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ACADEMFIC VOLUME 1 · 2020 What If - If Then: How Fiction Fits In ................................................................. 1 Frauke Uhlenbruch Good Men .......................................................................................................................................... 4 Jeana Jorgensen Passion of the Sun Probe ..................................................................................................... 7 Eric Schwitzgebel January Thaw ............................................................................................................................... 12 K. Marvin Bruce Treatment ........................................................................................................................................ 23 Eric Reitan Foreseeable .................................................................................................................................... 40 Paul Levinson Company ............................................................................................................................................ 56 Leslie Maxwell Kaiura We Three Spies of Parthia Are ........................................................................................ 73 James F. McGrath PALNI PRESS AND ACADEMFIC PALNI Press is committed to disseminating the diverse scholarly and creative content of supported PALNI institutions and their academic communities, helping them meet their teaching and learning objectives. This service provides the capacity to create and host open access publications such as journals, textbooks, monographs, and digital exhibits, without the costs associated with program design or platform maintenance and hosting. We aim to provide equal, equitable, and free access to content by all users throughout the world. PALNI’s Publishing Services Admin Team will provide consultation and support for the PALNI Press service. Butler University is proud to be a member of PALNI and the PALNI Press. AcademFic is hosted through PALNI’s Open Journal Systems (OJS), an open source software platform for managing and publishing scholarly journals. PALNI and Butler University are committed to open access for all. For PALNI Press and Butler University, this means giving readers the flexibility to access digital resources that everyone can use. © 2020 AcademFic https://press.palni.org/ojs/index.php/academfic WHAT IF - IF THEN: HOW FICTION FITS IN FRAUKE UHLENBRUCH My first book holds up: two pheasant-like creatures live in a harmonious same-sex partnership, go on wholesome adventures, and drink a lot of tea. I wrote it for my younger sister. I was six. I never didn’t write fiction and I rarely asked myself why I write fiction. I just wrote, hardly anyone ever reading a word of it. Fiction-writing was detached from schoolwork, or later university-work, or later academic work. It was only during my PhD that I started sharing fiction I wrote, or even the fact that I wrote fiction at all. I don’t know what to make of that. I always saw academic writing and fiction-writing as unrelated. Nowadays I write mainly horror and science fiction. What’s academic about that? Perhaps two pairs of words: “what if” and “if then”. One of my beta-readers is an amazing writer of realistic literary fiction. Recently, she read a sci-fi story I wrote and sent me an email saying this: “I do not know how to read science fiction, but I really want to know. I just finished reading your story and, although embarrassed, left my comments in. As you can see, I am constantly trying to relate the unknown to what I know. This, I am sure, is not how to read science fiction.” “Trying to relate the unknown to what I know”. Isn’t that academic work? Using known principles and methods to probe into the unknown? Then: “This, I am sure, is not how to read science fiction.” I protested: that’s exactly how to read science fiction and it is exactly how I happen to write fiction. A known world is disrupted by the intrusion of an unknown element, maybe in the guise of a monster, alien, strange object, or unannounced visitor. My response to my friend began somewhat like this: “I see science fiction as a playground, where you can play with ‘what if’ without having to follow the laws of what is currently possible.” In this ‘what if’ game, I insert an unknown element into a known world. I posit: a monster visits a suburban family. I let that play out in a 1 story, observe what happens. Almost scientific, actually, almost like an experiment. Especially if constrained by ‘if then’. There are rules governing world-building and there are constraints I commit to when writing a story. Perspective is one example. If I commit to writing from one character’s perspective, then I cannot describe an event from another character’s perspective. My beta-readers are sure to give me a hard time if perspective isn’t consistent or if there is a logical error in the world-building. ‘If-then’ (by which I mean the rules of characterization, world-building, perspective, you name it) is related to methodology, academically speaking, to consistency, and to logic, to delivering a coherent argument. Somewhere between the freedom of ‘what if’ that allows us to explore something new in relation to something known, and the constraint of ‘if then’ that makes a story cohesive and a world believable, fiction and academic work are related. I would recommend soaring on the possibilities of ‘what if’ to anyone. Writing fiction as an academic is the thorough thing to do. In my PhD thesis there are many highly theorized shout-outs to all my favorite horror-monsters, but of course always removed, always in the vein of ‘and what does the popularity of this trope at this time signify, sociologically speaking?’ But the monster didn’t come here to be subjected to sociological theory. It came here to scare the crap out of me. So I would recommend allowing the monster to do its thing: go into a dark hallway with a character and experience what that feels like. Then have their flashlight die. And then have them hear that scratching sound, coming closer and closer. Now tell the same story from the point of view of the monster: is it cold? Hungry? Really annoyed with all the monster-admin? Shifting perspectives away from the cerebral, objective and toward the visceral, experiential, subjective can grant a deeper understanding of ‘the monster’, or, you know, ‘the research subject’. I highly recommend writing fiction. No-one ever needs to read that story. (Though I, for one, sure would like to.) 2 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Frauke Uhlenbruch has a PhD in Sociology/Biblical Studies. Her research interests revolve around applying sociological and cultural theory to ancient literature. Her PhD thesis on trouble with promised lands and utopias was published as The Nowhere Bible. More recently, she has worked on the project Fan Fiction and Ancient Scribal Cultures (Transformative Works and Cultures, vol. 31, 2019). In 2018 she started publishing fiction under her pen- name Anna Ziegelhof. Her stories have appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Shoreline of Infinity, The Future Fire, and the Footsteps in the Dark anthology (Flametree Press). 3 GOOD MEN JEANA JORGENSEN I used to cringe when men talked to me. Ben has helped me a lot since then. When I talk about what I went through with my ex, I’m always quick to say: “At least he didn’t rape me.” I think a lot of women do the same thing, minimizing our trauma so as to not take up too much space, or be seen as too needy. When I return home from my shift at the Mars Colonization Project, Ben asks about my day. One night, I complain about the guy who always low- key harasses me, whom I’m still working up the courage to report. Ben says simply, “I believe you.” That bolsters me to make it through another day. I want to go into space more than anything. But I need to finish processing the trauma first. I know gaslighting isn’t the worst kind of abuse out there. But I can’t be a good spaceworker until I stop getting triggered when men raise their voices at me. It’s worse in enclosed spaces, which presents obvious challenges to my career goals. And due to the dangerous nature of the job, I have to trust that my teammates are good men, who’ll have my back instead of trying to grope it. Luckily MCP has a great healthcare plan: top of the line therapists, new techniques and technologies all the time. It takes another week, but I report my coworker who keeps harassing me. The final straw was when he overheard a conversation with Kathryn, in which I was describing my abuse and my subsequent therapy and self- education about trauma, and he said, “You’re too fat for anyone to bother abusing.” Turns out this guy had been harassing other women. I had a long conversation with Ben before reporting this guy, and it was incredibly validating, and reminded me that I could go to my boss – also a man – and trust that he would do the right thing. Most men are not like my abuser. It took a while for that to sink in, but it’s true. The amazing thing is that this boosted my visibility at MCP, and accelerated my path to space. Other women privately thanked me. 4 I have to say goodbye to Ben now, since he can’t come with me to space. But his affirmations kept me calm and cool throughout my healing process, and this whole ordeal. As I power him down, he keeps smiling at me. He’ll be back at MCP’s health facility once the groundworkers clean out my quarters. He can help you, too. Whoever you are, whoever hurt you. Most men don’t have the bandwidth to hold space for women with trauma. This is undoubtedly the best way for those of us who’ve been victimized to reintegrate into normal society, and be able to interact with men without fear. It was worth it for my career, and I imagine it’ll help my love life too, once I get settled on Mars. Please feel free to publish my testimonial in the next MCP health plan brochure.

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