If we reflect on Vivian Sobchak’s premise of science fiction’s role of reconciling humans with the unknown along with cyborg spaces of Haraway, we can easily perceive that today one of speculative/science fiction’s roles is imagining what is happening and what may happen to help us come to terms with a dreaded present and unstable future. Amidst the very real and imminent threats of environmental disasters, rise of nationalism and racism and an expanding precarity, it should not be a surprise to see the fast increase in the sales of Orwell’s 1984, re-makes of Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell or appearance of SF works where strangers, aliens, and others are rethought and replaced in our topological frameworks.

Seeking submissions for a collection of personal narratives that address and complicate Appalachian identities. Interested in voices that challenge and enrich simplistic valorizing or demonizing images of Appalachia. Contributors might range from scholars to poets to farmers to fiddlers—anyone who can add a voice to create a more full chorus—at times dissonant, at times harmonic.

Possible entry points:

The College English Association solicits abstracts on the special focus of the 89th SAMLA conference from November 3-5 in Atlanta: “High Art/Low Art: Borders and Boundaries in Popular Culture.” From the selection of singer and songwriter Bob Dylan as the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature last year to the election as President of a former reality-television star, the topic could not be more timely nor seminal.

More information on the conference may be found at https://samla.memberclicks.net/.

A One Day Postgraduate Symposium, hosted by Romanticism @ Edge Hill University & Keele University

CFP for a one-day postgraduate symposium on 25th November 2017