292 Spring 2010 Editors Karen Hellekson SFRA 16 Rolling Rdg. A publication of the Science Fiction Research Association Jay, ME 04239 Review [email protected] [email protected] In This Issue Craig Jacobsen SFRA Review Business English Department Counting Down 2 Mesa Community College 1833 West Southern Ave. SFRA Business Mesa, AZ 85202 Statement in Response to the Arizona Immigration Bill 2 [email protected] Ask not what you can do for SFRA… 2 [email protected] SFRA Award Winners 3 Call for Executive Committee Candidates 4 Managing Editor Feature Janice M. Bogstad McIntyre Library-CD Scholarly Research and Writing 101 4 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Nonfiction Reviews 105 Garfield Ave. Classics and Contemporaries 8 Eau Claire, WI 54702-5010 [email protected] The Universe of Oz 9 The Unknown Lovecraft 10 Nonfiction Editor War of the Words: The Utopian Vision of H. G. Wells 11 Ed McKnight Fiction Reviews 113 Cannon Lane Deceiver 12 Taylors, SC 29687 [email protected] The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein: A Novel 12 Ares Express 14 Fiction Editor Nebula Awards Showcase 2010 15 Edward Carmien Brain Thief 16 29 Sterling Rd. Transition 17 Princeton, NJ 08540 Media Reviews [email protected] Avatar 18 Media Editor Pumzi 20 Ritch Calvin The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus 22 16A Erland Rd. Southern Portable Panic: Federico Álvarez’s Ataque de Pánico! 23 Stony Brook, NY 11790-1114 District B13 (Banlieue 13) 24 [email protected] Small Steps for Ants, a Giant Leap for Mankind: The SFRA Review (ISSN 1068- 395X) is published four times a year by Saul Bass’s Phase IV 24 the Science Fiction Research Association Pushing the Wrong Buttons 25 (SFRA), and distributed to SFRA members. Individual issues are not for sale; however, Pandorum 26 all issues after 256 are published to SFRA’s Dans une galaxie près de chez vous 27 Web site (http://www.sfra.org/) no fewer than 10 weeks after paper publication. For Shadow of the Colossus 28 information about SFRA and member- Announcements ship, see the back cover. SFRA thanks the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire for its Calls for Papers 29 assistance in producing the SFRA Review. SUBMISSIONS The SFRA Review encourages submissions of reviews, review essays that cover several related texts, interviews, and feature articles. Submission guidelines are available at http://www.sfra.org/ or by inquiry to the appropriate editor. Contact the Editors for other submissions or for correspondence. tive Committee that we should move forward with our meeting SFRA Review Business in Arizona. It is our unanimous belief that this law is wrong, because it encourages racial profiling and harassment, and it erodes one’s right against unreasonable questioning when not EDITORS’ MESSAGE suspected of committing a crime. However, we are also of the Counting Down opinion that we, as scholars, researchers, and teachers, can turn this deplorable situation into something worthwhile for our Karen Hellekson and Craig Jacobsen organization and the outreach of its members. The SFRA Executive Committee does not believe that our With just a few issues left to go as coeditors of SFRA organization’s boycotting Arizona will achieve as much good as Review, we encourage any anyone interested in taking over our continuing to hold the conference as planned. We hold our the reins of the editorship to contact the SFRA president, Lisa annual international conference in a different location each year Yaszek (lisa.yaszek AT lcc.gatech.edu), laying out their ideas for the purposes of catering to the geographical and academic and explaining why they’d be the perfect choice. A comprehen- sive job description appeared in SFRA Review #291 on page 5. affiliations of our members, engaging diverse localities, and A new editor will be chosen from among the proposals by the having those places leave an indelible mark on each conference SFRA Board at the SFRA annual meeting in Carefree, Arizona. that makes each specific to a geographic and cultural context. Meanwhile, we plan some great content in these pages to Additionally, we are economically tied to Arizona due to ex- finish out our tenure with a bang—so keep an eye out. In this penses already incurred and our financial responsibility to the issue, Karen comprehensively analyzes tools to ease scholarship hosting resort. We feel that it would be more productive, both in her “Scholarly Research and Writing 101.” Future issues will economically and scholastically, to seize this opportunity to feature a single-author study and a 101 about SF audio dramas. engage and discuss these issues on the ground in Arizona. If you’re not careful, bumping into one of us in the bar at SFRA It is with discussion and action in mind that the Executive in Carefree, Arizona (we’ll be the ones wearing protest T-shirts Committee has decided to hold a roundtable discussion at SFRA festooned with little SF pins), may result in your agreeing to 2010 about SB 1070. Instead of standing in silence and throwing write content for our last issue! away all of the hard work that went into planning, developing, and organizing SFRA 2010, we intend to face the issues head- on at the meeting. We do not know how this conversation will develop or what its results may be, but we do know that rational discussion and weighing our options in face-to-face conversa- tion is a strong beginning. SFRA Business We invite all SFRA members and other scholars who have not yet done so to send in your presentation and panel ideas to Craig by the new deadline of May 15. And, non-late registration CONFERENCE UPDATE has been extended to May 15, so there is still time to register Statement in Response to for the conference and take part in the discussion of “Far Stars the Arizona Immigration Bill and Tin Stars: Science Fiction and the Frontier,” which already included, but now even more so, issues of race, borders, and SFRA Executive Committee Otherness. We hope to see you in Arizona where we can all be a part of the science fiction vanguard against racism. As you all know, the Science Fiction Research Association has planned for several years to hold this year’s annual inter- national conference in Arizona. Conference Coordinator Craig Jacobsen and other members of SFRA have expended a great PRESIDENT’S REPORT deal of time and energy towards making this a successful and productive meeting. Ask not what you can There have been questions and concerns from SFRA do for SFRA… members regarding our 2010 meeting, because it will be held in Arizona where Governor Jan Brewer signed into law SB 1070, Lisa Yaszek “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act,” on April 23, 2010. This law requires any person upon request by There are many reasons why Karen Hellekson and Craig a law enforcement officer to prove their legal residence in the Jacobsen are excellent editors of the SFRA Review, but first United States. Barring legal challenges, the law is scheduled to and foremost among them—at least for me—is their willing- go into effect by August. Therefore, SFRA conference attend- ness to help a president complete her column with grace and ees will not be required as a result of this law to carry proper style. Indeed, as you may remember, the ruling metaphors for identification and documentation at the time of the conference my last column were inspired by Karen’s desire for more talk in June. about prancing ponies and sparkling tiaras. Now this one goes A number of cities, states, businesses, and individuals out to Craig, who suggested that I might begin by remixing one have called for an economic boycott of Arizona as a result of of the most famous motivational speeches in American political this new law. However, it is the opinion of the SFRA Execu- history. 2 SFRA Review 291 Winter 2010 And so, my fellow SFRA members, ask both what your features on our Web site you’ll consider sharing your own ideas organization can do for you…and what you can do for your and materials. I also hope that as you are doing this, you’ll organization! consider serving the SFRA in a more sustained manner as well. As always, the SFRA continues to pursue both old and As many of you already know, this executive committee is in new initiatives furthering the serious study of science fiction its final year and we will elect a new slate of officers in early across media (yes, this is where I tell you what your organiza- fall. All positions are open and offer wonderful administrative tion can do for you). SFRA 2010 in Carefree, Arizona, promises experience—and while that might sound like an oxymoron, I to be one of our most exciting conferences ever. Thanks to am utterly sincere when I tell you that there is nothing more Craig Jacobsen for putting together a very cool roster of guest satisfying than working with other SFRA members to grow scholars including old friends Pawel Frelik and Joan Sloncze- our organization. These are truly the smartest, nicest, and most wski and our new friend Dr. Margaret Weitekamp, Curator in capable people with whom you will ever have the pleasure of the Division of Space History of the Smithsonian Institution’s working. National Air and Space Museum. Thanks also to Craig for And speaking of incredibly smart, nice, and capable peo- organizing not just one or two but three—count ‘em, three— ple, this year also marks the end of Karen and Craig’s tenure as preconference short courses on the teaching and study of SF.