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NORDIC JOURNAL OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY RESEARCH Volume 5, issue 1, 2018 journal.finfar.org The Finnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Suomen science fiction- ja fantasiatutkimuksen seura ry Submission Guidelines Fafnir is a Gold Open Access international peer-reviewed journal. Send submissions to our editors in chief at [email protected]. Book reviews, dissertation reviews, and related queries should be sent to [email protected]. We publish academic work on science-fiction and fantasy (SFF) literature, audiovisual art, games, and fan culture. Interdisciplinary perspectives are encouraged. In addition to peer- reviewed academic articles, Fafnir invites texts ranging from short overviews, essays, interviews, conference reports, and opinion pieces as well as academic reviews for books and dissertations on any suitable SFF subject. Our journal provides an international forum for scholarly discussions on science fiction and fantasy, including current debates within the field. Open-Access Policy All content for Fafnir is immediately available through open access, and we endorse the definition of open access laid out in Bethesda Meeting on Open Access Publishing. Our content is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 3.0 Unported License. All reprint requests can be sent to the editors at Fafnir, which retains copyright. Editorial Staff Editors in Chief Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay Laura E. Goodin Aino-Kaisa Koistinen Reviews Editor Dennis Wilson Wise Managing Editor Jaana Hakala Advisory Board Merja Polvinen, University of Helsinki, Chair Sari Polvinen, University of Helsinki Paula Arvas, University of Helsinki Liisa Rantalaiho, University of Tampere Stefan Ekman, University of Gothenburg Adam Roberts, Royal Holloway, U. London Ingvil Hellstrand, University of Stavanger Hanna-Riikka Roine, U. of Helsinki Irma Hirsjärvi, University of Jyväskylä Johan Schimanski, University of Oslo Jyrki Korpua, University of Oulu Sofia Sjö, Åbo Akademi University Urpo Kovala, University of Jyväskylä Peter Stockwell, University of Nottingham Frans Mäyrä, University of Tampere Sanna Tapionkaski, University of Jyväskylä Jerry Määttä, Uppsala University Päivi Väätänen, University of Helsinki Cheryl Morgan (publisher and critic) Supported by the The Finnish Society for Science Fiction Research and Fantasy (FINFAR) (Suomen science fiction- ja fantasiatutkimuksen seura ry) ISSN: 2342-2009 (online) journal.finfar.org Cover Photo: Arthur Rackham (illus.), "Siegfried Kills Fafnir," 1911, on Wikimedia Commons Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research journal.finfar.org Table of Contents Editorial 1/2018………………………….……………………………….…………………………….… 5 Preface, by Jyrki Korpua……………..………………………………….…………………………….… 7 Peer-reviewed Articles “The Old Stories Had Become Our Prison”: Globalisation and Identity Politics in John Barnes’s Science Fiction Novels A Million Open Doors and Earth Made of Glass MICHAEL GODHE…………….……….…….…………………………………….…………………. 9 Mass Surveillance and the Negation of the Monomyth HOUMAN SADRI…………….…….….………………………………………..……………………. 21 The Absence of Madness: Altered States in James Tiptree, Jr.’s Short Fiction ELIZABETH OAKES …………….………...……………….…………….…………………………. 34 Interviews Birds, Bears, and Writing Humanimal Futures: An Interview with Jeff VanderMeer at the 75th Science Fiction WorldCon, Helsinki, August 2017 BEATA GUBACSI……….……….….…………………………………………….…………………. 45 Snapshots San Diego State University’s Speculative Fiction Collections: A Growing Center for the Study of Popular Culture PAMELA A. JACKSON……….….….…………………………………………….…………………. 56 Copyright © 2018 for the Finnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research. Content in Fafnir is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License (CC BY-NC 3.0): (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). ISSN: 2342-2009. Fafnir, vol. 5, iss. 1, 2018, pp. 3–4. 3 Table of Contents 1/2018 Book Reviews Twenty-First-Century Popular Fiction (edited by Bernice M. Murphy and Stephen Matterson) SEAN GUYNES-VISHNIAC………………..………………………………....……………………. 66 Superhero Comics (by Chris Gavaler) LAURA ANTOLA ………………………......………….……..…………………………….………. 69 Travails with the Alien: The Film That Was Never Made and Other Adventures with Science Fiction (by Satyajit Ray) ANWESHA MAITY………………….……..…………….……………………….…………………. 72 Science Fiction Adapted to Film (by Nicholas Ruddick) DON RIGGS…………………..…………….……………….…………………..……………………. 75 Imagining the Future of Climate Change: World-Making through Science Fiction and Activism (by Shelley Streeby) T. S. MILLER …………….….…………......…………….………………………………….………. 78 She-Wolf: A Cultural History of Female Werewolves (edited by Hannah Priest) JONATHAN W. THURSTON…………………………………………………….…………………. 81 There Would Always Be a Fairy Tale: More Essays on Tolkien (by Verlyn Flieger) MEGAN FONTENOT…………….……….………….………………………..……………………. 85 Binding Them All: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on J. R. R. Tolkien and His Works (edited by Monika Kirner-Ludwig, Stephan Köser, and Sebastian Streitberger) JYRKI KORPUA…………….………….……..……….…………………………………….………. 89 The Sweet and the Bitter: Death and Dying in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (by Amy Amendt-Raduege) NICHOLAS DALBEY………………….....……………….….…………….………….……………. 91 Call for Papers 1/2019…………….…………………..…………….…………………………….… 94 4 Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research journal.finfar.org Editorial 1/2018 Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Aino-Kaisa Koistinen, Laura E. Goodin, & Dennis Wilson Wise We are happy to present this issue of Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research, the first with our new reviews editor, Dennis Wise, and our new co-editor-in-chief, Laura E. Goodin, on board. The prefatory essay this issue is a retrospective of Fafnir’s first five years from one of its inaugural co-editors, Jyrki Korpua. He gives a true insider’s view of how an academic journal comes into being and continues to grow. The current editors would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Korpua for his hard work, editorial skill, dedication, and leadership in helping Fafnir grow and flourish. Although our three articles this month cover a broad sweep of topics and approaches, they nevertheless have in common the use of speculative fiction as a lens to probe and critique aspects of society. Michael Godhe’s “The Old Stories Had Become Our Prison” discusses how issues raised by globalisation are represented in John Barnes’s novels A Million Open Doors (1992) and Earth Made of Glass (1998); he argues that science fiction can work as a model for a futural public sphere, bridging the gap between the humanities and natural science, and enabling a broader public discourse about the societal impacts of science and technology. In “Mass Surveillance and the Negation of the Monomyth”, Houman Sadri uses two modern superhero narratives in the post-9/11 cultural landscape to examine how the notion of heroism itself is challenged somewhat by another seemingly ubiquitous product of the terrorist attacks: the proliferation, and absorption into Monomythical narratives, of the tropes of mass surveillance and technologically-aided snooping. In “The Absence of Madness: Altered States in James Tiptree, Jr.’s Short Fiction”, Elizabeth Oakes presents a case study of two of Tiptree’s short stories, focusing on her representation of altered states of consciousness, such as madness, drug trips, and dreams, combining a quantitative, computational approach with a qualitative, stylistically framed reading. The reading locates the absences that typify Tiptree’s portrayal of altered states in the text and relates these depictions to contemporaneous ideas about mental illness. Copyright © 2018 for the Finnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research. Content in Fafnir is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License (CC BY-NC 3.0): (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). ISSN: 2342-2009. Fafnir, vol. 5, iss. 1, 2018, pp. 5-6. 5 Editorial This issue also offers an interview by Beata Gubasci with multiple award- winning author, editor, and critic Jeff VanderMeer. The interview not only elicits Mr. VanderMeer’s thoughts on the New Weird, a literary movement in speculative fiction with which he is closely associated, it also provides a scholarly review of the context from which the New Weird emerged and continues to develop. Reflecting the vibrant research environment that speculative fiction is enjoying, this issue includes reviews of nine new books on topics ranging from superhero comics to climate change, werewolves, science-fiction films, and J.R.R. Tolkien. In our series of “snapshots” of interesting projects and networks relevant to science fiction and fantasy research, Pamela A. Jackson profiles in this issue San Diego State University’s Speculative Fiction Collections, which include the oeuvres and personal collections of a number of influential writers, as well as comics, zines, and other ephemera, documentation of fandoms and fan culture, and what is believed to be the world’s largest collection of fiction and nonfiction English-language books related to vampires. We hope this issue intrigues and informs you, and inspires your own research journeys. Live long and prosper! Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Aino-Kaisa Koistinen, and Laura E. Goodin, Editors-in- chief Dennis Wilson Wise, Reviews Editor Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research.