Science Fiction: one universe?
Edited by Nick Heffernan and Lorna Jowett.

Having received preliminary interest from a publisher, we invite chapter
proposals or already completed essays for a collection focusing on the range
of different media within science fiction (film, television, literature,
comics/ graphic novels, computer games).

Science fiction has been examined in some detail from various perspectives
but rarely with a holistic view. A large number of universities offer
classes in science fiction, and these classes often look at more than one of
the media mentioned above. Consumers of science fiction are likely to be
familiar with the genre from more than one of these media. Film,
literature, television shows, comic books and computer games inform us about
what science fiction is and what it can do. In this book we propose to
examine science fiction across these different media in an attempt to gain a
better understanding of the genre and the ways it interacts through these
forms.

Some questions we envisage the volume addressing include:
* How is science fiction identified across these different media? How do
they interact?
* How do fans construct the genre from the different media?
* Does the academy construct the genre from these different media or does it
seek to keep them separate?
* Is there a significant disjunction between sci-fi and sf? How do issues
of quality affect science fictions?
* Are the major tropes of science fiction constructed or represented
differently within these different media?
* How do thematic areas compare across different formats or genres?
* Are, for example, class, race, sexuality, or heroism, romance and science
constructed similarly or differently across different formats?
* What distinguishes the treatment of such themes in closed, short narrative
(stand-alone film or novel) as opposed to their treatment in serial,
developing narrative (comic book, television show, series of novels)?
* How do varying emphases on narrative and/or spectacle (according to
format) affect science fictions?
* What advantages and disadvantages are there in these varying formats for
the messages of science fiction? Does the range of formats provide
limitations or new departures?

Contributors might wish to address debates about what science fiction is,
what it is used for, and by whom. We particularly welcome papers that
examine more than one format, that explore the difficulties in integrating
different formats, or that reflect on how science fiction is used in the
academy.

Essay abstracts of 500 words, or completed papers of 5-6,000 words, plus a
brief CV should be forwarded by 15 December 2004 to BOTH editors:
* Nick Heffernan, nick.heffernan_at_northampton.ac.uk
* Lorna Jowett, lorna.jowett_at_northampton.ac.uk

Dr. Lorna Jowett
American Studies
University College Northampton
Park Campus
Boughton Green Road
Northampton
NN2 7AL
U.K.

+44 (0)1604 892622
lorna.jowett_at_northampton.ac.uk

Dr. Nick Heffernan
American Studies
University College Northampton
Park Campus
Boughton Green Road
Northampton
NN2 7AL
U.K.

+44 (0)1604 892975
nick.heffernan_at_northampton.ac.uk

         ==========================================================
              From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
                        CFP_at_english.upenn.edu
                         Full Information at
                     http://cfp.english.upenn.edu
         or write Jennifer Higginbotham: higginbj_at_english.upenn.edu
         ==========================================================
Received on Tue Oct 26 2004 - 17:04:24 EDT