promptly tweeted to the tweeterverse... *sigh*

I wasn't 100% happy with my paper, I feel my argument could have been more slick, but as I've already indicated I only had myself to blame for this problem as I didn't manage my time leading up to the conference properly. My next conference paper is Brighton's "The Second World War: Popular Culture and Popular Memory", I don't intend to make the same mistake and so will be cracking on with this paper asap.

So, on the whole CRSF was great. I certainly enjoyed myself and came out of the day feeling really positive about the whole thing (if utterly exhausted). Roll on CRSF 2012 I say....

Official Conference Photo

CRSF 2011 - This Saturday

It's been a busy time, hence no blog activity.

The organisation of the Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF] conference has gone more smoothly than I had dared to dream it would. One or two last minute hiccups but nothing that ever seriously jeopardised the conference's existence, or its vision to present the best PG research into sf in a friendly environment. That said, there's been a tonne to do: creating the various documents needed for the delegate packs, relaying information backwards and forwards between the key note speakers, the conference team, and the delegates. It has, however, been amazing. In all the hustle and bustle I almost forgot to write my own paper, and the biggest source of stress has been putting something together I won't be ashamed to present to my peers. I think I'm finally there now with a paper titled: "Alternate Histories and the Paratextual Instinct: Categorising the Form", hopefully it won't be too dry...

The Enemy Within

On Thursday I presented my first conference paper based on my Ph.D research.

The paper was entitled "The Enemy Within: British Fascism in Alternate Histories of the Second World War" and was pretty well received.

I presented it at the annual PG Conference run by the School of English at the University of Liverpool. It's a pretty comfortable affair and a great place to cut your teeth on your first paper. Essentially, all the Ph.D students are supposed to give papers over the course of the day to an audience consisting of other students and some lecturers.

I had a pretty considerable audience for my paper, although I suspect most of them were there to see other other papers in my panel (19th and 20th century literature), the much more experienced Kim Edwards Keates, Katharine Easterby and David Hering.

I was pretty happy with the content of the paper, which forms a chunk of the material from Chapter One of the thesis (as it currently stands) and may add to it with an eye for submitting it for publication to some journals. That said, I'm not entirely comfortable with publishing it in its entirety online, however below is the abstract, and you can see the slide show here.

"The Enemy Within: British Fascism in Alternate Histories of the Second World War"- Abstract

More recent alternate histories have bucked the trend of Britain as a glorious resister of Nazi authority and instead focused on the dirty underbelly of anti-Semitism and fascism in British society in the 1930s. My paper will analyse a series of novels which do just this: the  "Small Change" series by Jo Walton; I will discuss how reading these novels, and others like them, encourage a re-reading of the historical narrative of time whilst at the same time inform our understanding of the present.

Current Research in Speculative Fiction (CRSF) 2011

 

“A Vampire, a Troll, and a Martian Walk Into a Bar....”

- Call for Papers -
18th June 2011
University of Liverpool
Keynote Lectures from: Professor Adam Roberts (Royal Holloway, University of London), Mr Andy Sawyer (Science Fiction Foundation Collection Librarian; Director of MA in Science Fiction Studies, University of Liverpool)

----------------------------------------------------------

CRSF is a postgraduate conference designed to promote the research of speculative fictions including, but not limited to, science fiction, fantasy and horror.

 Our aim is to showcase some of the latest developments in this dynamic and evolving field, by providing a platform for the presentation of current research by postgraduates. The conference will also encourage the discussion of this research and the construction of crucial networks with fellow researchers. The University of Liverpool is a leading centre for the study of speculative fiction, being home to the Science Fiction Foundation Collection, and is thus ideally suited to such a cause.

This year we would like to focus on encouraging postgraduates to network with others in their field, and related areas, whilst also demonstrating the depth and breadth of research currently being conducted into speculative fiction. As such we welcome 300 word abstracts on topics as diverse as, but not limited to:

•Alternate History •Apocalypse •Environmental Philosophy •Gaming •Genre Evolution •Genre Language and the Language of Genre •Gender and Sexuality •Graphic Novels •Representations of Psychology and Consciousness •Speculative Fiction across Media – Adaptation, Translation and Franchise •Speculative Spaces, Places and Races •The Supernatural and the Other •Technology and Magic •”Why Has No One Thought of This Before?” •Young Adult Fiction.

Abstracts of 300 words, for papers intended to run for twenty minutes,  should be submitted to CRSF2011@gmail.com by 01/04/11.

For further information, email the conference team at CRSF2011@gmail.com

Note: although we are looking for papers from postgraduates we welcome delegates from across the spectrum of academic and speculative fiction fields. This conference is the first of a planned annual series and cannot succeed without your support so please pass this along to everyone who might be interested.

See also: CRSF 2011 Facebook Event

Classics and Comics

Although, I did today finally start reading The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories edited by Ian Watson and Ian Whates, the majority of my evening post-work was spent on one of my subsidiary projects. A good friend of mine, Mr. David Smith [Smiff], has asked me to co-author a paper with him on Classical influences in comic books. Given that the field of comic books, Graphic Novels, whatever you want to call them, has long been something I've wanted to get into, I leaped at the chance.

Abstracts have to be in by the end of the week so I've been throwing together as many Ancient Greek references and allusions in comics that I can gather. The obvious ones such as Frank Miller's 300 and the DC Character Wonder Woman are there, but so too are more recent up and comers like Greek Street. I'm looking forward to working on the paper, which Smiff will present, and we're hoping to either get it published or continue to work on it for use at future events.

All in all a productive day, but very little actual Ph.D work done. Tomorrow I'll be travelling home to North Wales which means a train journey which should mean I can get through the first few stories in Watson and Whates's anthology. Fingers crossed.

P.S. Annoyingly a book exists on the very topic we're writing a paper on but isn't published until early 2011, our conference is in December. If anyone can find me an advance copy or better yet a time machine so I can travel into the future and buy a copy then please do get in touch.

UPDATE:  Due to scheduling conflicts, the writing and subsequent presentation of this paper has been postponed until a future date. It, or something like it, may well be written in the not too distant future, but you'll have to wait and see to find out where and when. [Updated 13.10.10]